Summer meal plan for 7 days, healthy, simple recipes

Feel light and energized with this 7-Day healthy summer meal plan, including simple recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a grocery list!

Meal Prep For The Week

We highly recommend you meal prep some of the foods needed for the recipes. Summertime is too precious not to enjoy outside from early morning until late in the evening.

To make cooking during the week easier, we suggest choosing two days, probably Sunday and Wednesday night to prepare some of the breakfast, the proteins and the roasted vegetables. Pick whichever days fit your schedule.

This way you can make dinner or lunch quickly and do not need to spend a ton of money. Moreover, you’ll be eating something different and fresh every day – it won’t be a meal you had in the fridge for 4 days.

Here’s what to make ahead for this healthy summer meal plan:

• make the base for the overnight oats the night before and top with fruit and nut butter in the morning
• prepare the breakfast cookies and refrigerate (if this is your choice for breakfast)
• bake the spinach falafels on Sunday (if you don’t choose the 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowls – then prep some quinoa or rice)
• boil eggs and cook chicken for the Cobb salad
• sear or bake the salmon for the salmon wraps
• make the tzatziki;
• prepare the feta appetizer to use in the dinner salad
• roast or bake vegetables like peppers, zucchini or potatoes
• wash and pat dry the fresh produce (tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, green onions, herbs, peppers)
• pre-cut cucumbers, onions, herbs, peppers and store in the fridge in an airtight container

Once you’ve got these, you’ll be able to assemble a variety of healthy summer recipes throughout the week in no time!

Why A Healthy Summer Meal Plan

This might just be us, but when summer comes, we like to be out and eat out most of the time. It’s never pretty, though. It’s quite expensive, it’s never as satisfying as what we would usually make on our own (when we say don’t forget the garlic, we mean it) and we feel bloated and just blah. We often wake up with a swollen face and puffy eyes, even though we never drink alcohol. We don’t know what it is – the salt content, the fat content? No idea and honestly we don’t care to find out.

The other reason for this summer meal plan is that this is the season we want to eat clean and well. It’s the season to fill up the tanks. That’s right, fill them up with vitamin D by spending some time in the sunshine (responsibly, of course) and by eating all the fresh produce you can. Leafy greens, fresh herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, arugula, cherries, berries, and plums. All these naturally grow during summer and are most nutrient-packed during that season.

Prepare your body for winter and eat as many fruits and vegetables as you like, your body will thank you for it! The antioxidants, vitamins and minerals from these foods will help reduce oxidative stress, prevent premature aging, nutrient deficiencies and disease, and will make you feel fantastic.

Download the Grocery List

This is the grocery list for the healthy summer meal plan that you can find below. You can download it here. It’s a bit shorter than usual. That’s because many of the meals use the same ingredients and we’ll repeat some recipes a few times. But don’t worry, you won’t get bored!

Healthy Summer Breakfast Recipes

These are some simple healthy summer breakfast ideas that don’t require much effort or heat!

• Home-cooked Healthy Breakfast Cookies
• Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
• Healthy Overnight Oats
• Simple Yogurt Fruit and Nuts Breakfast Bowls

As you will see in the meal plan below, we'll probably be eating the overnight oats every single day, since it’s our go-to breakfast during summer. However, all of the other options are simple and satisfying as well.

Healthy Summer Recipes For Lunch And Dinner

These healthy salads, bowls and wraps are solid summer lunches and dinners. Switch things up every day and choose the meals that look a reliable for you.

• Arugula Shrimp Salad
• Healthy Cobb Salad
• 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowl
• Notable Mediterranean Salmon Wraps (use gluten-free tortillas)
• Big Healthy Dinner Salad
• Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls (make ahead)
• Leftover Chicken Gyros Bowls

7-Day Healthy Summer Meal Plan

Below you’ll find the healthy summer meal plan we made for the week.

Please note, that you do not need to be strict about the menu. You can change the order of the recipes, you can customize the recipes themselves and adapt the menu to what you like and need. Make it your own!

We know we will definitely be changing some things. For example, with the falafel bowls – we might add some roasted vegetables or some of the feta appetizer, or whatever we're craving at the moment. We'll probably switch the order of the meals as well to whatever we're craving that day.

Day 1:

• Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls or 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowls (if no time)
• Dinner: Avocado Arugula Shrimp Salad

Day 2:

• Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Avocado Arugula Shrimp Salad
• Dinner: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls or 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowls

Day 3:

• Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls or 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowls
• Dinner: Healthy Cobb Salad

Day 4:

• Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls or 5-Minute Mediterranean Bowls
• Dinner: Notable Mediterranean Salmon Wraps

Day 5:

• Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
• Lunch: Healthy Cobb Salad
• Dinner: Big Healthy Dinner Salad

Day 6:

• Breakfast: Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
• Lunch: Big Healthy Dinner Salad
• Dinner: Notable Mediterranean Salmon Wraps

Day 7:

• Breakfast: Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
• Lunch: Notable Mediterranean Salmon Wraps
• Dinner: Simple Leftover Chicken Gyros Bowls

Snacks

We’re all different. For some, this menu might have too much food, for others not enough. If you feel like you need a small snack between meals, your easiest and best choices would be seasonal fruit like watermelon, cherries, berries and peaches, as well as nuts and seeds.

At the moment, our favorites here are pistachios and sunflower seeds. You can also make smoothies and no-bake cookies like these if you have more time.