Don't Call Me Midlife

☀️ Summer Meal Prep

August 01, 2024 • Alix Mackey & Nicole Stassinopoulos • Episode 43

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Is your summer meal planning more chaotic than calm? You're not alone! Join us for a sizzling episode where we dive into the mayhem of summer meals. From burger burnout to pool-side munchies, we're serving up some tasty tips to keep your family fed and your sanity intact. 

In this episode, we cover:
1. Simple meal planning strategies for busy summer days.
2. Creative alternatives to the endless burger cycle.
3. Empowering kids in the kitchen and exploring new foods.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Don't Call Me Midlife. This summer we're shaking things up a bit with our special series called Survive or Thrive. We know moms are extra busy during the summer, so we're bringing you shorter, bite-sized episodes, focused on one hot topic at a time. Join us as we share tips, stories and laughs, helping you decide if you're just getting by or truly thriving this summer. Hi, my friend, what's going on? Happy Thursday, yes, happy Thursday.

Speaker 1:

I've got a busy weekend that's coming up and I have a lot of questions for you, my friend. But first I'm going to ask you what's in your cup. Well, you know what? It's been crazy around here too, and I actually, instead of I'm trying this summer to not have as much coffee, right, you know, I'm a huge coffee fan in the afternoon. So I have some Energize packets from Green Compass. It's more like a little like I don't know if it's natural, is it natural energy? I don't know One of the energy things from Green Compass that you put in your water bottle so you can have a little boost of energy.

Speaker 1:

But I don't have to grab, like, a Diet Coke or a coffee and it's good. The flavor is orange zest and it's actually really, really good. Oh, that sounds amazing. I'm going to have to. Maybe I can get a little sample from you. I can send you one in the mail, okay, thank you. Thank you, I am doing a little immunity shot. It's spelled S-U-J-A and it is like a turmeric shot and it's got like black pepper in it and it's really actually been helpful for like joint pain. So any of you midlife ladies with like perimenopause issues all of us it's a quick little shot, it's a little peppery, but it just gives you like a little zing and it's good.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I've seen those at the grocery store. You can buy them in the box at like costco, so I just get them delivered. Oh, that's good because they're expensive. Yes, I know they haven't met a whole food. You can probably buy two from whole foods for an entire box at costco. Yeah, but that's. But that's a great idea for the summertime.

Speaker 1:

I love that little trick because you can just take the little shot, because you really I mean I don't want to get sick any time of year, but I also don't want to really get sick in the summertime. I mean, being sick in the summer it's like sitting in your bed and then seeing the sun. It's just like the worst, it is because you just want to be out there, yeah, but math on wood, this will help keep me, you know, healthy and going Good, good, speaking of going summer is just go, go, go, go, go, right, yes, yes, and we have been spending a lot of time outdoors and at the pool and I am falling short on my dinners and I have been ordering out a lot and it doesn't feel good, and so I'm wondering if you've got like a great tip just to help. We're just shifting from like springtime dinners, just like going into summer, and it's just like I'm kind of getting sick of you know burgers, so I don't know Grilling is a great thing in the summertime, right? No, I think you know burgers, so I don't know Grilling is a great thing in the summertime, right? No, I think you know I love to do dinners and love to cook, but summertime is a little bit different, nicole, right, and I think I hear this a lot from moms. It's like we love the summer but it's also hard because we're not in the normal schedule. You know, whether you work in and out of your home, you're still probably driving your kids to more stuff, you're probably going to the pool, you're probably out about a lot more than you normally are, especially if you have like a summer Friday. So you know you could only grill so much. I agree with you, it can be a lot. I do love to grill. I'm just sick of grilling burgers. I just don't want you to not talk about grilling, because I love the convenience of a grill. I do. I think it keeps the kitchen clean. Some other ideas I agree with you, but my kids it's literally like been such a go-to is the burgers, because my kids would eat a burger every day. So I definitely get that.

Speaker 1:

I think my advice and this goes along with sort of my meal planning method and philosophy is to actually take the time to think about, like, your purpose for this summer and I know that sounds like pretty deep, but that's one of the things that I do every single week for meal planning. I do think one of the things is, even though it's summer, meal planning is still beneficial and it can be a loose meal plan. You know, nicole, if you know you're going to the pool twice a week. If you know this, then you can also keep track a little bit of how much you're going to go out. So I think the first thing is think about, look at your week, look at your calendar and figure out your purpose for that week and stick with your meal plan. Stick with that habit of planning out your meals, even if during the you knowummertime you're making a fancy spreadsheet, like I do. I tend to not do that fancy spreadsheet in the summertime, but I do it in a different capacity Maybe. I just write it down on a little board. So I think sticking with meal planning is good.

Speaker 1:

I also think we need to give ourselves grace as moms, as women, as families, to keep the meal simple, right, do not overcomplicate anything. I need some sort of salad, fruit and vegetable and I need some sort of protein. Like thinking about it, like making it very basic and not too complicated, I think is a good idea. I mean, grilling is my go-to, you know, and I think marinating meats in advance is great. So on those days where you know that you're going to the pool tomorrow, you know the night before, if you plan ahead, you can defrost that pork tenderloin, right, you can do that grilled chicken, you can do that steak, you can do veggie burgers, you could do kebabs, whatever you have in advance. Because I think if you're planning it out and you have it done in advance, especially doing simply I'm not saying like, go make a whole casserole, because I don't like to eat those in the summertime, but just even marinating your meats in advance and planning ahead and having that, I think, is a really, really easy idea.

Speaker 1:

I do think, though, we do tend to eat out more, so maybe it's not like you're saying, it's not the amount that you're eating out, it's what you're choosing to eat out. Does that make sense? Maybe because when we're at the pool, it's like the snack shack, and obviously some pools have, like, more options grills and, you know, salads but the one that we've been going to this summer it's just like you know, hot dogs, nachos and chicken fingers for the kids, and sometimes it's hamburgers, and sometimes they're eating hamburgers twice in a day. So maybe on the days that we, you know, go to the pool, I'll have a healthier option, but you know, I personally like to have my house clean before I go. Like some people can just walk out the door, not worry about the chores around the house and just, you know, go enjoy their day. But me, like I need to have my house, my kitchen, just my kitchen at least cleaned up and at least maybe, and my, my kids I don't know, maybe they're just really spoiled, but they don't like leftovers. And so I think, I think maybe what I have to do in talking and listening to you is have some meats, have some things marinated and then freeze them and then I can just pull them out in the morning and that way they can have their, their fresh meals every day.

Speaker 1:

And then, you know, maybe just grab some fruit or have the like frozen rice from Trader Joe's, like keep it simple. Keep, keep the side simple for sure. I mean why do like overthinking it? I think you're overthinking. Sure I mean why do? Maybe I'm just overthinking it, I think you're overthinking it. I also think you know I mean using easy sides, like using those microwavable rice, using the bags of quinoa. You know, whatever your kids are going to eat, I have little cups of rice because my oldest loves rice, so he can just make it himself.

Speaker 1:

I think for the summertime I eat a lot of sandwiches, but I'll do a lot of like chicken salad, tuna salad or deli meats, because I think if you're going to a pool, that's a really easy portable food to bring and you could make a wrap. If you don't want to have bread, you can make it out of lettuce. Like getting creative with your sandwiches and sides and things. When you're going out to the beach or whatever, you don't want to have to worry about heating up something because we're not going to be heating it up right. So that's not totally possible and it's not in my wheelhouse. I don't have like a crock pot with me.

Speaker 1:

But I also think embracing the salads you know if your kids eat salads or you eat salads and again using that grill and making extra things, right, like, if you're grilling burgers tonight, nicole, throw some marinated chicken on there, even if you didn't marinate it yourself. Like buy it pre-marinated so that you can use it, and that's not really in my mind like leftovers. Like I don't think your kids would know if you grilled the chicken the night before, would they? I don't know, maybe my oldest, his palate has become very refined as he's started cooking on his own. I think, keep it simple. Keep it simple, nicole.

Speaker 1:

I also think summertime with kids, our age in midlife it is empowering them a little bit, right, like we are busy too as moms and we'd want to enjoy our summer. I'm not like slaving over a grill or stove all summer, like our kids are old enough where they can make the food themselves. I will often. You know my oldest does also love all my kids love like a teriyaki chicken, so I'll make one in the beginning of the week and he can have the rice. He can eat up the chicken right, like. I think summertime, because our kids are around so much more, it is actually an opportunity to help them teach themselves how to feed themselves. Does that make sense, even though our kids are like teenagers, nicole, oh, mic drop, there you go. Say no more Mic drop. I think maybe I'll just have like an idea and then send them to the kitchen and be like okay, you make this. Yeah, dinner will be. Tell me what's time to eat, boys. But I think you know I mean.

Speaker 1:

One of the other things I was just thinking about is with embracing. You know your kids being home is actually using it as an opportunity to try new foods. I don't know if you have any good farmer's markets or you know, bring them to the grocery store, but there's so many outdoor farmer markets and local places to go to Bring store, but there's so many outdoor farmer markets and local places to go, to Bring your kids there. Make it an outing and maybe they'll see something that they want to try. Maybe they won't, maybe you try it and they don't like it, but there's so much more. You know fresh fruits and vegetables especially. I mean where I am that incorporating them into that and seeing where the food comes from. I think you know John and I were just even talking about I had some strawberries from a local farm and he's like, oh my gosh, mom, these are so much more juicy. You know John loves that, and I said you know because summertime is the time right now strawberries are in season.

Speaker 1:

So using, sort of using I think you need to shift. Keep it simple, use it as an opportunity, right? Yes, I love it, and you don't have to eat burgers every day. But burgers are really good. But if you're going to grill and you're already going to go through the trouble of putting the burger on the grill, grill some other stuff with it. I think pork tenderloin is really good. I don't know if your kids like that, but it is also a really good leftover food. Pork you can use in a lot of different ways. That I love. Yeah, no, I don't know that I've ever really made it. I'll send you some good recipes. We eat a lot of pork. It's pretty easy to do, but there's lots of things that you can do on the grill.

Speaker 1:

You know, what I want to get into the summer is kebabs. This is like, for some reason, I'm like scared of kebabs, that the chicken won't be cooked enough, for some reason. But I really want to get good. I love chicken kebabs, I love meat kebabs and I think that's also a fun way to incorporate your family into it putting it together. So that is one of my goals.

Speaker 1:

This effort time is to master the kebab. I love kebab. I think you just have to rotate it enough and just maybe not have the chicken cubes so big, right, right, it has to be, has to be all similar. But get creative. You know, I think you'll be good. I think you're going to survive or thrive, all right, right now I feel like I'm surviving. I'm like in survival mode with like dinners. Give yourself that grace.

Speaker 1:

I think this summertime, if you're going to order out, then do that. It is a nice time to take a break and that's okay. But think about your choices of what you're going to eat out. Thanks. I think sometimes we just need a refresher. So I appreciate it. Yes, ladies, you got this. You got this. Okay, thrive this summer with your summer meals. All right, yay, bye, talk to you later. Bye, and that's a wrap for today's episode of Don't Call Me Midlife. We hope you had as much fun as we did. If you're just waiting in the carpool line, don't forget to follow the show, and if you're feeling extra spicy today, leave us a rating and review Before we part ways, join our newsletter to stay in the loop with all things Midlife, magic, bonus content and more. Head on over to the show notes for how to sign up. We can't wait to keep the conversation going and, of course, don't forget to fill up your own cup first. Cheers.