December Meal Plan

This December 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 February meal plan followed by March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November 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 December.

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.

Notes on this December meal plan:

• 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 substitutions.

See how chicken cordon bleu is on the menu?

You can make your own, it’s really pretty easy, but you can also often buy them pre-made, stuffed and rolled at the butcher counter. You just have to bake them off.

Same for mac and cheese. I love my stovetop mac and cheese and it’s ready in about 15 minutes. But I won’t tell if you make yours from a box. No judging here.

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 December 1 on the calendar to December 31, with the date listed too, which will hopefully make things easier to find throughout the month.

Recipes for December meal plan:

1 - Southwest baked salmon

2 - Chicken cordon bleu

5 - Crunchy baked chicken tenders

6 - Shrimp fried rice

7 - Ground turkey tacos and DIY taco seasoning

8 - Herb roasted pork tenderloin with potatoes

9 - Cranberry balsamic chicken

10 - Instant Pot turkey chili or southwest turkey chili

12 - Spaghetti

13 - Easy Italian baked fish

14 - Quick chicken curry

15 - Breakfast pizza

16 - Sheet pan Mediterranean chicken and veggies

17 - Easy chicken and dumplings

19 - Ranch seasoned pork chops

20 - Creamy tomato soup

21 - Southwest chicken skillet

22 - Salsa chicken rice bowls

23 - Sausage stuffed butternut squash with spinach

24 - Southern style green beans with bacon

26 - French bread pizzas

27 - Veggie stir fry

28 - Slow cooker honey garlic chicken

29 - Grouper veracruz

30 - 20-minute chicken piccata

31 - Green beans almondine

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!

**December meal plan PDF**

(You can download and print the December calendar from that link, or save this page to come back to. Whatever is easy for you.)

XO,

Kathryn

P.S. Here's the upcoming January meal plan if you want to get ahead!