One Simple Thing: Make a Summer Supper List
A small seasonal habit for easier dinners in the warm weeks ahead.
Memorial Day weekend always feels like a threshold.
It is a weekend of remembering, of course — and I never want to rush past that. It is also, for many of us, the unofficial beginning of summer. The grill comes out. The table moves outside. Potato salad suddenly sounds perfect. Berries begin finding their way into desserts. And dinner, somehow, starts to feel a little lighter.
In this week’s Sunday Edit, I shared a simple Memorial Day menu and a few thoughts on setting a table for the weekend — easy, meaningful, and not overly complicated. And on 31Daily, I’ve also gathered plenty of ideas if you’re still planning your menu, including our Memorial Day Recipes guide and this new Memorial Day Desserts.
But today, I’m thinking a little beyond the weekend.
Because once Memorial Day passes, summer cooking begins in earnest. And one simple thing I love to do at the start of a new season is make a short list of easy meals I can return to again and again.
Not a meal plan exactly.
More like a summer supper list.
A handful of dependable dinners for warm evenings, busy days, unexpected company, and those nights when you want something fresh and simple but don’t want to think too hard about what to make.
One Simple Thing
Before the weekend begins, join me in making a short list of 8 to 10 summer suppers you love or want to make more often.
Keep it somewhere easy to see: tucked inside a cabinet, on the refrigerator, in your notes app, or written at the top of a weekly grocery list.
It might include:
A big salad with grilled chicken, salmon, or shrimp
Burgers or grilled chicken with a simple summer side
Pasta with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella
Tacos, lettuce wraps, or rice bowls
A sheet pan dinner with sausage and vegetables
Picnic-style plates with potato salad, fruit, and sandwiches
Breakfast for dinner
A slow cooker meal for hot days when you don’t want to turn on the oven
A simple skillet dinner with herbs and seasonal vegetables
Something from the grill with sweet tea in the fridge
The beauty of a summer supper list is that it takes the pressure off.
You’re not planning every meal. You’re simply giving yourself a few familiar answers before the question is even asked.
A Few I’m Saving for Summer
This is the season when I like recipes that are flexible, colorful, and easy to serve around the table — or outside on a patio, porch, picnic blanket, or lakeside deck.
For quick weeknights, I’m saving recipes like 15-Minute Chicken and Broccoli and Shrimp Pasta — dinners that feel fresh and satisfying without taking much time at the stove.
For days when the grill is calling, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Chicken Souvlaki, and Ribeye with Chimichurri are the kinds of meals that make summer dinner feel special without being complicated. Add a salad, something cold to drink, and dinner is ready.
For easy, low-effort meals, Crockpot Hawaiian Pineapple Pork is one to keep in your back pocket. With just three ingredients, it’s the kind of recipe that can quietly cook while the day unfolds.
And for lighter, warm-weather meals, I love the idea of No-Cook Salmon Tacos, Black Bean Burgers, Bruschetta Chicken, and a fresh Salmon Salad — full of color, flavor, and the easygoing feel summer dinners should have.
Because summer meals don’t have to be elaborate to be memorable.
Sometimes they are as simple as something from the grill, a quick skillet dinner, tacos at the table, a hearty salad, or a slow cooker meal waiting at the end of the day.
I’ll be saving a few of these recipes on 31Daily as I build my own summer supper list. If you haven’t used it before, the Save button in each recipe card is a simple way to keep track of recipes you want to make again — or remember for the season ahead.
A Small Start to Summer
So before the season gets too full, maybe this is the weekend to make your own list.
Not a perfect one. Not a complicated one.
Just a small collection of meals that make summer easier.
The kind of dinners you can make when the day has been long, when the light lingers late, when people are coming over, or when you simply want to eat something good without making it a project.
A summer supper list is really just a way of saying:
Here are the meals that help us gather.
Here are the dinners that make the season feel easier.
Here are the simple things I want to return to.
And that feels like a good place to begin.
Wishing you a meaningful Memorial Day weekend, friends — with moments to remember, tables to gather around, and a few simple suppers waiting for the summer days ahead.
Warmly,
Stephanie