October Dinner Menus for Comforting Real Food Meals

October is a natural return to warm, home cooked meals and these October dinner menus are perfect as evenings grow cooler. Four weeks of dinner menus with sides are included, all using real foods and seasonal vegetables to create comforting, reliable family meals. Download the whole menu for a done-for-you dinner plan!

Not sure why to menu plan? Check out all the great reasons 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.

October always seems much more of a transition month to me than September, both weather-wise (the month starts out warmer and then gets consistently cooler here in the PNW) and food-wise.

At the beginning of the month there’s still quite a bit of summer’s harvest to cook with (tomatoes, green beans, zucchini) and on warmer days we can crank up the grill. But towards the end of the month when the weather fully changes here to cooler and wet, we’re in the mood for warm and comforting soups, stews, and casseroles. Oh and homemade bread!

So while I’m using up the last of the summer’s harvest of tomatoes, corn, beans and peppers in the dinner menus below, you’ll find many to be in recipes where they’re cooked using ovens, big pots and slow cookers. Of course there’ll always be a salad or two in the mix, as well as the last grilling of the season.

What’s 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 day’s menu includes a main dish and sides.
• Use the sides as-is, come up with your own, or pull from the other days.
• A dessert idea that makes for a fun fall night: an Easy Caramel Apple Dip + a variety of apple for an apple tasting dessert.

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:

1. Click the heart in the lower right corner to add the whole month’s plan to your recipe box. When you want the recipes, revisit the menu and click on the recipes you need to make.
2. Copy the daily menus you like and paste them into your own menu planning system.
3. 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 month’s menus, you can print it out and post it as your menu, too.)

You may or may not be in the same weather boat as we are, but there are lots of dinner choices on the menus below, no matter where you live!

October Dinner Menu Ideas

Week 1

• Black Bean and Sausage Soup, Soft 100% Whole Wheat Rolls
• Chicken or Turkey Mini Sliders (use leftover dinner rolls, insides brushed with a chutney like tomato chutney or blueberry chutney) with cooked, sliced chicken or turkey & cheese – assemble and heat until warmed), green salad with Naturally Sweet Apple Cider Vinaigrette
• Grilled or broiled shrimp skewers (brush with Sweet Onion Marmalade), Zucchini Feta Fritters with Lime Recipe, Easy Grilled Vegetables OR green salad with Creamy Feta Dressing
• Stir Fried Vegetables & Pork, with the baked noodles or rice
• Greek Tuna And Tomato Salad (to enjoy the last of the summer tomatoes!), Easy Artisan Bread

Week 2

• Quick Mini Meatloaves with Chipotle-Honey BBQ Sauce, Garlic-Mashed Potatoes, Awesome Garlic Green Beans, Tomato and Feta Salad
• Leftover meatloaf sandwiches on 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, cut vegetables & Creamy Feta Dip/Dressing (maybe left over from last week?)
• Maple-Mustard Chicken, Creamy Fresh Corn Bake, Healthy Sesame Kale Salad
• Soft Tacos served with Fresh Salsa and Spicy Corn Relish with Olives or Olive Salad
• Simple Sausage and Corn Tart, Roasted Beet Salad With Goat Cheese

Week 3

• Salmon Patties with Flax, Easy 10-Minute Creamy Pesto Pasta, green salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
• The Best Chili Recipe (Stovetop, Crockpot OR Instant Pot), Rich Cornbread with Honey Butter, cut peppers & carrots with Best Ranch Dip
• Baked chicken (make extra) served with Tomato Chutney, Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Tomatoes, leftover cornbread
• 20 Minute Mediterranean Chicken Pesto Pasta (using leftover baked chicken), green salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
• Grilled pork tenderloin chops served with Rhubarb chutney (or any other chutney you have), Authentic Greek Salad, Easy Homemade Pita, Hummus

Week 4

• Slow Cooker Spiced Whole Chicken (or store bought rotisserie chicken), Simple Barley Pilaf, Easy Seasoned Roasted Broccoli
• Chicken-Spinach Frittata with Feta & Tomatoes (using leftover chicken), Caesar Slaw, Quick & Tender Breadsticks
• Fast and Easy Curried Red Lentil Soup, green salad with Basic Vinaigrette, Quick & Tender Breadsticks (leftover)
• Pasta with Fresh Roasted Tomato Sauce and cooked meat of choice, Amazing Garlic Green Beans OR Roasted Carrots with Garlic and Spices
• Roasted Sausages, Onions & Peppers, Slow Cooker Honey/Maple Baked Beans, green salad with Perfect Honey Mustard Dressing, Easy Artisan Bread

Dessert Idea

Original 4-Ingredient Homemade Caramel Apple Dip +Fun Fall Apple Tasting Night

More Meal Planning Help

• Menu Planning 101  (5 steps to frugal menu 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 haven’t yet, and get more recipes and simple homemade life tips delivered right to your inbox!

This menu has been updated – it was originally published in 2014.