A quick list of five of our favorite hot weather meals. Living on a boat without air conditioning, I simply wasn’t going to cook hot meals for us. I prepared meals, sure . . . but I didn’t COOK them.
The first three weeks we were back on Barefoot Gal — in the boat yard, mind you — it hit 100°F. every single afternoon. To be honest, neither one of us wanted a hot meal and the idea of turning on the stove in the boat just seemed too hot (yes, we have AC but in this much heat and humidity, it struggles in mid-afternoon and we want it cool by bedtime).
So what did we eat? Mostly salads. A loaf of good bakery bread is a nice and easy side! Here are five of our favorite hot weather meals:
- Greek Salad with Chicken — I either buy the packages of pre-cooked chicken or use a can of chicken and just add it to my regular Greek Salad recipe (find it here or on page 151 in The Boat Galley Cookbook; low carb/keto version here).
- Chicken Salad with Grapes — a can of chicken, a bit of chopped celery, a handful of grapes sliced in half lengthwise and a dab of mayo. Sometimes I serve it on a bed of lettuce.
- Company Coleslaw with Ham — break up a small can (tuna-can size) of ham and add it to my recipe for Company Coleslaw.
- Waldorf Salad — add a can of either chicken or ham to Waldorf Salad (diced apples, celery, walnuts, raisins/dates/dried cranberries and a dab of mayo). If you have them, grapes are a nice add-in — they’re cold and wet.
- Rice Salad with Ham — I’ll admit that I have been boiling water every morning. Have to have my coffee! So a couple of times I’ve engaged in Thermos cooking and made rice for a rice salad for dinner (see recipe here).
We haven’t done much in the way of sandwiches for dinner lately but they’re good too. Chilled applesauce is nice as a side dish, and cold dill pickles always seem to hit the spot.
I tend to keep cheese and summer sausage on hand, too, and maybe once a week we just have an “appetizer dinner” — some nuts, olives, crackers and cheese & sausage and a bit of fruit.
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Danielle Beaty says
Tabbouleh salad! That’s a favorite when it’s hot as blazes outside.
The Boat Galley says
Why didn’t I think of that? Couscous cooks in no time at all — just bring the water to boil. Okay, added to shopping list!
Danielle Beaty says
Crock pot meals? They don’t put off much heat. Not sure what your energy status is but there’s lots that can be set and forgotten. 🙂
Sherlene Eicher says
I do something like that with couscous.
Denise Magnus says
I make a pasta salad with tuna, hard boiled eggs & cheese in it for protein.
Cynthia Lyn-Gray Miller says
Dock and make reservations!
The Boat Galley says
Great idea but doesn’t work for night after night when we’re in the boatyard . . . and the nearest restaurant is 5 miles away, and the second-nearest 15!
Ellen says
Hum…sounds like a good place for a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant or a food truck business!!
Carolyn Shearlock says
They’d make a killing . . . except that in the middle of summer there are usually only 6 to 8 occupied boats. No one else is this crazy!
Joe Sprouse says
Tomato sandwiches.
Sherlene Eicher says
I make a huge pot of beans and keep them in the icebox and we’ve found they are good hot or cold.
GaryH says
Grilling is a godsend to keep the heat outside. Rice cookers are easy to just leave on deck while it cooks too.
Carol Dean says
Cold bean and veggie salads, and on occasion a Jello salad with fruit
Mary Batts says
Salade nicoise is great for a hot weather dinner—green beans, tomato, hard boiled eggs, anchovies and/or tuna, olives, lettuce with vinaigrette served with good bread. For lunch, I’ll put the salad nicoise on leftover bread, wrap it in plastic wrap, chill it and make ‘pain bagnat.’ Ratatouille for me is basically take all cooked leftover veggies, toss with some tomato sauce and vinaigrette and serve ice cold. Also good on a sandwich. Salut!
Jorge Bermudez says
Are you guys keeping an eye on the NHC? Tropical systems are starting to form off the African coast.
The Boat Galley says
Of course! I’ve talked about it before, but we get Chris Parker by email and SSB, other reports via SSB, NHC via email, weather reports via our DeLorme tracker, and there are lots of VHF weather announcements here with scheduled times and channels. Plus, when we have internet (which is about 90% of the time) we have all the weather websites.
Maryanne Grady says
I love your tips on thermos cooking. I even taught it to a guy in the marina. He was pretty impressed!
Lindy Duncan says
Funny that this posted on our coldest day ever on the boat. I’m cooking to help warm the boat up
The Boat Galley says
I know, but there are world-wide readers. 😎
The Boat Galley says
Thanks Becky!
Nicola Kamper says
Bye Bye BoBo…
Mary Duncan says
Hi Lindy Duncan, I’m on this site looking to buy a wonder bag but they are out due to pandemic and won’t be available until the fall. Hope all is going well in Granada. Here in the NC mountains it’s been raining almost every day and around 80 degrees.
Nicola Kamper says
Carolyn, we have the opposite problem…stuck too far north and freezing. I want to not cook and go out just so I can sit in a warm room and not shiver while I eat! Actually tonight we worked it out fine….last winter in NC not so much…
The Boat Galley says
I get it! Back when it was 100, I dreamed of winter . . . now I’m dreaming of those 100-degree days. Can’t win!
Chris Nichols says
I’d take that over where I’m at being in the negatives for the passed week
MaryBeth Lambert says
I habe a recipe for a shrimp salad that we love and is super easy to make with the simple hack of already cooked shrimp. It uses avocado, cucumber, jicama and tomatoes along with the shrimp a simple dressing based on ketchup. Great to make up on hot days.
Linda Stevenson says
We get organic instant coffee from Amazon. In the morning we make it with water right from the tap and ice cold UHT milk from the fridge. No heat in the boat! I also use the coffee to make Kahlua but that requires a little cooking so I do that first thing in the morning when it’s cool with the companionway and dodger wide open and the Galley fan blowing the heat out the companionway.