This post contains a 15 Day Meal Plan that’s based around recipes with common ingredients that have a long shelf life, and delivers big flavours with crowd pleasing food! There’s a consolidated grocery list, all the recipes are easy to make and it’s based around a family of 4 to 5.
If we’re housebound, let’s make sure that life is extra delicious!! {Also – Meal Plan #2 now available!)
Coronavirus Quarantine Menu Plan
2 weeks ago, you might’ve turned your nose up at the thought of stocking up on food in anticipation of being housebound due to Coronavirus.
Today, I’d consider it the wise thing to do. I don’t want to be overly dramatic or an alarmist, but these are uncertain times. But one thing we can do to give ourselves a sense of security is to stock our pantries with a sensible amount of food.
So here’s a 15 Day+ Menu Plan with a consolidated grocery list for a family of 4! This is what you’ll get:
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15 dinner recipes – most will have some leftovers
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Long shelf life ingredients – all ingredients are freezable or kept in the pantry
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Family friendly – I’ve parked the more exotic / spicy dishes for another day!
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Common ingredients across recipes – for efficiency (cost and number of items)
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Highly versatile – substitute away!
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Easy to make, complete meals – so you don’t have to think about adding sides
Hope you find it useful! – Nagi x
Tip: Go to the grocery store as soon as it opens. Or ask them when they do restocking of shelves!
IMPORTANT: Read this first
Here are universal changes I’ve made to the recipes that is reflected in the grocery list, aimed at space and cost efficiency, and shelf life of ingredients. I’ve also listed some useful substitutions.
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Stock cubes / powder instead of liquid broth/stock – use stock cubes / powder instead (bouillon cubes) instead of liquid stock sold in cartons. Dissolve 1 cube or 1 tsp of powder in 1 cup boiling water = 1 cup liquid stock. Much more space efficient than storing gallons of liquid stock;
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Can’t find canned tomato? (It’s hot property here in Sydney!) Here’s a substitute using tomato paste: Whisk 1.5 tbsp flour with 1/4 cup water until lump free. Then mix in another 1 1/4 cups water, 4 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tsp sugar. Bring to simmer on stove until it thickens to gravy consistency. Use in place of 1 can of crushed tomato;
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Switched short shelf life fresh ingredients for longer shelf life ingredients. For example, bean sprouts (lasts several days) switched for shredded cabbage (lasts 4+ weeks). These switches are specified in the list below;
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Skip insignificant garnishes; and
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Be prepared to substitute depending on what you can get your hands on. Don’t get hung up on using the right beans or right pasta, or exact herbs. Be flexible!
Also see my GOLD TIPS on smart food stocking(don’t hoard!)
15 Day Coronavirus Quarantine Menu Plan
Here’s an overview of the meal plan. Notes on long shelf life adjustments and substitutions for each are listed in each recipe below.
Click here to download and print the grocery list
1. Chicken Enchiladas
Filled with a juicy chicken and bean filling and homemade Enchilada Sauce!
Sub options: use any beans you have – even lentils or chickpeas, or add diced frozen vegetables instead. Or make the ground beef/mince version!
2. Creamy Chicken Pasta
Chicken, parmesan, garlic, creamy, sun dried tomatoes, and a sprinkle of bacon. Do you need anymore information? 😂
Subs: Use any pasta you can find, long or short. Also – cream and parmesan are freezable! Use frozen spinach in place of baby spinach – or any vegetable you can get your hands on. Or just leave it out!
3. Chunky Vegetable Beef Soup
Slow cooked for fall apart beef! Magnificent stew-like soup that’s hearty with a flavourful broth.
Subs: Use any vegetables you can. Switch the stewing beef for any protein suitable for stewing!
4. Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
Tastes like a risotto…but so much easier to make!
Subs: Skip the chicken and double up on broccoli to make it meat free. Switch the broccoli for any vegetables you have.
5. Corn Chowder
Creamy corn chowder with potato and sprinkled with bacon bits… it’s all MINE!!! Psst recipe recommends fresh corn, but just use canned or frozen (quantity is in the recipe 👍)
Subs: Switch the corn for anything you could add into soups. Diced vegetables, peas, even rice, quinoa or beans! (Ooooh…creamy bean soup….)
6. Creamy Tuna Mornay
The highest and best use for canned tuna, full stop! The creamy garlic parmesan sauce is 100% amazing (and no cream!)
Subs: Make this with any short pasta, switch tuna with canned salmon, use other chopped proteins OR stir in frozen veg and make it meat free!
7. Chicken Nachos
Imagine Friday nights in with THIS in front of Netflix……
8. Brazilian Coconut Chickpea Curry
Chickpeas made amazing, thanks to the Brazilians!
Subs: This sauce works with everything, from Fish to shrimp/prawns, chicken, beef, vegetables, any bean.
Click here to download and print the grocery list for this 15 Day Meal Plan
9. Beef Ramen Noodles
One pot wonder! Psst Recipe calls for beansprouts, but we’re going to sub with cabbage instead cause it lasts forever in the fridge (ok ok, “forever” is a slight exaggeration – but upwards of 4 weeks for sure!)
Subs: Make this with any ground/mince meat. (Fellow Aussies, there was still plenty of KANGAROO meat at the store today even though everything else was gone!)
10. Cashew Chicken
Chinese takeout gold standard! (PS Loads of sauce to soak your rice. Promise.)
Subs: Make this with any vegetables or protein you have. The sauce will make anything taste great!
11. Chili Mac and Cheese
Nope, not spicy. Just loaded with flavour! Juicy, saucy, cheesy, beefy, it’s a cross between Chilli Con Carne and Mac ‘n Cheese.
Subs: Make this with any ground/mince meat, switch the red kidney beans for any beans you have. Or sub with diced veg. This one’s all about the sauce (eeer….and cheese 😇)
12. Chicken Lo Mein Noodles
The beauty of these noodles? You could make it with just spaghetti and cabbage, and it’s still going to be delicious (I should know, I’ve done it!). That Lo Mein Sauce ROCKS.
RECIPE CHANGE: Grocery list calls for this to be made using instant ramen / dried noodles because of long shelf life (recipe calls for fresh noodles). Also grocery list accounts for double batch to serve 5 (recipe as written serves 2 – 3).
13. Salmon Patties
Who knew you could make something so amazing with CANNED salmon!!?
Subs: Try this with any canned fish, especially tuna! Skip the fresh dill if you don’t have it, just add 1 tsp of any dried herbs you have.
14. Baked Spaghetti
A vision that makes me weak in the knees…
Subs: Make this with any pasta, and any ground/mince meat.
15. Mexican Beef Rice Casserole
This is how you take a packet of beef mince (ground beef) and a cup of rice and turn it into an amazing dinner.
Subs: Any ground/mince meat, any diced veg! Only rule – no skimping on the CHEESE 😉
Grocery List
I’ve combined the ingredients for all the above recipes into one consolidated grocery list. You can even browse the big matrix I used to calculate the totals and check the formulas I used to convert the ingredients into different metrics! 😂
Click here to download and print the grocery list
I hope you find this Menu Plan useful! If there’s enough demand, I’ll prepare another one which is more adult focussed – more worldly foods, more exciting flavours. (Think – Chicken Shawarma, Indian Chickpea Curry, Lamb Koftas etc)
And lastly, you might also find this useful – my gold tips for food stocking for Coronavirus. Sensible suggestions for space saving and cost saving food items.
Stay safe everyone! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
Rest assured the Baked Spaghetti above was subjected to a thorough quality control:
I am cooking for 2 elderly (don’t feel elderly but apparently I fit the description). I am trying to batch cook and freeze individual portions. Hubby is good at many things, but cooking isn’t one of them. I want to have meals that both of us can easily fix in case either gets ill. I am using many of your recipes, meatloaf, meatballs, etc. I am doing your quiche lorraine. Did it before and used you home made crust. I was wonderful. Since I am doing so many meals decided on short cut. Bought a cruse. Couldn’t find short crust frozen. Just bought the two pie crust from dairy section. Won’t mention name in case you don’t allow that. US readers will probably recognize it. My question: Different recipes differ on whether you need to blind bake this crust before adding quiche ingredients. Your thoughts?
Store bought crust in the US? Nope, no need to blind bake but it doesn’t hurt if you do 🙂 Just makes it that tiny bit crispier if you do a brief blind bake – say 10 to 15 minutes at 350F. N x
1350F !!
Lee we all know she meant 350! Come on!
Slip of my fingers!
I also love how you give options for alternatives or substitutions for things I can’t buy here. Another everyday lifesaver!
So glad you found it helpful Megan! I just wish I could make it even more flexible, being able to switch out recipes and scale up or down etc etc… N x
You’re giving away all my secrets! As a working mother your Coronavirus list reads as my every day cooking schedule. Things I always have in the freezer, pantry or fridge. Always a lifesaver even in ‘normal’ times.
Thanks again for some super recipes Nagi! If you do a second series, could you please do recipes that use no mince, pasta or rice? They are so hard to find!
Hi Shanon! This week I’m going to be putting up a live Hotline where people can say what they’ve got and I’ll suggest what to make 🙂 In advance of that, tell me what you have and I’ll tell you what to make! N x
Hi Nagi,
First, thank you for putting this together. I’ve already made my meal plan for the next 2 weeks as I was able to stock up on staples before the shelves were bare. But I’m low on wine. You win some, you lose some.
There’s only one can of coconut milk on your list, but I did have trouble finding some. Here in Canada they sell creamed coconut. It’s a solid (texture a bit like shortening) but can be diluted with water and run through the blender to make a good coconut milk substitute.
I’m going to try your Brazilian chickpeas because we have too many of them and we’re a little tired of my usual recipe.
Low on wine?? Enough to send any mom over the edge….🙀
Thank you Nagi, I’ve loved learning how to make so many new dishes from your website! This menu plan is so helpful and anxiety-reducing, thank you.
Hi Nagi, I just want to commend you on your corona virus initiatives. A lot of us have lost the practical skills that we used to use in the past. Your recipes are fantastic, and your advice is sensible. I have relied on your inspiration since I discovered you a few years ago. You have saved me many times. I love your work and your beautiful dog. I also have multiple sclerosis, and find it very hard to get motivated sometimes. You have helped me more than you will ever know.
Thank you for your lovely message Vicki. I’m sorry to hear about your condition, but it sounds to me like you have a positive outlook and a good head on your shoulders 🙂 I wish you all the best Vicki, and please take extra care of yourself during these times – N x
Nagi, Thank you so much for your meal plan and shopping list. I do a lot of cooking for us and then I also make enough to share with an elderly friend and more if needed. I found this meal plan to give me the road map I needed to keep doing this (during this crazy time). I stock my pantry to cook like I do on a normal basis but this situation has made that difficult to do but I was able to secure the stuff on your list plus other necessities. The list made it so easy to mark off what I had and then what I needed. The recipes are very well done with video’s so if my husband has to cook it’s all there with no guess work. Thank you from me plus all the people who gets to eat the results. !!!!!!
I’m so glad you found it helpful Deborah! N x
As nearly all of my dinner recipes come from your site, I feel confident! I’ve always loved that the staples (listed on your shopping list) can be transformed into so many different dishes depending on the protein. I cannot emphasise enough how your site has transformed me from a 41 year old non-cook to a 43 year old woman who is (bragging here) really quite more than competent.
Buy spices! They are limited here to 2 atm. Tortillas out of stock for the last week, as was mince, but I did shredded beef (no mince around) with your flatbread (Will try wholemeal next). Also a shout out to the sausage roll! Sausage meat sits lonely on the empty shelves…
And falafel, just cause I think it’s your best ever recipe…
Thanks again Nagi, a gem if a woman are you
Aww FALAFEL!!!! I’m SO GLAD you love that recipe. Speaking of which, I made chickpea fritters the other day that tasted like falafels except they were so much easier to make!! Planning to share sometime soon! N x
Thank you so much for this as this is super helpful! I live in Canada and it seems that all the potatoes in my grocery store are all gone, what can i substitute for potatoes in the corn chowder?
Hi Kelly! White beans, pumpkin, sweet potato 🙂 Even PASTA! N x
I cant seem to print out the grocery list
Hi Lee! When you’re viewing the list, click File > Print on your browser. 🙂 N x
these are some great ideas, thank you!!! I have recently made the honey garlic chicken & the honey mustard chicken. both to die for & both super easy!!! thank you Nagi!
Thank you Nagi for being so helpful, foresighted and inspirational. You understand our needs and concerns so well. I’ve enjoyed making and eating several of your recipes. The family loves them!
Stay safe and healthy!
You are so amazing❣️
Hey Nagi
You must be one busy woman!
Thank you so much for all these great tips. Have your website in my favs and your recipies always come through for me.
Love yr work
Maree x
Thank you SO much for the menu planning AND the grocery list. I never know what to cook and you make it so easy. Making food is very comforting. Thank you for making it so easy for all of us.
Thanks Nagi you make me feel so much better, perhaps we will all survive this awful time and come out the other end having learned a bit of resilience! Keep up the good work.
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks Nagi – stay calm and cook!
You’re a lifesaver Nagi! Thank you. I was only thinking the other day of asking you if you had rough templates for a weekly meal plan | grocery list that you could pass our way. If you do, to simplify grocering and not over-buying, would you consider setting one up for those of us who stumble big time with shopping lists! Hugs, Heather x
All these recipes look and sound delicious 😋 what’s even better is I should be able to source all the ingredients needed (might take a few trips to the shop as the limits are imposed). I have printed it all out and look forward to cooking some tasty meals, hubby might appreciate too. Thanks for your helpfulness