July brings a few holidays, including the 4th of July, Teddy Bear Picnic Day, Embrace Your Geekness Day, and National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. We really don’t have a lot of plans this month, except splashing in water and hanging out outside. This is how I like it. And ice cream! Way too much ice cream. And possibly losing track of days and posting the meal plan a week late. But what is summer for if not forgetting what day it is??

Ideas and resources for menu planning in July, many seasonal summer and real food recipes. Very simple ingredients, from scratch. As always, these are all frugal recipes intended for a tight budget. Real food/from scratch/traditional diet/nutrient dense/whole food/blah blah blah. My monthly meal plans use an alternative meal planning method, recipes organized into tiers based on how perishable the ingredients are, not sorted into particular days.
What is this REAL FOOD I keep babbling about? Real food is just home-cooked meals, from scratch. Nothing weird or super hard, just making food yourself from “real” stuff, not paying someone else to prepare something for you and add weird stuff and franken-food ingredients. You have control over exactly what goes into your family’s dinner, and your body. Good stuff, like tomatoes. And mozzarella. And dark chocolate. Lots of chocolate. But no glitter. That would be bad.
*Attention real food purists/whole foodies – the recipes I link/pin are all from scratch, but some of them you may have to make substitutions or modifications. For example, I link recipes that have sugar, but you can substitute whatever your favorite sweetener is.
*Don’t forget to read about how I meal plan at Frugal, Flexible Monthly Menu Planning!*
In this post: Seasonal Produce ~ Recipes ~ Download PDF ~ Pinterest Boards ~ Other Plans
Seasonal produce for July includes:
Vegetables
Corn
Cucumbers
Green beans
Tomatoes
Yellow squash
Zucchini
Fruits
Apricots
Blueberries
Cantaloupes
Cherries
Figs
Nectarines
Peaches
Plums
Strawberries
Watermelons
Epicurious Seasonal produce maps by state
CUESA Seasonal vegetables by month
Recipes from the July Meal Plan (organized by how perishable ingredients are)
Download this cute printable from Oh She Glows to keep track of what is the perishable-est
Two-thirds of these are no cook recipes. When I get sweaty my brain melts and I’m unlikely to cook. Search the Pinterest board for “no cook” to jump straight to those.
Tier 1/Most Perishable (ie avocado, cucumber, lettuce, zucchini)
Brazilian Chicken Turnovers w/ Avocado Yogurt Dip from Dinners and Dishes and Desserts
Broken Lasagna With Zucchini-Tomato Sauce from Food Network
Cauliflower Hummus Burgers with Mint Tzatziki from Oh My Veggies
Chicken and Arugula Pita Pockets from Giada De Laurentis
Chinese Noodles from Fitness Magazine
Confetti Chickpea Salad from Budget Bytes
Cucumber Avocado Tea Sandwiches With Dill & Mint from Post Punk Kitchen
Dana’s Marinated Vegetable Pasta from $5 Dinners
Fettuccine With Summer Vegetables and Goat Cheese from Food Network
Lemony Fusilli With Chicken, Zucchini and Pine Nuts from Fitness Magazine
Lemony Orzo-Veggie Salad with Chicken from Cooking Light
Mama Ghannouj (Baba Ghannouj Made With Zucchini) from Oh My Veggies
Mango-Avocado Chicken Orzo Salad from $5 Dinners
Mexican Chopped Salad with Greek Yogurt Cilantro Lime Ranch from Cooking Classy
Peruvian Ceviche from Sunset
Pesto-Peach Chicken Salad Wraps from Fitness Magazine
Roasted Zucchini and Black Bean Tostadas with Crisp Radish Relish from Cooking Light
Smorgastarta sandwich cake from Panini Happy (Saveur)
Speedy Veggie ‘n Brown Rice Noodle Bowl with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce from Oh She Glows
Sprouted Quinoa Black Bean Burgers with Pineapple Salsa from Oh My Veggies
Summer Salad with Mango, Cucumber, Avocado, and Curry Vinaigrette from Choosing Raw
Tomato, Corn, and Butter Lettuce Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing from Choosing Raw
Ulimate Green Taco Wraps with Lentil-Walnut Taco Meat from Oh She Glows
Zucchini & Corn Panini with Pepper Jack Cheese from Oh My veggies
Zucchini “Fettucine” with Tomato Sauce from Ani’s Raw Food Essentials
Zucchini-Mushroom “Linguine” from Southern Living
Zucchini Noodles With Peanut Sauce from Post Punk Kitchen
Tier 2/Less Perishable (ie corn, spinach, tomato)
Crab, Corn, and Tomato Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing from Cooking Light
Fettuccine with Seared Tomatoes, Spinach, and Burrata from Cooking Light (can sub fresh mozzarella)
Heirloom Tomato, Kale and Basil Pumpkin Seed Napoleon from Choosing Raw
Marinated Kale, White Bean, and Tomato Salad from Budget Bytes
Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes, and Peas from Cooking Light
Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce from Real Food Real Deals
Simple Chickpea Salad from How Sweet Eats
Stuffed Baguette from Baking Obsession
Vegan Caprese Sandwiches with Garlic Cashew Cheese from Oh My Veggies
Tier 3/Pantry or Make It Whenever (ie cabbage, carrot)
Chilled Parsley and Pea Soup from My New Roots
Cheesy Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas from Aggie’s Kitchen
Asian Slaw with Red Chili “Peanut” Dressing from Rawmazing
Coconut Chia Fruit Salad from Laws on Wellness
Buffalo Chickpea Pitas With Ranch from Post Punk Kitchen
Chickpea Salad Sammiches from Post Punk Kitchen
Overnight, No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal From The Yummy Life
Download PDF. This has the links in the order listed above. Keep in mind I don’t limit myself to particular days, so this is not in order by date. Save it to your desktop and you will always have a quick reference when you’re hunting dinner, you probably have the ingredients for Tier 3 recipes at this very moment!
Other July Real Food/Whole Food Meal Plans
Bi-Weekly Whole Food Meal Plan for July 6–19 from The Better Mom and Nourishing Home
Frugal Real Food Meal Plan from Don’t Waste the Crumbs
July Meal Plan from Letters from Sunnybrook
Real Food Grain Free Meal Plan 7/7 – 7/12 from Real Food Outlaws
Real Food Meal Plan: July 11, 2014 from Real Food Whole Life
Real Food Meal Plan Week 24 from Real Food Real Deals
Whole Foods July 2014 Menu from Once A Month Meals
July Meal Plan Pinterest Boards:
Meal Plan July (just look at all that tastiness!)
Recipes to Try Summer
Other July Real Food Pinterest Boards
July/August Seasonal Recipes from Real Food Freak
Real Food July Recipes from One Moms Autoimmune Disease Fight
Real Food Meal Plans: Summer 2014 from Real Food Whole Life
In this post: Seasonal Produce ~ Recipes ~ Download PDF ~ Pinterest Boards ~ Other Plans
*Also see our
OR 
Frugal, Flexible Monthly Menu Planning OR Weekly Meal Plan Printable Template
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We hope you enjoyed our July Real Food Monthly Menu Plan post
Photo credits:
Farmers market photo from Allen Sheffield on Flickr
We hope you enjoyed our July Real Food Monthly Meal Plan post
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Thank you so much for mentioning my July Meal Plan! What a great compilation of recipes and ideas. 🙂
Wow, you found that fast, I just got it up! You’re welcome. 🙂
Wow! What a great resource you have here! Thanks for including us!
Glad to share!
Great meal plan and love all the resources you shared her, very helpful! Pinning this, thanks. 🙂
Yay! Thanks!
Thanks so much for sharing at the Say G’day Saturday Linky Party! I just pinned this.
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
Thanks!
Thanks for the list! I love cooking and baking with fresh produce! Making homemade zucchini bread right now!
Wow this is amazing! Simple ingredients that make gourmet sounding dishes! Sign me up! LOVE it!
Cathy
I do get really excited to make all these recipes. Thanks!
So helpful! I pinned this to my meal planning Pinterest board!
Thanks! I love using Pinterest to meal plan.
Wow, this is awesome! Pinned and shared! Thank you for linking at The Yuck Stops Here link party. Hope to see you again next week.
Thanks, I like The Yuck Stops Here, I’ll be back.
What a great resource! So much information to share! Thank you for linking up at #MerryMonday!
Thanks, glad to link!
Wow! This is amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I cannot wait to checkout those pinterest boards! What a great resource. Thanks so much for sharing at Simple Lives Thrusday; we hope to see you back this week!
Thanks! I am way too active on Pinterest.
So much good stuff here! Thanks so much for sharing it on WNWNW, I’m featuring it this week 🙂
Oooh thanks, that’s awesome!
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This is a great resource. Thanks for dropping by my blog. Feel free to share your posts at my weekly parties if you like. Theresa
I love to party. I love your logo too, it’s so pretty.