This August 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 March, April, May, June and then the July meal plan, each one giving you an entire month’s worth of recipe ideas for easy, healthy family dinners.
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 August.
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.
August 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 your 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!
Speaking of, you can totally use some cheater swaps.
See how burgers are on the menu? You can make your own - beef, turkey, veggie - or you can pick up some from your supermarket that are already formed and ready to go.
Or buy the packaged mashed potatoes instead of making them from scratch. Ditto on the salads - we love buying those Caesar salad kits at the grocery store. Easy and delicious.
It’s all about what works for you.
Also, 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 August 1 on the calendar to August 31, with the date listed too, which will hopefully make things easier to find throughout the month.
August Recipes:
4 - Ground turkey spaghetti or Instant Pot spaghetti
5 - Caprese pasta salad or BLT pasta salad
6 - Turkey tacos and homemade taco seasoning
7 - Chicken divan
8 - Quick and easy teriyaki chicken
11 - Air Fryer BBQ chicken legs
12 - Bean and rice bowls
13 - Mahi Mahi fish tacos
14 - Southwest sheet pan chicken and veggies
15 - Easy baked chicken thighs
19 - Honey Dijon salmon
21 - One pot creamy chicken and mushroom pasta
22 - Grilled skirt steak
25 - Easy whole roasted chicken
26 - One pot vegetarian spaghetti
27 - Chicken enchiladas or sweet potato black bean enchiladas
28 - Crunchy baked chicken tenders
29 - Chicken and broccoli mac and cheese
30 - Foolproof corn on the cob
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!
** August meal plan PDF **
(You can download and print the August calendar from that link, or save this page to come back to. Whatever is easy for you.)
XO,
Kathryn
P.S. Here's next month's September meal plan if you love these and you're looking to get ahead.
Maiko
Thank you for the wonderful meal plan idea!! We used this week for 1st time and it worked great! Not to mention we hate planning meal every week so this helped tremendously! Cant wait to try more recipes!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy to hear this was helpful for you! Thanks so much for sharing!
Freda Malan
Love all the fresh ideas and flavours. Thank you to much. Please dont stop.
Freda Malan from South Africa.
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so glad this is helpful for you Freda! Thank you for sharing! 😊
Brooke
do you have an updated August calendar for 2023?
Kathryn Doherty
Hi there! I made these for one full calendar year and didn't keep making them after that, but I might go back to creating new ones since so many people are asking for more of them! You can also check out this post with some dinner prompts, which might be helpful: https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/30-easy-healthy-family-dinner-ideas/
Katherine Bolls
Thank you
Kathryn Doherty
So welcome! Hope it's helpful!
Suzanne
Hello Kathryn. Your menu plan looks amazing along with your recipes. I was wondering whether you have created a Grocery List by the week &/or by the month's menu plan?
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy you like it Suzanne! And no, I don't have a grocery list available for the menu plans, just the ideas/recipes/calendar part.
Shannon
I enjoy your format and meal ideas, though I was curious if future "July/August" plans could include more grill, instant pot, etc options as even with AC, turning the oven on when it's 95-105 to bake dinner can be miserable.
Thanks for the ideas.
Kathryn Doherty
I totally feel you on that! I live in the South and the heat can be awful... I might try and make a whole "summer" focused menu for a month with lots of grilling and ideas like that separate from these monthly menus. Just because I know not everyone has a grill or an Instant Pot so I want these to be more inclusive. But that could be a fun theme one to put together! Stay tuned - and thank you so much for the feedback!!
Shayna Lopez
You are amazing for making these. Thank you so much!!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so, so happy they are helpful!
Hannah
This is awesome! It would be so helpful if the monthly calendar had a link to the recipe!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so glad this is helpful for you! And that's a great idea, thank you!