As we thaw from the coolness of winter and transition into the freshness of spring, our food preferences also change from the winter warming meals of oven-bakes, soups and stews every night to just a couple of dinners of roasts and casseroles, mixed with spring vegetable stir-fries and lighter fare. It’s easy to take advantage of what the spring bounty has to offer, from veggies (such as asparagus, beetroot and zucchini) to fruits (such as mangoes, strawberries and oranges). So peel off those winter layers and start enjoying the warmer days. Oh, and give our spring meal plan a try!
| DAY | BREAKFAST | LUNCH | DINNER | SNACKS |
| Sat | Scrambled eggs with basil garlic and tomato are packed full of flavour and make a delicious Saturday breakfast. | Grab a chook at shopping today and make Katie’s chicken soup when you get home. It’s easy, nutritious and filling. | Get this Roast beef into the oven and make some Duck fat potatoesto go with it. If you want to come home to roast beef you can always use this Slow cooker roast beef recipe. | Make these yummy Caramelised pear tarts; double your batch of pears to eat with porridge. Keeps really well in the fridge. |
| Sun | These Bacon and egg cups are perfect for Sunday brunch. Add some nice sourdough bread for a complete meal. |
Use leftover roast beef to make sandwiches, add a little horseradish for bite. | Stir-frying is a fast way to get dinner on the table and this Thai roasted tofu is delicious and easy on the waistline. Make a double batch so you have leftover for lunch tomorrow. | This recipe for Bill Granger’s coconut loaf is easy to make on the weekend; slice it up as a mid-week breakfast to go. |
| Mon | Grab a slice of that Coconut loaffrom the weekend. | Have a bowl of last night’s stir-fry or make some Gozleme for lunch. They are so easy! | Quick chicken casserole is exactly that – quick! Add in lots of spring vegetables to up the nutrition quotient. | Pop a batch of these Savoury muffins in the oven while you are cooking dinner so you can grab them to take to work. |
| Tues | In a hurry? Grab a filling Eggflipmeal-in-a-glass for a high protein start to the day. Take a shaker with you for convenience. | This Pumpkin, feta and chickpea salad has a fresh orange dressing that is so easy to make. | Spring vegetable soup is a great way to take advantage of fresh, in season produce. | These Vegemite and cheese scrolls will be a hit with the kids. |
| Wed | If you think that you are too busy to cook, grab a Poached egg with toast in the time it takes you to make the toast. | If you have time, a Zucchini slicemakes a tasty lunch. You can also slice it for lunchboxes. | Yummy lamb rack is everyone’s favourite and popping this Spring Lamb rack with dukkah yoghurt meal on the table will please the kids and “feed the man meat”. | This Orange cakewith orange icing is deliciously light and buttery. Make it up and pop it into the cake tin for morning teas. |
| Thurs | Use some of those tasty Caramelised pears to top your healthy porridge today and get an extra serve of fruit in for the day. | Chorizo and sweet potato soup has a great smokey flavour and you can pack some for school or work tomorrow. | Spring lamb burgers take advantage of cheaper lamb in the spring months. This meal will appeal to the whole family. | Banana and maple syrup muffins will take care of any brown bananas that you have left over in the bowl at the end of the week. |
| Fri | Boiled eggs with toast soldiers are high in protein and deliver enough energy to get you to lunch. | Grab some leftover Zucchini bake or maybe indulge in Chinese chicken and sweet corn soup. Way better than takeaway! | By Friday night the family is tired so a French omelette can save the day. Add in your favourite fillings such as tomatoes and mushrooms or chopped ham. | It FRIDAY, yay! So you can be a little naughty. Indulge in a Snickers hot fudge sundae and enjoy. |
Fantastic – thank you for sharing this article. I find meal planning definitely helps when you are busy during the week. Knowing what you are going to make takes a lot of the pressure out of cooking a meal. It is also really good to have extra ideas when planning.
Yes yes and yes. Thank you for this article. Just the photo of asparagus in the article is making me hungry and I do need to revamp some of our dining choices at home. Chorizo and sweet potato soup is what I’m truly eyeing right now. What’s missing here is an easy printable pdf and it’s good to go…Can we? 😛
This is a really good meal plan, I like that it’s not complicated or includes unusual, hard to find ingredients! I will be trying many of these recipes as the weather warms up! Thanks for the great ideas!!
Some great meals here. I would love to try the pumpkin, chick pea and feta salad as well as the orange cake.
Lovely light refreshing meal ideas. I love having salads and adding cold meat from the night before to it always leaves you feeling satisfied without the gluggy bloated feeling the heavier winter meals can give you. spring is my favorite season in all areas especially in the food department…when i walk down to the fruit and vege area in supermarket its so much brighter and inspiring in spring than in any other month i reckon. Im also a total sucker for BBQ so the moment daylight savings hit it usually within a week weve had our fiirst BBQ and salads galore
Ooh yummy there are some super delicious meals here and I love that there is a direct link to each of the recipes so that they can be tried easily. I love the sound of the pumpkin, feta and chickpea salad in particular.
I’m always loving ideas on nutrition and new ideas on food for new seasons. Having beetroot sounds great. It’s my favourite. I tend to eat seasonally when new things pop up cheaper. Salads start getting cheaper now in this warmer weather too which is great.
I always love new ideas and especially what to do with zucchini’s as once they start growing we have way too many. Chicken soup and casserole sound great and yummy. Our kids are really into eggs at the moment too so different egg ideas are great instead of plain fried eggs.
The quick chicken casserole looks amazing, tasty and fast. My perfect kind of meal. Not sure about the soups as I’m a little over soups. To me its a winter meal but I like this meal plan especially all the treats.
Some great ideas for moving into spring. Love the variety of ideas for breakfast. Zucchini slice sounds pretty yum as a lunch idea too. I’m so looking forward to salads and stir fries with spring vegetables. We have been eating some salads and things already. But it will feel less weird as the days warm up!
Yum, yum, yum 🙂 We pretty much eat seasonally as we get our fruit and veg from our local Farmers Market all year round. Great meal plan, it can be hard to think of ideas and recipes depending on what is available. The snickers hot fudge sundae sounds good!!