Free Summer Meal Plan (with recipes)
I have taken to meal planning a month at a time. It’s a bit of a challenge upfront, but then the work is done and I don’t have to think about it again for another month. I enjoy meal planning, but I know it’s a struggle for a lot of people, so I started sharing my plans on my Instagram Stories. And now I am sharing a printable summer meal plan for you to use however you like.
First a few notes about my meal planning. I only plan dinners. Breakfasts are also somewhat planned, but more of a rotational schedule than a real plan, and lunches fluctuate between leftovers or simple things like sandwiches, salads, or snack plates.
I like to keep meals fairly simple. Most of the time I’m only really cooking the main dish and the sides are either cooked along with that dish or are things like fresh fruit, fermented vegetables, or salads. I try not to complicate my evenings too much by making involved meals.
Here are some tips I use to make my life easier:
I like to double up on things and freeze the extras for future meals. For example, chili can be made as a double batch and then frozen. The same goes for tortillas, pizza dough, taco meat, etc… It’s just as easy to make a double batch of something as it is to make a single batch.
If you don’t feel like making your own bread products, Organic Bread of Heaven makes excellent sourdough rolls, hot dog buns, tortillas, pizza crusts, etc… They ship directly to you!
We try to eat ferments daily. Sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, pickles, sour cream, kombucha, etc… these are great options for ferments. Sometimes I make my own, and sometimes I buy them. If you buy them, look for latco-fermented veggies (they will have salt as an ingredient and not vinegar), and make sure they are not pressure canned, or heated in any way. They should be in the refrigerated section, not shelf-stable. Bubbies is a good, national brand.
Condiments - make your own or be very aware of ingredients. When you’re making salad dressings that have a mayonnaise in the dressing, either make your own mayonnaise, or use one that doesn’t have seed oils. Primal Kitchen has one with good ingredients.
To make bone broth rice, just replace the cooking water with bone broth. It’s that easy.
I always plan a leftovers day and a wild card day. Often we eat leftovers for lunches or freeze them, but we also have a specific day to eat up whatever needs to be eaten and give me a break from cooking. Oftentimes thats a full smorgasbord meal of all the bits of leftovers. The wild card day is to leave room for eating out, ordering in, or going to someone’s house for dinner.
With salads, we like to put all the options out and allow everyone to make up their own, that way the kids aren’t put out by all the components mixed up and they get just what they want arranged however they want.
Anytime we eat pasta we are using Jovial, Organic Bread of Heaven or a homemade sourdough pasta.
You can sneak liver into pretty much any ground beef dish! You will boost your nutrient score and no one will know. All you do is grind up raw or cooked liver in the food processor and freeze it in cubes. Then add a cube or two to the pan when you’re browning your meat.
A lot of these recipes are recipes I intend to rewrite with my own versions and add them to this blog. But until that is done, I have linked the best ones I can find and have noted my substitutions and changes. As I add more and more recipes to this blog, I will update this list with those recipes.
Recipes
Some of these require a bit of tweaking to match my food standards, but that’s okay. You can either follow the recipe as is, make it work within your family’s food philosophy, or use my notes and make it how I would.
BBQ pulled pork - recipe from Good Housekeeping
Hamburger salad - recipe from Real Ballanced (the only change I make here is using honey in the dressing)
Grilled chicken wraps - just grill up some chicken, add some veggies, a dressing, and maybe some bacon to a sourdough tortilla, and call it a meal!
Cashew chicken - recipe from Whole Kitchen Sink (we use “crispy” cashews, these have been soaked and dehydrated to reduce anti-nutrients)
Sourdough pizza - recipe from Butter for All (double this recipe for future meals! add whatever pizza toppings you want)
Burgers and hot dogs - buy good quality meat, add whatever toppings you like, it’s a simple meal.
Buffalo chicken salad - recipe from Delish
Ground beef tacos - this recipe from Raising Generation Nourished is great for adding loads of veggies to simple tacos. (We like to use sourdough tortillas or nixtamalized corn tortillas)
Breakfast for dinner - sourdough waffle recipe from Butter for All. (For smoothies we usually add raw milk kefir, frozen bananas and other fruit, sometimes steamed greens or veggies, raw egg yolks, collagen powder, etc… this free smoothie printable from Weelicious is fabulous for ideas and getting the kids involved!)
Homemade hamburger helper - recipe from Countryside Cravings
Homemade fish sticks - recipe from Raising Generation Nourished
Rainbow salad - this is simple, have your kids help pick out fruits and veggies of all colors and allow everyone to make up their own salads with those rainbow colors. Add things like crispy nuts or seeds, grilled chicken, boiled eggs, cooked chickpeas, and homemade dressing.
Taco pizza - use sourdough pizza crust or tortillas as the “crust” then top it with refried beans, taco meat or chicken, cheese, jalapeños, peppers, onions, etc… then bake until the cheese is melted. Once out of the oven top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, curdito, etc…
Spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken with pasta or spaghetti squash - recipe from Cafe Delites (I would use full-fat cream cheese, and probably add bone broth, more spinach, and maybe sun-dried tomatoes to the cream sauce)
Crock pot Asian pork - recipe from Joyous Apron (for the pork, substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce, and coconut sugar for the brown sugar. Then stir-fry whatever veggies are in season or you have on hand)
Chili - recipe from For Nutrient’s Sake! Sourdough cornbread - recipe from The Gingered Nest (I would leave out the maple syrup, but thats because I’m a southern girl at heart and cornbread shouldn’t be sweet)
Greek pasta salad - recipe from Food Network (use Jovial pasta, and add chick peas and maybe even chicken)
Green chicken enchiladas - recipe from Modern Proper
Meatball subs - recipe from Gimme Some Oven (use sourdough breadcrumbs instead of panko, use buns from Organic Bread of Heaven or make your own, top with mozzarella or provolone cheese)
Crockpot Cuban mojo pork - recipe from Dinner then Dessert (use ghee instead of canola oil, don’t use corn starch or use arrowroot powder instead) Curdito - recipe from Feasting at Home
Sausages on the grill - buy good quality sausages and grill ‘em up!
Grilled chicken Caesar salad - grill up some chicken, and put it on your favorite lettuce with some parmesan cheese, and this amazing dressing (or buy the Primal Kitchen bottled dressing) Sometimes we like to punch up our Caesar salads with jalapeños, crunchy cheese crisps, avocado, bacon, hard boiled eggs, etc…
Loaded sheet pan nachos - recipe from Raising Generation Nourished
Maple-glazed salmon - recipe from All Recipes (use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce)
Cowboy casserole - recipe from The Southern Lady Cooks
