Cooking without heating up the flat

[Cuwins]

We are in an upstairs flat that gets very warm and the idea of turning on the oven over the next week does not appeal!
Our appetites are not hugely affected by the heat like alot of people but I dread cooking.
So ideas for things that don’t need the oven or long on the hob. 2 adults and 1 fairly fussy 3 year old with a dairy allergy.
Thanks

Air fryer ?

I'm in exactly the same situation. Upstairs flat with 2 adults and a very fussy 2.5 year old with CMPA. I've been using the air fryer and if I've had to use the oven the extractor fan has been on constantly 😅

Yes we have an air fryer but I not very good with inspiration on what to use it for- just tend to do chips, sausages, freezer food type stuff although today I have got jacket potatoes in it

I have a new salad recepie. Green leaves, red or green onions, avocado ,grapefruit. Pumkin seeds. Feta and dressing of choice.
How about baked potato in air fryer. Or fake pizza. Ie toast with pizza topping.
Chicken legs and thighs are very good in the airfryer,

Why are you using the oven so much?

I rarely use mine in the summer. I do a lot of hob cooking - pasta, rice dishes, stir fries etc, plus lots of salads.

Or buy some good ready meals that you can heat in the microwave.

Fake pizza is a good idea. We have done wrap pizzas before that just need a couple of mins under the grill to melt the cheese.

Salads with protein such as ready cooked fish and seafood (salmon, prawns or smoked mackerel fillets) or tinned like sardines, or ready cooked chicken, or cheese. Salad Niçoise or chicken Caesar salad are examples.

Omelettes cook very quickly, or you could cook late at night in preparation for the following day. For instance....Pasta for salads, hard boiled eggs, potatoes for Russian style potato salad, asparagus to have with vinaigrette dressing or mayonnaise, make ratatouille or caponata etc etc

Some things I eat in the summer.....
Tomatoes or avocados stuffed with prawn cocktail
Smoked salmon or rollmops with potato salad
Asparagus with ham
Parma ham with figs or melon
Smoked mackerel fillets with a salad of apple, celery, lettuce and walnuts
Coronation chicken with green salad.

Actually we probably only use the oven once or twice a week but the hob is just as bad for heating me/the flat up I think! I also use the slow cooker a lot.

I cook once in the oven in the summer and then that does lots of meals.
so big roast chicken/gammon/beef (in the air fryer!). Then salad, rice, breads, potatoes, roasted vegetables.

maybe a massive plate of chicken wings, or ribs in a jerk or bbq marinade. That will do a few days, corn and coleslaw. Jackets, chips.

I use the air fryer for everything! Chicken, salmon, roast veg, etc.

I have been loving chicken in a flatbread with tzatziki (or houmous would be good for dairy free) and little Greek salad recently.

Also been having quinoa (I cook it in the microwave rather than the hob), with butter beans/cannellini beans and roast veg/salad veg for lunches, you could add some pesto chicken or pesto salmon to make it more filling for an evening meal.

Unfortunately salads and a fussy 3 year old aren’t a great mix!
Microwave meals would be good but most seem to contain dairy

Ohh cooking pasta late at night (or for us very early is more likely) and making pasta salad is a good idea- DD likes pasta so might try that

Cous cous just needs boiling water, no cooking at all, though I do add Marigold stock powder for flavour. It can be the base for all sorts of meals with a bit of creative thinking.

Our dinner tonight is tuna mayo, bread, veg sticks, crackers. Tomorrow will be a rotisserie chicken from Sainsbury’s with couscous and yet more veg sticks.

1 word starts with mc and ends in onalds

Great idea thanks

its also just the hob that needs to be on which heats up my kitchen even more. Have to keep an eye on fridge freezer as this shithole gets so hot that it cant cope and conks out Its fine in winter so its not the fridge freezer at fault
Good ol" battery hen living

Good idea

DD would love that! 😂 but I feel maybe not for 5 nights in a row

This is my battle every summer as well. I don't do well in the heat.

This last week we have had:

-wraps with shawarma and salad (hob on briefly)
-pasta salad (had this twice the last week. We always cook the pasta in the morning, boil eggs, maybe cook some bacon but otherwise have ham or tuna, add olives, silver skin onions, tin of sweetcorn, chopped cucumber, gherkins, tomatoes, and then add some oil and mayo.)
-wraps with chicken (pan-fried in advance in the morning) with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, garlic sauce or smoked salmon.
-ploughmans (nice bread, cheeses, pickled onions, salami, green salad with olives/cucmber/tomatoes/dressing, red pepper strips, potato salad)
-quiche (going to make one tomorrow morning before work)
-smoked mackerel with salad/cold potatoes

I also like jacket potatoes with cheese, coleslaw, tuna

Also noodles only require hot water poured over them

Maybe baked potatoes

5 mins in microwave then 15 mins in air fryer

I'm out in my little house in Spain at the moment. It gets really bloody hot out here (tip to self: if the Spanish call something The Warm Coast, believe them next time). Here are some ideas I use in case they help.

Firstly, if you can, cook outside, to avoid putting heat in the house. The slow cooker, the halogen oven and the air fryer are all ideal for this, if you have a terrace or a balcony or something. If you have to cook inside, put the extractor fan on max to try and send the hot air and any steam straight outside. Barbecues are an alternative option of course if you can do them anywhere nearby.

Using the microwave tends to contain heat and steam. Batch cooking, defrosting and just reheating is a good way to cut down on cooking (and if you defrost a portion in the fridge overnight, as an added bonus it will help keep your fridge cool and save on electricity).

Try to minimise the amount of time you cook things for - baked potatoes require a long cooking time, so best done outside if possible, whereas scrambled eggs or an omelette are very quick. Have a go to list of things you do when it's hot - eg roast chicken, tortilla or a quiche from the supermarket, a big box of salad and a tub of potato salad or a few microwave chips will feed you all without heating up the apartment. Have the odd takeaway too if that's an option. Frozen rice or the microwavable sachets can quickly be microwaved, and are much better than all the steam and heat from boiling rice or pasta. Humidity is to be avoided. You can get those sachets of prepared vegetables, stab them a few times and cook them in the microwave too.

As you realise, anything you can do to not create heat in the first place, or let it in, is better than having to try and cool the place down once it gets warm. The coolest time of the day and night is around six in the morning, so throw the windows open then and then close them through all the heat of the day, with curtains and blinds drawn on the sunny side of the building.

Good luck OP. 😊

Thanks.
Yes this is where my daughters early waking comes in handy- can throw everything open at 5:30am!

One of my air fryers is also a pressure cooker and I've been using that for new potatoes, though most cooking on the hob is fine if you have the extractor on full. I've also pressure poached a chicken to eat over a couple of days, and made a couple of large spanish omelettes with various things in them. You can do a chicken traybake in your airfryer, perhaps use tikka or harissa paste, all these are also good hot or cold over a couple of days. I cook rice in a covered pan or in the microwave by the absorption method to keep the steam and heat down - or you can buy a pack of microwave rice. I've bought more salad and quiches than usual, and coleslaw.
I'm also in a flat and use my airfryer outside on my balcony if I can, though I hate hot weather and sometimes can't bear to go out at all.