Summer weather can be pleasant in numerous ways. We can take walks outside without taking five minutes to don all the outwear needed for a winter walk. The sunshine is simply glorious. We don’t need to worry about blizzards, ice storms, and sub-zero temperatures. However, the extreme heat can be difficult on some people who would love spring or fall weather year-round.
Here are a few things you can do to plan ahead for hot summer weather while it’s still somewhat cool, or on a refreshingly cool summer day.
1. Get your spring cleaning done, or at least the most important rooms spring cleaned.
Hot summer weather is for doing necessary work in the cool of the day and doing things such as reading, organizing, or desk work when it’s extremely hot. While keeping a clean house is important, it’s not worth risking overheating yourself to be doing spring cleaning when it’s 100 degrees outside with 85% humidity.
2. Bake some bread ahead of time, slice it, and freeze it.
In our family, we eat bread every day, and yet baking on a hot summer day can make the house feel like an oven. Store-bought bread just doesn’t taste right for those of us how have been making our own for years. Give yourself a beak and have one or two loaves of bread in the freezer (if you can do more, that is even better). Then use the cooler days or cool mornings to bake bread. Right now I have one loaf of bread in the freezer and would like to keep a buffer of at least two loaves all summer long. To use your frozen bread, thaw in the refrigerator overnight or toast it in a toaster or toaster oven!
3. Stock up on ingredients for cool or no bake desserts.
Eating something sweet is helpful when it’s warm and everyone is perspiring more. In season fruit is a healthy and tasty treat to enjoy! Frozen fruit is also a great way to enjoy something sweet while cooling off your body. You can enjoy healthy desserts without turning on the oven. Go here for my favorite no bake desserts that are as healthy as they are delicious!
4. Prepare a place in the basement or lower level of your home where you can use a crockpot or pressure cooker.
Both of these appliances use less electricity than does a stove and also heat up our homes less. I like the pressure cooker because food can be ready quickly (cook it first thing in the morning if possible). Pressure cookers are more insulated, it seems, and do not heat up a home as much as crockpots do.
In some countries people have summer kitchens so that the entire home is not heated up while a meal is being cooked. Also, when there is no summer kitchen, the kitchen is often its own room with a door that can be closed. For those of us that have neither option, cooking early in the morning or on the cooler days can work well. I have also slow cooked chicken in the crockpot overnight so that it’s ready to eat in the morning.
5. Prepare protein-rich salads and double or triple your recipes so that you can keep the salads in the refrigerator and have meals on hand.
You can plan ahead and have healthy food to eat at home, and your wallet will thank you for not ordering take out. Tuna salad or pasta salad can fill up your family, keep you healthier, and help you to avoid overly processed foods.
6. Do what you can on the cooler days (or in the early mornings/late evenings before/after the heat of the day) to be able to do less on the hot days.
The weather forecast can help with this. Know when it will be too hot for comfort and plan ahead not to have major projects going on at that time.
7. Keep your freezer stocked with cooked meat, rice, and other foods you eat often.
It is less time consuming to heat up food than it is to cook it, especially foods such as rice and meat. Cook extra portions of those foods when it is cooler to have them on hand for hot days. You can thaw bread and meat; add a tomato and lettuce from your garden or farmer’s market, and there is a healthy, filling meal. You can also include a vegetable tray for variety in your meal. You can also freeze entire meals in single-serving portions to be able to thaw overnight and heat up quickly.
8. Do not be afraid of cooking less.
It’s ok to eat more sandwiches, burritos, salads and such things in the summer. Fall and winter are for soups, casseroles, and other foods like that. Plus, there is usually more yard and garden work to do in the summer, and it’s healthy to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine. Go here to learn the benefits of being outside and here for the benefits of sunshine.
9. Make a pitcher of healthy homemade lemonade.
Lemonade in stores, even if it is organic, often has unreasonable amounts of sugar. You can make some at home with just three ingredients and no refined sugar. Lemons have potassium in them, and lemonade can be a delicious way to stay hydrated and avoid the so-called electrolyte beverages in the store that have excess sugar in them. Go here for my recipe.
What do you do to plan ahead for hot summer weather? Please share in the comments.
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