Summer Meals Part II: One Simple Grocery List, Three Meals, Six Portions

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A wonderful perk of summer are the seasonal ingredients available to us: corn, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, peaches… So many combinations, so many rich and decedent flavors. Summer meals tend to be a bit more forgiving, a bit more fun, and a lot less fuss. I’m here for it. Since we have a few more weeks before we change over to fall, I wanted to share another installment of summer meals. One simple grocery list, that turns into three meals for you, with relative ease. I hope you’re enjoying this series, so far, and if you missed it, here is Part I.

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The Menu

Grocery List:

• pint cherry tomatoes
• bag of Persian cucumbers
• 3 ripe peaches
• 16 ounces of mixed green lettuce
• 1 large zucchini
• 2 ears corn
• 1 shallot
• 1 lemon
• 1 small tub of feta cheese
• 1 small Greek yogurt cup
• 1 pound salmon
• 1.5 pounds chicken breasts

Additional ingredients you’ll likely have on hand, but if not, add it to your grocery list:

• Olive oil + Avocado oil
• Kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper
• Dijon mustard
• Fresh garlic
• Basil & thyme (if you have an herb garden)
• Unsalted pecans
• Rice
• Honey

The Ingredient Overlap

The goal isn’t to make every ingredient appear in every meal. It’s to buy a handful of things that can play several different roles.

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What Prep Looks Like

The beauty of this menu is that almost nothing is being prepped for just one meal. While the rice cooks, I chop the vegetables. While the chicken and salmon cook, I make the yogurt sauce. By the time everything is done, I have three completely different meals assembled from many of the same ingredients.

1. Cook 1 ½ cups of rice, I like to add 3 cups of water, big pinch of salt, a pat of butter, a drizzle of olive oil. Bring to a boil, stir well with a fork, cover the pot, lower heat to the lowest setting, allow rice to cook for 18 minutes.
2. Season your salmon with salt and pepper, set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 500-degrees, turn on your outdoor grill to preheat.
4. Make lemon vinaigrette (lemon juice, splash of water, avocado oil, dollop of Dijon mustard, squeeze of honey, fresh thyme, salt and pepper), set aside the portion you’ll use as salad dressing, then use the remaining vinaigrette to marinate the chicken.
5. Prep your fruits and vegetables: thinly sliced red onion, thinly sliced cucumber rounds, half and pit your peaches, quarter tomatoes, mince garlic, mince shallot, thinly slice basil, chop thyme, chop pecans.
6. Grill your chicken breasts and peaches, zucchini and corn, roast your salmon in the oven. Set aside when done, allow to rest, then slice the chicken once warm to the touch. Cut zucchini and shell your roasted corn.
7. Begin honey-lemon yogurt sauce (greek yogurt, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated garlic clove, salt and pepper, water to thin)
8. Assemble salmon bowl (salmon, rice, zucchini, corn). Whisk together a honey, lemon zest, shallot, thyme topping for salmon.
9. Assemble your salad: lettuce, peaches, pecans, sliced cucumbers, basil, feta, season with a pinch of salt.
10. Assemble your lemon chicken rice bowl: rice, grilled chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, feta. Top with fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest.
11. Clean-up, hopefully you’ve been cleaning as you go!

It’s a fair amount of work, but I find this kind of cooking incredibly satisfying. Everything is happening at once, ingredients are doing double duty, and by the end of about two hours—from unpacking the groceries to washing the last dish—I have three meals ready to go.

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The Cost

I spent $46.91 at the grocery store on ingredients. Of course, $46.91 isn’t the true cost of every ingredient used. I already had olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, pecans, basil, thyme, rice, honey, and a few other pantry staples on hand. But that’s also part of the point: a well-stocked pantry makes this kind of cooking much easier.

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