August Monthly Meal Plan + Monthly Meal Planner Printable

Hey guys, I’m so excited to try something new this month with my August Monthly Meal Plan. I’ve created a meal plan full of ideas to share with you. While some of these might not be what everyone likes, they may not meet your family’s dietary needs if there is something specific that you eat or don’t eat, and these may not even meet everyone’s standards of what is “healthy”, I feel like this is a pretty legitimate, real family friendly meal plan. It is full of things that we actually eat. I’ll have some thoughts and notes along the way about all of the recipes, so be sure to check those out, too. My goal is to do this every month until we have a whole year of meal ideas to mix and match.

You can scroll down this post to download these free printables for the month of August- a blank one for you to create your own, plus a pre-filled menu for breakfast and dinner for August!

I love these meal planning printables because they are editable, you can type what you want into the blank fields, or print them out and fill them out by hand! I’ve got these over in the shop in 2 sizes and 3 different color styles to choose from!

I’d also like to note that my son is starting Kindergarten this month. We are unsure of whether we will pack lunches indefinitely or buy from school, but for the start, we are packing and I’ve got several ideas saved for lunches. I also stay at home with my toddler, and what I do just to make things easier, is I feed him about the same things that my son will be taking to school. I may even pre-prep his food while I’m prepping my older son’s lunch, just to save time. I sometimes eat the same things as they do, or sometimes I will have leftovers or a sandwich, or even sometimes if I’m feeling it, a salad. I don’t plan my lunches so much as I do theirs.

I am going to go more in-depth into my lunch packing ideas and strategies in another post, and I’ll have a fun printable that you can print and use to plan out your lunch packing. Granted, I could just send sandwiches every day, or whatever my son likes, but I’m kind of challenging myself to give him a variety of things.

August Meal Plan

Breakfast

Okay, so for starters I’ve got breakfast ideas. Typically when I make something like muffins for breakfast, those will last a couple of days. We can eat them 2 days in a row, or we can make something different in between and have them again the next day. My kids aren’t sticklers on eating the same things, or not. If your kids aren’t either, you could very well prep a big batch of muffins and maybe some freezer pancakes on Sunday to get you through the whole week. I typically serve these things with fruit. We like doing fruit for breakfast, and to save on groceries I just buy what is in season, or on sale, usually, those go hand in hand. Here are the ideas I’ve saved.

Eggo Waffle Breakfast Pizza– these are a fun spin on just plain old waffles. We will probably do these once or twice a week!

Scrambled Egg Cups– my older son may eat these, and the baby might surprise me, but I’d likely be prepping these for my husband and I. We typically get up and make breakfast sandwiches, so it would be helpful to pre-make these for the week and then have them with a slice of toast and fruit.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins– these are “skinny” aka a little healthier. These are something I’d pre-make and we would eat on throughout the week.

Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Bites– another great make-ahead option.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins– these would be a fun Friday breakfast that would have leftovers to carry through the weekend as well.

Freezer Waffles and Pancakes– I’ve been wanting to do a big batch of both of these, just to save some money and so that I know what’s in these versions compared to purchasing them at the store. Here’s a great article on how to freeze pancakes and waffles.

Blueberry Pancake Muffins– another great Friday/Weekend breakfast.

Pancake Sausage Bites– perfect to make ahead and serve before school!

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes– also make ahead friendly, a fun twist on plain pancakes.

Pancake and Maple Sausage Sandwich– these are a little more time intensive, so maybe a fun Saturday morning thing. You can make the sausages ahead of time to make the process a little faster. These just looked really yummy and like a fun breakfast to try.

Maple Pecan Banana Bread– I shared this recipe last week and it is so yummy. This is one that I would make on a Monday and we could have again on Tuesday or Wednesday. The whole family likes this bread so it would last 2-3 breakfasts and maybe a snack.

I spread these throughout the month in the printable menu that you can sign up to download below.

Lunches

Okay, so now that you have lots of great breakfast ideas, let’s move onto lunches. I saved a bunch of articles with multiple lunch ideas, some of them are sandwich-free, and just easy guides to putting together lunches if you need ideas. For lunches I’ll probably pick a main from these lists, then add chopped veggies like peppers or cucumbers, plus some fruit, and a cracker of some kind, or maybe one of our pre-prepped muffins or breads from breakfast! Like I mentioned before, the toddler and I will probably have the same thing that I pack for my son’s lunch for school.

30+ Back-to-school Lunch Ideas – these are awesome, she literally has everything on here.

10 Healthy Lunch Ideas– in case you are on the search for some healthy lunch box ideas.

You can get even more great ideas for lunches on my Pinterest board here.

Snacks

I saved a handful of snack ideas. Let’s be honest, afternoons are busy and most days I’ll give my kiddos some crackers and a piece of fruit. But, if you want to get a little creative and fun, here are some ideas.

Healthy Self Serve Snack Ideas– I’m going to be organizing my snack station this weekend and I’m definitely going to have a spot in my fridge and pantry for self-serve snack options.

Caramel Apple Grapes– I love these! Also, if you want to know what is in the caramel, use my homemade caramel recipe. 😉

Make veggies fun with these little veggie cup appetizers (aka snacks), for your kiddos to grab when they come in from school.

These fun PB&J skewers don’t have an official link from Welch’s anymore, but they are self-explanatory and so fun. I wouldn’t do them for lunches because they’d be messy, but for a snack at home they are perfect!

Ok so these are not healthy, but for a fun Friday snack, you could make these Oreo Dirt Cups. My boys love them, of course.

We love snacking on smoothies. Here are some fun make-ahead smoothie packs that you can put together and make afternoon snack time quick and easy.

There are even more fun snack ideas on my Pinterest board here.

Dinners

Okay so for dinners, I’ve picked 15 meals that are either something we already love or something that looks really good that we want to try. I only did 15 because we will probably repeat some of these. Your family may not be down for repeating meals, so you may need to fill in the gaps, but we love to repeat some of our favorites, so that’s how I’ll plan these out. Plus, we are designating Wednesdays for leftovers and Fridays for something out this month. Here are August’s dinner picks.

Broccoli Tortellini Alfredo– I try to do meatless meals here and there to save some money and skip the meat. We’ve not had this but it is similar to the broccoli alfredo I typically prepare.

Shepherd’s Pie– I have my own shepherd’s pie recipe that I need to do for a post here on the blog, but this one is similar, and everyone at our house loves it.

Crockpot Chicken and Gravy– this one we have had, it is good, and we serve it over rice to get a break from the pasta and potatoes, but you can serve it with those, as well.

Slow Cooker Beef Tips and Rice– this is a new one for us that I am excited to try. I try to limit beef recipes to once a week or so, just because it can be expensive.

Crockpot Sausage and Potatoes– I’ve also made this in the oven before- our version is a little different, but this one is close, it is yummy and everyone loves it. We usually also top it with some cheese.

Crock Pot Beef Stew– I’ve been craving some beef stew, and I think August is late enough in the year to start enjoying it. Plus, you can’t beat crock pot. I don’t know that my kids have ever had beef stew, but they do like this type of roasted carrots and potatoes pretty well.

Baked Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken– this recipe definitely needs some sides, I’ll share more below on what we do for extra dinner sides when we need them.

Teriyaki Chicken Bowls– my kiddos aren’t in love with this kind of white rice, but they tear this teriyaki chicken recipe up, it is so yummy.

Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil– we usually grill these, but this recipe is faster and easier for weeknights.

Ranch Pork Chops & Potatoes Sheet Pan Dinner– this is a new one for us, but it looks delicious. We don’t do pork chops often, but sometimes you can get a great deal on bulk packs.

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff– this one is a favorite at our house.

One Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta– this is yummy and my kids dig into it.

Mexican Stuffed Shells– my husband requested these a couple of weeks ago, so they are going into the menu plan. Obviously, we like them. 🙂

Garlic Parmesan Penne Pasta– we love this recipe and there have been times where we’ve had it once a week since it is yummy and everyone gobbles it up. You can use any noodle, it doesn’t have to be penne, and this recipe usually makes a good bit of leftovers.

Here is the full list of recipes saved on a Pinterest board if you’d like to save that.

Again, these are all spaced out and plugged in throughout the month in the downloadable printable, below. It is editable so you can move things or change things, as needed.

Okay, so sides. For things like beef stew, that have carrots and potatoes right in there, I don’t worry about additional sides. However, if I’m making something like the brown sugar chicken, I’ll do a couple of sides- rice/potatoes and a vegetable or two. If it’s something with pasta already in it like stroganoff, we do a couple of vegetables. I try to do frozen over canned and fresh over frozen whenever possible but honestly we just do a mix. Some of my favorite sides, that we usually have ingredients on hand for, are mashed potatoes (obviously), Hasselback potatoes, oven roasted carrots, oven roasted corn on the cob, etc…

There you have it, so super simple.

Here is the full Pinterest board for August meals with recipes and tips and all of that included.

You can sign up for my email list below to get notified of new meal plans and get a blank and a pre-filled version of this monthly meal plan for Breakfasts and Dinners. I’ll let you fill in the lunches one, since everyone has different needs, and then the snacks too if that is something that would help you be more organized.

If you love your printables, you can get my full set of meal planning printables, here!