Summer is almost here, and if you are like most families, your grocery budget or spending might get a bit higher this season.
It’s not one big thing. It’s a hundred small things. The kids are home. Snacks disappear faster than you can restock them. Lunches need to be planned as well. Friends come over for a barbecue and you run to the store for a few things and leave with twenty. And the dinner routine that was working during the school year? It starts to slip.
This post is a reminder before summer hits that a little planning now will save you money and stress over the next few months.
The One Rule That Doesn’t Change No Matter the Season: One Trip, One Spend
Whatever else you take from this post, hold onto this: one grocery trip per week, with a plan in hand before you walk into the store.
This matters all year, but it matters more in summer. Stores know families are in and out more often, and they stock accordingly. The impulse buys are everywhere. A quick mid-week run for milk does not end with just milk. It ends with $40 you didn’t plan to spend and a cart full of things you didn’t need.
Plan your week, make your list, do your shop. One trip, one spend. That’s it.
If you run low on something mid-week, try to substitute or go without. If you truly can’t, a small convenience store is a better choice than going back to a full grocery store. You’ll spend less and get out faster.
Create a “What’s for Lunch” List
Now in addition to “What’s for dinner?”, you will also hear “What can I have for lunch?” Some days I found this exhausting. I had to make sure there were healthy lunch options planned as well as dinners. Otherwise you’re standing at the fridge at noon with three kids asking what they can eat. There are only so many days you feel like making peanut butter sandwiches or throwing another burger on the grill.
My solution was to get in front of it before the week started. I would aim to have two to three good options on hand so they could either get it themselves or I could quickly pull it together for them when they were younger. Some options that worked well for us:
- Chicken salad made from fresh cooked chicken breast. Add a few extras to up the nutrition: sliced grapes, pistachios or walnuts, shredded carrots, chopped parsley or greens. I also use just a little bit of mayo and thin it out with fresh lemon juice to keep the saturated fat down. One of our favorite recipes is here.
- Egg salad. It’s inexpensive, filling, and easy to make in bulk. Add some sliced tomato, a slice of cheddar, and some crunchy lettuce to the bun.
- Tuna salad. Although we didn’t have this all the time, it was definitely a longtime favorite. Don’t forget the pickles!
- Bean salad or a simple bean burrito filling that can be reheated.
- Grilled or broiled chicken tenders. Quick to cook, easy to turn into a sandwich. Much better than deli meat!
- Peanut butter or nut butter sandwiches, maybe with some sliced banana, for days when you need something fast.
- Your family’s favorite casserole can easily serve as a healthy and hearty lunch. Heat and serve is a beautiful thing when you are busy.
One thing I’d suggest: skip the deli meat as your default. It’s not the greatest from a health standpoint and it gets expensive fast. Come up with your own list of five or six lunches that work for your family. If it makes sense, make a batch or two on the weekend or whenever you have an extra chunk of time. Then you have something ready.
When my kids were old enough to make their own lunch, I started leaving a Lunch List on the fridge. Just a piece of paper that said “Lunch Options” with three or four things listed, and where to find them.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches (bowl on second shelf, buns in pantry) Beef Taco Bake (needs to be heated, long dish in fridge) Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
It saved my sanity. They weren’t asking me what they could eat every day while I was working, and they weren’t digging into the snack food because there was nothing obvious. I tried to make the healthy choice the easy choice, in easy reach, and no effort required on their end.
Don’t Forget Your Trusty Slow Cooker
We tend to think of the slow cooker as a fall and winter tool. Soups, stews, chilis. But it is genuinely one of the most useful things you can use in summer, and most people forget about it entirely once the weather warms up.
Here’s why it works so well this time of year. It doesn’t heat up your kitchen the way the oven does, which matters when it’s 85 degrees outside. And after a long day at work or a full day out with the kids at the beach, there is something really nice about walking in the door to a hot dinner that is already done. No scrambling. No figuring it out at 6 PM when everyone is tired and hungry.
Summer doesn’t always mean you want a sandwich or something off the grill. Sometimes you want a real dinner waiting for you. The slow cooker makes that happen without any effort at dinnertime.
A few tips to make it even easier:
- If you don’t have time in the morning to prep, combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker insert the night before. Store it in the fridge overnight, then just place it in the cooker and switch it on before you head out.
- Slow cooker meals tend to make great leftovers, which helps with that lunch list we talked about above.
- Chicken thighs, pork roast and beans all do particularly well in the slow cooker and tend to be budget-friendly proteins.
If you need a place to start, this Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken is one of our most popular member recipes and it could not be simpler.
Pack Your Own Food for Outings
If you are heading to the beach, an amusement park, or anywhere else for the day, pack your food. The snack bars at these places are expensive, the lines are long, and the food is usually not worth it. A $12 sandwich and a $5 drink adds up fast for a family. I also used to hate watching my kids eat a plate of “brown food” for lunch (you know, the classic chicken nuggets with french fries). Of course if eating at the snack bar is part of the fun, then that’s what you do. But if you want to minimize costs, bring your own..
Plan for Healthy Snacks (and More of Them)
During the school year, snacks are somewhat controlled by the school day. The kids are home less, which means less snacking. Come summertime, snacks become almost a meal category. Kids are home, they seem to be hungry constantly, and if you don’t have something ready, they will find something. And it usually isn’t the thing you want them to be eating.
What worked for me when my kids were little was keeping a simple, running snack list. Nothing formal. Just a handful of things I’d restock as needed so there was always something ready to grab.
A few that were always on our list:
- Petite cut baby carrots with hummus, ranch, or Italian dressing. Petite cut matters since it is easier for kids to handle and safer for younger ones.
- Plain yogurt mixed with fresh fruit and a little granola. Skip the pre-sweetened versions. Many contain the daily limit of added sugar in just one smal serving.
- Peanut butter or nut butter on whole grain crackers or toast.
- Fresh fruit that’s already washed and ready. If it requires effort, it won’t get eaten.
- Nut or trail mixes, assuming you don’t have a nut allergy.
- Hard boiled eggs for a great protein boost. Mix up a pot at the beginning of the week and keep them in the fridge ready to go.
The goal is to have something in easy reach so the default isn’t cookies, ice cream, or chips. None of these are time consuming or require much work. It is just a matter of coming up with your list, stocking the fridge or pantry, and letting everyone know what is there. A small amount of prep goes a long way here.
Hosting Summer Gatherings Without Blowing Your Weekly Budget
I am not going to tell you to ask everyone to bring something. You probably already do that. But there are a few other ways to host often this summer without it wrecking your grocery spending for the week.
Choose your proteins wisely. Chicken thighs and pork tenderloin are two of the most overlooked options for a summer cookout, but both are incredibly good on the grill and significantly less expensive than steak or seafood. And of course there is nothing quite like a great burger. If you are tempted by the premade patties (I always was because I hated touching the meat!), buy ground beef in bulk instead at a much lower cost, and pick up an inexpensive burger patty maker. Easily found on Amazon for just a few dollars, and it forms perfect burgers every time that look great coming off the grill.
Keep sides simple and summery. A watermelon salad with feta, scallions, and a simple lemon, olive oil, and honey dressing. A corn and tomato salad. A bean salad. All easy, all healthy, and all inexpensive, especially when produce is in season.
Rethink the drinks. Instead of buying soda, make a pitcher of fruit infused water. Frozen berries, cucumber and mint, or just sliced lemon work beautifully. Healthier by a mile and beyond the cost of the fruit, it costs almost nothing. If you are serving alcohol, wine spritzers with a slice of lemon or lime stretch a bottle further and give you a refreshing and festive drink to offer your guests upon arrival.
Ditch the paper plates. I know this is not always practical, but why does summer automatically mean paper everything? Food just tastes better on a real plate and paper is just wasteful. When we hosted summer gatherings I almost never bought paper beyond the napkins. If kids are running around outside and real plates aren’t practical, buy a set of inexpensive reusable plastic ones. A one time small purchase that pays for itself quickly.
A Fun One for the Kids: Grow Something
No matter the kids’ ages, this is worth trying: plant a small outdoor garden. A few tomato plants, some cucumbers, maybe zucchini. It doesn’t need to be elaborate.
Kids love watching things grow. It teaches them where food actually comes from, and after participating in the process, they might be less likely to waste it. And when those vegetables are ready, they taste amazing and you are not buying them at the store. It is a small saving but a meaningful one, and the experience of eating something your family grew together is genuinely special.
When my kids were little, we grew a few different kinds of lettuce, broccoli, and cucumbers. I used to love going out to the garden with the kids and picking the lettuce for that night’s dinner, and my kids loved checking on how all their work was paying off. Some great memories (and photos) were created too!
Keep the Dinner Routine Going
Keeping the habit of sitting down together, even in a more relaxed way, matters. Summer is casual. Schedules loosen. That is a good thing. But try not to let the dinner routine go completely.The research on family dinners is real, and summer is actually a great time to lean into it.
What tends to derail summer dinners in July is often the same thing that derails dinner in February. Without a plan, you end up at the grocery store without a list, spending more than you meant to, and still not sure what’s for dinner.
If you built a routine this year that was working, protect it. It will make the transition back to school a bit easier, and also help you keep your grocery spending in check.
Need Help With Your Summer Grocery Budget?
That’s exactly what The Dinner Daily is here for. Every week, we build you a personalized dinner plan based on what’s on sale at your local grocery store, so you’re not starting from scratch and you’re not overspending. Your first two weeks are free.
