There is something about late summer that makes me want to keep things simple. Maybe it’s the heat, the back-to-school busyness. No matter how many times I make a meal plan, someone is still going to stand in the kitchen at 4:45 p.m. asking what we’re eating.

And sometimes that person is me.

So I put together a simple late summer meal plan for my family this week, and I thought I would share it with you too.

This isn’t a fancy meal plan filled with complicated recipes or ingredients you have to hunt down at three different grocery stores. It’s just a realistic, semi-whole foods week of meals that feel good for this time of year: fresh fruit, easy breakfasts, sandwiches, crockpot meals, summer vegetables, pizza night, and a homemade peach cobbler because, well… it’s still summer. Just because I love you, I’ve included a grocery list too. I went so deep on this list, I even included salt, in case you are truly starting from nothing. Then I put everything on the list into the walmart grocery app to see the price and it was $281.11. Much more affordable than eating out, and it will feed my family of 5 with leftovers to spare. Of course, grocery prices vary depending on where you live and what you already have in your pantry, but I intentionally planned these meals with real-life grocery budgets in mind.

The goal isn’t to create a perfect menu or to make every single meal from scratch. It’s to put together a week of food that is filling, enjoyable, reasonably nourishing, and affordable for a real family.

This free printable includes a full week of ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and even dessert.

You’ll find breakfasts like:

• Pancakes and fruit
• Yogurt bowls
• Egg in the hole
• Cranberry cinnamon oatmeal
• Cheesy scrambled eggs and toast
• Muffins
• Waffles and eggs

For lunches, there are easy options like grilled ham and cheese, popcorn shrimp with cucumbers and rice, chicken salad sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, and Caesar wraps.

And dinners include:

• Crockpot roast with rolls and salad
• Chicken fajitas with Spanish rice and beans
• Spaghetti with roasted summer squash and garlic bread
• BBQ pulled pork and baked potatoes
• Homemade pizza night
• Cottage pie with fruit salad
• Pesto shrimp pasta with melon
• Sheet pan sausage and pierogies with fresh green beans

There are also simple snack ideas for the week, along with one of my favorite late-summer desserts:

Homemade peach cobbler.

About Recipes: This meal plan doesn’t include them.

Some of these are things you may already know how to make, and others are flexible enough that you can make them however your family likes them best.

If you need a recipe, you can always Google one that sounds good to you or browse through my recipe page to see if I have something that fits.

Think of this meal plan as inspiration rather than a set of rules.

Maybe your family has a favorite way to make chicken fajitas. Maybe you have a beloved spaghetti recipe that everyone will eat without complaint. Maybe your peach cobbler recipe has been passed down through your family and is significantly better than anything I could give you. Use those recipes! Swap things out. Move meals around. Leave out the things your family doesn’t like. If Tuesday’s dinner becomes Thursday’s dinner, nobody calls the meal planning police.

The second page of the printable includes a grocery list organized into categories like:

• Produce
• Meat and seafood
• Dairy and refrigerated foods
• Pantry and grocery aisles
• Frozen foods

Of course, you may already have some of these things on hand, so you can cross off anything you don’t need before heading to the store.

Download Your Free Late Summer Meal Plan

If you could use one less thing to think about this week, I hope this helps.

You can download the free Late Summer Meal Plan + Grocery List below.

Use it exactly as it is, change half the meals, move everything around, or simply use it as inspiration while making your own plan.

And if you use it, I’d love to know!

What is one meal your family makes over and over again?