The end of school is drawing near. Many parents groan under the added pressure of finding child care, fun entertainment, and filling their summer days with even more quality time than normal. Another added pressure seems to be extra meals that would otherwise be ate at school. So I thought I would send out suggestions to help curb those teen appetites and keep your schedule as low key as possible.
I am always looking for short cuts in parts of my day that normally take up a good amount of time. Chores and cooking are two of those things. Chores get spread up among everyone to lighten the load, but to also teach health, maintenance, and well being. A dirty home is chaotic and stirs bad feelings. Our home is never magazine perfect mind you, but its maintained. We leave heavy duty cleaning to once a month.
Preparing food with a husband and seven kids is a little more tricky. You not only have breakfast, lunch and dinner, but also snacks in between for the energy dips that kids get. With rising food prices its hard to hit all the markers of a well rounded meal while getting as much organic and made from scratch food as possible.
Summer time has a lot of sales on meats for various celebrations as well as excellent prices on fresh home grown produce. Hitting up a local farmers market or local store that supports local farmers is the best way to go. You get to help local folks and stores and you win with the price and can sometimes negotiate price at farmers markets if you buy a lot. Don't be afraid to strike a deal or even a trade if you grow or sell something that seller doesn't.
Plan your meals around the meats and other foods on sale. Get creative if you must. Crock pot dinners are great for hot days and meals can be one-and-done's where you throw everything in together. There are plenty of things to do in crocks for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I suggest getting at least three crocks just in case you want to get it all out of the way. Breakfast can be fixed in a crock the night before, lunch at breakfast and dinner at breakfast or lunch depending on cook time of your meal.
Snacks are easier and take less planning and pocket money. You can do anything from a fruit/cheese tray, sliced apples and peanut butter or fruit spread, pretzels, chex mix, trail mix, baked potatoes (I can fit 20 lbs of wrapped potatoes in my oven) left foiled, cooked and refrigerated. You can also cook boiled eggs and leave in the fridge where they can just pull one or two out and get a quick protein snack (its cheaper to buy bulk boxes of eggs to do this). There are also protein no bake balls that are delicious and have an oatmeal base meaning cheap ingredients. Popping your own popcorn is also super cheap and one bag goes a long way. You can get creative with popcorn by adding a dusting of sugar, sugar cinnamon, drizzled white or dark chocolate, flavored butters or any of your other favorites. The best thing about these snacks is that they take little prep time, go a long way, and are inexpensive. Best of all if you plan ahead, you can pack things in zip locks so kids can just grab and go. You can also grab and go if your running somewhere or planning a trip to the park.
We have special things like popcicles and ice cream but only once or twice a week and ice cream goes in cones to manage the amount better, especially for the little ones who waste more than they eat. It also gives the illusion of a big treat even though its not falling over with ice cream.
I would love to hear what meal prep/snack ideas you use to get through the summer, or all year for that matter!
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