August Dinner Menus for Garden Fresh Cooking
August is peak garden and market season, making it a great time to keep meals simple and ingredient driven. These August dinner menus focus on complete meals with sides that highlight vegetables and real foods without requiring long hours in the kitchen.
Not sure why to meal plan? Check out all the great reasons to meal plan here!
This menu is part of a monthly series of meal plans that help you cook healthy meals from scratch that fit real life, not perfection.
August is full-on summertime here in the Pacific Northwest – school doesn’t start back until Labor Day and the weather is usually reliably sunny and warm (although you never know here, really…). Our grill sees the most action now – our family is pretty much in agreement that garden vegetables taste best grilled, so it’s not unusual for us to eat them multiple times a week.
In between we’re making salads, quick stir fries, or easy frittatas that only use the stovetop or broiler. The only time I use the oven is in the mornings to make bread – because when the tomatoes are coming on, you’ve got to have grilled Easy Artisan Bread or Sourdough Artisan Bread to eat them with. SO good.
Below are four weeks of August dinner menu ideas that take advantage of seasonal produce, yet are quick and easy to prepare.
Whatās Included in this Plan
- Five days of complete dinner menus for four weeks. Mix and match to the days that work for your schedule.
- The no-brainer, repeatable menu we have on weekends you can replicate.
- Each dayās menu includes a main dish and sides.
- Use the sides as-is, come up with your own, or pull from the other days.
- Easy dessert idea that works for travel and picnics using summer’s berries: Blackberry Crumb Bars!
These meals are really what our family eats and enjoys, so I hope you will find some ideas for your family here, too!
How to use the dinner meal plans
You have a couple options to make these menu ideas work for you and whatever system you use:
- Click the heart in the lower right corner to add the whole monthās plan to your recipe box. When you want the recipes, revisit the menu and click on the recipes you need to make.
- Copy the daily menus you like and paste them into your own menu planning system.
- NEW!! Download a PDF of this entire meal plan, complete with links (with no other text and only the recipe images), to keep on your computer. When you want to make something, open the pdf, click on the recipe you want and it will take you straight there! (And on the off chance you want to make the whole monthās menus, you can print it out and post it as your menu, too.)
August Dinner Menus
Week 1
- Rotisserie chicken (store bought or Slow Cooker Spiced Whole Chicken), Easy Homemade Pita Bread (or store bought), Easy Homemade Hummus (or store bought), Authentic Greek Salad
- Tostadas made with Homemade Refried Beans, leftover rotisserie chicken, lettuce, cheese, onion, etc., served with homemade Pico de Gallo and/or Salsa Cruda (or any garden salsa you may have left from canning).
- Egg Roll In a Bowl with Ramen – try it drizzled with 5 Minute Chili Crisp
- Mediterranean Pita Tuna Patties Board (Quick & Easy Meal Idea) (use leftover pita bread)
- 10 Minute Garbanzo/Chickpea Wraps, chips, fruit
Week 2
- Slow cooker/Instant Pot ribs finished on grill, Grilled Garlic Green Beans with onions, Heirloom Tomato and Feta Salad
- Tacos (or taco bowls) make with ground turkey, chicken or beef (whateverās on sale), Pico de Gallo, Spicy Cumin Lime Coleslaw
- Grilled chicken-zucchini skewers (sprinkled with Basic Spice Rub & served with Tomato Chutney), Easy Grilled Potato Planks, Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Tomatoes
- Grilled pork chops with Rhubarb Chutney, Caesar Slaw, Grilled Artisan Bread & fresh tomato slices
- Swiss Chard and Sausage Frittata, Easy Grilled Vegetables, Tomato and Feta Salad
Week 3
- Summer Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Green Beans, grilled chicken, Zucchini and Feta Fritters (can make early and reheat on the grill)
- Thai Grilled Pork and Vegetable Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
- Greek Tuna and Tomato Salad, Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread grilled or toasted with cheese
- Summer Corn and Sausage Tart (with a super easy press-in-the-pan crust), grilled leftover artisan bread served with Fresh Tomato Bruschetta Topping
- Greek Style Grilled Beef Lettuce Wraps, Pita (homemade if you have time), Hummus, sliced sweet peppers and carrots
Week 4
- Easy Mexican Avocado Salad with Avocado Dressing (Ready in 15 Minutes)
- Italian Sausage Pasta Primavera (with seasonal green beans, red peppers, zucchini & onion)
- Grilled Shrimp and Vegetable Tacos with Chipotle-Yogurt Sauce, chips & pico de gallo
- Sausage & Corn Stuffed Zucchini, sliced tomatoes on chopped lettuce with Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Garden Stir-fry with pork (seasonal idea: green beans, zucchini, peppers & onions), brown rice
What about Saturdays & Sundays?
To make meal planning easier, we have two set menus for weekends (I encourage you to think of something like this to make your weekends no-brainer when it comes to meal planning!):
- Saturdays alternate betweenĀ burgers on homemade bunsĀ (orĀ pigs-in-blankets) & fries andĀ homemade pizza, or my favorite Greek-style chicken pizza. Both are served with cut veggies and any dip we have.
- Sundays are what I call “OYO” = on your own. We choose from leftovers or make salads, sandwiches, quesadillas, or simple charcuterie plates and everyone is in charge of it themselves (for the most part).
August Dessert Idea
Use the bounty of summer’s berries in these moist Whole Wheat Blackberry Crumb Bars – for snacks and dessert.
More Meal Planning Help
- Menu Planning 101 (5 Steps to Easy Meal Planning)
- Seasonal cooking through the year
- Monthly dinner menus
I hope you enjoy and are able to use some of these favorite family meals of ours. Make sure to sign up here to download the PDF of this meal plan if you havenāt yet, and get more recipes and simple homemade life tips delivered right to your inbox!
This menu has been updated ā it was originally published in 2014.
I stumbled across your blog looking for weight loss solutions and eating real and whole foods. I’m so glad I did! I like what I’ve read so far. I have a question about the portions size, you say you just cut your portions in half. Is this from what you typically ate or from what is recommended ? Because that can make a big difference. Also when reading through your recipes, which sound delicious and easy by the way, you list the serving amount, but how many are your serving? What would a serving for just an individual? For instance your Caesar wraps, makes 8 servings, are 2 a serving for one person?
Thanks for sharing your weight loss story, it all seems so practical and commonsense. Off to read more of your menus and recipes!!
Thank you, Paula, I sure hope my story and tips are useful to you! I’ve answered this before, too, so I think I need to add it to our next ebook that’s coming out. š I cut MY portions in half – whatever I was eating previously. Since I knew the weight I maintained at those portions, it made sense to me that cutting those in half would help me lose some pounds. And it did. š
The ‘servings’ that are listed in recipes and on packages are just guidelines – there’s not a one-size-fits-all serving size. For instance, my 6-ft, 190 lb. husband eats 3 times what I eat – and he’s lean and muscled. And I’ve found that for most recipes, the “servings” are simply a guide to either 1) the number it produces or 2) what a group might eat. So if it said serves 4 and I needed 6, I’d know double it (even though I didn’t need 8, just to be sure there was enough).
In your example of the wraps, they make 8 wraps. Which I should clarify on the recipe – wraps, not servings, so thank you. š
Hi Jami from another Oregon gardener and writer. I was intrigued by the possibility of sending in a post to one site and having it propagate to four others! Now that is what I call good gardening. My primary goal with my site is as a home for all creative endeavors including–I hope–a second book. However, as I continue to work on that, I get a huge amount of pleasure from my garden. And what a summer we’ve had, eh? A little bit too hot for my taste, but the tomatoes and the squash sure are happy. The Dahlias too. Please add my link to your grouping. Many thanks Jami! With much appreciation, Susie T. in Portland, Ore. http://www.life-change-compost.com/summer-pleasures/
Nice to meet you, Susie! Yes, the garden is going crazy and it’s all happening weeks earlier than I’m used to – we’re already swimming in tomatoes and the gravenstine apples are all ready and the plums are looking like they’re ready. Whew. What fun to have you link up! The party is open to links Tuesday-Thursday and then we pick some for the features, etc., so be sure to link within that time frame so we can see your garden. š