Lots of easy summer meal ideas here! From sandwiches to salads to soups to breakfast items and so many more! Plus snack ideas!
Our oven heats up the house very quickly and without air conditioning to cool it back down, once the house is hot, it stays hot. Therefore, we rarely use the oven in the summer. Here are 40+ meals and snacks that don’t use the oven or heat the house up. You can eat delicious food and still feel light and cool.
Sandwiches:
- Grilled cheese
- BLT (bacon, lettuce tomato)
- pimento cheese
- egg salad
- chicken salad
- BBQ shredded chicken
- meatball
- cucumber
- French dip
Salads:
- strawberry (spinach and lettuces, sliced strawberries, blueberries, chopped almonds, grated raw cheese or Romano cheese, and salt if desired. Can also add radish, dried cranberries or anything else that sounds good to you!)
- taco (taco meat made with ground beef, black beans, quinoa, peppers and spices. Add lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, cubed avocado, sour cream, and any other Mexican toppings you enjoy)
- cobb
- pasta
- potato
- chicken salad
Soups:
- chicken enchilada
- white chicken chili
- wonton
- gumbo with okra from the garden
- tortellini soup
- tomato soup and popcorn
Miscellaneous Easy Summer Dishes
- hamburgers and hotdogs
- chili dogs
- sloppy joes
- 7 layer dip
- pasta with black beans, cherry tomatoes
- crock pot macaroni and cheese
- pesto pasta
- pancakes
- waffles
- omelets
- French toast
- steel cut oatmeal with fresh berries
- tacos
- Hawaiian haystacks
- quesadillas
- fried burritos
- fajitas
- nachos
- baked potatoes (in the microwave or crock pot) with chili and broccoli
- chicken and rice and broccoli
- English muffin pizzas (chicken alfredo, pepperoni, BBQ chicken, etc.)
Other great foods for snacks, sides or a light main dish:
- deviled eggs
- apples and peanut butter
- celery and peanut butter
- trail mix
- anything from your garden!
- lemonade popcicles
- homemade fig bars
- homemade yogurt
- plate of carrot sticks, celery, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, etc.
- cheese ball with crackers and veggies
- rice cakes with toppings
- egg in a basket
- smoothie
Videos of 12 Summer Meals Kids Can Cook
Check out the whole series of “12 Meals Kids Can Cook” where my kids show how they cook 2 meals each with little to no help from me at all. Search it in the search bar of my channel. Kaitlyn is day 1, Tilly is day 2, Makenna day 3, Samuel Day 4, Anderson day 5, and Thomas day 6. Then there’s a bonus dessert episode for day 7 where the kids team up to make 3 desserts.
Or if you’d rather read the blog post, you can find that here!
Enjoy your summer!
Summer should be calm, relaxed and easy. Don’t stress about dinners. Most of these meals can be made in 30 minutes or less, don’t use the oven, can be made by kids, baby-sitters and husbands, and use ingredients most people have on hand. They also are inexpensive meals to make to keep your summer budget intact!
PS Check out this video about ways to save money this summer and still have a great time!