Ep 191. The Summer Cooking System that Keeps Us Eating Real Food

Hello, friend. How's it going? We have had some warm weather here, and I'm very excited

about it, but it's supposed to be stormy and then cold again, shocking here in North

East Ohio. So I hope it is warm and sunny wherever you are. I wanted this episode to be about

talking about how every summer, I just hit the point where I don't want to cook anymore,

but with the last few warm days, I feel like I'm already there. So I wanted to talk

about ways that we can all have a summer cooking system that will really keep us eating real

food, staying on track with our homesteading goals, and doing all the things that we want to

be doing if we don't want to be in the kitchen quite as much during the summertime.

You're listening to the Homestead Challenge podcast where no pressure homesteading fits into

your real life. I'm Brittany, kind of crunchy mama, and city homesteader helping you grow,

make, and prepare without the burnout, because I have been there. But I've also discovered

a way to integrate homesteading into my modern and busy life in a way that feels balanced,

fulfilling, and joyful. Whether you're working with a backyard, a farm, or even just a

balcony, pour yourself a cup of coffee or homegrown herbal tea and settle in. It's time

to dig in and grow. So yeah, I really like, you know, thought like about the summertime

and how I really usually do hit this kind of wall where you have your kitchen gets hot

and just like so hot that you do not want to turn the oven, or it's really busy. You

have kids in sports or you want to be outside, or if you're like me and you're in your garden

watering forever and ever, each night, exactly when you should be cooking dinner. There's

just a lot that we can fall into like eating junk food, freezer food, takeout. None of those

things are bad, but when we're doing them all the time, that can get a little one expensive

and too unhealthy. So I really want to think of different ways together that we can all

kind of keep on track. And ways that I do keep on track when I'm really, you know, honed

in in the game, but this is real life here on this podcast here at the Homestead Challenge.

So I'm not always on my A game, but I can tell you what we all should be doing. And so

there's a couple different tricks here that we can all use. So I was thinking about some

great craft prop meals to make and that can feel a little bit weird in the summer because

for me, crockpot season is like soup season or well, I actually like to make soups in the

Dutch oven. But you know what I mean? Like crockpot time is cozy or and warmer or football

or things that are not the summer. But there's actually so much we can make in the crockpot

and elsewhere that can make things so much easier for us getting through the evenings during

this busy, busy time on the Homestead. Whether you're like me and have a very small homestead,

even though you feel like you're watering for hours. So I have literally have no idea how

people water bigger gardens or if you do have one of those giant homesteads, we all know

it's a busy time. But the crockpot does not just have to be for it chilly and winter meals.

And it can really help avoid heating the house. And most importantly, it can help us stay

consistent. So first, I want to talk about like a little rhythm that we can do with a crockpot.

And that is throw in the crockpot stuff after your breakfast before you've even done the breakfast

dishes. That way, you just do all the dishes at one time. And that will be like so much more efficient.

And you won't like later be like, oh, I don't want to get all this stuff out because I don't want

to do the dishes again, because I definitely have said that many, many of days have I said that.

By the time midday happens, you're going to be called to join a friend at the pool or

you'll be out just frallicking in the garden, hopefully. And then chaos hits it. It's four o'clock

and you're like, oh, no, I don't know what I'm making for dinner tonight. What am I going to do?

So this habit stack by actually just throwing it in right after breakfast can be so so helpful.

It obviously doesn't work for every crockpot meal, but it can work for a lot of them.

So my favorite thing to make in the summer in the crockpot would be shredded meats. So chicken,

a roast even or pork. You can use any of these things for tacos, making wraps, making rice bowls.

There's different versions of Asian food you can make sandwiches. My personal favorite is

pulled pork, which I actually do make in the Dutch oven, not the crockpot, but it just chills all day

and you don't touch it. So this one's one that does eat up your kitchen. If you're, you make it like

me, but you don't have to. You can of course make pulled pork and you're the crockpot of course.

So what could really be cool about some of these meals is you could actually pre-season the meat,

like if you have it fresh from the week, like the butt off the grocery store that day, you could start

like marinating it or dry seasoning it or whatever. So you can just throw it in in the morning,

which would be super cool or you could have this seasoning made to the side and throw it on top

if it's frozen and you're waiting for it to thaw. But that kind of thing could just be so, so helpful.

Even if you don't even know what your side's going to be, just put in some meat and some seasoning

and then maybe you'll harvest some veggies that day out of the garden that you could have as your

side or add some rice or pasta or whatever you want to do, which is so, so nice. Another option you

could do would be freezer to crockpot meals that are even easier. I'm not very great at the freezer

prep stuff. I do have some freezer space so I could try it, but I've just never one to bulk cook

and I don't know why because that's something that's really helpful. But if you want to make a bunch

of freezer meals that you can throw directly into the crockpot in the mornings, oh my goodness.

That sounds like I should definitely do this if I could make like even just like 10 meals for the

summer of things that could get thrown into the crockpot. It would be very, very helpful.

Unfortunately, a lot of that kind of thing, my kids will not eat, but a lot of the time with this

kind of thing, it's mostly me and my husband eating it and I'll have to make my kids another meal.

That's just my real life. I wish it wasn't my real life. I do see all the people online all the

time with their kids eating all of the things and my kids used to eat all of the things and now I'm

pretty sure they would starve themselves if I made them eat what we eat. I don't know

why this has happened. I don't know where I have went wrong because we did the baby

live weaning and they were eating all these vegetables and avocado toast and now it's beige noodles

and dinosaur nuggets. So that's where I am. If you can tell them a little bit burnt out by it,

but that's where I'm at. So mostly these meals are for me and my husband.

The good thing about that is that it probably makes a lot each time you make one,

so then we'll have it for leftovers as well. So what are some of my actual favorite summer crockpot meals?

Definitely shredded chicken and salsa for some kind of tacos. I actually also got an email

about just doing regular taco meat. You can actually do ground beef in the crockpot, which I've

never done, but that could be super easy. A roast with seasoning. I don't like to do like a

pot roast situation. I would probably be more likely to do like an Italian beef that's gonna go

on a fun or a sandwich or a wrap or something like that. Definitely a summer favorite would be

barbecue pork or pulled chicken. You can simply do some beans, some chicken,

lemon, herbs, or an Italian style chicken. It can be super flexible. These can be so easy.

Very easy to have on hand, adding to salads, adding some fresh garden veggies, adding a fresh

side. To keep it summery though, I just like to keep lighter flavors with some fresh herbs,

some lemon usually. And that kind of keeps it more summery as opposed to being like a fall soupy

crockpot meal. So something else that I really like to do is prep lunches for the week. One of my

favorite things for the summer is to do a fresh pasta salad. I do a zesty Italian pasta salad

with a bunch of garden fresh veggies, cherry tomatoes, and peppers, zucchini, things like that,

adding them all into a pasta salad. I wish there was an adult and ate a lot of regular salads,

but I'm not. I love eating fresh veggies with a pasta salad, but I'm just not like a salad gal.

I wish I was a salad gal. But this is the way that I like to do it. You can also, of course, prep

salads for the week, whatever it is just having it made, or even doing something like a chicken salad,

or whatever it might be. Having that ready for lunches can really save you throughout the week,

at least having to do dishes one less time. So I just really like to keep things and not very

complicated. I like to really plan out my days in the summer. I know that some people really like

to wing it, but for me, having a plan each week really helps me. And on top of that plan,

keeping up with my meal planning that I do each Sunday for my Sunday reset is so, so helpful. And

making me feel like more relaxed, which I now sounds crazy. You feel like, you know, if you're

going with the flow, then it would be more relaxing. But to me, nothing is more stressful than

it being 4 p.m. and me not knowing what we're making for dinner and then having to spend more money

and buy something and eat food that I don't necessarily really want to eat. I love eating out of

restaurants, but I like it when they're planned on purpose, and I can prepare for eating that food.

So you don't have to do it all, but definitely in the summer, we can still cook, we can just

keep it super simple. I would love to know what are your very favorite crockpot meals or your

favorite ways to prep food for your family during the summer. As always, you can come over to our

Facebook group and let me know. This was a shorter episode. Sorry about that. I didn't want to give

you like recipes like out loud because that would be really lame. But it's definitely another way

that we can just have another tool in our back pocket as home study type people in order to

make things go smoother and have time to do all of the different things that we want to be doing.

So I hope that you are in garden planning season, in garden planting season, in

clearing out your garden bed season, or maybe you're already starting to harvest things if you live

way down south. I would love to see it. If anybody has first tarvests, please share those with us so

we can all feel the warmth. Thank you so much for being here, friend. Until next time.

Thanks so much for joining me for another episode of the Homestead Challenge. I hope you're

feeling inspired to take the next step on your homesteading journey. If you've enjoyed today's

episode, please leave me a written review. It helps others find the podcast and I love to read

what you have to say. It means so much to me. Let's connect on Instagram at Brittany L. Gibson.

Share your favorite takeaways, ask questions, or suggest topics for future episodes.

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