Summer Eating Ideas
It’s no secret that when the weather gets warmer, it can impact both our appetite and interest level in cooking (especially using appliances such as a stove). If you saw the recent Instagram post, it was mentioned that yes it can be normal that warmer weather can cause us to feel less of an appetite AND we still need to eat! So today's post is dedicated to helping us eat in those times.
First off, let’s discuss how we can still prioritize meal planning/meal prep even if we don’t necessarily want to be in the kitchen much.
Use the freezer. Do you have any meals that you froze recently that you could get out of the freezer for inspiration for this week? Also simply having a stock of frozen meals and frozen sides such as grains, fruits and veggies can be helpful for easy meal prep.
Could you prep a side dish such as a grain or bean salad to go with an easier to prep protein? Perhaps you enjoy grilling this time of year and can grill something to go with the side dish or if you don’t own/don’t like to grill, could you use another easy to prep protein such as a veggie or bean-based burger or chicken patty to pair with the side dish? Prepping side dishes still “counts!”
Schedule in meals for takeout or going out. If this is affordable and accessible for your household, meal planning for the week can include scheduling when you may have a meal prepared by someone else.
And now onto some stove-free meal prep ideas to consider as the temperatures rise:
As above, salads of any kind can be fairly easy to prep and be a cool side or even made into the main meal. Some variations to consider:
Green salad - as with anything, if this is to be your main meal make sure there is enough adequacy going on (think including all of the food groups and enough volume!)
Pasta or macaroni salad
Potato salad
Other grain salads such as using quinoa or farro as the base
Chicken/egg/tuna/salmon salad
Bean or lentil salad
Corn salad
More ideas found from the blog here: Summer Salads
Sandwiches can also be a great way to get a good amount of nutrition without having to cook anything. Luckily there’s a blog post already up on the site with Sandwich Ideas!
Considering other cold snacks and sides can also be a helpful way to cool down during a hot day. For this, you could consider any combination of:
Smoothies or milkshakes
Ice cream, ice cream bars or popsicles
Hard boiled eggs
Fruit
Cheese
Deli meat
Veggie sticks
No cook energy balls
Dip of some kind - hummus, caramel dip, tzatziki, salsa or pico de gallo, etc.
Chips or crackers
Yogurt or cottage cheese
Here are a few more recipes that can be found on the blog to give you even more food options to stay cool!
Comments