During the summer, planning ahead is critical. You can plan to have a cooler on hand to keep perishable foods at the proper temperature until you get your groceries home, not only to save yourself several trips to the supermarket when you’d rather be enjoying the warmer weather. Plus, if you stock your pantry and freezer ahead of time, you’ll always have ingredients on hand for quick summer meals.
Try to go grocery shopping only once a week and only buy enough produce and fresh foods to last the week. Purchase meats on sale and cook extra to toss into salads for quick summer lunches or light suppers. Cut-up vegetables and washed salad greens can be stored in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator to save time. Carrot sticks, as well as other sliced or chopped raw vegetables, are excellent snacks to have on hand. To make a dip, all you need is some salad dressing.
Make a large fruit salad to go with your summer meals if the fruit you bought starts to get too ripe. Fruit salad is popular among both adults and children, and it can be quite colorful and unique even if you simply chop up several different fruits and combine them in a large mixing bowl. For an extra cold refreshing side dish or dessert on a hot day, place the bowl of fruit salad in the freezer for five or ten minutes before serving.
Scrape the kernels off the cob with a small knife if you have leftover corn on the cob. For quick summer meals, combine the corn with any other fresh vegetables, such as chopped tomato or leftover cooked broccoli, in omelettes. Leftover cheeses from a cheese and fruit plate lunch can be grated and combined to make an omelette filling.
A popular and inexpensive side dish for many quick summer meals, such as barbecued chicken with a vegetable plate, is macaroni salad. For added nutrition, whole wheat macaroni can be used. If chopped finely, many types of leftover cooked vegetables, such as carrots or broccoli, can be added to macaroni salad. Cooked rice with chopped vegetables can also be used as a cold salad dressing.