Hot Weather Meal Strategies
It's getting to be that time of year again, here in sunny Southern Arizona, even though April is just easing by: summer! And that means, it's time to shift our cooking strategies to avoid heating up the entire house more than necessary. The last place you want to spend time in the hot summer months is in the kitchen where it’s even hotter. How do you produce meals for your family without suffering heatstroke, relying on expensive convenience foods or eating out too often? With planning and ingenuity, you can spend less time in the kitchen this summer, take advantage of nature’s most bountiful produce season and feed your family healthful meals.
Plan Ahead
Don’t wait until 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon to decide what you’ll have for dinner. Each week, go through your family's favorites recipes and put together a rough meal plan. For the freshest produce (and the best prices), don't forget to check out the grocery store ads online, most of which are good Wednesday through Tuesday. You can use those ads, too, to search for new recipes; sites like allrecipes.com have a great feature where you can input the ingredients you want to use. Once you master the weekly plan, you can try planning for two weeks or even a whole month's worth of meals. It's a timesaver any time of year, but in the summer, thinking ahead means you will end up with much more satisfying meals that won't turn your kitchen into a sauna.
Cook and Make it Count
Don't forget to pay attention to those recipes that are easy to double or make leftovers, like shredded pork or big stir-fry recipes. It can be worth sweating out cooking at the stove one day if you know you won't have to do it later in the week! When planning your menus, be sure to use ones that will serve double- or triple-duty. Put enough chicken on the grill to be used for three different meals: barbecued chicken breasts tonight, cubed chicken tomorrow for a salad addition and shredded the next day for chicken fajitas. Cook once, but plan to eat at least three times. Not only does this keep you from heating up the kitchen, but when your own energy is flagging from the heat, it's nice to not have to work hard.
Use Your Freezer
Freeze meat in marinades for quick, straight from the freezer to the grill entrees. Freeze grapes, banana slices and berries for a quick, cool snack. Search for freezable dessert recipes. Precook rice and pasta ahead of time for quick summer salads. Just thaw, add fresh vegetables, cheese and dressing and you’ve got a meal. We always keep a stash of cooked, shredded chicken and pork for easy tacos. Just make sure you label everything in permanent marker with the contents and the date you froze it.
Cook Outside the Box (a.k.a., the Oven)
We were never fans of the latest and greatest kitchen gadget. Why waste that money on the latest trend when our range worked just fine? Then there was that year when the A/C gave out and we had to use our aging evaporative cooler during the hottest week of the year.... A lovely friend lent us her countertop infrared cooker, and we will never go back to only using the stove and oven. Rice cookers, slow cookers, pressure cookers, air fryers, even the old reliable toaster oven...all of those appliances generally give off way less heat than the actual range. You may not be able to make as much food at once, but it can be worth it to cook batches to avoid turning on the oven. This, by the way, is why we're writing about summer cooking now; if you don't already own one of these countertop appliances, take some time to shop now. Even toaster ovens have come a long way since our parents' days. Buy new or start haunting the thrift stores, you won't regret it!
There's a reason summer is also prime grilling season. Granted, depending on your yard's orientation, it can get hot out there while you're working over that hot grill. However, grilling can be much faster. When you're done, you can leave the heat behind and get back into your cool home (or jump in the pool, if you're so inclined), instead of hoping the house will cool off while you eat. Your electric bill for your A/C will also thank you!
Don't Forget Your Microwave
Remember those leftovers from planning ahead? You can plan to cook in the morning when it's cooler, safely store the food in the refrigerator, then heat it up all at once or in smaller portions when you're ready to eat later. (Just remember your food safety--don't put piping hot food in the fridge! You need that food to chill all the way through, not sit there with a hot middle to grow bacteria.) Microwave ovens produce even less exterior heat than other countertop appliances. They are an easy way to steam cook veggies, too, if you just need to avoid raw vegetables.
Use Fresh Produce
Most fruits and vegetables are in season this time of year, so make up fresh fruit and vegetable trays as soon as you get home from the grocery store. You’ll be less likely to pig out on unhealthy snack foods, and it's refreshing when it's hot and muggy. It's also salad season--take some of that grilled chicken or steak you made yesterday, hot or cold, and slice it up with your favorite fixings. Healthy, fast, and no big cooking required.
Make Use of Prepared Foods
Pre-bagged salads are one of the greatest additions to civilization since the blender. The less time you have to spend in the kitchen in the summer, the better, and that includes chopping and dicing time. Yes, you pay a premium for the convenience, but if you are trying to get more vegetables into your diet, this is a great compromise. Most grocery stores now also carry pre-assembled entrees such as chicken Kiev and skewers of shish kebab vegetables. Wok and grilling vegetables come pre-bagged, as well. A word of caution with pre-bagged produce: even if the bag says the contents have been washed, be sure to rinse everything before using. Don’t forget about canned tuna, salmon and chicken, which are cooked and ready to use. Canned beans, even, are a quick addition that don't require cooking.
Whatever you do, stay cool out there, friends!