The Highs and Lows of Summer Meal Planning

It’s seems my sons knew that I was planning a Summer Meal Planning article for this week. Since, when I finally got home after coaching all morning and cleaning out a basement this afternoon then running errands on my way home, not one not two but all three of them wandered through my office at different points in 60 minutes and asked “so what is for dinner?”

My responses may have included one or even all of the following…

  • I don’t know, what are you making?
  • Ugh, Seriously! Didn’t we just have dinner yesterday?
  • (fake crying with my head down and eyes closed)
  • Take out? Um, we just had that yesterday.
  • Left overs? Oh wait, no, we ate all of those.

My kind and wise husband who had to go into his downtown office today (and I’m sure had his own busy day) replied with “Whatever you want”, when I texted him to ask what he wanted. Kind and wise. But not exactly helpful.

Here’s the thing. We are fully stocked with food. However, it is some-assembly-required food. And it is also almost all frozen. We have plenty of food, but I was lacking focus this morning, and my well-planned menu for the day / week required defrosting beef. Without defrosted beef, dinner became a question mark once more in my tired brain. (sigh)

There are highs and lows here, friend. The Highs and Lows of Summer Meal Planning. Yes, meal planning in the summer is totally different for me than planning in cooler weather.

The current lows of summer planning:

  • Shelter-In-Place orders inspired scratch cooking, baking, labor intensive recipes and let’s face it – more time to do it all. I made Risotto, for goodness sake! Do you know how long you have to stand over a hot stove top to make Risotto? There is no chance I will make that again until Fall.
  • In summer, we don’t like to heat up the kitchen with baking.
  • The hearty soups or stews and home made bread or baked pasta dishes don’t have the same appeal when it’s hot outside.
  • Work is busy again, which is both good (I like work) and bad (at least when it comes time for making dinner!)
  • In other seasons, daylight waning reminds me to get up and start dinner. In summer though – “Oh gosh, it 7 pm! How did that happen?!”

But, enough about the lows, I want to focus on the highs!

This evening, I finally found inspiration and whipped together chicken noodle soup. For some crazy reason, my sons LOVE this for dinner. Tonight’s was the total hack summer version, made with pantry items like store-bought chicken broth and egg noodles, frozen peas and chicken from the last rotisserie chicken we picked up at Costco. Hack, yes, and they still love it. (In cold weather, I would make my own stock and noodles, etc.)

So that is my first of many highs in the current Highs of Summer Meal Planning:

  • I spend a lot of time worrying over meal planning, while my family isn’t nearly as picky about these things as I am. My easy peasy chicken noodle soup made them happy, especially with the bakery bread I received as a thank-you gift over the weekend.
  • While I had a captive audience (as they sat and ate soup), I asked for input on menu ideas for the next few weeks. And there was a lot of laughing – absolutely a HIGH of summer meal planning!
  • It turns out, the soups and stews from colder times are still requested, so I will use the crock pot EVEN MORE in the next few weeks! (and while writing this, I made sure the frozen beef is now in the fridge to defrost over night for tomorrow’s beef stew!)
  • Put some fun into your planning (like our dinner time silliness today)!
  • Enlist aid! Guess what? My sons are all capable of cooking! Yes, they will be owning more of the “what’s for dinner” process!
  • We also spent some time thinking of our favorite dishes and how to tweak them for summer. Shepherds Pie? Um, who says it has to be baked in the oven?! Maybe the crock pot? OR just the stove top with a quick broil to toast the top? Yep, I can work on that!
  • One of my favorite parts of summer meal planning is all the beautiful summer produce! My own herb garden is quite lush (fresh pesto, anyone?), local farmer’s market are back with social distancing guidelines, there is just so many fabulous colors and flavors to enjoy!

So, what’s it going to be this week? If your meal planning has hit a mid-summer lull, join me this week in giving it – and yourself! – a boost!