Summer Meal Ideas - For Seasonal Meal Planning

I'm excited to share some summer meal ideas that can be used as options on your summer seasonal meal plan! One of the benefits of using the Seasonal Meal Planning System is that you get to customize your seasonal meal plan to include seasonal ideas. I'm excited to share some summer meal ideas to get you started. 🌿

If you haven't learned about seasonal meal planning - be sure to check out this blog post: The Seasonal Meal Planning System: How To Plan a Repeating Seasonal Menu

In this post, I'm going to share some summer meal planning suggestions as well as breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert ideas for summer. ☀️ Meal planning this way feels fun and creates a wonderful sense of home, so let's get started!

Summer Meal Planning Suggestions

The days are continuing to get longer, and there's so many fun things to do! Summer meal planning is great for embracing the playful and carefree mood of summer. The theme of summer is vibrant and fun, so let that be an inspiration for your summer seasonal meal plan.

Picture the sizzle of the grill on a sunny day.

A refreshing iced drink or sweet treat.

Longer days of sunlight and enjoying the outdoors.

Excitement for fun activities planned.

By creating a summer meal plan that reflects the season's mood, I'm able to focus on my family's desire for quick and simple meals so we can stay active and get back to our outdoor activities and fun plans. I recommend creating this menu to prioritize simplicity and make meals that can be easily made ahead of time or have a casual feel to them.

Meal Planning Strategy for Quick & Easy Meals

Summer is a great time of year to focus on making quick and easy meals that can be prepped ahead of time, made quickly, and are easy to clean up.

For me personally, I've found summer to be an active time of year, where we'd like to spend less time in the kitchen and more time going out to the park, library, or on trips around town. This motivates me to create a meal plan where the whole family can help with the cooking, and we can work together to clean up quickly and easily.

Since the Seasonal Meal Planning System uses a repeating menu, this makes it so much easier to get in and out of the kitchen quickly. To focus on quick and easy meals, the best method is to choose recipes that are focused on dishes that are ONE POT/PAN/DISH, use SIMPLE INGREDIENTS, or can be PREPPED AHEAD OF TIME.

By making it a goal to create a simple menu, you'll be spending less time in the kitchen and make it easier to clean up so you can get back into your fun summer activities!

Here are types of meals I remember to include when writing my summer seasonal meal plan:

• Breakfasts my children can help make

• Cold lunches

• Crockpot dinners and one-pot meals

• Meals I don't need to read a recipe for

• Foods cooked on the grill or roasted in the oven

Let me share some ideas with you!

Summer Meal Planning Ideas for Seasonal Meal Planning

✨ You can use these ideas to help you write your own seasonal meal plan, and if you'd like more - grab The Guide to Seasonal Meal Planning where I have over 250 meal ideas divided into categories to help and inspire you. The guide also includes seasonal produce lists and seasonal theme pages for even more inspiration!

For Breakfast

• Sheet pan pancakes

• Bagels & cream cheese

• Blueberry muffins with sausage patties

• Scrambled eggs with mandarin oranges and buttered toast

• Snack plates: apples & peanut butter, cheese sticks, English muffins

For Lunch

• Chicken patty sandwiches with potato chips

• Meatball subs

• Chicken Caesar salad or cobb salad

• BLT ranch wraps with tortilla chips

• Italian pasta salad

For Dinner

• Crockpot pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches

• Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs

• One pot Cajun red beans & rice with sausage

• Fish tacos with coleslaw

• Thai peanut chicken with coconut rice

For Dessert

• Baked cinnamon peaches with vanilla ice cream

• Strawberry pound cake

• Watermelon sorbet

• Key lime pie

• Orange creamsicle bundt cake

For Snacks and Drinks

• Seasoned popcorn

• Trail mix

• Veggies & crackers with hummus

• Frosted lemonade

• Peach iced tea

There are so many playful, relaxed, and low-effort ideas you can incorporate into your summer seasonal meal plan. Consider your schedule and goals for the season and plan accordingly!

I like to set aside a little time each week to meal prep for the week - making a seasonal drink, dessert, snack, or prep for meals ahead of time. My family enjoys the surprises of having a fun snack or dessert. And I enjoy keeping things running smoothly in the kitchen so we can be in and out as quick as possible!

✨ Be sure to download The Guide to Seasonal Meal Planning to learn how to write your repeating, seasonal meal plan and the grocery list and meal prep list to go with it.

Keep Cooking Simple

If you're anything like me when I first started homemaking, you might easily feel overwhelmed with cooking in the kitchen on a regular basis. I used to default to throwing chicken nuggets in the oven, or a pizza, taquitos, or other random frozen foods.

But I've learned that there are ways to keep cooking simple that make it easier to make homemade meals for your family, without feeling the need to rely on frozen meals. The key is to choose recipes that use simple ingredients and only a few steps. 🍝

Read the recipe ingredients and steps before you decide on making it. And read it again completely before you start cooking. Recipes that can be easy and simple are one pot meals, sheet pan dinners, crockpot meals, marinated and oven baked chicken, and soups!

Tip: To make dinner even quicker and easier, read the recipe you plan to use for dinner after breakfast. Look at what you can prep ahead of time, so that when you start cooking - it's more about putting the food together rather than getting EVERYTHING ready. You can pre-chop veggies, thaw meat, measure spices, set out dry ingredients, and pull out the cooking utensils you'll need.

Summer recipes are typically fast and easy to make, so use this opportunity to get your family involved!

Children can learn a lot of great skills by participating in meal prep. You can also delegate cooking easily with my Seasonal Meal Planning System, because everyone can see what meal needs to be made, and the ingredients and recipes are ready for them. 🌿

More Meal Ideas for Your Seasonal Menu

You can learn all the strategies, methods, and tips in the Seasonal Meal Planning System I developed in 2019 by reading my guide! My guide teaches you the options you have for creating a seasonal meal plan that will be a perfect fit for your family. With over 250 meal ideas, seasonal produce guides, themes for inspiration, and various meal slot types - seasonal meal planning has been one of the best things I've ever done as a homemaker.

✨ Download the Guide Here: https://www.thehomemakerlifestyle.com/seasonal-meal-planning