From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmake a meal (out) of somethingmake a meal (out) of somethingBritish English informalTOO/TOO MUCHDIFFICULT to spend too much time or effort doing something He made a real meal out of parking the car. → meal
Examples from the Corpus
make a meal (out) of something• And make a meal of the soccer, with Swindon verses West Ham in the live match on Sunday.• Although he made a meal of applying the finish, the ball eventually finished in the net.• The police would go through the motions, but they wouldn't make a meal of it.• You realise then, well enough, that making a meal of plants can demand both skill and knowledge.• A bird that thought so and decided to make a meal of it would quickly die.• Looking for a creative way to make a meal out of leftover scraps of ham, turkey or pork roast?• Bruce Davidson was making a meal of explaining a straight forward case essentially because he was trying to impress Catherine Crane.• By the marks in the sand, it had been felled by a falcon, which made a meal of its flesh. 