It’s that time of year…back-to-school! Whether you pack lunches for you and your kids or even homeschool and are home all the time, having make-ahead and easy meal ideas at the ready, that are also seasonally appropriate, is just smart. Read on to find out the 40+ back-to-school meal ideas you need in August.
Summer has come and is almost gone. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! Seriously.
Now that it’s time for the kids to return to school, you may be frantically trying to throw together a good enough plan for lunches…and breakfast…and dinner…oh, and snacks!
So grab a pen and paper and start writing down a list of meals you want to make this month. A lot of them can be made ahead of time. Or if they are not make-ahead friendly, you can bet they are probably pretty quick and easy to throw together!
Once school starts, the busyness of it all ramps up. You’ve got extracurriculars, youth group, homework, chores, and time.just.won’t.slow.down. On top of that, you need to be prepared to feed the family at all hours of the day! Let me tell you, a short 15 minute habit once a day can do wonders. It may not feel like much is changing at first, but over time if you stick to the habit consistently, you will feel like you have plenty of time to cook. I call this 15 minute meal prep because you just set the timer for 15 minutes and do one or two simple things that will make your life easier for meals. Give it a try, it really helps!
If you are doing 15 minute meal prep along with make-ahead meals and easy meals, you will feel so much less stress surrounding meal time!
Tried-and-True Meal Ideas for August
Below you will find the list of meals and recipe ideas for August that we like to eat in our family.
Any recipe with a link is one that we love at our house. The ones with asterisks and links are recipes I’ve been meaning to try and haven’t yet. The recipe ideas without a link are ones we like but don’t have a specific recipe we follow.
One caveat, some of these recipes technically aren’t “healthy.” Use your own discretion. If it’s a muffin, it’s probably not healthy, unless it’s made without sugar.
Recipe Ideas for August
- Bacon and egg “cupcakes”
- Banana crumb muffins
- *Banana split oatmeal*
- Basil and lemon baked salmon in foil
- Blueberry cornbread muffins
- Blueberry and almond baked steel cut oats
- Breakfast sandwiches
- Chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies
- Corn dog muffins
- Creamy lime popsicles
- Pancit noodles and veggies
- Elderberry syrup (not a meal, but important for immune system defense this fall!)
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Chicken shawarma quinoa bowls
- Frozen smoothie packs
- Homemade pancake mix
- Homemade pancake syrup
- Homemade pita bread
- Honey lime chicken enchiladas
- Instant pot double chocolate steel cut oats
- *Lemon ice*
- Lemon poppy seed summer squash bread
- Make ahead rainbow veggie egg cups
- Make ahead lunch wraps
- Mexican ranch dressing
- *Oatmeal blueberry yogurt pancakes*
- Oatmeal raisin cookie no-bake oatmeal energy ball
- Orange julius
- Peanut butter cup overnight oats
- School morning breakfast burrito
- Simple tropical smoothie
- Soft peanut butter cookies
- *Spaghetti squash cake with orange cream*
- Stuffed green peppers
- Summer squash pizza crust
- Summer vegetable tian
- Banana muffins
- Tomato and cucumber salad
- *Fire cider* (not a meal, but important for immune system defense this fall!)
- Veggie box
If you are reading this before school starts, great! Get your list started and be just a little more prepared for the busyness ahead!
