Hi there, I would try some tortilla wrap's. I also use a slowcooker which cooks all day and not heats the house.

Sushi is a great meal to have . Just have to boil some rice , but the rest can be cold- tuna, salmon, chicken, ham, cucumber, avocado, ginger, lettuce, whatever. Use whatever sauces the kids like and let them make their own. Lettuce wraps with corn, ham, peas, beetroot- whatever you desire- all rolled up and see who comes out the cleanest??  Buy a ready cooked chicken and use in wraps / chicken ceasar salad. Hope this has been of some help. Thinking of you all and praying that everyone will receive some releif soon from the heat. 

Hi, know the hot weather well I live in Qld and do not handle the heat at all well, I love salad but my husband hates it and complains he is not a rabbit, so when I do cook  I  cook like I am cooking for an army and make spare dinners, put them in the freezer and then when needed in the microwave, outside bbqs are great but then everyone whinges that it is too hot outside etc, most food will freeze and keep so next year when the weather is cool cook up a storm and freeze it, good luck

Sorry to hear that it is hot in Adelaide I hate the heat myself but it's funny you know as it is mean't to be hotter in Perth and Adelaide is mean't to be an cool place anyways what I do is I get an three kilo ham to put in the fridge and on really hot days I chop up some ham and make an salad and whalla I have made an meal.  The other thing that I do do is to toast some bread and make an salsa with chopped tomatoes and capsicum with parsley to make it look pretty with an little bit of vinegar and whalla made another meal!  I hope this gives u some ideas and if you get any more ideas please pass them this way!

Thanks for the great ideas everyone.

hi there! this is flufe and i just joined minti for a little while, i am still not familiar with the side yet but i came across to you and i can understand where you come from. i live at new castle area in nsw but so far the weather isnt that bad compare to yours. what i usually do when its really hot and i dont want to cook but i have to feed the family one way or the other i just go to the shops and i bought  mix seafood that i can whip up a quick seafood salad with lettuce avocado etc that way you can have that with some fresh bread rolls and you dont have to turn the oven at all. if i can think of some more i will be glad to let you know.

im in melbourne so its hot over 40 expecting 43 yesterday we had 44.3

today for dinner i made pasta spirals boiled some eggs and cooked chicken pieces in electric fryer then i added some corn from can and mushroom pieces from can tosed it all together added a touch of olive oil a bit of oregano and refrigerated 

cold meal but with some substantial mea. white meat in this case you can vary it for different tastes . for example one son eats mushroom the other doesnt. so i didnt add the mushroom. i kept it seperate so each person adds to their plate.

you can add cold cooked lamb instead or boiled rice instead od pasta just change it all around

cooking in fry pan was at the most 10 minutes and pasta was 10 minutes beauty is i only had to stir here and there so hardly any time at the stove.

im also going to put garlic bread in oven but again i dont have to be in the kitchen

hope this helps

annie

xxxooo

A really nice meal to cook and to eat in summer is a quiche, tuna or ham and corn or anything you like! it only involves using the oven for an hour or so (u can cook it at any time of the day) chill it and serve it cold. Very refreshing with a garden salad.

Also another idea is to find a bbq at a park or swimming hole and take the kids there late arvo, hav a nice swim and throw some snags on the barbie.

Hi there

You poor things , its quite HOT here in NSW but not as hot as where you are, maybe some pasta salads or cold lasagne may  be a change and fill up your bellys anyways try to stay out of the heat and we are all thinking of everyone down that way :)

Friskettes

I really don't have suggestions for cooking but wanted to whinge about the weather.

Am in Mount barker in South Australia so am in the middle of the heat wave too. I've got split system air cons on order but have a two week wait.

I took my boys to our local tavern last night for tea because it was air conditioned and I'm working full-time at the moment so can afford it. Always a bit of a risk with a restless four year old. 10 year old is okay. They were both beautifully behaved even though the tavern was a bit overwhelmed with an influx of people not wanting to cook at home and the meal took quite a while. I'm not sure if we can name specific businesses on here?

Tomorrow I plan to go the library then movies. Sunday at a local shopping centre, also with movies. Monday - wed I can go to work which has air con and boys do school and child care with air con. Will it be over by then.

Fascinating to hear from those inplaces like Canada where it is freezing.

I am no help but wanted to  let you know you are not alone and I will be following this thread with interest. 44 degrees here at the moment (and 36 degrees in my work office.. YIKES).

We are actually doing all our cooking outside on our BBQ at the moment but even that is too hot. You basically don't feel like eating and you forget the kids might!! :)

good luck and I am thinking of you.

Adi in Central Vic

Holy, that is hot!. Here in canada, it's winter time and it gets down to -40 with the wind chill, and it is very cold. When summer arrives, It can get to 30-40 degrees, and its very dry, but i eat alot of spicy food, becouse it gets the body temp normal or somthing. it works for me and my little guy!!. That is very hot weather though, it could be dangerous!

What I used to love my mother making is sliced meat, and sliced tomatoes, cheese, beetroot, carrots, and other salad stuff, and she'd just make us up a plate each of it.. Loved it.. Yummy... Just slices of all kinds of salad stuff, fruit, and sandwich meat.. Yummy..

I live in cairns, cooking up here most of the time is a bit of a cruel joke. I love my roast dinners but when moving here stopped cooking them.... We ended up buying a bbq with a rotisary as an extra

It is all cooked outside with pretty much no effort other than the prep, and my goodness it is really beautiful.... We do all our cooking outside now for most dinners vege's and all

If it is cool enough at night, why not do some cooking then, like boiling rice or cooking pasta.  Both can be eaten cold, and basic sauces will be fine with them.  If you are upto it, spag. bol. sauce cooked up at night and put in the fridge can be handy too.  Just serve it cold.  We have it with bread rolls or just bread, and is yummy.

Tinned baked beans/ spaghetti with cold cuts of meat are another meal that our girls love.

Then of course, you could have veggie sticks and dips with crackers etc.  Lots of mess (if yours are like mine that is! lol.) but fun at the same time.

And then, you could have a lazy night, and just give them cereal, which is a balanced meal too.  Hey, if it is good for breakfast, then it is still going to be good for dinner.

If you have a bbq, you could use that outside too, or even a camping stove.  Then you could eat outside too, if you wish.

If you like tuna have some salad with that.  Baked beans on toast is always good, quick and easy.  If you feel like venturing out there is always subway.

 Any sort of salad will do the job or perhaps Google some cold soup recipes and interesting sandwiches.

mmmm, I'm hungry now 

 My mum use to have a 'sandwich' night.  She would make a platter of really nice sandwiches with a variety of filling and we could pick what we wanted.

Maybe get together with some friends for a outdoor, evening BBQ.

Cold meats and salads.

But my suggestion would be to go to Sizzler's or other cheap reasturant with air-conditioning (they do takaway too).

wraps are a really good idea with tuna or ham etc with salad,but my kids like to make there own,so just put the lettuce cheese tomato beetroot grated carrot etc in separate bowl so they can all choose what they want!