And with that, I really don't like to be in the kitchen too long because of the heat. Whenever using the cooking plate or oven, the whole apartment heats up to a point where we really can't get rid of the heat for the rest of the day. Temperatures outside are well above 30 for a few weeks now, and although it's nice to have the summer feeling again, I'm hoping for a few rainy days in between so that our building can cool off completely.
The past weeks, we've been taking it quite easy on the meals. A lot of ordering in or eating out. Granted, it was the first month with financial relief where we could actually do this, but if you ask me, we took it a bit too far. I don't fancy wasting money, although I also feel we are allowed to enjoy life a bit when we can.
We found this great place where we could order big bowls of salad and they were tasty until the last bit. Nothing like any other place we ordered salad from honestly, these were nice and exactly enough for a meal. Once we discovered this, we ordered several times, cutting into our grocery budget quite bad.
I have to admit that walking in any supermarket is a pain currently with 30+ degrees (often not enough oxygen inside) as we have to wear a mask as well. I feel suffocated and avoid supermarkets whenever I can, but if I want to make sure we don't spend all money on expensive salads, I have to do some shopping. Yesterday we bought a lot of vegetables and fruit in 1 supermarket (yay, that doesn't happen often!) the only thing I need to do now is cut them all.
Costs for all the veggies and fruit are about the same as ordering two salads. Of course, this is without the extras like grilled chicken, tuna, salmon that I will add to have some variety in the salads.
The only thing I need to prep from these three main ingredients is the chicken, because the rest will be added as is (let's keep it simple this week, lol).
These are our favorite ingredients when it comes to eating a well balanced home-made salad. To me personally, it can't contain enough different ingredients and I love to add nuts as well if we have them. Walnuts are great to add, but cashew nuts are favorite in our household as well.
Lollo rosso lettuce (my favorite), silver onions, corn, grated cheese & bacon
Cashew nuts, walnuts, feta cheese and carrots
And we add grilled chicken, tuna or salmon depending on our preference of the day, some salt and pepper, and voila, you have a rich meal!
My boyfriend always adds olive oil, I often don't even add oil or dressing when I prep the salad myself. Some people mix up the ingredients to eat them later, I honestly dispise that, it takes away the bite of the vegetables and nuts when you mix it up and leave it all together in the fridge, especially whenever you use oils/dressings. I prefer putting the salad together on the spot when I eat it right away.
It's quite some work, but it will make sure that we eat healthy meals during the heat wave, so it's for a good cause. Our daughter is usually overwhelmed by seeing all these veggies mixed up, so we decided to let her pick 5 items herself, hoping she will make a good choice and learn that a lot of vegetables taste very different (better) when you eat them together with another ingredient.
Do you prep your food more than normal whenever there's a heat wave? I don't feel like cooking at all myself, and besides these salads, I often prep a smoothie instead of a salad as well. Easy, but delicious and healthy if you use the right ingredients!
Have a lovely day and thank you for stopping by!
