The Summer Meal Plan Every Parent Needs

I started planning for the summer in February and really felt the kids activities were planned: camps , outings, kits, books, gadgets , scooters, travel plans – check it out! What else do I need to keep up this precarious summer dynamic when two first graders need lots of fun, sunshine and relaxation while I need to work from home and just be in general TCB?

Oh, I need to feed them.

It won’t be a list of new recipes to try with kids this summer, or an offer to sign up for a fun box and teach them how to cook. This tip is about giving your kids food all day long, every day so you can spend less time worrying about it and get back to work (or take a nap, read a book or whatever you do to embody summer dreams come true and for you ). .)

I have ideas on how to make kids’ meals and snacks easier so they don’t turn into speed bumps all summer long. Potential food speed bumps: Interrupted by requests for snacks 37 times a day, staring at the refrigerator at noon, not knowing what to feed the children, or asking what they want, and trying to satisfy the wildest fantasies of everyone at once. Here’s how to avoid those speed bumps.

Create a dining menu

School canteen programs are ingenious in that they provide both choice and predictability. I started by asking my kids what they like to eat in the school cafeteria and turned it into a weekly menu. Where their favorites overlap, we have one main option for the day. When they differ, I connect two simple options and give them a “choice”.

The menu of our summer home dining looks like this:

• Monday: chicken nuggets or nutella sandwich
• Tuesday: tacos (of course)
• Wednesday: macaroni and cheese
• Thursday: spaghetti
• Friday: pizza or ramen

Every day they get a side dish (any convenient one) and fruits/vegetables of their choice, just like at school. Depending on the day’s activities and bandwidth, I may choose to have something pre-made or cook at home.

Set up a self-service breakfast

At ages 6 and 9, my kids finally get to sleep late. This means that I can actually sleep until late! Or, if I wake up before they do, I can get to work. Self-service breakfast makes that morning flexibility easier for all of us. Good affordable options are cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, muffins, frozen waffles and pancakes, ready-made breakfast sandwiches (for kids who can use the microwave), and cooked fruit.

I confess that this summer I cooked breakfast for the children when they wake up, because this is a good chance to register and organize our day together. But I still like to know that I can yell from another room, “Bring yourself breakfast” and they’ll be fine.

Prefer snacks over meals?

A controversial opinion, but snacks are food, just like food. Children eat a lot or a little, often or rarely, depending on the day. I have done a lot of personal work to deprogram myself from the diet culture and moralizing about food so that my kids can eat according to what their body tells them to. That means if my daughter spends her mornings eating cheese-its, pecans, and pickles so she doesn’t get hungry for lunch, that’s cool. This summer, I don’t worry about snacking and I don’t worry about my kids when they might get hungry.

Clean up the backlog with a snack tray

However, snacking kids tend to leave half-empty and improperly sealed food bags tucked into the closet (if you’re lucky enough to be able to get them to put things away). And then they open a new package of something instead of reaching for an almost empty one.

We all have a collection of fun little trays and it’s time for them to show off. Once or twice a week, treat the kids and yourself to a cutely matched snack tray that cleans up leftovers in the pantry and fridge. The last three strawberries, the occasional cheese stick, a handful of pretzels and crackers, a tiny box of raisins, and the last two Oreos? What a thoughtful little snack tray to keep the kids entertained while they play Mario all day long! Anything left can be safely thrown away.

Declare it popsicle summer

I’m talking about those colorful plastic tubes that you buy in packs of 100 or something on a stick. Always keep a box handy. How does it make your life easier?

• Moisturizing.
• Tell the children that they can take it if they go outside.
• You look like a fucking hero with your free popsicle policy.

Packing lunches for the camp

Have you been lucky enough to book some day camps this summer to keep your kids busy from 8 am to 3 pm? Great job! However, you will probably have to send them with a packed lunch. My advice is to focus on what your kids will actually be eating in the middle of a scorching day at camp, not on how other adults nearby might appreciate the aesthetic of your lunch box.

I decided what items my kids should take each day to keep them energized and hydrated: a bottle of water, another drink, protein, a salty snack, a sweet snack, a fruit/veg option. I’m going to use convenient pre-packaged options whenever possible and nothing that needs to be cooked or kept warm. For us, a camping lunch bag might look like this: almonds, popcorn, chocolate chip cookies, carrot sticks, a juice bag, and a small freezer bag.

Here’s how you can tell if your summer meal plan is going well: At the end of the day, the kids are fed and put to bed. Then the next morning you and your kids get up with the motivation to do it all over again.