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May brings a few holidays, including May Day, Star Wars Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, National Twilight Zone Day, and Memorial Day, and the second birthday of my littlest kidlet. For us it brings a yard sale and my first craft fair ever (as a crafter). Also guitar lessons once a week shorten my prep time. Apparently when I was pinning I wanted Mexican and Greek. And I’m ready for zucchini and spinach this month. I didn’t actually plan 30 days of meals this month, with the farmer’s markets opening I’m excited to cook what looks good. Ideas and resources for menu planning in May, many seasonal spring 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 May includes:

Vegetables

Artichokes

Asparagus

Broccoli

Collards

Leeks

Lettuce

Okra

Rhubarb

Spinach

Spring Onions

Spring Peas

Zucchini

Fruit

Apricots

Cherries

Pineapples

Strawberries

Epicurious Seasonal produce maps by state

CUESA Seasonal vegetables by month

Recipes from the May Meal Plan

Tier 1/Most Perishable (ie avocado, mushroom, spinach)

Black Bean Flautas with Avocado Dipping Sauce from Oh My Veggies

Brunch Tart With Spinach, Olives and Leeks from Ted Allen on Food Network

Chicken & Spinach Stromboli with Alfredo Dipping Sauce from Real Fit, Real Food Mom

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas from In Sock Monkey Slippers

Green Enchiladas from Life Currents

Green Pizza with a Cauliflower Base from Green Kitchen Stories

Grilled Cheese Crepes with Chard and Dill from A Couple Cooks

Italian Wedding Soup from Rachel Schultz

Rosemary Chicken Chowder with White Beans from Good Life Eats

Spinach, Feta, and Tarragon Frittata from Food & Wine

Spinach-and-Green-Pea Empanadas from Food & Wine

Tortilla Flat Stacks with Avocado & Lime Black Beans from Clean Eating

Tuna Veggie Melt from Clean Eating

Ultimate Grilled Cheese and Ham Panini with Parsnip Fries from Midwest Living

Vegetarian Salisbury Steak from Oh My Veggies

Tier 2/Less Perishable (ie cauliflower, peppers, zucchini)

Crustless Italian Quiche from Clean Eating

Curried Chicken, Chickpea, and Rice Soup from Good Life Eats

Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Creamy Lemon-Yogurt Sauce from Ezra Pound Cake

Veggie Tacos with Queso Fresco from In Sock Monkey Slippers

White Velvet Soup à la My New Roots from Green Kitchen Stories

Zucchini Carrot Soup from Family Fresh Cooking

Tier 3/Pantry or Make It Whenever (ie carrot, onion)

Chickpea and Potato Mulligatawny Soup from In Praise of Leftovers

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Tortilla Chicken Stew from The Gracious Pantry

Knoephla (Potato Dumpling Soup) from Midwest Living

Lentil, Barley, and Coconut Soup from In Praise of Leftovers



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!

May Meal Plan Pinterest Boards:

Other May Real Food/Whole Food Meal Plans

Bi-Weekly Meal Plan for April 27–May 10 from The Better Mom & Nourishing Home

Frugal Real Food Meal Plan: May 2014 from Don’t Waste the Crumbs

Liz’s Weekly Real Food Meal Plan #5 from Real Food Liz

May Real Food Frugal Meal Plan

Real Food Meal Plan Kit: April 21-May 4 from Live Simply

Real Food Weekly Meal Plan

Whole Foods May 2014 Menu from Once a Month Meals

Participated in Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Fat Tuesday Forager Festival, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural Party Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop, Homestead Barn Hop, Let’s Get Real Friday Party, Meal Planning Monday, Menu Plan Monday, Mostly Homemade Monday, Real Food Fridays, Simple Lives Thursday, Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Thrifty Thursday and Unprocessed Fridays.

We hope you enjoyed our May Real Food Monthly Menu Plan post

Photo credits:

Old stove photo from Evan Kirkland on Flickr

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