This first week of summer has roared in with a vengeance in Recycla’s home state of Virginia. The thermometer is supposed to hit 98 today, with a heat index of 104+. Yikes!
Even though Recycla’s home is air conditioned, she doesn’t particularly feel like spending a lot of time in a hot kitchen when making dinner, so she has been thinking of ways to keep cool while cooking. She grew up in a house without AC, so she remembers that summer meals were light and often included a lot of raw veggies. Here’s what else she’s been doing:
- For starters, Recycla minimizes oven use. The family is eating a lot of simple foods, including salads and pastas, instead of their winter meals of stews, soups, roasts, and more.
- She is using the microwave to heat up some foods.
- For baking bread, she has been using her bread machine instead of the oven. If she had a slow cooker, she’d probably use it too.
- If cooking something small, Recycla uses the toaster oven, as it produces much less heat.
- If using the oven is necessary, she tries to cook everything at once and then doesn’t open the oven door unless she absolutely has to.
Like Recycla said earlier, her house is air conditioned, so she doesn’t have to be careful with heat in the kitchen; however, she chooses to do so in order to keep her AC from having to work harder and therefore use more energy. And with the long-term weather forecast showing many days with highs in the 90s, she could probably even fry an egg on the sidewalk.
Tell the Eco Women: What’s your favorite meal on a hot summer day?
Grilling, grilling, and more grilling – we’re in Missouri where the heat and humidity can be oppressive, too! We also do a lot of pastas and salads in summer. I just posted a tasty from-the-pantry meal that didn’t heat up the kitchen too badly and was done fairly quickly.
Chicken salad and watermelon!
The slow cooker is a great tool! I use it to make soups, stews, and various concoctions with spinach and other fresh summer veggies. The kitchen stays cool, too.