The Healthy Mama Kitchen Podcast: Healthy Cooking Hacks, Meal Planning & Meal Prep for Busy Moms
Jun 15, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
I know, I know, summer is hot and the last thing you want to do is spend more time in the kitchen. But meal prep is here to SAVE you time in the kitchen- and help you stay on track with your healthy…
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So how do we shift our prep from the school season to the summer season? The first thing that we need to do when we're shifting into a new meal prep routine or a new routine of any sort, no matter what the season, is to consider what our priorities are in this season.
Are your priorities just simply making getting meals on the table easier for your family? That's a great goal, and meal prep will definitely help you to achieve that.
Is it staying on track of making sure that you are eating enough protein and fiber in the summertime with all of the busyness and fun events that summer brings? That's also something that meal prep can help you with.
Is it making sure that your kids also eat produce throughout the summer, not just the occasional slice of watermelon, but they're actually getting in lots of nourishing foods in between the myriad of snacks they're probably enjoying as they're running in and out of the house or on whatever summer adventures, summer camp, wherever they might be? Is one of your goals maintaining a reasonable grocery budget in the summertime? I don't know about you, but when my kids are home, whether it's school vacation or it's the summertime, our grocery bill seems to go up by 1,000%.
I'm exaggerating, but not by much [laughs] because it feels like my kids are constantly snacking, and they don't go to a school where they give them snacks.
Whatever your goals might be, writing them down or at least coming up with a few bullet points of why you want to maintain a meal prep routine in the summertime can give you that motivation to actually do it.
When we figure out what our priorities are, then we can decide, all right, how much time do I have to meal prep? When do I have time to meal prep? And how can I do the most with my meal prep for the least amount of effort? Because let's be real, the summertime is hot, and we don't wanna spend a ton of time in the kitchen.
And just because you're meal prepping in the summertime doesn't mean you need to do a whole lot of cooking.
I've been doing meal prep the last, you know, couple of months here in Florida, and it's been pretty darn hot.
So I've been doing a lot of low-cook meal preps, where maybe I choose one item that needs to be cooked, maybe two, or I utilize an easier non-kitchen form of cooking, like, or non-stove or oven form of cooking, like the grill or the air fryer.
So figure out what your priorities are for the summertime, and that can help you to really hone in on what is the most important thing or things to prep in the summertime.
Is it that you want your kids to have a nourishing breakfast before they head off to summer camp? Maybe you're working in the summertime as usual.
Maybe things don't change for you a whole lot in the summertime other than bringing your kids to a different place, and your priority is similar to the school year, and you just wanna make sure they've got a nourishing breakfast on the way to camp.
Maybe it's making sure that you have easy-prepped items for their summer camp lunch boxes or for whatever adventures you're going on, so there's less stress throughout the day.
Maybe it's less cooking throughout the week, so you wanna do a little bit ahead to do less cooking as the week goes on, and your routines and life just gets busier.
So figure out why you're gonna meal prep, figure out your priorities, and then you can start to decide what you're going to meal prep in the summertime.
So how do we shift our prep from the school season to the summer season? The first thing that we need to do when we're shifting into a new meal prep routine or a new routine of any sort, no matter what the season, is to consider what our priorities are in this season.
Are your priorities just simply making getting meals on the table easier for your family? That's a great goal, and meal prep will definitely help you to achieve that.
Is it staying on track of making sure that you are eating enough protein and fiber in the summertime with all of the busyness and fun events that summer brings? That's also something that meal prep can help you with.
Is it making sure that your kids also eat produce throughout the summer, not just the occasional slice of watermelon, but they're actually getting in lots of nourishing foods in between the myriad of snacks they're probably enjoying as they're running in and out of the house or on whatever summer adventures, summer camp, wherever they might be? Is one of your goals maintaining a reasonable grocery budget in the summertime? I don't know about you, but when my kids are home, whether it's school vacation or it's the summertime, our grocery bill seems to go up by 1,000%.
I'm exaggerating, but not by much [laughs] because it feels like my kids are constantly snacking, and they don't go to a school where they give them snacks.
Whatever your goals might be, writing them down or at least coming up with a few bullet points of why you want to maintain a meal prep routine in the summertime can give you that motivation to actually do it.
When we figure out what our priorities are, then we can decide, all right, how much time do I have to meal prep? When do I have time to meal prep? And how can I do the most with my meal prep for the least amount of effort? Because let's be real, the summertime is hot, and we don't wanna spend a ton of time in the kitchen.
And just because you're meal prepping in the summertime doesn't mean you need to do a whole lot of cooking.
I've been doing meal prep the last, you know, couple of months here in Florida, and it's been pretty darn hot.
So I've been doing a lot of low-cook meal preps, where maybe I choose one item that needs to be cooked, maybe two, or I utilize an easier non-kitchen form of cooking, like, or non-stove or oven form of cooking, like the grill or the air fryer.
So figure out what your priorities are for the summertime, and that can help you to really hone in on what is the most important thing or things to prep in the summertime.
Is it that you want your kids to have a nourishing breakfast before they head off to summer camp? Maybe you're working in the summertime as usual.
Maybe things don't change for you a whole lot in the summertime other than bringing your kids to a different place, and your priority is similar to the school year, and you just wanna make sure they've got a nourishing breakfast on the way to camp.
Maybe it's making sure that you have easy-prepped items for their summer camp lunch boxes or for whatever adventures you're going on, so there's less stress throughout the day.
Maybe it's less cooking throughout the week, so you wanna do a little bit ahead to do less cooking as the week goes on, and your routines and life just gets busier.
So figure out why you're gonna meal prep, figure out your priorities, and then you can start to decide what you're going to meal prep in the summertime.
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