Going Green: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!

With the mercury set to top last year’s record-breaking temperatures, it’s time to start thinking about more ways we can stay cool, reduce our energy use and decrease our carbon footprint.

Globally, as much as 25 per cent of carbon emissions come from household cooking, heating, and lighting.

So, while no one wants to slave over a hot stove in this weather, switching off your oven and hob will also help you save money and reduce your carbon footprint too.

Falling out of favour compared to the glamour of a barbecue, picnics are great and a few simple ingredients packed and eaten outdoors with friends or family can be the stuff memories are made of.

Lots of us think about salads in warm weather; pad out a Greek salad with a tin of lentils for a meal in itself.

Cobb salads where ingredients are laid out in neat rows, are delicious and all the ingredients can be assembled in a few minutes and shop bought without even turning your hob on.

Bean salads are packed with vitamins and minerals and you can use whatever pulses and beans you like, add some crumbled goats cheese and crusty bread for a perfectly easy al fresco meal.If you’re intent on cooking, make the time your oven or hob is on work for you so you don’t need to use it as much.

If you’re cooking pasta, cook double the amount and use half of the cooled pasta in a salad, tossed with tomatoes, olives, cucumber and a tin of sardines or mackerel.

If you’re roasting a chicken for Sunday, roast a second at the same time while the oven is on and shred it into a Caesar salad the following day.

If you’re cooking any new or baby potatoes which are incredibly tasty at the moment, double the amount and use half when they’re cooled to make a potato salad.

Same with boiling eggs, they’ll keep in the fridge for a while and the rest of a niçoise salad can be assembled from tins.

Tofu can be eaten without being cooked or heated too and in Japan it’s often served with soy sauce and lots of crunchy vegetables as a salad.

Try pickling some veggies yourself too in white wine vinegar and sugar.

With the mercury hitting 40 degrees last summer, the last thing any of us need is to be in a hot kitchen with hobs and the oven on, get creative and dinners can be simple, easy, and eaten outside too.

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