For us September brings the busyness of the school year. We have weekly guitar lessons, choir practice, and school events. The offbeat holidays we are using as an excuse to celebrate something are: Eat an Extra Dessert Day (Sep 4), Teddy Bear Day (Sep 9), !International Chocolate Day! & Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day (Sep 13), Talk Like A Pirate Day (Sep 19), World Gratitude Day (Sep 21), Hobbit Day (Sep 22), Comic Book Day (Sep 25), and Coffee Day (Sep 29).

Ideas and resources for menu planning in September, many seasonal summer and fall 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.
*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 September includes:
Vegetables
Artichokes
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Carrots
Chile Peppers
Cucumber
Curly Kale
French Beans
Garlic
Horseradish
Leeks
Lettuce
Mushrooms
New Potatoes
Red Onions
Spinach
Squash
Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Fruits
Apples
Blackberries
Blueberries
Figs
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Pumpkins
Epicurious Seasonal produce maps by state
CUESA Seasonal vegetables by month
Recipes from the September Meal Plan (organized by how perishable ingredients are)
Tier 1/Most Perishable (ie avocado, lettuce, snap peas, spinach, tomatoes)
Kent’s Sicilian Summer Stew from Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Monster Zucchini and Basil Strata from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Philly Cheese Sandwich, Vegetarian Style from Skinny Ms
Roasted Garden Vegetable Lasagna from Finding Joy in My Kitchen
Slow Cooker Recipe for Vegetarian Greek Lentil Soup with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Feta from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Sweet Corn Cakes with Roasted Vegetable Salsa from Skinny Ms
White Bean and Spinach Tacos from Cooking Light
Tier 2/Less Perishable (ie cabbage, cauliflower, corn, mushrooms, peppers, pineapple, zucchini)
CrockPot Greek Chicken Soup with Garbanzos and Oregano from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Greek Chicken Stew with Cauliflower Rice from Skinny Ms
Greek Lentil Soup with Red Pepper and Feta from The Perfect Pantry
Indian Chickpea-and-Vegetable Stew from All*You
Oven Baked Spanish Tortilla from Woman’s Day
Slow Cooker Broccoli, Brown Rice, and Cheddar Casserole from Skinny Ms
Slow Cooker Corn & Red Pepper Chowder from Oh My Veggies
Thai Chicken Naan Pizza Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Red Pepper & Carrots from Cookin Canuck
Tier 3/Pantry or Make It Whenever (ie carrot, celery, onion)
Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde from Skinnytaste
Clean Eating Tortilla Chicken Stew from The Gracious Pantry
Mostly Organic Chicken Enchiladas from Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Slow Cooker Vegetarian Pasta e Fagioli Soup Recipe with Whole Wheat Orzo from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Slow Cooker White Bean Soup from Budget Bytes
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 September Real Food/Whole Food Meal Plans
Bi-Weekly Whole Food Meal Plan for Aug 31–Sept 13 from The Better Mom & The Nourishing Home
Frugal Real Food Meal Plan September 2014 from Don’t Waste the Crumbs
Grain Free Meal Plan 9/8 – 9/13 from Real Foof Outlaws
Healthy Meal Plan Fall Week 1 from Little Family Adventure
Real Food Recipes + Weekly Meal Plan September 7th from Sassy Moms in the City
September Meal Plan from Letters from Sunnybrook
Whole Foods September 2014 Menu from Once A Month Meals
September Meal Plan Pinterest Boards:
Meal Plan September (just look at all that tastiness!)
Meal Plan Fall
Recipes to Try Summer
Recipes to Try Fall
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
We hope you enjoyed our September Real Food Monthly Menu Plan post
Shared with Fabulous Finds TGIF Linky Party, Fat Tuesday, Inspire Me Monday, Real Food Recipe Roundup and Real Food Wednesday
Photo credits: Corn from theilr on Flickr
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