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Last updated on July 11th, 2023 at 07:15 pm
Feel light, happy and energized with this 7-Day healthy summer meal plan including gluten-free recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a grocery list!
Healthy Recipes For Summer
On the menu for the week, we have veggie-packed summer recipes for dinner, easy salads, delicious Mediterranean meals, and amazing healthier breakfasts like overnight oats and oatmeal pancakes.
My goal was to make a healthy summer meal plan that won’t require anyone to stand next to an oven for hours. The other goal was to make it flavorful and easy!
The recipes are all gluten-free, almost all inspired by the Mediterranean diet and do include feta cheese or yogurt. This means this summer meal plan is not dairy-free. However, if you need it to be dairy-free, you can adjust the recipes easily by using this cashew sauce, this tzatziki and chopped olives instead of the feta.
Meal Prep For The Week
If you decide to join me on this 7-Day healthy eating challenge, I highly recommend you meal prep some of the foods needed for the recipes. Summertime is too precious to not enjoy outside from early morning until late in the evening.
To make cooking during the week easier and quicker I 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 super 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
- boil eggs and cook chicken for the Cobb salad
- sear or bake the salmon for the salmon wraps
- make the tzatziki, you can find a paleo and dairy-free option here
- 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 me, but when summer comes, I like to be out and eat out most of the time. It’s never pretty though. It’s quite expensive, it’s never as delicious as what I would usually make on my own (when I say don’t forget the garlic, I mean it) and I feel bloated and just blah. I often wake up with a swollen face and puffy eyes, even though I never drink alcohol. I don’t know what it is – the salt content, the fat content? No idea and honestly I don’t care to find out. I prefer to invest my time into making my own meals.
The other reason for this healthy summer meal plan is that this is the season we want to eat super clean and super 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.
Healthy Summer Meal Plan 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 usually. 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 easy healthy summer breakfast ideas that don’t require much effort or heat!
- Homemade Healthy Breakfast Cookies
- Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
- Healthy Overnight Oats
- Easy Yogurt Fruit and Nuts Breakfast Bowls
As you will see in the meal plan below, I’ll probably be eating the overnight oats every single day, since it’s my go-to breakfast during summer. However, all of the other options are easy and delicious as well.
Healthy Summer Recipes For Lunch And Dinner
These healthy salads, bowls and wraps are perfect summer lunches and dinners. Switch things up every day and choose the meals that look the best for you.
- Arugula Shrimp Salad
- Super Healthy Cobb Salad
- Amazing 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 I 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!
I know I will definitely be changing some things. For example, with the falafel bowls – I might add some roasted vegetables or some of the feta appetizer, or whatever I’m craving at the moment. I’ll probably switch the order of the meals as well to whatever I’m craving that day.
Day 1:
- Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
- Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls
- 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
Day 3:
- Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
- Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls
- Dinner: Super Healthy Cobb Salad
Day 4:
- Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
- Lunch: Baked Spinach Falafel Bowls
- Dinner: Amazing Mediterranean Salmon Wraps
Day 5:
- Breakfast: Overnight Oats with Berries and Almond Butter
- Lunch: Super Healthy Cobb Salad
- Dinner: Big Healthy Dinner Salad
Day 6:
- Breakfast: Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
- Lunch: Big Healthy Dinner Salad
- Dinner: Amazing Mediterranean Salmon Wraps
Day 7:
- Breakfast: Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
- Lunch: Amazing Mediterranean Salmon Wraps
- Dinner: Easy 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, my favorites here are pistachios and sunflower seeds. You can also make smoothies and no-bake cookies like these if you have more time.
More Healthy Meal Plans
I hope you enjoy your summer and all the summer food! I also hope found some inspiration with this healthy summer meal plan including recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner! If you did, maybe you’ll also like my other meal plans below:
- 7-Day Mediterranean Meal Plan
- One Week Dairy-Free Gluten Free Meal Plan
- The Clean Eating Challenge