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Simple Ways to Keep Your Kitchen Cool During The Summer
The kitchen is a central artery for most homes, but firing up the stovetop and oven during certain months can make things uncomfortably warm. If you’re dealing with a case of hot kitchen, there are some ways steps to take to help chill things down. In the midst of a summer heatwave, you may feel the urge to forgo cooking altogether. These tips for keeping the kitchen cool on particularly hot days will allow you to you keep your breakfast, lunch and dinner routine intact. Not only will manually regulating heat in the kitchen save you some sweat and sanity, but it’ll save you some money on your air conditioning bill, since you won’t have to crank it as much to counterbalance. Here are simple ways to keep your kitchen cool during a summer heatwave.
Prepare instead of cook
Don’t want to heat up your kitchen? Don’t cook. But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat. Focus on no-cook, fresh foods, such as summer salads, ceviche, smoothies and cold noodles. Even slicing up fresh fruit or vegetables like cucumbers and melons can be a refreshing and healthy summer treat. And no-cook foods help beat the heat in two ways: By not heating up your kitchen — or your body — as you consume them. And when you do cook, limit your time in the kitchen with a helpful meal kit (these are the best meal kits for 2023). While you’ll likely still have to cook the food, you’ll do far less prep, and spending less time in a sweltering kitchen is definitely a good thing. Most services offer lighter, no-cook meals during the summer, too.
Use small appliances
Minimizing use of the oven and stove can help you avoid heating up your kitchen. Small appliances can cook your food just as well while emitting less heat than large appliances. Try using an air fryer instead of your wall oven, or a panini press instead of the stovetop. You’d be surprised how versatile small appliances can be. Your slow cooker and Instant Pot aren’t just for winter soups and stews, either. Think of summer recipes you can achieve on your countertop, like Instant Pot pork carnitas. And don’t turn your nose up at your microwave, which can zap rice, quinoa, vegetables and more while generating practically no heat.
Batch-cook for the week
If you’re going to heat up your kitchen, make it worth it. If you do end up using your oven or stovetop, make larger quantities than normal. That way, you can use precooked leftovers, which means you have food ready to go without heating up your kitchen again. But with the right kitchen appliances you can batch cook and keep the oven off. For example, make a whole bunch of pulled chicken in your Instant Pot (which gives off very little heat). Then you can use the leftovers to make tacos, chicken salad nachos, and other meals that don’t require firing up your oven again.
Cook during the cooler hours
Cooking in your kitchen when it’s already hot outside (and maybe already hot in your home) means you’ll only add to the heat. Plan ahead and strategize your cooking times for when it’s not as hot. The best time to cook to avoid the heat is in the morning or later in the evening. That might appear easier said than done, but you could bake bread in the morning, or cook proteins and pasta dishes while you’re making breakfast or an early lunch so they’ll be ready to go for dinner.
Limit lighting
Sunlight and even artificial interior light can generate heat, and when you’re in the heat of summer, every degree counts. Dim the lights, shut any curtains, close your blinds and limit how many lights you turn on. You don’t need to work in the dark but be wary of turning on lots of overhead lights.
Text by David Watsky | Photo by | Read More Here
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