October Menu Plan – A Month Of Cool Weather Dinners

This October menu plan has plenty of cool weather recipes and easy dinner ideas to inspire your monthly or weekly meal planning.

We have finally been blessed with a few days under 80 degrees, which got me all excited to break out the slow cooker and come up with a meal plan for cool weather dinners. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been craving a crisp autumn day and a nice hot bowl of soup!

Pinterest image shows a close-up of a roasted pork tenderloin with herbs on a wooden cutting board, with a text overlay in the center that reads: "October Monthly Menu Plan — 31 Cool-Weather Dinners You'll Love."

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Why Create A Monthly Meal Plan for October?

You might wonder why I bother to plan an entire monthly dinner menu at once?

Well, between working and blogging and LIFE, I simply don’t have much time to think about meal planning. I sit down ONCE to do monthly menu planning, and I make it EASY.

For details on how I do that, read my post about how to plan a monthly menu that works for YOU.

Also, don’t forget to grab my Essential Meal Planning Printables to make your planning simple and organized!

In case you don’t know me well yet, my life philosophy is pretty much always MAKE IT EASY. My meal plans definitely reflect that.

The October Menu Plan

If you’re into the idea of Crocktober meal planning, then you’ll love that there are a dozen delicious crockpot recipes included in this October monthly dinner plan. If you want even more slow cooker recipe ideas, check out my collection of 56 crockpot soups for fall.

Even though I’ve listed 31 October dinners, it’s likely we won’t eat all of them. Sometimes we’ll eat a favorite dinner more than once. There are also nights we eat leftovers, and we occasionally go out to eat. I make the larger, more complicated dinners on weekends.

But, I’m usually an over-planner. I like to be prepared. If I’ve got this October meal plan and all of the ingredients on hand, that means we have plenty of choices for what to make for dinner.

The highlighted links you see in the menu will take you directly to the website for each recipe. I’m always pinning new recipes, so following my Pinterest board for main dish recipes is a great idea if you’re looking for dinner inspiration.

1. *crockpot meal* Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken Recipe

2. Cheeseburgers

3. Bratwurst topped with sauteed peppers and onions

Two bratwursts nestled in toasted buns, topped with sautéed bell peppers and onions, making it a hearty and colorful meal, perfect for an October dinner plan.

4. *crockpot meal* Crock Pot Smothered Pork Chops

5. Baked Ham Shank, carrots, potatoes

6. *crockpot meal* Crockpot Creamy Black Bean and Peppers Chicken

7. Homemade Pizza

8. Canadian Cheese Soup (Yes! It’s been toooooo long!)

Overhead image of Canadian Cheese Soup in white bowl with saltine crackers.

9. Cheeseburger Macaroni Casserole

10. Smothered Baked Chicken Burritos — Be sure to use her Shredded Chicken recipe and add these “refried” beans. (If I’m short on time, I will substitute a bag of thawed frozen burritos baked with a 30-oz can of green enchilada sauce & cheese. Totally processed food, but easy enough for anyone in the family to throw together.)

11. *crockpot meal* Crock Pot Birria Tacos

12. *crockpot meal* Aromatic Slow Cooker Lamb And Veg ‘Tagine’

13. Easy Chicken Parmesan Bake (My very favorite easy dinner!)

A freshly baked chicken Parmesan dish sits in a white casserole dish. The golden-brown breaded chicken is topped with melted cheese, marinara sauce, and garnished with chopped parsley, making it a cozy dinner idea for October. A striped kitchen towel is visible in the background.

14. Smothered B/S Chicken Breasts

15. Roast Turkey Dinner, mashed potatoes

16. Spaghetti

17. Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Mushrooms, mashed potatoes

A beautifully cooked pork tenderloin, sliced into several pieces on a wooden cutting board. The tenderloin is seasoned with herbs and spices, making it an ideal centerpiece for an October dinner.

18. Pastor Ryan’s Pasta Carbonara

19. *crockpot meal* General Tso’s Chicken, fried rice

20. *crockpot meal* Slow Cooker Lasagna

21. *crockpot meal* Red Beans & Rice

Red beans and sausage served over white rice, garnished with fresh parsley in a bowl with a spoon on the side, the perfect October crockpot meal.

22. *crockpot meal* Crock Pot Swedish Meatballs (If I have time to make everything from scratch, I will use this recipe: Swedish Meatballs )

23. 5 Ingredient Chicken Bake

24. Pork Chops & Scalloped Potatoes Casserole

25. One Pot Chili Mac

26. Cabbage Roll in a Bowl Soup

27. Baked Chili Dogs (I kind of can’t believe I even listed this, but it looks like a fun dinner that my family would love.)

28. One-pan roasted smoked sausage, chicken, potatoes, carrots

Roasted sausages with crispy potatoes and carrots on a sheet pan, garnished with herbs, perfect for an October supper.

29. *crockpot meal* Crock Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta

30. *crockpot meal* Traditional Slow Cooker Hungarian Goulash

31. *crockpot meal* Slow Cooker Pork and Noodles

Monthly Meal Plan FAQs

I get quite a few of the same questions about my monthly meal plans. Here are some answers that should help.

What to serve with these dinners?

Most of the dinners on my list don’t have a side dish listed.

This is because it’s either an all-in-one dish, or my plan is to serve raw or roasted vegetables with the main course. Sometimes that’s a couple of bags of fresh or frozen green beans tossed with oil, chopped onion, salt & pepper — roast on a sheet pan (I use this one) for about 20 minutes at 450F. (See? EASY)

How much do we spend on groceries for a month?

When I first wrote this post in 2016, my monthly grocery spending would naturally land around $400, some months a little more or less. This amount fed 3 adult-size people very well.

With current higher prices and the fact that my husband now does quite a bit of the grocery shopping, we spend 2x-3x that amount.

Doing one big monthly shop at Aldi and only popping into the local store once or twice for milk and produce can save hundreds of dollars compared to shopping weekly. I keep saying one of these months we’ll get back to doing that!

Related post: How to Grocery Shop for a Month

What do we eat for breakfast, lunch, and snacks?

Breakfast – Not much. Sometimes I’ll make a crockpot of steel-cut oats for the week or my husband will make eggs and bacon on the weekend, maybe once or twice a month. Once in a great while my son will eat a banana for breakfast.

Honestly, I used to try pretty hard to get my boys to eat a ‘good breakfast’ in the morning. Eventually, I had to admit defeat. Breakfast just isn’t our thing.

Lunch – Leftovers, pb&j, lunchmeat sandwiches, crackers & cheese. I’ve also been slightly obsessed with chicken and tater tot wraps for the past few months. So delicious!

When my younger son was in school, he was responsible for packing his own lunches. I made sure we always had bread, peanut butter, jelly, crackers, and fruit — oh, and bottled water. I’m honestly not quite sure what he packed for lunches, but I do know that I didn’t have to think about it — so it was all good in my book.

Snacks – Fruit, crackers, nuts, tortilla chips.

I usually do not make desserts. If we’re REALLY craving something, I’ll make rice krispie treats or some chocolate pudding to use up milk.

What do I use for planning meals?

I keep these monthly dinner ideas as a base. Then, when it’s time to plan, I use my Essential Meal Planning Printables to keep myself organized and make the process EASY.

More Meal Planning and Meal Prep Inspiration

A collage of October dinner ideas, including bratwurst sausage and peppers sandwich, potato soup, baked chicken parmesan, roasted sausages with potatoes, red beans and rice with sausage, and herb-roasted pork tenderloin.

Meals For November – A Hearty Menu of Cozy, Beefy Dinners

40 Cozy Fall Dinner Ideas With Chicken For Cool Weather Meals

Quick Food Prep Routine for a Week of Easier Meals

27 Comforting Fall Meatless Meals (Cozy Autumn Vegetarian Recipes)

March Menu Plan And Grocery Goals


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A collage-style Pinterest image with text "31 Delicious October Dinner Ideas." The text highlights "Perfect Cozy Recipes for Fall Dinners" with a background of various comfort food dishes, evoking the warmth and coziness of autumn meals.

Post updated September 15, 2024.

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9 thoughts on “October Menu Plan – A Month Of Cool Weather Dinners”

    1. Hi Helen! My 14-year-old loves knowing in advance what we’re having for dinner. 😉 I imagine things will change with the coming years, but for now it works for us. 🙂 Thank you for visiting!

  1. When I was a young mom I used to plan menus out by the month. For a short while I even did once-a-month cooking. Now, I’m more into once-a-week cooking. $400 for 3 adults is a great grocery budget. Applause for training your son to live an independent and empowered life by teaching him to take responsibility for his school lunches. ^_^ As a mom of older sons, I appreciate it now having slacked in this area myself. It’s not all bad, just a little harder.

    1. Hi Sara! The things we learn the longer we are parents, right? 😉 Thanks for saying my grocery budget sounds good… sometimes it seems like we are still spending so much more than we should be. (Hmmmm… maybe a post series idea there…) Thank you for your thoughtful comment!

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