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What are Some Ideas for Quick Summer Meals?

By Sheri Cyprus
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 5,138
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Shopping ahead is really important during the summer. Not only can you save yourself several trips to the supermarket when you'd rather be enjoying the warmer weather, you can also plan to have a cooler on hand to keep perishable foods at the proper temperature until you get your groceries home. Plus, if you stock the cupboards and freezer with food ahead of time, you can always have ingredients to prepare quick summer meals.

Try to shop only once a week and buy only enough produce and fresh foods to use up within the week. Buy meats on sale and cook up extra to add to salads for super quick summer meals such as lunches or light suppers. To save time, you can store cut-up vegetables and washed salad greens in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Carrots cut into sticks as well as other sliced or chopped raw vegetables are perfect to have on hand for snacks. All you need is some salad dressing to use for a dip.

If you find the fruit you bought starting to get too ripe, make a large fruit salad to accompany your summer meals. Most adults and kids enjoy fruit salad, and it can look quite colorful and special even if you simply chop up several different fruits and blend them together in a large bowl. Try setting the bowl of fruit salad in the freezer for five or ten minutes before serving for an extra cold refreshing side dish or dessert on a hot day.

When you make corn on the cob and have leftovers, scrape the kernels off the cob with a small knife. You can use up the corn along with any other fresh vegetables such as chopped tomato or leftover cooked broccoli in omelettes for quick summer meals. Leftover cheeses such as those from a cheese and fruit plate lunch can be grated and combined as a filling for the omelettes.

Macaroni salad makes a popular and inexpensive side dish for many quick summer meals such as barbecued chicken with a vegetable plate. You can use whole wheat macaroni for more nutrition. Many types of leftover cooked vegetables such as carrots or broccoli can be added to macaroni salad if they are chopped fairly fine. Cooked rice with chopped vegetables added can be made into a cold salad dish as well.

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Discussion Comments
By discographer — On Jun 18, 2011

Nice tips! I am going to try some of these recipes, they sound good.

I actually don't like having proper meals in the summer. It's very hot as is, so if I have heavy food with oil or meat, I don't feel very good and I get sleepy at work. I turn towards vegetable dishes and fruits in the summer.

I also like cold salads, like potato salad and salads with greens, especially Greek salad. I really like having boiled or oven cooked potatoes filled with pickles, peas, corn, catsup and mayonnaise. Or I can have a sandwich with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil pesto. Organic foods markets sell fresh mozzarella and different pestos that you can buy and make sandwiches at home.

I especially love cool desserts like ice cream, frozen yogurt, Italian ice and fruit salads. I have fruits with whipped cream or sweet cream a lot which makes it into a really tasty dessert.

This is how I eat the entire summer. I just have to keep it fresh and light.

By SteamLouis — On Jun 17, 2011

I don't know why but when it's summer, I feel like I need to eat fish, especially if I can get it fresh.

I love having salmon with a side dish in the summer. A very easy and healthy way to make salmon is to put it in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and water with the lid closed and on a low stove setting. I add spices to it like whole black peppers, a bit of turmeric for color and bay leaves.

It cooks on low heat but that's fine because salmon cooks fast anyway. I flip it over when one side is cooked and close the lid once again. It's ready to eat in ten minutes. You can add any side to it like a salad, maybe a salsa salad with corn, or some sauteed green beans. It's really tasty, give it a try!

By burcinc — On Jun 15, 2011

My favorite food in the summer is yogurt. It is so refreshing and it has a lot of water content and I feel like it helps keep me hydrated.

A dish with plain yogurt I particularly like is made with zucchini and broken wheat. It is so simple! I cook onions and add chopped zucchini, broken wheat, tomato paste, water and salt. All of these ingredient cook really fast, you can have this meal ready in about 15-10 minutes. I like to have it with cool plain yogurt, but you can let the zucchini cool down and have it plain as well.

Zucchini is a vegetable that also has a lot of water content, the broken wheat is very healthy and keeps me full. Yogurt is of course fantastic because it has protein and calcium. I feel so good after having this meal, it is light, tasty and quick to cook. Wonderful for the summertime!

You can also make mango lassi with yogurt as a smoothie in the summer. It's an excellent snack or dessert!

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