This April meal plan has a full month of ideas for easy, homemade family-friendly dinners. Includes a free printable PDF calendar with each day’s menu idea for easy planning.
Earlier this year, I started a new feature here on Family Food on the Table with my January meal plan and February meal plan followed by the March meal plan. Each one gives you an entire month’s worth of recipe ideas for easy, healthy family dinners.
(And there are also the May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December meal plans.)
I myself love to menu plan and schedule out our meals.
It does not feel like a chore at all, and I really do enjoy it. I think it’s the type A scheduler in me coming out in full force.
If you’re interested, I’ve got a whole post of my official guide to meal planning, with all my tips and tricks.
And previously, I’ve shared a list of 30 easy healthy family dinner ideas that could work for any month of the year.
But today, I’m trying to make it easy on YOU by giving you another full month’s worth of ideas for healthy family dinner ideas.
This will carry you through the entire month of April.
(Fun fact, I've kept the link to the previous 2024 April meal plan at the bottom of the post as well, in case you want to reference that for even more ideas.)
I’ve included the photo of the meal plan here if you want to pin it, but there’s a free printable PDF link at the bottom as well, so you can easily save and print.
So let’s dive right in.
April Meal Plan Notes:
- Each day has its own recipe idea, complete with sides if needed to make a full meal. (Some things like tacos are more all-inclusive, though you could add sides if you like.)
- You can make easy swaps to suit your family’s tastes. Use whatever vegetables are you favorite to steam, make mashed potatoes instead of baked potatoes, choose white or brown rice, etc. Customize to your heart’s content.
- Saturdays are blank. This is intentional and meant to be reserved for either using up any leftovers from the week or ordering dinner in or going out to eat. Cause we all need a break!
The calendar and meal plan are ideas for prompts to get you started.
If you also need specific recipes, I’ve got some included below. You can also grab recipes from your own collection, your favorite cookbooks, or from Pinterest or Google.
(Many of the recipes below are from my site, but I’ve also included recipes from others.)
Oh, and I included these ideas in order from April 1 on the calendar to April 30, with the date listed too, which will hopefully make things easier to find throughout the month.
April Recipes:
6 - Garlic butter pork chops or crunchy baked pork chops
7 - Slow cooker peanut chicken
8 - Turkey tacos (with homemade taco seasoning)
10 - Salmon and leeks
13 - Easy baked chicken spaghetti
14 - Spicy roasted shrimp
15 - Curry ground turkey with rice and peas
17 - Sheet pan turkey sausages with sweet potatoes and okra
20 - Classic deviled eggs and creamy mashed potatoes
21 - Quick chicken curry
22 - Cream cheese chicken enchiladas
23 - Herb roasted pork tenderloin
24 - 15-minute honey garlic chicken
25 - 10 easy grilled chicken recipes
27 - Easy whole roasted chicken
28 - Vegetarian Greek grain bowl
30 - Air Fryer BBQ chicken legs
OK then, hopefully are you all set now!
Last thing, I would really appreciate your feedback.
If this monthly meal plan is helpful, please leave me a comment below.
Or if there’s things you wish I would change or add or do differently, let me know that, too! I want this to be a helpful resource, so let me know how I can make it even more helpful.
I hope you have a wonderful - and delicious - month!
** April meal plan PDF **
You can download and print the April calendar from that link, or save this page to come back to. Whatever is easy for you.
And as promised, here is that 2024 April meal plan calendar if you'd like to check that out as well.
Happy cooking!
Kathryn
P.S. Here's the May meal plan for you if you're looking to get ahead.
Jessica
Thank you for updating these meal plans for the current year, they have been so helpful to me and my husband since January! It is so easy to be on the same page with each other, know how to budget meals for the month, and strategically shop! All of your recipes are as simple as they are delicious!! We appreciate you!
Kathryn Doherty
Oh wow, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment - it made my day! And I'm so very happy to hear these meal plans have been so helpful! 🙂
Megan Murphy
Thank you for this! For me, the most frustrating part of cooking is meal planning. This has made my life so much easier and has taken the burden off. I appreciate everything you do!
Kathryn Doherty
Oh yay, I'm SO happy to hear that these meal plans are helpful and making meal time a tad easier, Megan! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
AliciA
Please continue this!! This is my first month trying it and it has already helped me tremendously!! As a new mom I’ve been trying to find ways to not feel overwhelmed and this has been a huge relief!
Kathryn Doherty
Oh Alicia, I'm SO happy to hear that! It can be such an overwhelming time and I'm just thrilled I can help in some small way. I'll definitely keep them coming!
Shelly
I’m trying to make more meatless meals. I’m going to give you Greek grain bowls a try!
Kathryn Doherty
They are one of my favorites! I hope you love them! (Also, I have a couple of vegetarian curry recipes as well that are really popular for another meatless meal idea.)