“Real Food” Meal Plan #5 is finally finished! This particular meal plan utilizes fall produce that’s available at some farmers’ 
markets this time of year and is available to email subscribers only (see instructions below). These meals plans are incredibly detailed so I’ve only been able to crank out a new one every few months or so. But if you’re looking for some inspiration on a more regular basis then be sure to check out our sponsor, The Fresh 20. They offer new dinner meal plans weekly including vegetarian and gluten-free options!
As always, this is what you’ll find with my meal plans:
- One 7-day practical “real food” menu plan designed for busy families
- Complete meals listed each day for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner with leftovers incorporated
- Food quantities calculated for a family of four
- Corresponding grocery list showing what to buy in order of the store and actual cost for each item (as opposed to the price per serving) with seasonal ingredients highlighted so purchases can be made from your local farmers’ market if desired
- Budget-friendly prices that are close to what a family of four would receive on full food stamp (SNAP) benefits – $167/week – with plenty of additional cost-saving opportunities because:
- Coupons were not used
- Sales prices were not used
- Prices for organic items were used in most cases
- If you follow this plan you will end up with some leftover food (like granola, eggs, flour, butter, marsala wine, and corn meal) that can be incorporated into recipes the following week
- All underlined recipes are available on 100DaysofRealFood.com – check out the Recipes & Resources Page for a full list
- All recipes are working mom/dad-friendly including tips on what to make in advance over the weekend
- Almost every item listed follows our strict 10-day pledge rules, with just a few minor exceptions to keep the plan realistic for those busy working parents
Here’s the scoop on how to get your Meal Plan
- Become an email subscriber by entering your email address in the box above (if you are already a subscriber, just fill out the form again…you won’t be double subscribed).
- You’ll get instant access. Download or print and enjoy!
As a subscriber, you’ll get weekly blog updates, too!
Real Food Tips: 5 Uses for Leftover Turkey
Eating Poorganically
November 30, 2011 at 7:48 amThank you! My husband was just beginning to despair that I would never have a menu plan for us again. This is PERFECT. I’m headed to Earth Fare tomorrow. SO EXCITED!
Stephanie
November 30, 2011 at 8:25 amThank you for the meal plans, and for your terrific website. I started following the website when you did the first 100 days challenge. I took the “October Unprocessed” challenge and it really changed the way I think about food and what I am feeding my family. Now I am trying to continue to eat real food while not spending all of our time and money at the store! Your site is a big help!
TyKes Mom
November 30, 2011 at 9:30 amThis is great! I only function on meal plans. The few times I skip a plan, I always wind up feeding my family quick and easy foods which are usually not “real” or healthy. Meal plans also save so much money!
Martha
November 30, 2011 at 10:32 amI have looked all over this page and can’t find the place to download the new fall meal plan. I tried clicking on the little photo part of it and that didn’t work. Where am I not looking?
100 Days of Real Food
November 30, 2011 at 10:34 amThe instructions are at the bottom of the post…
Here’s the scoop on how to get this FREE meal plan:
1. If you’re already a confirmed subscriber (all new subscriptions have to be confirmed via email before they become active) check your email because the full meal plan link is at the very top of the teaser email for this post. If you thought you were a subscriber, but you didn’t get this post via email then you may have not confirmed your subscription. If you enter your email address again below you’ll get another verification email, which will also contain meal plan link at the very bottom.
2. If you aren’t a subscriber then enter your email address in the subscription box below and the meal plan link will be at the bottom of your subscription verification email where you’ll also be asked to activate your subscription. Be sure to check your spam box if you don’t see it right away, and once you get the email don’t forget to click on the link in order to confirm your subscription!
Jessi
November 30, 2011 at 11:29 amthis is great! THANK YOU! I love that you have actual costs of food items, not per serving – that’s not how things are sold! :)
Heather
November 30, 2011 at 12:57 pmThank you for the meal plan! I’m excited to try something different at home.
Dawn
November 30, 2011 at 1:02 pmCan’t wait to grocery shop this week!
How about some ideas on what to bring to office pot lucks? I have a Christmas pot luck next week and I have no idea what to bring. I really want to bring something warm and yummy (it’s a lunch pot luck) but I can’t think of anything…any ideas????
100 Days of Real Food
December 2, 2011 at 11:04 pmPeople always seem to bring “dips” and chips/crackers to pot luck events so I personally try not to do that. How about a yummy homemade soup that you could keep warm in your crock pot and serve in coffee cups? I bet that would be a big hit! https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-resources/#salad
Julie
November 30, 2011 at 5:25 pmThis looks awesome! THANK YOU!!! Cant Wait to get started!!
Megan D
November 30, 2011 at 8:32 pmThanks for sharing this. I’m going to see what I can do as we are a family of 5 and I have $130 budgeted to spend per week (it used to be that I could always do $100 but prices have gone up in the last 3 or 4 months). Perhaps I can find some coupons and sales.
It’s so much easier when the menu is already created and I just have to follow the plan.
100 Days of Real Food
November 30, 2011 at 10:41 pmYou could definitely cut the cost down on this plan (using coupons and sales prices) and also going with a plain cream sauce instead of a marsala cream sauce and also a vegetarian chili instead of using beef. Good luck!
Erin
November 30, 2011 at 8:51 pmI am a subscriber and didn’t get the email, re-subscribed and still can’t figure out how to get the meal plan. Please help.
Thanks!
100 Days of Real Food
November 30, 2011 at 10:43 pmNo worries…I will email it to those who are having trouble with technology!
Francie T
November 30, 2011 at 9:14 pmMe too. See Erin’s comment
Francie T
November 30, 2011 at 9:17 pmoops, nevermind, I found it. Erin, the link is in the confirmation email when you re-subscribe.
Ann
November 30, 2011 at 9:18 pmHave you calculated the nutritional values of these plans? They seem low calorie, and don’t have five servings of fruits and veggies or two servings of dairy in a day. I have two elementary aged children, and there is no way the shopping list would be sufficient–we regularly go through 3 lbs of apples (not 2 individual apples), 2 lbs of grapes, 2 lbs of bananas and 1 lb of pears in a week…
100 Days of Real Food
December 1, 2011 at 10:00 pmThis plan is meant to be a starting point for most since people will need to make adjustments based on personal preferences, allergies, and items they have on hand or cannot find at their store. Also, we don’t add up any numbers in our family such as calories/fat grams/vitamins/minerals/carbs/etc. we just eat a variety of whole foods in moderation and everything else falls into place. That happens to be our philosophy (based on the work of Michael Pollan)…and obviously no one is “required” to follow this meal plan it is just supposed to be a free tool (that took me a great deal of time to create by the way) to help people cut out processed food. If you already know what you are doing then you are certainly welcome to continue doing your own thing. (PS -in regards to dairy hopefully you saw the two gallons of whole milk on the list)
Jen
November 30, 2011 at 10:08 pmHi Lisa,
This has nothing to do with this post, but I had to write and tell you what happened because I thought it would make you laugh. So I was craving chocolate today and trying to be good so I made the torte balls for the first time. My husband just came in the office and says “so why are there poop balls in the fridge?” I laughed till I had tears.
Thanks for the recipe.
Jen
100 Days of Real Food
November 30, 2011 at 10:46 pmoh my goodness… I hope he wasn’t serious (about you actually doing something that like!!) too funny!
Eating Poorganically
December 1, 2011 at 8:44 pmSo excited! I went to EF tonight to get my ingredients for this menu(on the cheap-I hoped. When I checked out, my purchases came to just over $45, so I was eligible for the “Mystery Coupon” they are doing this week and it was for $25 off! Plus, the awesome butcher gave me some free lettuce from his garden. I love Earth Fare and your site. It makes for a happy poorganic. :)
100 Days of Real Food
December 2, 2011 at 11:13 pmDid you buy everything for $45 or just some if the items? (Also, my mystery coupon was only for $5 off – boo!!) :)
Laura S.
December 2, 2011 at 7:04 pmWow, this meal plan is great! Thank you so much for sharing. Though, I couldn’t help cringing when I read the price for “3/4 lb all natural chicken breasts** $4.26”. Have you heard of Zaycon Foods? (https://www.zayconfoods.com/about) They provide food in bulk (mostly meats, sometimes honey!) directly from the farm to the consumer at wholesale prices. My last purchase was a 40-lb. case of all-natural chicken breasts that I split with three friends. Each of us paid $14.90 for our 10-lb. portion, or $1.49/lb. It was super delicious chicken! Here’s a video made by my favorite local blogger that explains more about the chicken deal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k064TuK8wE
Kahne
December 5, 2011 at 8:37 pmThank you so much! I JUST started a Whole Food/Organic life change with the entire house. I have been searching for something like this & what do ya know, I stumbled on it from Pinterest! Thank you!
April
January 12, 2012 at 11:20 amI have tried several different online meal plans, but I’m loving yours because it incooperates breakfast & lunch. I have my husband on board to try everything with me. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for providing such wonderful tools. I’ve been eating whole foods, and have eliminated soda altogether so far this year. I have had SOOO much more energy to chase my 1 1/2 year old around. May the Lord bless you a hundred fold for being so giving!
Jen
January 22, 2012 at 8:09 pmHi Lisa,
I am starting the week five meal plan tomorrow. I am very excited but had two random questions. #1 Do you think I could make the biscuits on my pizza stone as we just moved and I have no idea where my baking sheets are. #2 How do you store your muffins after they cool? Mine always tend to get either a.damp or b.super hard. Any insight would be very helpful! Also I wanted to say, Thanks so much for your website. You truly are an inspiration and I appreciate all the time you take to make such a terrific site.
Sincerely,
Jen
Jenna
February 23, 2012 at 2:28 pmLisa, what about a winter meal plan? I’m dying here, our farmers market doesn’t start back up til May! The END of May! For now, my sister and I have been doing a monthly trip to Whole Foods (2 hours away!) just on our own to get the ball rolling, but I’m really ready to go all in. My daughter and I have GI problems and I’m betting this will help. Thank you for all you do!
100 Days of Real Food
February 25, 2012 at 6:21 pmNo winter meal plan yet…and I know I am counting down to summer crops as well!
Julia
December 25, 2012 at 10:01 pmHow do I access the fall meal plan if I subscribed after this was originally posted? I am a subscriber now but don’t have the email with the link.
heidi
December 27, 2012 at 9:06 pmHmm…I resubscribed and got an immediate response that I was already a subscriber, but haven’t gotten anything through my email yet. I don’t know if it takes time or if I am doing something wrong?
Tiffany
January 5, 2013 at 7:51 pmHi there we are just starting this journey. I am very excited! My one question is the serving portion size for each item. For example the egg salad. How much do you get? How many triscuits? Any insight would be great. Thanks
Assistant to 100 Days (Jill)
January 22, 2013 at 9:01 pmHi Tiffany. We don’t track portion sizes. Check out this post on eating until you are full…https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/29/mini-pledge-week-8-stop-eating-when-you-feel-full/. Best of luck. Jill
E.R.
January 18, 2013 at 2:49 pmI subscribed and never recieved the 5th meal plan…can you help me out?
Linda S
January 29, 2013 at 9:25 amI never received the 5th meal plan either.
Meredith
January 31, 2013 at 4:47 pmI subscribed and received the link, but it doesn’t work. I tried using it through the email, I’ve even tried pasting the link into a new “temp” web page I created, in case it would only work that way. But it doesn’t work no matter what I do. Thanks!
Sandi
February 1, 2013 at 10:35 amHi, first off, thank you so much for your wonderful web site. It has helped make the switch to “No Processed Foods” so much easier for my family. I would love the 5th meal plan, but I keep getting this message “FeedBurner has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain @cavtel.net.” when I try to subscribe. Frustrating because I have used the other meal plans several times over and my family is aching for some new recipes. Thanks again for all you do.
Lish
February 15, 2013 at 1:15 pmI had the same problem some others did. I subscribe and never received it, so my husband subscribed with a new email, and he couldn’t get the meal plan either, and we are really excited to see it! Please advise, thanks. We LOVE your site and your honest blog, and it has helped us out so much on our journey, please keep up the amazing work :)
Cindy
June 9, 2013 at 2:55 pmI would like to know the recipes here are made for how many servings?
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy)
June 10, 2013 at 4:36 pmHi Cindy. The meals are designed to feed a family of four with some leftovers. Hope that helps. ~Amy
christy
August 25, 2013 at 8:39 pmCould you pls. check and see that I’m activated for emails on this website. Thank you
Jason Leake with 100 Days of Real Food
August 29, 2013 at 10:18 amYes, you subscribed on May 15th and updated your profile on August 24th. You should be receiving weekly digest emails…they normally go out on Monday at 11:45 AM EST. If you aren’t seeing them, please check your spam/junk folder and then contact me (via about>contact) if you still have trouble. – Jason
Caroline
September 24, 2013 at 10:05 amWhat a wonderful site. I’m working to transition my family of 3 to “real food” … so this site is wonderful.
I must say however, that prices in Canada are FAR higher. The per item cost is significantly higher on some items and combine that with a 13% food tax – it’s a bit discouraging to see the difference in cost!
Keep up the great work – the pre planned food menu is key for me! These are a huge help.
Rebecc
September 28, 2013 at 6:40 pmHello, I love this site and have printed out the meal plan, my question though is I know the meal plan is for a family of 4 and I am only going to be cooking for 1 (or possibly 2 if my fiancé joins in) How can I scale down the recipe’s? or can I freeze them and then reheat them the following week? Thanks!
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy)
October 2, 2013 at 8:52 amHi there. I would freeze. It makes life easier! :) ~Amy
Caryn
October 25, 2013 at 3:10 pmLove, love, LOVE the blog!!! I’ve been looking for healthier lunch options for my 3 year old and this is perfect!! But now my concern is for my 32 year old boy (the hubs)
Lately he (really we) have been guilty of ordering out for lunch (…and sometimes dinner) and we want to have a lunch option that is kinder to our bodies and pockets. All the lunch ideas are wonderful for kids, but i’m not sure if it would work for adults (especially men…). Has Lisa or anyone else written about lunch ideas for working adults? Thanks!!
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy)
November 15, 2013 at 9:21 pmHi there Caryn. I would pick and choose from the recipe index: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-resources/recipe-index/ and use lots of leftovers! There are also some great sandwich ideas that are perfect for lunch: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/07/27/sandwich-inspiration-and-my-view-on-lunch-meat/. Hope that helps. ~Amy
MARIA
December 18, 2013 at 2:37 pmI am a subscriber but don’t have this email, re-subscribed and still can’t figure out how to get this meal plan. Can you help me, please? Thanks!
MARIA
December 18, 2013 at 2:39 pmFound it !!! So happy now!!! Love your site!
Robin
April 29, 2014 at 10:23 pmHi! I would love to see updated prices on the meal plans. The ones on the blog are from 2011 and it is now 2014. According to the prices at my local natural foods store and Greenwise section at the local Publix, they are too low. I figure that I can not match the plans for less than $200 a week now and that is just for the food.
Kristi
October 9, 2016 at 3:07 pmHi, I am already en email subscriber and cannot find my email with any meal plans. Is there a way to get this one and the ones that are included in the welcome letter again? I’ve searched all through my emails. Thanks!
Amy Taylor (comment moderator)
October 13, 2016 at 1:35 pmHi there. I’ll send it to your email.