2 Week Meal Plan for the Whole Family: Fall/Winter Menu

By Melissa

on Aug 15, 2017, Updated Sep 17, 2024

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This family-friendly, two-week healthy meal plan is designed for the fall and winter months and is full of recipes the whole family will love that are easy to make — plus, it comes with a free printable shopping list.

I love having a plan when I’m cooking, if you do too, look at these posts: My Approach to Eating, What to Make for Dinner: Stop the 5 Oclock Dinner Planning and 3 Tips for Making Meal Prep EASY!

Healthy Meal Plan + Tips

If you want to feed your family well but aren’t sure where to start, this is the post for you. I have a whole foods approach to eating that your whole family will gobble up (with no health food store needed… score).

This meal plan is ideal for families because all of the recipes are beyond simple, the ingredients are easy to find, and your whole family will chow down the meals. If you are new to healthy eating or trying to eat with a focus on whole foods, this a great place to start because the recipes are very traditional while also being simply delicious, if I do say so myself.

I do want to mention that “healthy” is a relative term, and we may not agree on what it means. To me, it’s about balance, eating foods that make you feel good, and not restricting yourself. You can check out my food philosophy here (LINK). 

Table of Contents

 🍽️ More Easy Family Meal Planning Ideas!

Healthy Eating Meal Plan: Fall and Winter Menu

Let me take the thinking out of feeding your family! This eating clean meal plan is great for busy families who want to eat at home more! You are going to love all of the tried-and-true recipes I’ve been making for my family of seven for years.

Breakfast:

Here are 14 breakfast ideas to start your morning off well.

  1. Scrambled Eggs + Muffins 
  2. Whole Wheat Waffles 
  3. Breakfast Burritos
  4. Oatmeal (with frozen berries)
  5. Egg Bake
  6. Pancakes
  7. Granola + berries + milk (like cold cereal)
  8. Scrambled Eggs + Muffins
  9. Belgian Waffles
  10. Breakfast Cookies
  11. Oatmeal or Overnight Oats
  12. Egg Bake
  13. Strawberry Pancakes
  14. Granola + berries + milk 

Tip: Make a double batch of the waffles and pancakes on the first day, and freeze half for the second time you plan to serve them for breakfast. Thaw in the fridge overnight, and reheat in a toaster. Easy as can be!

Lunch:

Here are some simple lunch ideas for your family that can be made at home or taken on the go to work, school, or the park.

  1. Homemade Lunchables
  2. Quesadillas
  3. Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches
  4. Sandwich on a Stick Lunchbox Ideas
  5. Leftovers
  6. Hummus Sandwich
  7. Avocado Egg Salad Sandwich

Remember: Don’t overthink lunch! I feel like this should be a fuss-free meal in the day.

I’ve made this EVEN EASIER! Sign up here to get a free PDF printable shopping list for the dinners included in this meal plan.

 

2 Weeks of Dinners the Whole Family Will Love

Dinner is the hardest meal of the day because everyone’s a little bit tired, and there’s still a lot left to do (homework, sports practice, baths, bedtime, cleanup, etc.). Here’s my easy meal plan that is perfect for fall and winter dinners that’ll take the stress out of getting the final meal of the day on the table! They’re hearty and will warm you up from the inside out during the chilly months.

Week 1

Day 1: Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes

Day 2: Ground Beef Enchiladas

Day 3: Tortellini and Vegetable Soup

Day 4: Ground Beef Stroganoff

Day 5: Stove Top Chicken and Rice

Day 6: Sticky Chicken Legs 

Day 7: Leftovers/Eat out

Week 2:

Day 1: Slow Cooker Whole Chicken (use leftovers for chicken tetrazzini night)

Day 2: Slow Cooker pork for tacos 

Day 3: Chicken Tetrazzini

Day 4: Slow Cooker Potato Corn Chowder

Day 5: Pumpkin and Cauliflower Curry

Day 6: Chili and Cornbread

Day 7: Leftovers/Eat out

Sides for dinner:

I rely on frozen veggies a lot in the winter months because there aren’t as many fresh options available as warmer months. If you need a side for your meals, consider adding baked or roasted potatoes, roasted fresh veggies, steamed frozen veggies, or making a simple side salad (with a great dressing) to go with your meal.

Hard squashes like butternut, spaghetti, and acorn are in season, as well as other dark greens like Brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage.

Fruits like apples, pomegranates, oranges, and other citrus fruits are also prime in the winter. Frozen fruit such as summer berries or peaches are also great (stock up and freeze them yourself when they are in season for added savings).

Snacks:

If your kids are like mine, I bet they come home hungry from school. This snack list is also great for things to send in school lunches.

  • You have lots of snack options that go beyond sliced fruit, vegetables, and string cheese sticks, but don’t discount those simple options, as well.
  • I always keep a veggie box in my fridge. It’s the best thing ever, and makes it way easier to eat veggies regularly!
  • One of my 8 No-Bake Oatmeal Bites are always in my fridge! My kids LOVE these.
  • Smoothies in all shapes and sizes. Just don’t get tricked into using sugar if your recipe calls for yogurt. Read that label!
  • Popcorn… Did you know you can pop it in a brown paper bag in the microwave?
  • Homemade Graham Crackers.
  • Whole Peanuts. Peanuts in the shell are so much more fun to eat if you don’t mind the mess. Trust me.
  • Popsicles. Rainbow Popsicles are a favorite around here. I make a double-batch of smoothies and freeze half in popshttps://www.blessthismessplease.com/strawberry-banana-popsicles-4/icle molds all the time, but you can also try freezing a 100% fruit juice for easy popsicles. Popsicles are the easiest way for my kids to enjoy fruit and hidden veggies.
  • Boiled Eggs.
  • No-Bake Date Balls. The peanut butter and jelly ones are our favorite.
  • I always have a loaf or two of 100% whole wheat bread ready to slice and butter. Just toast a piece and spread peanut butter on it for a really good and filling snack.
  • Healthy No-Bake Cookies.
  • Healthy Snack Bars.
  • Healthy Fruit Dip. This is perfect with apples for some extra protein and fat.

See? Meal planning is easy… Just let me do it for you!

I’ve made this EVEN EASIER! Sign up here to get a free PDF printable shopping list for the dinners included in this meal plan.

 

Love a fall and winter meal plan? Don’t worry, I have a summery one too! You can find my summer meal plan here.

I hope this free meal plan for families really helps you out, saves you time, and takes some of the thinking out of “what’s for dinner?”!

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280 Comments

  1. Chrisite says:

    I’m with you but what do you do if your children do not eat eggs or bread? they never have and I doubt they ever will they are 7 and 2 1/2.

    Reply
    1. Melissa says:

      Do they not eat bread as in bread products too? Would they eat pizza?! I’m actually working on a summer eating clean menu as we speak and it is very unbread and uneggy if that makes sense. I think you’ll like it 🙂 and you’ll have some more ideas to work with. It should be up in the next week or 2.

  2. Erin H says:

    Did you sub honey for the sugar in your breadsticks and use whole wheat white in your pizza crust or did you do them as is? Looking over the recipes and adding to my clean eating list 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. Melissa says:

      Yes, with great success. I grind the hard white wheat berries and home and use that for everything! Good luck and let me know how it goes!

  3. Rene says:

    just linked in from pinterest, LOVE IT! I always tell people if I cant pronounce the ingredient, I probably dont want it in my body. I also love to cook and enjoy getting my kids in with me. Don’t consider myself a health nut or anything, we just like REAL food 🙂 I usually make up a list of dinners two weeks at a time and post it on the fridge. I have already gone to the store for all those ingredients based on whats on sale in our local markets. Then, whatever we feel like eating that night, I know I have everything to make it without running to the store and being tempted to get other things we really dont need.

    Reply
  4. Natasha says:

    Thanks for sharing! Our family (our 5 yr old daughter, 2 yr old son, spouse and I) recently started cutting out additives (MSG, polysorbate 60/80, potassium sorbate, colors etc) and our family (my parents) think we’re nuts. We have been told our son may have Autism and our daughter has Anxiety. So we think that cutting out anything that’s not “normal” will help them both. With only having been about a month or so since we started we have found some huge differences. Our daughter has become more independent and our son’s “fits” are slowly getting better. With myself I have noticed less headaches and tummy troubles. I wish more companies would get rid of all those additives and that restaurants would too. We wanted to go out to eat as a family the other night but since most have additives we decided against it.

    Reply
    1. Melissa says:

      MSG is so scary! And little changed like that are such a great, happy place to start. I’m surprised people are giving you fits about caring what your kids eat… that’s too bad. I hope it goes so well for you and your babies too!

  5. Krisy says:

    Thank you for posting about this! I love what you say and your 80% – 20% strategy. I have good intentions to feed my family better but always feel like it was an “all or nothing” sort of commitment and we like our treats! Reading this helps me feel like eating better is do-able and can still be enjoyable! Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Michelle says:

    This is a great post! Thank you! I’m slowly but surely converting me and my 8-yr old to cleaner eating and your no-fuss, not super fancy meal plan is awesome. I can’t wait to check out the rest of your blog.

    Reply
  7. Meredith says:

    This is a great post! Do you have links to the other recipes on the dinner list?

    Reply
    1. Melissa says:

      No… It’s something I thought I would work on slowly but obviously it’s real slow 🙂 I just use traditional recipe from America’s Test Kitchen and the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. If the recipe for meatloaf has white bread crumbs or cracker crumbs just sub in whole wheat bread crumbs. I like to grate in zucchini and carrots too. It’s just about adapting what you already love to clean it up a bit. Does that help!? I’ll update the post as I post other recipes for sure!

    2. Danyelle says:

      I have always used quick oats in my meatloaf.

  8. Miranda Tokoly says:

    I love this so much!! I also like Brittany’s idea about the grocery list! I am the worst at grocery shopping. Thanks for so many great meal plans!

    Reply
  9. Nan says:

    Thank you for this post! It’s so nice to finally see someone make eating clean “normal.” As in, these are foods I could actually get my family to eat. And I think you are absolutely correct in taking a balanced approach.

    Reply
  10. Liz says:

    Thank you ! Thank you ! Thank you! We just started eating clean (being intentional) about 6 weeks ago and this is such a ‘real’ way to explain it…i love how you talked about eating out of the house because i have been around the kids whos parents make you feel uncomfortable and on eggs shells about what their kids are eating so when i started i make it clear (well not to the kids lol) that outside of the house they can eat ‘normal’ -in moderation – but i didnt want anyone feeling uncomfortable but i do fell good about how our habits have changed at home. And some websites are about eating clean but the food is also something you would never eat! Anyhow all this to say thank you for being practical :):)

    Reply
    1. Melissa says:

      Thanks so much for the great (and so nice) comment. I still cringe when they get fruit snacks at Library story time but I think you have to be a bit “normal” to raise healthy kids. We definitely teach them at home what foods are extra good and try to encourage them like them, but fruit snacks are part of childhood right?! I just don’t have to buy them 🙂 Keep me updated… I’d love to know how it goes for you and if you have any big bumps in the road…