Beat the Heat: 3 Simple Ideas

Every winter it's the same story; "Oh the snow is so pretty, and the frost on the trees looks so dreamy, but does it have to be so cold?! Summer needs to hurry up and get here." Sound familiar? As a person born and raised in Alberta Canada it is an extremely frequent set of phrases for me to hear. Then summer comes and then what? "It's so hot! I am desperate to cool down!"

Currently, many areas here are under heat warnings for at least the next week or perhaps more. So many of us are trying to plan ahead for keeping our homes and our families cool. If you're here reading this, it's likely that you are in the same boat! So here we go. These are a few simple ways that my family is trying to beat the heat.

Heatless meals

Plain and simple, reduce the use of heat for cooking. This can be done many ways as I'm sure you know. Personally I've been on a huge salad kick this summer which is super helpful, but seriously... how often does that happen? Salads get kinda boring after a while, especially if they aren't something you already enjoy. So, how do we keep things interesting with our meals while limiting heat?

Cook in bulk whenever possible. Foods that need heat, like meat, eggs, pasta, etc... can create a lot of extra warmth and humidity in your home. So, what I like to do is cook a few meals/snacks worth at a time. For example, in the evening after supper (or even during) I'll put on a pot of water and hard boil half a dozen or more eggs to use over the next couple days. These will get used in my salads, in my son's lunches, and as snacks for my husband when he is home from work. If you wanted you could do the same with pastas and have cold pasta salads where the noodles are already done and ready to throw in the mix.

Keeping cool snacks around is super helpful too, especially if you have little ones. I'm not sure what it is but the heat often lowers our appetites and really really does for kids. Sometimes even getting them to drink something other than juice or milk is a task in itself! Some things I've been keeping on hand for my little guy, and in all honesty also for myself, is yogurt popsicles. Aedan gets super excited because it's a "popsicle" but I at least get the comfort of knowing he is getting more than just a sugar rush out of it. It will give him extra calories, and often encourages him to eat and drink other things because he is now cooled down and not feeling so gross from the warm weather. Plus, if you don't want to buy the premade pops then there are things you can make at home. For example in the picture, there is my homemade Strawberry Yogurt "Bark". All that you need is a freezer, parchment paper, vanilla Greek yogurt, and strawberries. Put the parchment paper on a flat tray (or I even just used a Tupperware lid), scoop out your yogurt onto the paper spreading it out evenly, chop up your strawberries and sprinkle them into the yogurt, pop it in the freezer for 15+ minutes and it should be ready to go! The great thing about making your own is you can switch up the yogurt flavours, use different fruits, or even add some chocolate chips!

Sub-zero Temperatures

Okay, so obviously sub-zero temperatures will not be realistic goals in the summer unless you work in a walk in freezer. However, we can try to get our homes extra cool during the night and try to hold in that cool air as long as possible during the day. My family is fortunate enough to have been able to get a portable air conditioner, but not everyone has that option. So here's what I did before we got AC and pretty much all of these I still put into practice for keeping the house cool.

The open and shut rule. Open the windows at night (if safe to do so) to let heat flow out and cool come in. Shut everything in the morning right away, preferably before 8am if you have south or east facing windows. This includes the blinds! If the blinds aren't shut, the sun coming in basically starts acting like a greenhouse and warming up the room pretty quickly. If you can, get light coloured blackout curtains for the windows that get the most sun exposure and that you notice seem to affect the heat of the house most.

If you can, keep your doors and windows shut throughout the day. Obviously, if you do need to get outside, lets face it the dog isn't going to walk himself, try to get out and back in quickly. Meaning, don't hold the door open for too long, or open and close the door more than necessary. If you do, you'll likely notice that the house lost some of its nice cool air and that is very much the opposite of what we want. So try to gather up all you need ahead of time as much as possible to keep that house cool!

Just Add Water

You're probably thinking, "that's pretty obvious". It's true, we need water and it is a great way to cool off. Staying hydrated is extremely important, especially when we are sweating from the heat and constantly sneaking in those iced coffees. If only coffee was actually hydrating! In fact it is said that a person has to keep a 1:2 ratio (coffee:water) in order to keep up on hydration. So yes, treat yourself, get the iced coffee, but order yourself a big cup of water too! I usually even order a water for my dog when he is with us so he doesn't get too thirsty.

Enough about just drinking water though, lets talk play. There are so many ways to incorporate water into play wherever you live and whatever your budget. You don't need a big back yard with special sprinklers, slip and slides, or fancy pools. Although, if that's in your budget, go for it! What I'm thinking of is those who don't have big yards, or big budgets. Maybe you live in an apartment and just "don't have the room for *insert special water play center here*" or maybe they are just too expensive, which I totally get. I've been wanting a water table for my boy but there just never seems to be room in the budget. Let me guess though, you still have your baby's tub right? Put some water in there, maybe some bubble bath, throw down some towels on the kitchen floor, and let your little (and yourself) have some fun cooling off and some one on one time!

I hope you found these ideas helpful and can use them to keep cool this summer!

Thank you for reading.