Make ahead summertime recipes?

[furbabymom]

Wow - I haven't visited Mrs. Survival for a while. Love the new look!

 

I need help with summertime dishes that can be made ahead. Right now my husband works mornings and I work afternoons so one or the other of us can be home with our four-month-old. I don't get home till 6:30, and my hubby goes to bed at 8:00, which means I'm making dinner at 10:00 every morning so we can eat when I get home! So far I've been making lots of casseroles and crock pot stuff, but summer's coming and most of my recipes are just too heavy.

 

Any suggestions? Hubby's willing to put stuff in the oven, but for the most part I have to have it assembled before I leave for work, so it has to be something that can sit around for seven or 8 hours before being cooked.

 

Thanks!

[PoGo]

Do you can? Canned meats are precooked, and are wonderful time savers for meals.

Cook a roast beef in the Crockpot, serve as beef dip sandwiches with Au juice.

Have some leftover chicken? Make chicken Caesar salad.

Stir Fries are quick, and the vegetables could be cleaned and prepared ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

[furbabymom]

I don't can, unfortunately. I do, however, buy canned meat, like chicken and corned beef. Salad's a great idea - I'll see if he'll go for that. We do a lot of crock pot roasts now - I try to rotate chicken, beef, and pork each week.

 

Thanks for the ideas!

[Amishway Homesteaders]

what works for us on our busy days are salads:

Potato salad

Maccaroni salad

Pasta salad

etc.

we make these up and keep in covered bowls. Then when we get home and are hungry we can plop some salad down on a plate, add pickles, meat sandwich, cut up a apple and you have a cool refreshing meal.

Hard boil a few eggs on monday and you can make egg salad, deviled eggs, put into you fresh garden salad, or just peal and eat.

'boxed' chicken is another one of our favorites. Eat it hot one night with mashed potatoes and vege. then cold another night as part of a 'Picnic Dinner'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leah]

We eat a lot of cold chicken in the Summer. I'll fill the oven with chicken- some BBQ, some lemon pepper covered, some honey, some with lots of herbs, others with a crust; and cook them all at the same time. After they cool I bag them into meal sized portions, some for the fridge others to freeze.

Jello is made in meal sized containers as well, and covered with plastic wrap.

Hard boil eggs like Micheal and Lori do, if left uncracked they last longer and remain safer.

I'm big on making the components to a meal when it's cool, then they just need assembling when it's time to eat.

 

[CrabGrassAcres]

Do you have a freezer? Google "once a month cooking" and several sites will pop up with tons of recipes.