Summer Outdoor Dinners Made Easy

This is a sponsored post about easy summer outdoor dinners, written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

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Dinner shouldn't be difficult. Enjoy more family time this summer by picking up these easy summer outdoor dinners the whole family will love!

Summer is here!

The sun is shining, the kids are out of school, and we're all so excited to spend more time outdoors.

While I love cooking and baking, about once a week we've started getting food to go. It's a great excuse to take a break from the kitchen and spend more time outside with my family.

Easy summer meals to go

One of my Go-To family take-out meal strategies is to grab food from the grocery store deli section. Do you do this, too? It makes summer outdoor dining SO easy - and fun!

All of the food you see in these photos is from a recent dinner that we picked up from our local Safeway store. But you can also find quality summer meal solutions at the Albertsons Companies family of stores. This includes Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, and Tom Thumb.

For decades, our family has enjoyed a variety of prepared meals, including:

• fried chicken (if you follow this blog, you know how much I love fried chicken. Look at how crispy and juicy their chicken is!)
• jo jos
• fresh pre-cut fruit bowls 
• fresh precut veggie packs
• chicken, macaroni, or potato salads 

Safeway has all of these high-quality, fresh prepared meals and produce that help make summer outdoor dinners easy and delicious. And during this time when we've been mostly staying at home, Safeway offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ options that make it even easier!

Save time and money

Buying fresh, prepared meals is an awesome time, money, and sanity-saver for busy families.

TIME-SAVER: These convenient meal options definitely save time for the cook of the family. And if you're already at the store buying groceries for the week, buying food from the deli counter means one less stop.

MONEY-SAVER: You can usually spend less money on meals purchased from the deli counter than ordering delivery or getting take-out from a restaurant. I love that we can get more bang for our buck!

SANITY-SAVER: If your family is anything like mine, you likely have a wide range of tastes among you. Sometimes, when I make a big meal at home, it can be a challenge to make something that EVERYONE will love. Throw in food intolerances and allergies into the mix, and it can be downright difficult! So I love that we can get something for everyone this way. 

Don't forget dessert!

While you're picking up dinner, don't forget to swing by the bakery section for some dessert! 

I love that we can pick up a package of freshly baked Signature SELECT™ chocolate chip cookies, which we can enjoy throughout the week. But we can also buy individual slices of cake and half-slabs of pie. This way, everyone can get a dessert they enjoy!

When we get home, all we have to do is unpack the groceries and plate up the prepared meals. I pour some summer rosé (which pairs beautifully with fried chicken!) for me and my husband. Then we can just sit back and enjoy our family time, eating outside on our back deck under the warm summer sky.

It's a great way to treat the family at the end of a long week, or during a busy weeknight. 

What are some of your favorite grocery store deli meal items?

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