I've simplified menu planning for the summer and thought I'd share my "plan" with you. It's simple, flexible, light and summery. Perfect for keeping it cool and easy breezy. I listed a bunch of ideas under each day/theme and I'll just pick recipes that sound good as I plan for the week and add to the list when I think of or find a yummy recipe to try. Can't get much easier than that, right?
I'm using a theme for each day of the week - and will just loosely use the schedule through the week. If we end up going out to eat or eating at someone's house, no biggie. The best timesaver is that I plan for using leftovers - salads and sandwiches are great for using up leftovers, and just having two nights of the week designated as leftovers nights work the best for me. Leftover nights can be used as canning times and freezing large portions of summer produce.
Need some ideas? Here's a link to Cooking Light's Ultimate Summer Cookbook - it's full of great recipes for light summer cooking. What about you? Do you menu plan?
Great resource! I've been adjusting our summer meals too...using the stove or oven heats up our house so much, so we try to grill out as much as we can! I should come up with something like yours.
ReplyDeleteI love this post, Becky!! I am horrible in the kitchen and always get overwhelmed trying to come up with a meal plan. I'm going to use this. You are a lifesaver!
ReplyDeleteCan you explain your double down part to the message? Does that mean leftovers? thanks!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
Hi Jennifer-
ReplyDeleteDouble Dinner means that I make a double recipe or a bigger recipe so I'm sure that we'll have leftovers.
This is a GREAT idea for summer! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete