As you know, I am not a food blogger. So when I wanted to put together some great summer recipes for you, I gave a shout out to a bunch of friends for easy, cheap summer recipes and meal ideas.
Many of these utilize appliances like outside grills, crock pots, and Instant Pots. These are great appliances to use in the summer because they will not heat p your kitchen.
I was boiling pasta for a macaroni salad last week and it raised the temperature in the house an extra 4 degrees on an already hot day.
This means the air conditioner (not yet in) would have had to work additionally harder to keep it comfortable.
This is costing you money! Running your oven or stove in the summer heats up your house and will cost you extra money to cool it. Why not utilize some of the appliances you may already have!
The Instant Pot For Summer Cooking
Because the instant pot cooks things in record time, it will not give off the amount of heat that an oven would. Imagine pot roast in the oven for hours? That would be torture! In an Instant Pot, you could have the same in under 30 minutes!
And, buying less expensive cuts of meat will bring down the grocery costs, too. Check out the cheap summer meal ideas for the Instant pot below!
Slow Cooker When It’s Hot Out
Slow cookers are also a great alternative to turning on the oven or stove. And you can have a full meal.
I also will plug my slow cooker in outside on the back deck to cook for the day saving the house from that little bit of heat that does radiate from my cooker.
Imagine a delicious meat sauce cooking all day in your crock pot outside for the top of the hot dogs that you are going to grill later! That’s a pretty cheap summer meal idea! Check out more below!
Roasting Cooker To Keep Your House Cool
We have a large Nesco cooker that my gram got me years ago for Christmas. I also plug this in outside.
I have cooked a turkey in July and my electric roaster even works great for baking! Cakes, banana bread, and brownies have been baked outside in this cooker.
You can use this cooker for anything that you might cook in your oven. This is the BEST way I know to keep your house cooler in the summer.
Grilling Is Made For Summer
Who doesn’t love to grill?!? We just built phase one of our outside kitchen. And we are buying these countertop propane components for that.
We have a large grill but as a family of four, we rarely need to use such a big grill. So these smaller grills will work just perfectly for our family.
With these three components – the grill, the griddle, and the stove burners, we can cook our whole meal outside and not heat up the house.
There are plenty of recipes for all of these small appliances listed below. Check them out and please let me know your favorites!
Beef Recipes Perfect For Summer
Grilled Pineapple Meatball Skewers
Grilled Pimento Cheese Hot Dogs
Mexican Beef Taco Lettuce Wraps
Cheap Chicken And Recipes For Hot Weather
Cilantro Lime Chicken With Corn And Black Beans
Crock Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken Dump
Siracha Chicken Noodle Lettuce Wraps
Instant Pot Whole Chicken Recipe
Carolina Style Instant Pot Shredded BBQ Chicken
Three Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
Chicken Provencal And Vegetables
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Mexican Style
Chicken Shawarma With Vegetables
Instant Pot Italian Chicken Olive Garden
Chicken Spinach And Tomato One Pot Dish
Pasta Dishes That Are Easy And Frugal
Instant Pot Vegetarian Fajita Pasta
One Pan Creamy Tortellini And Sausage
Applebee’s Three Cheese Chicken Penne
Pork Recipes Great for Summer Meals
Grilled Pork Chops With Peach Rum Sauce
Slow Cooker Orange Ginger Pork
Sheet Pan Sausage And Vegetables
Shrimp and Kielbasa In Alfredo Sauce
Thrifty Summer Salads For Hot Days
Sweet Broccoli Apple Pasta Salad
Fresh Basil And Parsley Spaghetti Salad
End Of Summer Greek Chickpea Salad
Special Summer Miscellaneous Recipes
Lemon Pepper Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner
Avocado And Chipotle Mushroom Tostadas
Instant Pot Turkey Sloppy Joe’s
I hope you find something that you love here! And let me know if you have ever done anything as crazy as using your crock pot outside just so your kitchen doesn’t heat up!
Sara is a wife, mother, and creator of Frozen Pennies. With a degree in English, a former teacher, and a Certified Financial Coach through Ramsey Solutions, there is no better place to learn about debt freedom, budgeting, and overall frugal living.
What a great list of delicious and cheap summer meals, will definitely try some of them! And thank you for including my Instant Pot Chicken and Meatball Salad!
This is such a great list of summer meal ideas! Can’t wait to check out the links and find some new faves 🙂
Thanks so much Myra! Nice to have you here! Come back any time 🙂