How to Plan a Full Week of Meals Using Addme Products

The question that costs Nigerian families the most time every week is not "how do I cook this?" It is "what do I cook tonight?"

That question appears seven times a week. Sometimes twice a day. And without a plan, the answer is almost always found under pressure, with limited time, at the end of an already exhausting day.

A weekly meal plan removes that question entirely. You decide once, at the start of the week, what goes on the table each night. You buy everything in one market run. You do your batch cooking on Saturday or Sunday. And from Monday to Friday, dinner is already answered before you even get home.

This blog gives you a complete 7-day dinner plan built around Addme Noodlemate, Addme Pastamate, Addme Ricemate, and Addme Seasoning. You will also get a shopping list, a weekend prep guide, and tips for making the whole system stick week after week.

Why Nigerian Families Need a Meal Plan

Nigerian homes carry a heavy daily food load. Three meals a day, for a family of four or five people, seven days a week, means 21 meal decisions every week. Add school lunch, snacks, and weekend cooking and the number grows even more.

Without a plan, those decisions get made by default. The pantry decides. The traffic decides. The tiredness decides. And the result is often plain noodles again, or takeout, or a meal that was thrown together in 20 minutes because there was nothing else ready.

A meal plan does not solve every problem. But it removes the decision fatigue, which is the part that actually costs the most energy. When you already know what is for dinner, half the cooking battle is already won.

The four benefits Nigerian families consistently report from meal planning:

• Less money spent on last-minute market runs and takeout.
• Less food wasted because you bought exactly what you needed.
• Less mental energy spent deciding what to cook after a long day.
• More consistent meals, which means a better-fed, better-nourished family.

The Nigerian food timetable has always existed in this culture. Mothers have pinned meal schedules to their kitchen walls for generations. This is just that same idea, updated for a modern kitchen with products that make execution easier.

How Addme Products Fit Into a Weekly Meal Plan

Every Addme product was designed to anchor a meal type quickly and reliably. Here is where each one lives in a weekly plan.

Each product fills a different night. Together, they cover the whole week without repetition, without long cooking sessions, and without the "what are we eating?" panic.

The 7-Day Addme Dinner Plan

This plan is built for a family of four. Adjust quantities up if you have a larger household. Every dinner is planned around an Addme product as the main component, paired with a simple side that takes no extra effort or uses what is already in your fridge from the weekend batch.

Saturday: Batch Cook Day (The Week's Foundation)

Dinner: Jollof Rice with Addme Ricemate, served with fried chicken

Addme product: Addme Ricemate + Addme Seasoning Powder

Cook time: 30  minutes (this is your one big cook of the week)

What to batch cook today: Make a large pot of tomato stew or any soup of choice. Boil and season one full kilo of chicken or beef using Addme Seasoning Powder. Cook a full pot of jollof rice with the Ricemate pack. Store extra stew and protein in labeled containers in the fridge or freezer. This Saturday session funds the whole week. Read more: Workers' Day Special: How to Meal Prep So Work Week Dinners Take Zero Effort.

Sunday: Relaxed Family Dinner

Dinner: Coconut Rice with Addme Ricemate, served with Chicken turkey or fish.

Addme product: Addme Ricemate + Addme Seasoning Powder for your protein 

Cook time: 35 to 40 minutes

How to use Ricemate for coconut rice: Parboil your rice, Add 500gm of water then  add 8 tablespoons of groundnut oil to the water, add the sauce mix and veggies from the addme ricemate pack. Serve with any protein. No extra ingredients needed. Read the full recipe: How to Cook Jollof Rice with Vegetables Using Addme Ricemate.

Monday: Fast Weeknight Dinner

Dinner: Noodles with Addme noodlemate and fried eggs

Addme product: Addme Noodlemate Chicken

Cook time: Under 10 minutes

Why Monday is a noodle night: Monday is usually the most exhausting day of the week. Coming home after the first day back to work is not the time for a complex cook. Boil water, add your noodles, add your favourite pack of addme either ( Classic, chicken or crayfish) addme noodlemate. You can also fry your eggs with any addme variants to include fresh veggies, and dinner is served. The protein and vegetables are already inside the pack. Nothing extra needed.

Tuesday: Use Your Batch Prep

Dinner: Rice and Stew from the Saturday batch, with pre-cooked protein

Addme product: Addme Seasoning Powder (used during Saturday prep)

Cook time: 10 minutes to warm and serve

How this works: Your stew and protein are already cooked and stored from Saturday. Cook fresh white rice, use addme Seasoning either (Chicken or beef) to make your stew and sauce your  protein. Addme seasoning gives you good options to choose to from to add the amazing aroma and taste to your stew. 

Wednesday: Pasta Night

Dinner: Addme Pastamate Red Sauce with spaghetti

Addme product: Addme Pastamate Red Sauce

Cook time: Under 15 minutes

Pastamate Red Sauce: Cook your spaghetti until just tender. Drain. Pour the Pastamate Red Sauce mix and veggie mix, add 8 tablespoons of oil  directly into the pasta pot over heat and stir through. The chicken chunks, bell pepper, tomato, and chili all come in the pack. One pack feeds four people. Dinner is done before most people finish watching the news. Read more: Addme Pastamate: The Perfect Mate for Every Pasta Dish. 

Thursday: Addme noodlemate crayfish with beans 

Dinner:      Beans with addme noodlemate crayfish 

Addme product: Addme Noodlemate Crayfish

Cook time: Under 30 minutes

Upgrade this bowl: Cook your beans until soft, Rehydrate addme noodlemate crayfish with warm water, use 5-6 packs for your beans.  The deep crayfish flavor of the Noodlemate Crayfish variant makes this feel like something that took long, even though the whole thing took 30  minutes. You can enjoy your beans with bread, garri or enjoy the beans without any added side.

Friday: Something Special to End the Week

Dinner: Addme Pastamate White Sauce with pasta 

Addme product: Addme Pastamate White Sauce

Cook time: Under 15 minutes

Why White Sauce on Friday: Addme Pastamate White Sauce has a creamy, mild flavor with chicken chunks, sweet corn, carrot, and chili pepper. It feels more indulgent than a weeknight meal usually does. Serve it with garlic bread if you have it, or sliced plantain on the side. After five days of work, the family deserves a dinner that feels a little more celebratory without requiring any extra effort.

The Full Week at a Glance

Your Weekly Shopping List

This covers everything you need for the 7-day dinner plan above. Shop for these on Saturday morning before you start cooking.

Addme Products (Order at shop.addme.ng)

• Addme Noodlemate Chicken -- 2 packs (for Monday and any top-up night)
• Addme Noodlemate Crayfish -- 1 pack (Thursday)
• Addme Pastamate Red Sauce -- 1 pack (Wednesday)
• Addme Pastamate White Sauce -- 1 pack (Friday)
• Addme Ricemate -- 2 packs (Saturday jollof + Sunday coconut rice)
• Addme Seasoning Powder -- 1 pack (for the Saturday batch cook and rice water through the week)

Fresh and Pantry Staples

• Long grain parboiled rice -- 1-2  derica  for Sunday jollof, more for Monday  and Tuesday
• Spaghetti or penne pasta -- for Wednesday and Friday
• Protein: 1 kg chicken or beef (for Saturday batch cook)
• Fish: for Sunday coconut rice
• Fresh tomatoes (4 medium), bell pepper (1), scotch bonnet (1 to 2) -- for jollof base
• Tomato paste -- 2 tablespoons for jollof
• Onions -- 3 medium
• Vegetable oil -- enough for frying and stew
• Eggs -- 6 (for Monday noodle egg, Thursday noodle egg, and any extras)
• Beans , palm oil salt  -- a small bunch for Thursday
• Spring onions -- for garnish across the week
• Salt and any additional spices for the batch cook (curry, thyme, bay leaves)

Order Addme products in advance: Place your Addme order at shop.addme.ng on Friday so everything arrives before Saturday. Free delivery on all orders means no extra market trip needed for the Addme products

The Saturday Prep Session: How to Do It in 3 Hours

This is the key session that makes the whole week possible. It is four to five hours of cooking that buys you a five-night week of easy dinners.

Hour 1: Season and Start the Protein

Portion your chicken or beef. Season everything with Addme Seasoning Powder, salt, curry, thyme, and onion. Put it all in a pot with a small amount of water and start boiling. Set this to cook while you work on other things. The meat will be done by the time the jollof is ready.

Hour 1 to 2: Make the Jollof Base

Blend your tomatoes, bell pepper, scotch bonnet, and onion. Drain or sieve the excess water. Fry the blended tomatoes in oil for 15 to 20 minutes until the oil rises. Add your stock, seasoning, curry, thyme, and bay leaves. Taste and adjust. This is the jollof base for Saturday dinner.

Hour 2 to 3: Cook the Jollof Rice With Ricemate

Add your washed rice to the fried tomato base. Open the Addme Ricemate pack and pour the contents directly into the pot with the rice. Stir, seal with foil and lid, cook on low heat for 25 to 30 minutes. While the rice cooks, fry or grill your batch-cooked chicken in the same oil used for cooking the meat.

After Cooking: Store Everything Properly

• Portion the leftover stew into containers. Label and refrigerate or freeze.
• Portion the leftover protein into meal-sized containers. Refrigerate or freeze.
• Store leftover rice in a covered container in the fridge for use on Tuesday.
• Save all the meat stock. Freeze in small cups for use in noodles and pasta during the week.

Read the full batch cooking system: Workers' Day Special: How to Meal Prep So Work Week Dinners Take Zero Effort.

Tips to Make Your Weekly Meal Plan Actually Work

Plan on Friday, Shop on Saturday Morning

Decide the week's meals on Friday evening when you can see the week ahead. Saturday morning is the best time to shop because markets are fully stocked and you are not yet tired from the week. By Saturday afternoon, the cooking is done and the week is handled.

Keep Your Addme Pantry Stocked

Running out of a Noodlemate or Pastamate pack mid-week defeats the purpose of the plan. Order enough Addme products to cover at least two weeks at a time so you always have a backup. Addme.ng  delivers free to your door, so a standing weekly or fortnightly order is the simplest way to stay stocked.

Build in One Flexible Night

Every plan should have one flexible night. In the plan above, Tuesday uses the Saturday batch, which is built-in flexibility. If the batch runs out or the family wants something different, that is the night to improvise, order in, or use a Noodlemate Classic as a backup. Do not make every night rigid.

Rotate the Addme  Noodlemate Variants Week by Week

Using Noodlemate Chicken every Monday and Noodlemate Crayfish every Thursday is a starting point, not a rule. Rotate the variants across weeks to keep the variety. Swap Crayfish for Classic when the family wants something lighter. Try the Chicken variant in a noodle omelette one week. The three variants give you different eating experiences without changing the planning structure. Read the full variant breakdown: Noodlemate Classic vs Chicken vs Crayfish: Which Should You Buy?.

Let the Plan Repeat

The most effective meal plans are ones that repeat. The Nigerian food timetable tradition works because it removes weekly decision-making entirely. Once you have a week that works, run it for a month. Adjust one or two things based on what the family liked most and what felt too repetitive. By month two, you have a system.

Teach Children to Expect the Plan

Children who know what is coming for dinner do not spend the afternoon asking. A simple list on the fridge or wall with Monday through Friday dinners written out takes 30 seconds to post and saves hours of "what are we eating?" across the week. The tradition of the food timetable on the kitchen wall is worth keeping

How to Adapt This Plan for Different Households

For a Household Without Children

Reduce quantities across the board. Use one Noodlemate pack for two adults. One Pastamate pack still feeds four, so it gives you leftovers for the next day's lunch. The Saturday batch cook is smaller but still worth doing for the two or three weeknight meals it supports.

For a Larger Household of 6 or More

Double the Noodlemate nights to two packs per meal. For Pastamate nights, one pack works for four; add a side of fried plantain, bread, or coleslaw to extend the meal for a larger table. The Saturday jollof rice pot should be larger and the batch protein should be increased to one and a half kilos minimum.

For a Family With Very Young Children

Use Addme  Noodlemate Chicken or Classic for the children's portions and reduce the seasoning sachet to half for children under five.Addme  Pastamate red  Sauce is the most child-friendly pasta variant. For the jollof rice, you only need the tomato base and ground oil with any protein of your choice. More on cooking for children: Children's Day Special: Fun, Quick Noodle Meals Kids Will Actually Love.

For Weeks With Very Little Time

If you did not get to do the Saturday batch cook, fall back entirely on Addme products. Monday to Friday becomes: Noodlemate Chicken, Noodlemate Classic, Pastamate Red, Pastamate White, Noodlemate Crayfish. Five nights, five Addme packs, no batch cook required. The week is still handled. No stress, no takeout

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a meal plan and why does it help Nigerian families?

A meal plan is a schedule of what you will eat for each meal across the week. For Nigerian families, it removes the daily stress of deciding what to cook, reduces last-minute market trips, cuts food waste, and ensures the family eats a balanced variety of meals. The food timetable is a long-standing Nigerian tradition that works on exactly this principle.

How do I start weekly meal planning in Nigeria?

Start by writing down five to seven dinners you want to eat next week. Keep it simple: three meals you know how to cook, plus two or three Addme products for the faster nights. Make one market trip on Saturday, batch cook your soups and proteins, and store everything in labeled containers. The first week is the hardest. By the third week it feels automatic.

Can I plan a full week of dinners using only Addme products?

Yes. Noodlemate Chicken, Noodlemate Crayfish, Noodlemate Classic, Pastamate Red Sauce, Pastamate White Sauce, and Ricemate give you six distinct dinners without any repetition. Add Addme Seasoning Powder to anchor a batch cook night and you have seven. A full week, no overlap, all from addme.ng/category/addme-products.

How many Addme packs do I need for a week for a family of four?

For the 7-day plan in this blog, you need 2 Noodlemate Chicken packs, 1 Noodlemate Crayfish pack, 1 Pastamate Red Sauce pack, 1 Pastamate White Sauce pack, 2 Ricemate packs, and 1 Seasoning Powder pack. That is 8 Addme packs total. Order everything at once at Addme.ng with free delivery.

How long does the Saturday batch cook take?

Three to four hours covers the full Saturday batch cook for the week. That includes seasoning and boiling the protein, making the jollof base, cooking the Ricemate jollof rice, portioning and storing everything. Using multiple burners simultaneously reduces the time significantly.

Can I substitute the days or swap the meals around?

Yes, and you should. The plan above is a starting framework. Swap Pastamate Wednesday to Thursday if Wednesday is busier. Move the batch rice night to Sunday if Saturday is a long day. The key is to decide the swaps at the start of the week, not in the moment when you are already hungry and tired.

What if the family gets bored eating the same plan every week?

Rotate the Noodlemate variants. Swap Pastamate Red Sauce and White Sauce across weeks. Change the protein on the batch cook night between chicken, beef, and fish. Use the Ricemate for jollof one week and coconut rice the next. The structure stays the same but the meals feel different.

Is Addme Ricemate only for jollof rice?

Addme Ricemate helps you enjoy  jollof rice or  coconut rice in minutes. For coconut rice, you only need ground nut oil and 1 pack of addme ricemate. The coconut flavor and vegetable blend well  in all two versions, for the jollof rice you only need your stew base, groundnut oil, and 1 pack of addme.Enjoy your rice with any protein of your choice.  

How do I store the batch cook to keep it fresh all week?

Use airtight containers for everything. Stew and soup last three to four days in the fridge and up to six weeks in the freezer. Cooked proteins last three to four days in the fridge. Cooked rice lasts two to three days in the fridge. Label everything with the day or meal name. Keep the fridge section for meal prep containers separate from other food so you can see at a glance what is available.

Where can I buy all the Addme products for the weekly plan?

Order online at Addme.ng  with free delivery. All Addme products are also available in major supermarkets across Lagos and nigeria including Spar, Shoprite, Justrite, Jendol, Market Square, Blenco, and One Source. Ordering online ensures you have everything before the Saturday cook session begins.

Final Thoughts

A meal plan is one of the most practical things a Nigerian household can have. It does not require special equipment, unusual skills, or extra money. It requires about 30 minutes at the start of each week to think through the plan, one smart market run, and a few hours on Saturday to do the cooking that funds the rest of the week.

Addme products exist to make the fast nights genuinely fast. Not skipped. Not replaced by takeout. Fast. A proper hot meal on the table in under 15 minutes, with protein and vegetables already inside, so the family eats well even when the energy is not there to cook from scratch.

The plan above is a starting point. Adapt it to your family, your budget, and your schedule. Keep what works. Swap what does not. Order your Addme products at Addme.ng  with free delivery and start the week with a plan that actually holds.