I’m always looking for ways to simplify meal planning, especially now that I have 3 kids. My summer meal plan worked so well for us that I decided to come up with a fall meal plan as well.
The meal plan is a basic outline of the types of meals I will make each week. I normally go through our planned meals and then try to go another 2-3 days after that before going grocery shopping again. This saves us a lot of money on groceries, and we can always find food to eat for those other days that aren’t planned out.
Details of Our Fall Meal Plan
Here’s what our weekly fall meal plan looks like:
Download the above meal plan here. Otherwise, if you want to download a blank one to write in your own meal ideas, click here.
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Meal Components
Let me delve a bit deeper into some of these meal components, since they’re not specific on the meal plan. I will have a list of these components handy for me each week as I meal plan so that I can easily pick and choose what we want to eat that week.
Many of the ideas below are meals we really like. I usually find my recipes through Pinterest, on various blogs, Allrecipes.com, and occasionally my own cookbooks and family recipes. I have put links where there is a recipe that we have tried and really enjoyed.
Soups (or Chili)
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Creamy Tomato Soup
- Split Pea Soup
- Garbanzo Bean and Tomato Soup
- Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Veggie Soup
- Chili (with cornbread!)
Sandwiches or Wraps
- Chicken salad
- Hoagies
- Tuna
- Meat, cheese, and veggies
- Egg salad
- Sausage
- Meatball
- Grilled cheese
- French dip
- Tuna melts
Fruit
- Fruit salad
- Smoothies
- Fresh fruit
- Fruit cobbler
- {Here are the fruits that are in season this fall}
One Pot Meals (includes casseroles and meals on sheet pans)
- Fried rice (this Very Veggie Fried Rice is excellent!)
- Cornflake Casserole
- Spaghetti
- Alfredo pasta
- Stir-fry
- One Pot Chicken and Potatoes
Veggies
- Green salad with tomatoes and basic vinaigrette
- Tomato Onion Salad
- Pasta salad
- Bean salad
- Quinoa salad
- Roasted veggies
- Steamed veggies
- French fries or oven fries
- Potato salad (or ensalada rusa)
- Sauteed veggies
Slow Cooker Meals
- Slow Cooker Pinto Beans
- Meats
- Sauces
- Any soup
- Pork Carnitas
Super Simple Meals
- PB & J
- Breakfast for dinner
- Quesadillas
- Salad with diced chicken from the freezer and bread
Pressure Cooker Meals
I have to explain this one. I understand not everyone has a pressure cooker. But I just got an Instant Pot*, and I really want to try all kinds of meals in it. It will be great to use it at least once a week for dinner!
- Soup (success!)
- A whole chicken (success!)
- Stew
- Chicken and rice
- Meatloaf
- Chicken fajitas
- Beans
Meat
- Beef
- Chicken
- Pork
- Sausage
- Fish
Starch
- Rice (brown or white)
- Mexican rice
- Coconut rice
- Risotto
- Bread (whole grain)
- Crockpot bread
- French bread pizza
- Breadsticks
- Artisan bread
- Baked potatoes
- Oven fries or french fries
- Crockpot sweet potatoes
- Hash browns
- Pasta salad
- Pesto pasta
- Homemade mac and cheese
- Tortellinis
- Raviolis
International Meals
- Italian pasta
- Tacos/Quesadillas/Burritos/Enchiladas
- Chinese
- Anything Argentine
Pizza
This one’s easy. I will make my Garlic and Oregano Pizza Dough with one of our favorite pizza sauces. I do want to make sure we add veggies on the pizza, so here are some topping ideas:
- Peppers
- Onions
- Artichoke hearts
- Dried tomatoes
- Mushrooms
- Olives
- Basil
- Oregano
- Shrimp
- Bacon
- BBQ chicken
- Sausage
- Ham
- Pepperoni
- Pineapple
- Anchovies (for my dear husband!)
Happy Fall!!
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