We pulled some of the most useful stops from our Ultimate Guide to Des Moines Food Trucks and turned them into a quick cheat sheet for the next time you don't feel like cooking.

🌮 Craving Tacos or Mexican Food? Tacos El Chorypollo and Tacos Degollado both keep semi-permanent Des Moines locations, so they're your best bet if you don't want to chase a moving schedule. (Des Moines Digest)

🍔 Craving Comfort Food? Big Red Food Truck and Hotsy Totsy both rotate around the metro, serving burgers, loaded tots, and sandwiches — check their Facebook or website the day of, since locations move. (Des Moines Digest)

🍕 Craving Something Different? Magoo's Pizza DSM (wood-fired thin crust) and The Guntur Talkies (South Indian street food, with a permanent West Des Moines spot at 7655 Office Plaza Dr N) both stand out from the usual truck fare. (Des Moines Digest)

🍦 Need Dessert? The Outside Scoop and Sweet Swirls Rolled Ice Cream are two solid options — Sweet Swirls also has a permanent shop at 303 SW School St in Ankeny if you're craving rolled ice cream on demand. (Des Moines Digest)

📍 Not Sure Who's Serving Today? Food-truck schedules shift constantly with weather and catering gigs. Check the truck's most recent social media post — not just its bio — before you drive across town. (Des Moines Digest)

🎪 Want a Bunch of Trucks in One Place? The Downtown Farmers' Market and neighborhood festivals are your best bet for variety — several trucks show up in one spot instead of chasing them one at a time. (Des Moines Digest)

👉 See the full directory of 32 local trucks, links, and locations: Ultimate Guide to Des Moines Food Trucks

Nobody remembers the expensive part of a good weekend. They remember who was there, what melted first, and who wouldn't stop laughing. With triple digits in the heat index this weekend, the best plans are the ones that keep everyone cool and don't ask you to be anywhere at a specific time.

🍧 Popsicle Porch Hour Pick a random hour, hand out popsicles, and sit outside until they're gone. No agenda. Bonus points if you race to see whose melts last.

💦 Sprinkler Surprise Turn on the sprinkler when nobody's expecting it. The screaming is the whole point.

📚 Library AC Adventure Your local branch is air-conditioned, free, and has a whole new stack of books nobody's cracked open yet. Make an afternoon of it.

🌌 Sunset Bike Loop Wait until the sun starts dipping and the heat breaks a little, then take the long way home on bikes. Everything looks better at golden hour.

🍿 Backyard Movie Night A sheet, a projector (or just a laptop), and everyone in pajamas by 8pm. Popcorn optional but strongly recommended.

🎨 Sidewalk Chalk Before Breakfast Beat the heat by chalking the driveway early, before it's even hot out. See how much you can cover before anyone asks for breakfast.

✨ If everyone's a little sweaty, a little sticky, and still smiling, you did the weekend right. ❤️

Dinner table conversations are one of the easiest ways to reconnect after a busy day — here's a question for every night this week.

These questions are a great way to kick off dinner — and if you've got a student in the house, they're a good reminder that learning doesn't stop when school does.

Camp Homework connects K–12 students with real human tutors — not AI — starting at just $150/month. Affordable, personal, and actually effective. camphomework.com →

Real talk: the last few weeks of school matter. If your child is struggling, Camp Homework connects K–12 students with real human tutors — not AI — starting at just $150/month. Affordable, personal, and actually effective. Don't wait until summer to course-correct. camphomework.com →

Sunday, September 6 | 4:00 PM | Des Moines Water Works Park

This one's built for families. The Des Moines Symphony's Water Works Pops series wraps its summer with a movie-score concert, but the real draw for kids is everything happening around it — local vendors, food trucks, and hands-on activities scattered across the park before the music even starts.

Bring a blanket, get there early to stake out shade, and let the little ones run around while the grown-ups enjoy live orchestral scores from some of the biggest movies in recent memory. It's the kind of low-effort, high-payoff evening that makes a great capper to a hot weekend.

Thank you so much for reading — we hope you found something fun, helpful, and inspiring in today's edition! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends and family so they can be part of the fun too. The more the merrier! We'll see you back here on Monday for our next edition. Have a wonderful weekend, Des Moines! 🎉

— Alex | Des Moines Digest
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