Making healthy meals in the summer is tricky! There are so many things going on and who wants to be stuck in the kitchen when you could go out and have some fun!
I’m a huge fan of menu planning so we can still have healthy meals in the summer and I don’t have to make multiple trips to the grocery store. Who has time for that? Here are some of the things I do on the weekend to get us ready to go for the week.
How It Starts
It all starts Saturday morning by looking at my calendar. I want to know what nights of the week we might have evening events, things in my hubby’s calendar that might be abnormal and days that I may have to work later than normal.
I also like to see what plans we’ve made with friends. We definitely eat out more in the summer than during the school year, although we still try and keep that at a minimum.
Once I have an idea of what my calendar looks like I know how many crockpot meals I need and how many quick meals I need, I get to planning.
Determining the Meals
The hardest part for me is figuring out WHAT to cook. And I promise you my family is of no help. I have really enjoyed using Epicure to help me out with this step. I simply pull out my seasoning packets and figure out which ones sounds good. Then, if I’m not using the recipe on the back of the packet, then I go to their website to find alternative recipes. I love that I can have a variety of meals without having to think about it.
To finish my planning, I go to my trusty Pinterest boards. I love saving my favorite recipes there so I have an easy place to go back and pull from.
At least once a week we have a crock pot meal. That’s usually on days when I know the kids have activities and I want to have something easy and ready to go. As I’m writing this, I have taco meat cooking away in the crockpot which is always a go to for us.
Keeping Things Organized
Once I know what I’m cooking for dinner each night it all goes into my Google Calendar. I like to put it in there with the URL for the recipe for easy eaccess so I’m not looking all over for it. Once. Ihave it in there then its time to make my list.
Making My Grocery List
I try and go to the grocery store only 1-2 times per week, once on Saturday and once later in the week to get more frusti and produce. However I know. themeals I’m making so if I do need to go later in the week I add it to my planner so I don’t forget. It’s not that the store is far away, but it still times time away from other things that I need to be doing.