This September 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, July and then the August 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 September.
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.
September 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 mashed potatoes are on the menu?
You can make them from scratch or buy a ready-to-heat version at the store.
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 or buy it frozen and ready to heat. 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 September 1 on the calendar to September 30, with the date listed too, which will hopefully make things easier to find throughout the month.
September Recipes:
2 - Perfectly creamy potato salad
3 - Ground turkey tacos and homemade taco seasoning
8 - Coconut lime grilled chicken
9 - Shrimp and vegetable skillet
12 - Easy chicken tortilla soup
13 - Sheet pan turkey sausages with sweet potatoes and okra
16 - Italian pasta bake
17 - Easy chicken fajitas or sheet pan fajitas
18 - Easy bourbon salmon
20 - Southwest chicken and veggie frittata
22 - Healthy white turkey chili
23 - Chef’s salad
24 - Steak quesadillas
25 - Curry ground turkey skillet
26 - Slow cooker apricot chicken
27 - Mediterranean chopped salad
29 - Easy one-pot lasagna
30 - Stuffed butternut squash with quinoa
OK then, hopefully are you all set now!
Last thing, I would love to get 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 useful resource, so let me know how I can make it even more helpful.
I hope you have a wonderful - and delicious - month!
**September meal plan PDF**
(You can download and print the September calendar from that link, or save this page to come back to. Whatever is easy for you.)
Oh, and if you're looking to get ahead, here's the October meal plan for next month.
XO,
Kathryn
Christina
Love this!
Khadija
So helpful I had similar meals planned out already but this helped with getting last ideas. Thank you
Kathryn Doherty
Yay, I'm so glad this could help you fill in some holes! : )
Chrissy
I love your recipes and appreciate the meal plan to help me get started. I little feedback on making it more useful would be to have in the recipe or next to the link if a meal is freezer friendly/ any tips for freezing the meals. His would be super helpful for people like me who try and cook double portions to prep ahead. Your consideration is much appreciated. Thanks again!
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so happy this is helpful! And that's a great idea on noting what is freezer friendly so it's more easily visible - thank you for sharing! I'll try and incorporate that!
Avery
This is absolutely amazing!! I just need a plan and ideas! I have some of my own recipes but I am FOR SURE going to be using a lot of yours!! Thank you THANK YOU!
Kathryn Doherty
Yay, I'm so glad this is helpful for you Avery! Thank you for sharing! ❤️
Tina
I would wìsh for more vegetarian options, as it is very meat-heavy. But some great ideal there, thank you!
Kathryn Doherty
Thanks Tina! That's a great point. We are big meat eaters in my family for our dinners, but I am definitely writing it down to add some more vegetarian friendly options - or possibly creating an entire vegetarian monthly meal plan in the future. Thank you!