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Two Weeks of Menus for Summer

Use this menu plan during the summer months, when tomatoes and melons are ripe. In North Carolina, that would be July, August, September, and October. (Produce lags temperature.) Compare it to the spring and winter menus, which have full months of menus and detailed pricing.

Get the complete menu, plus recipes and cooking plans to support this menu in the Cook for Good Year Round ebook.

Click here for the Cook for Good Summer Menu Plan.

Special summer features — In the heat of the summer, I'm happy to bake less and eat more cool meals, such as salads. When I do heat things up, it tends to be on the grill so the heat stays outside. (You don't need a grill to Cook for Good, though.) Much of the "cooking" consists of cutting up delicious ripe tomatoes and peaches and serving them with minimal fuss. These menus take full advantage of the low price and high quality of seasonal produce, too, so you'll see green pepper slices instead of carrots and melon instead of raisins and bananas.

Fit your schedule — I like having pizza on Sunday night, but if you'd rather have it on Friday, just mix up the dough on Thursday night. It only takes a few minutes. Or make the super-fast grilled pizza, which is ready in only 35 minutes, including home-made yeast dough. You might be able to go shopping on Thursdays and do your main cooking on Friday. Maybe you have PTA on Thursdays, so that's the day that you need a reheat-and-eat meal. Use these meal plans as a starting point to make your life easier.

Celebrate the holidays — This menu covers the great U.S. cookout holidays of the 4th of July and Labor Day, so it features grilled bean burgers on homemade buns and peach ice cream. Summer fruit cobbler takes a bit more time to prepare than most of the Cook for Good desserts, but it is flat-out amazing: the essence of summer. When planning your own month, take a look at your calendar for special days including birthdays and anniversaries. Just adding a little fruit to the main dinner or having a favorite dessert that day can make it festive.

Extra days — Since months vary in the number of days they have, this plan shows four weeks (28 days) worth of menus, plus three "extra" days at the bottom of the plan. Use the food shown for these days for longer months, to share with friends or family, or just as backup just in case you drop a pizza or put way too much hot pepper in the chili.

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Free Adobe Acrobat Reader

The menu plan is in a PDF format. Most computers already have a PDF reader, but if you don't, please download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.