The AC has been running since eight this morning and is having a hard time keeping up with this heat.

That is usually when I decide dinner is happening somewhere other than the oven!

This week it was a chuck roast. I had radishes, rainbow carrots, celery, and an onion needing to be used up from the farm store, so I put it all into the crockpot around the roast, with about a cup of beef broth poured over the top. It sat there all morning and afternoon while I worked and did other things around the house.

By four o’clock the house already smelled like dinner, and I had nothing left to do in the kitchen.

The hard part of cooking every night for me is deciding what to eat. The standing in front of the fridge with the day’s energy already spent, trying to assemble a plan with whatever is left in me.

A crockpot meal is definitely a solution for that problem. Ten in the morning, and dinner is technically done. The roast makes the house smell delicious, and the kitchen stays cool and clean.

The grill does the same job in a different way

I know the hot grill is the last thing some people want to deal with when it is hot as hell outside. I truly don’t mind it most days. Fifteen or twenty minutes out there and the whole dinner is done.

This week it was chicken breasts, corn, asparagus, and stuffed mushrooms. I did this in two batches since I made extra for leftovers. I kept the corn in the husk and put the asparagus and mushrooms in a grill basket (like this one on Amazon).

Cleanup was a breeze with a cutting board, tongs, and the grill brush, and the oven never turned on. The kitchen stayed the temperature it was and stayed clean.

Cook once, eat twice

I also like to make more than we need some nights on purpose. If the grill is already hot, adding two extra chicken breasts or some extra veggies in the fridge costs minimal extra time. Same with meals in the crockpot. A chuck roast can feed us for days.

That’s the trick, if there is one.

What this looks like right now

Typically I throw in one or two crockpot and/or grill nights in the rotation throughout the week in summer. Also, I make sure to make extra for lunch or dinner the next day. This truly helps reduce the time and effort of cooking nutritious whole-food meals every day.

Keeping it simple and basing all meals around protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats makes all the difference. Making it without turning on the oven is just an added bonus!