Spring Meal Plan: A Template for Easy Meals

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Spring has finally sprung! Here in Chicago we had a ROUGH winter. The polar vortex rolled in and gave us a -21 degree day. It was horrific to say the least. We chowed down on plenty of soups and chilies all winter long but now I’m ready to roll out my Spring Meal Plan.

My Spring Meal Plan consists of more salads and less casseroles. I do keep crockpot dishes in rotation as well as soups because my family loves them and I find them easy to make. However we do eater lighter overall and we start busting out the grill! I also love using in season produce such as asparagus, leeks and peas.

We still utilize my Meal Plan Helpers and keep breakfast for dinner, freezer section freezer meals and leftovers in the mix. I do less oven preparations and more stove-top or no-cook meals. Sandwiches and wraps get made more often. Check out my basic meal plan below!

Spring Meal Plan Template

• Sunday: IP Rotisserie Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Bagged Salad
• Monday: Waffles, Sausage & Fruit
• Tuesday: Cobb Salad Bar (using leftover chicken from Sunday)
• Wednesday: TJ Mandarin Chicken, Rice & Broccoli
• Thursday: Tuna Noodle Salad & Fruit
• Friday: Take-Out
• Saturday: 5 Ingredient Chicken Soup & Bread

Feel free to steal that exact meal plan! Print off the recipes and write it up! For waffles I just use the recipe on the baking mix box🤣 Typically I don’t serve salad twice in one week but the tuna noodle salad is really a pasta dish so I think that’s fair game. Overall, it’s quite easy to make these dinners and you won’t heat up the house too much!

Why Change Your Meal Plan By Season?

While I’m not meticulous about this switch, I do think it’s beneficial to change your meal plan as the seasons change. For one, you keep grocery budgets down naturally by shopping in season. It’s one of the easiest ways to save money so I find it useful to do. Another thing, I like to eat lighter in the Spring and Summer and changing the meal plan helps with that. As I said, we still eat soup, but I opt for lighter options.

Plus, this naturally pulls you out of a meal planning rut. After about 3 months, we’ve had a lot of the standbys multiple times. I get sick of cooking it and my family gets sick of eating them. Switching things up keep things fresh and exciting. Plus, my Spring and Summer dinners are usually quicker cooking which I want when we’re trying to make the most of our summer.

Need General Meal Planning Help?

If you’re in need of more generalized meal planning help, be sure to grab my FREE Meal Planning Guide where you’ll get my 7 Keys to Successful Meal planning as well as some fun printables to help you get organized. And for even more help, check out my Facebook page where I go Live weekly with lots of fun recipes and meal planning advice.

Meal planning doesn’t have to take a lot of work but putting in 30 minutes a week will save you hours every week! Setting aside the time every week takes a bit of practice, as most good habits do, but once you get rolling it becomes so much easier! I can meal plan and write my shopping list in less than 13 minutes a week these days!