Set your family up for easier meals this month with 4 weeks of healthy family meals to share with the kids. Each of these recipes is full of delicious and nutritious ingredients—and uses budget-friendly ingredients too.
Easy Family Meals
Here we are in a new month and I feel right on the line between excitement about all of my kids going back to school (YES!) later this month and also a little bit of sadness that summer is coming to an end. And since I know many of our afternoons—and likely yours—will be spent outside enjoying the weather, this meal plan is here to help.
My goal with my monthly meal plans is to help you use a simple system to plan meals so you are never standing in front of the fridge staring and wondering what to make.
And to offer recipe inspiration for seasonal, yet affordable, ingredients that are appropriate for everyone in the family. I can’t guarantee that each of these will be a hit with your kids, but if you plan to add 1-2 simple sides to most meals, you can approach feeding your family with a little more confidents. (I hope anyway!)
How to Use this Meal Plan
This plan is built on the idea of themes, so there are general categories that rotate throughout the month. This builds in familiarity for the kids and narrows down the decisions that we have to make. Which is so much easier for our brains!
You can use my plan, make your own, or pick and choose as you like. There’s no one right way!
TIP: My Happy Family Meals ebook is a full guidebook with grocery lists, tips, and schedules. Check that out if you need more guidance!
August: Week 1
Make good use of fresh summer produce in this week’s meals and add a side of Roasted Zucchini or boiled sweet corn to any meal.
Breakfast Ideas
Peach Cottage Cheese Smoothie
This simple cottage cheese smoothie is easy to make and is super creamy without many ingredients. You can even share it with your kiddo! Be sure to blend it very well to ensure the creamiest texture.
Peach Cottage Cheese Smoothie
Overnight Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Stir together this wholesome Blueberry Baked Oatmeal before bed, pop it into the oven when you wake up, and enjoy a hearty bowl of oatmeal with the family without any standing by the stove and stirring. Plus: It reheats so well. Adapted from Brown Eggs and Jam Jars.
Overnight Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Healthy Zucchini Muffins (Vegan)
With an easy method (no squeezing the zucchini required!) and super moist results, these healthy Zucchini Muffins are a yummy breakfast or snack (that you'll enjoy too!). They happen to be vegan and they store well for days.
Healthy Zucchini Muffins (Vegan)
Lunch Ideas
Easy Mac and Cheese Bites (Mac and Cheese Cups)
Learn how to make quick and easy Mac and Cheese Bites for an easy kids lunch or dinner. These bites are fun and a nutritious kids meal that can easily double as an appetizer! You can even add in veggies like broccoli for the most delicious mac and cheese cups.
Easy Mac and Cheese Bites (Mac and Cheese Cups)
Easy Spinach Quesadillas
Try these healthy Spinach Quesadillas for an easy kids meal or family dinner. These are easy to make, perfect to make ahead, and a nice way to serve spinach to kids packaged in a familiar food!
Easy Spinach Quesadillas
Favorite Yogurt Muffins
This is an epic of a basic muffin recipe that you can then add flavor to in all sorts of ways—from fruit to veggies to chocolate chips. The batter is packed with protein too, so the muffins are great for breakfast or snack. (The allergy-friendly substitutions are listed in the Notes section at the bottom.)
Favorite Yogurt Muffins
TIP: You can find all of my best lunches for school here, whether that’s daycare, preschool, or big kid school.
Snack Ideas
Best Vanilla Milk
You can cut this recipe in half to make a smaller ½ cup serving.
Best Vanilla Milk
Homemade Frozen Yogurt
Blend two nutritious ingredients into a thick and creamy treat to share with the kids! Double this to make additional servings.
Homemade Frozen Yogurt
Easy Fruit Cups
Transform diced fruit into delicious homemade fruit cups that rival store-bought in terms of flavor and cost. You can make more cups or less, according to your preference.
Easy Fruit Cups
Dinners
Easy Zucchini Burgers
Stretch your ground beef and add a veggie right into moist burger patties with this simple family dinner recipe.
Easy Zucchini Burgers
Easy Pasta with Summer Squash
With just a few ingredients and a super simple method, you can serve up this yummy pasta with summer squash dinner to everyone at the table. It's ready in under 30 minutes and is versatile, too.
Easy Pasta with Summer Squash
Easy Breakfast Burritos
With just 4 simple ingredients, these easy Breakfast Burritos can be made ahead and reheated, or made in minutes and served right away. They're a protein-packed breakfast to share with the kids.
Easy Breakfast Burritos
Best Healthy Mini Meatballs
Classic Italian meatballs with kale tucked inside to help toddlers eat their greens! (You can of course use the more traditional parsley instead of kale if you prefer.)
Best Healthy Mini Meatballs
Quick Teriyaki Shrimp with Zucchini and Rice
We like this with rice or rice noodles, but you can adjust how you serve it to fit your family!
Quick Teriyaki Shrimp with Zucchini and Rice
Favorite Pizza Rolls (with Veggies)
This Pizza Rolls recipe is packed with nutrition—and even greens!—but the cheese, and silly spiral shape makes them much more appeal to toddlers and big kids. Be sure to grease your pan well and roll the dough up fairly tightly around the fillings for best results. (But it's okay if they don't look perfect when they go into the pan!)
Favorite Pizza Rolls (with Veggies)
Easy Stuffed Peppers Skillet
You can use whichever type of rice your family likes best. We rotate through short grain brown rice, basmati, and jasmine. Adults may want to top their portions with shredded fresh basil and/or crushed red pepper.
Easy Stuffed Peppers Skillet
Week 2
Breakfast Ideas
Easy Carrot Cake Oatmeal
With the flavors of carrot cake, this Carrot Cake Oatmeal is a favorite breakfast to share with the kids. It's a good source of whole grains, fiber, and yummy flavor.
Easy Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Easy Strawberry Banana Bread
Bursting with fruit and the moistness you expect from a classic loaf, this lower-sugar Strawberry Banana Bread is a seriously delicious breakfast or snack to share with the kids.
Easy Strawberry Banana Bread
Strawberry Smoothie with Veggies
With simple ingredients, six flavor variations, and one easy method, this Strawberry Smoothie recipe is a nutritious breakfast or snack.
Strawberry Smoothie with Veggies
Easy Kids Lunches
Mac and Cheese with Peas (Fav Shortcut Toddler Meal)
With an easy method and a yummy, satisfying result, this quick toddler meal is one of our go-to shortcut kids meals.
Mac and Cheese with Peas (Fav Shortcut Toddler Meal)
Easy Turkey Wrap Recipe
Roll up a few simple ingredients to make this delicious Turkey Wrap recipe in minutes. It's a great lunch wrap for home or school, and you can easily adjust the ingredients to suit the preferences of your child. This makes one wrap, so scale up as desired.
Easy Turkey Wrap Recipe
DIY Pizza Lunchables
Have more fun with lunch with this super quick and easy Pizza Lunchable idea. It's one of our favorite copycat recipes that makes it less expensive to recreate Lunchables at home…that you can even customize!
DIY Pizza Lunchables
Snack Ideas
No-Bake Chocolate Granola Bars
With about 10 minutes of prep time, you can make the most delicious homemade granola bars to last for many snack times to come. These bars are easiest to slice after chilling a bit, so plan to let them firm up in the fridge before you cut them.
No-Bake Chocolate Granola Bars
Easy Fruit-on-the-Bottom Yogurt
Learn how to make the best fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt with all kinds of fruit flavors—and with less sugar and for less money than buying it at the store. Scale this up or down according to how many servings you're planning to make. The directions here are for one small toddler-size serving.
Easy Fruit-on-the-Bottom Yogurt
Master Trail Mix Recipe
Mix and match ingredients to customize this mix for your kids.
Master Trail Mix Recipe
Dinners
Crispy Baked Tofu Nuggets (SO Good and Easy)
Tofu is typically sold in 14-16 ounce blocks. If yours is 16 ounces, you may need 1 ¼ cup panko. The garlic powder is optional, but adds nice flavor.
Crispy Baked Tofu Nuggets (SO Good and Easy)
Easy Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes
This slow cooker tomato sauce method is the easiest way to transform fresh tomatoes into delicious sauce. Scale the recipe up or down for a smaller or larger slow cooker. You don't have to be precise! And the chopped tomatoes can be very roughly chopped.
Easy Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes
Sheet Pan Black Bean Quesadillas
These easy quesadillas can be made with pumpkin puree, sweet potato puree, or butternut squash puree. You can also skip it and just go with beans and cheese! I make these as half moon shapes since it helps contain the mess a little when feeding these to kids.
Sheet Pan Black Bean Quesadillas
Easy Cheesy Rice (with Veggies!)
This Cheesy Rice recipe has four options to add in veggies and has been a staple of my family's diet for a few years now. It's SO easy and versatile—and stores wonderfully in the fridge. And it's downright delish!
Easy Cheesy Rice (with Veggies!)
Easiest Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
With just two ingredients, you can cook up deliciously moist and tender Instant Pot BBQ Chicken to use over noodles or rice or in sandwiches. So easy—and ready in about 20 minutes!
Easiest Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Fluffy Zucchini Pancakes
These fluffy pancakes are a yummy way to serve vegetables for breakfast and use up zucchini should you find yourself with extra. These can be served plain or with a side of yogurt or applesauce to babies and younger eaters, or with maple syrup—they are very versatile!
Fluffy Zucchini Pancakes
Week 3
Breakfast Recipes
Favorite Yogurt Drinks
Learn how to make homemade Yogurt Drinks to save money, customize them just for your kids, and make a nutritious breakfast or snack to share with the kids in under 5 minutes. See the Notes at the end for flavor options.
Favorite Yogurt Drinks
How to Make Oatmeal with Fruit
The base recipe makes a large amount so you can use it throughout the week. Feel free to cut it in half to make less, or just make one serving at a time using the instructions in the NOTES section below.
How to Make Oatmeal with Fruit
Best 2-Ingredient Baby Pancakes
Blend up a fruit or veggie with an egg for the fluffiest, easiest, healthy baby pancakes. These use just 2 ingredients, have four flavor options, and are a perfect texture for both babies and toddlers. See the NOTES at the bottom for the flavor variations.
Best 2-Ingredient Baby Pancakes
Lunch Ideas
Easy Taco Roll Ups
This super simple riff on tacos takes just minutes to make, is really satisfying, and is great for lunch, dinner, or even snack. (This makes 6 rolled-up tacos, so you can adjust this as needed for your family.)
Easy Taco Roll Ups
Easy Kale Pesto
Try this healthy pesto with your favorite pasta or in place of pizza sauce on pizza! It's a kid-friendly way to serve up kale, and you don't have to worry about it turning brown if you store it.
Easy Kale Pesto
Best Banana Yogurt
This recipe make enough for 2-4 servings of yogurt, depending on the appetite of your child. See the Notes at the bottom for storage tips if you have leftovers. You can also cut the recipe in half to make a smaller amount.
Best Banana Yogurt
Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
Loaded with whole grains and protein, these healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins are a really great standard recipe to turn to whenever you're in the mood!
Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
Snack Ideas
Fresh Watermelon Sorbet
Transform fresh watermelon into the most refreshing sorbet with one simple technique. It's a great dessert or hydration strategy to share with the kids!
Fresh Watermelon Sorbet
Easiest Animal Crackers Recipe
If you use larger cookie cutters, you may need to bake on the longer end of the baking time—and mini cookie cutters on the shorter end. This makes a relatively small batch, so double it if you want extras to last all week!
Easiest Animal Crackers Recipe
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Super moist and packed with zucchini, these Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins are great for breakfast or snack.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Dinner
Serve any of these with a simple side of fresh summer fruit to round things out.
Easy Baked Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties)
These tender fish cakes make a quick and easy pantry meal when you haven’t planned ahead for dinner. Recipe updated slightly to ensure moistness in June 2021.
Easy Baked Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties)
Easy Spaghetti with Sausage and Green Beans
Finish the adult servings (and more adventurous kid plates!) with a squeeze of fresh lemon and maybe crushed red pepper. Note that you’ll want to reserve some of the cooking water, so plan to take some out in a cup before you drain the pasta!
Easy Spaghetti with Sausage and Green Beans
Slow Cooker Chicken and Bean Tacos
With a short ingredient list and a veggie-loaded sauce, these Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos are such a delicious family meal. (You can even make it in the Instant Pot for dinner in just 25 minutes.)
Slow Cooker Chicken and Bean Tacos
Easy Carrot Hummus
Taste the hummus and adjust for salt as needed. You may need more depending on whether or not you started with canned beans, and sometimes after the hummus sits in the fridge, it needs another sprinkle of salt.
Easy Carrot Hummus
Vegan Tomato Soup (5-Ingredients!)
Taste the soup after pureeing and add a little more salt if needed. The sweet potato adds creaminess without dairy—and so much flavor!
Vegan Tomato Soup (5-Ingredients!)
Italian Lentils with Rice
We like this with rice, but you can also serve this with pasta if you prefer.
Italian Lentils with Rice
10-Minute Flatbread Pizza (Just 3 Ingredients!)
For delicious homemade pizza without the work and in a lot less time, Flatbread Pizza to the rescue. Adjust this for allergies as you need.
10-Minute Flatbread Pizza (Just 3 Ingredients!)
Week 4
Breakfast Ideas
Baked Banana French Toast Sticks
You can use any sliced bread that you like. I typically use whole grain or sourdough. You can also bake full slices of bread, then cut into sticks with kitchen scissors. See Notes for allergy-substitutions.
Baked Banana French Toast Sticks
Easy Overnight Oats with Applesauce
You can easily double (or triple!) the recipe to make more servings. It uses a 1 to 1 ratio of yogurt to applesauce so you can easily scale it up. Mix these up the night before you plan to serve them.
Easy Overnight Oats with Applesauce
Best Chocolate Smoothie (with Veggies!)
Be sure to blend this super smooth for the best texture. Use any or none of the optional ingredients. See the Notes for how to make this with regular milk.
Best Chocolate Smoothie (with Veggies!)
Lunch Ideas
Cheesy Baked Kale Bites
You can use curly kale or flat kale in this recipe—both work well.
Cheesy Baked Kale Bites
Easy Egg Cups (with Zucchini and Cheese)
Feel free to double the recipe to make a full 24 mini muffins! We like to stash these in the fridge to eat all week, so having more is usually helpful in our house.
Easy Egg Cups (with Zucchini and Cheese)
Quick Sandwich Roll Ups (2-Minute School Lunch)
Pair a soft sandwich bread with your filling of choice to make this easy toddler lunch or school lunch. You can even make them the night before.
Quick Sandwich Roll Ups (2-Minute School Lunch)
Snack Ideas
Corn Muffins with Yellow Squash and Raisins
You can sub in regular zucchini squash if that’s what you have on hand, though it won’t blend in as seamlessly!
Corn Muffins with Yellow Squash and Raisins
Easy Peach Sauce
Transform fresh (or frozen) peaches into the most delicious peach sauce with this simple method. It's a delicious fruit puree to share with a baby or toddler that you can serve on its own or mixed with yogurt or oatmeal.
Easy Peach Sauce
Favorite Peach Crisp Recipe
This crisp recipe feeds a crowd and it’s one of my go-to party desserts. You can always cut the amounts in half and use a 9-inch pie plate to make a crisp that serves about 6.
Favorite Peach Crisp Recipe
Dinner Ideas
Try serving some of these meals family style to give the kids the chance to decide what to put onto their plates.
Easy Ratatouille with Pasta
This recipe makes enough for two meals. You can cut it in half if desired, but I like to make the larger batch and keep half in the freezer for a future meal—it's the same amount of cooking effort, so why not!
Easy Ratatouille with Pasta
Baked Sheet Pan Nachos
These Baked Sheet Pan Nachos have a tender potato base and are topped with black beans, cheese, salsa and veggies. They're a total family dinner hit. (You can add some of the ingredients to some of the areas—leaving the spinach off, adding more salsa or spice—to customize for everyone at the table.)
Baked Sheet Pan Nachos
Homemade Chicken Nuggets (with Sweet Potato)
Crispy on the outside and tender in the middle, these Homemade Chicken Nuggets are both easy and delicious. You can prep the sweet potato up to 5 days ahead if that's easier for you, too. Try serving these with ketchup, ranch, or marinara sauce.
Homemade Chicken Nuggets (with Sweet Potato)
Quick and Easy Sesame Tofu
This simple pan-fried Sesame Tofu is a perfect match for sauteed veggies and rice, or pasta, or even potatoes and roasted veggies!
Quick and Easy Sesame Tofu
Sesame Green Beans
With flavors of garlic, ginger, and soy, Sesame Green beans are a fast side dish for busy weeknights. You can prep the beans ahead and cook them up in less than 15 minutes. And: They're SO good.
Sesame Green Beans
Fresh Apple Pancakes
These apple pancakes are hearty and filled with freshly shredded apples and oats, so expect them to have a lot of texture!
Fresh Apple Pancakes
Related Recipes
If there’s something that would be helpful, or you’d like to see more of specific types of recipes, please let me know below in the comments!
This meal plan has been a serious game changer these last four weeks. Thank you for your easy, flavorful, and adaptable recipes!
I’m so glad!