“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
Thank 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!
Thank 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!
This 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!
I 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?
The 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!
this is great! THANK YOU! I love that you have actual costs of food items, not per serving – that’s not how things are sold! :)
Thank you for the meal plan! I’m excited to try something different at home.
Can’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????
People 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
This looks awesome! THANK YOU!!! Cant Wait to get started!!
Thanks 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.
You 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!
I 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!
No worries…I will email it to those who are having trouble with technology!
Me too. See Erin’s comment
oops, nevermind, I found it. Erin, the link is in the confirmation email when you re-subscribe.
Have 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…
This 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)
Hi 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
oh my goodness… I hope he wasn’t serious (about you actually doing something that like!!) too funny!
So 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. :)
Did you buy everything for $45 or just some if the items? (Also, my mystery coupon was only for $5 off – boo!!) :)
Wow, 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
Thank 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!
I 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!
Hi 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
Lisa, 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!
No winter meal plan yet…and I know I am counting down to summer crops as well!
How 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.
Hmm…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?
Hi 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
Hi 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
I subscribed and never recieved the 5th meal plan…can you help me out?
I never received the 5th meal plan either.
I 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!
Hi, 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.
I 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 :)
I would like to know the recipes here are made for how many servings?
Hi Cindy. The meals are designed to feed a family of four with some leftovers. Hope that helps. ~Amy
Could you pls. check and see that I’m activated for emails on this website. Thank you
Yes, 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
What 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.
Hello, 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!
Hi there. I would freeze. It makes life easier! :) ~Amy
Love, 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!!
Hi 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
I 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!
Found it !!! So happy now!!! Love your site!
Hi! 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.
Hi, 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!
Hi there. I’ll send it to your email.