How to Throw the Best Cookout This Summer

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Stop & Shop for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Summer cookouts are a staple here and we definitely do our fair share to support the hot dog and hamburger industry during the warmer months! We love having people over to share in the cookout fun and luckily everyone is a fan of typical cookout food which makes entertaining super easy! And, let’s face it, entertaining can be expensive so anytime you can whip of great food on a budget is a win.

You might wonder how we keep from getting sick of cookout food (and that’s a very valid question!). We love to experiment with new burger recipes to explore different tastes – whether it’s changing up the kind of meat we use or add some unique spice combinations.

If you are looking for some different, easy, and economical recipes to try for your summer cookouts (hey – 4th of July is just around the corner!), you’ll want to check out the Stop & Shop Savory Recipe Center for some great ideas and then hit up your local Stop & Shop for fresh ingredients.

My immediate family tends to prefer the more traditional style burgers, but that doesn’t stop me from jazzing them up a little. I’ve fallen in love with the  All-American Burger recipe. While it’s not a huge variation from your typical burger, there are a few ingredients that set this burger apart and make it really amazing. Adding mustard and Worcestershire sauce to the ground beef give it a unique flavor that even your most staunch burger traditionalists will love. The “special sauce” really takes this recipe to the next level – and guests can add as much or as little as they want.

Looking for tips to make your next cookout your best ever? Here are a few tips to make sure it runs smoothly:

Have multiple grills – borrow some if needed.

If you are having a large cookout, you’ll want to be able to cook a lot of food at once so that guests can all eat together. We typically pull out our tailgating grill to give us some extra cooking surface, but you can also reach out to neighbors and see if you can borrow one of theirs. (You might want to extend an invitation to them as well!)

Have plenty of ice available.

Cookouts are usually a hot weather activity and hot weather means thirsty guests. Nothing is worse than reaching for a drink and finding it lukewarm. Make sure you have plenty of ice around, both for coolers and to add to pured drinks.

Provide shade for guests.

Sitting in the hot sun for hours is draining and just plain uncomfortable. Make sure your guests have plenty of shady spots to sit down. rest, and cool off before getting back to whatever fun backyard games you have set up (yay for cornhole!).

Keep special diets in mind and provide options for those folks.

There are more and more people who need to eat gluten-free for medical reasons and will not be able to eat their meat in buns. We love to grill up portabello mushroom caps to use as buns or wrap burgers in iceberg lettuce for our gluten-free friends.