Summer Survival Strategies

[rancher]

I contemplated making a cooking thread or this instead but as the US and Europe are hitting all time high temps and droughts (even higher than the great dustbowl) I settled for this one as a choice of topic.

It will remain relevant throughout the year and should become popular within 3-4 months with our friends in South America, Australia, and Africa (shout out to my african homeys) , and always stay popular with my brothers and sisters who live exactly on the equator as I do, here in Beautiful Indonesia.

Number 1 summer survival strategy: blackout curtains in the daytime and fans in the doors at night. This is a low-electric solution to keeping the house cool during the daytime and making it cooler after sunset. Provided you do not live in a literal ghetto, you can even stack box fans in your front door and prop it open, this shouldn't be a biggy at all..


Number 2 summer survival strategy: don't cook food in the daytime. And an even better solution to this: use a slow cooker / "crock pot" on low (estimated watts: barely 70). Throw some meat, beans, and vegetables before you go to bed. Potatoes, rice. Eat your breakfast out of the slow cooker, refill with water and spices and other ingredients every time you eat. You can keep this going literally forever and get tasty cheap healthy filling meals without any effort or making the whole damn house hot.

The Indonesian housewives were telling my Indonesian housewife: "We don't even cook anymore because it's too hot, we have lately been getting all our cooked meals delivered, or eating instant crap, and no longer cook inside the house." This is not good for finances or healthy. But the classic indo technique of deep frying food to quickly cook food with less heat than an oven would, remains a potential technique when slow cooking is less suitable. Make sure to use palm oil if you deep fry food.

As a sidebar, using a kettle grill outside the house to cook food remains a very useful strategy. Lots of flavor in delicious food cooks with little effort while the house remains cool.

Number 3 summer survival strategy: I hate to say it, but showering multiple times a day. Shower in the morning, shower at peak heat (usually between 2 and 4 pm), and maybe even again at sunset . We like to shower twice a day in the tropics, once before we go out for work/school and again after. This is a fairly cheap way to stay feeling fresh without much work.

Number 4 summer survival strategy: sleeping after dawn, waking up whenever. This is a rare privilege only afforded to students on summer break, NEETs, and real ones working graveyard/swing shift.

Number 5 summer survival strategy: living in a basement. This solution works better the further you live from the equator; people who live closer to the equator cannot live like hobbits do. But doesn't it really make sense? Basements are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The only time I hated living in a basement was when I had a schizophrenic crackhead roommate who wanted to drag furniture around in the living room at 5am every day but when I used my Masonic powers to scare the fear of G-d into her, that bad behavior went away.

[Maypews]

If I may take a small detour to bitch a little, I am still a bit shocked by just how bad this summer has been. It's far and away the worst I've ever lived through, and it's really not even close. 110 degree heat indexes are basically a common occurance at this point. No rain to speak of either, zero reprieve.

Anyway, you got most of it in your OP I think but to add I like just having a little 10-20$ table fan and moving it around with me wherever I go. Putting your head or face close to it has a sort of psychological effect where it tricks me into thinking it's cooler than it really is. Might look autistic but IDGAF!

[RadioHades]

My solution: clench your butt, rant a lot and embrace the pain. I even fired the oven multiple times just to bake a cake or fish.

I concur concerning this summer's high score, I can count on the fingers of one hand the good nights of sleep I had since July started.

[NonoEnjoyer]

I contemplated making a cooking thread or this instead but as the US and Europe are hitting all time high temps and droughts (even higher than the great dustbowl) I settled for this one as a choice of topic.

It will remain relevant throughout the year and should become popular within 3-4 months with our friends in South America, Australia, and Africa (shout out to my african homeys) , and always stay popular with my brothers and sisters who live exactly on the equator as I do, here in Beautiful Indonesia.

Number 1 summer survival strategy: blackout curtains in the daytime and fans in the doors at night. This is a low-electric solution to keeping the house cool during the daytime and making it cooler after sunset. Provided you do not live in a literal ghetto, you can even stack box fans in your front door and prop it open, this shouldn't be a biggy at all..


Number 2 summer survival strategy: don't cook food in the daytime. And an even better solution to this: use a slow cooker / "crock pot" on low (estimated watts: barely 70). Throw some meat, beans, and vegetables before you go to bed. Potatoes, rice. Eat your breakfast out of the slow cooker, refill with water and spices and other ingredients every time you eat. You can keep this going literally forever and get tasty cheap healthy filling meals without any effort or making the whole damn house hot.

The Indonesian housewives were telling my Indonesian housewife: "We don't even cook anymore because it's too hot, we have lately been getting all our cooked meals delivered, or eating instant crap, and no longer cook inside the house." This is not good for finances or healthy. But the classic indo technique of deep frying food to quickly cook food with less heat than an oven would, remains a potential technique when slow cooking is less suitable. Make sure to use palm oil if you deep fry food.

As a sidebar, using a kettle grill outside the house to cook food remains a very useful strategy. Lots of flavor in delicious food cooks with little effort while the house remains cool.

Number 3 summer survival strategy: I hate to say it, but showering multiple times a day. Shower in the morning, shower at peak heat (usually between 2 and 4 pm), and maybe even again at sunset . We like to shower twice a day in the tropics, once before we go out for work/school and again after. This is a fairly cheap way to stay feeling fresh without much work.

Number 4 summer survival strategy: sleeping after dawn, waking up whenever. This is a rare privilege only afforded to students on summer break, NEETs, and real ones working graveyard/swing shift.

Number 5 summer survival strategy: living in a basement. This solution works better the further you live from the equator; people who live closer to the equator cannot live like hobbits do. But doesn't it really make sense? Basements are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The only time I hated living in a basement was when I had a schizophrenic crackhead roommate who wanted to drag furniture around in the living room at 5am every day but when I used my Masonic powers to scare the fear of G-d into her, that bad behavior went away.

Just here to say I appreciate the Dahomey joke. Re: southern US heat. It’s not much better in my neck of the woods but we are getting rain at least. At a certain point the humidity is so bad that it’s impossible to function outdoors.

[rancher]

Last night I fed my slow cooker 2 hamburger patties, 5 slices of bacon (sliced after cooking), and about 10 pepperoni slices I fried, along with a handful of soybeans and kidney beans. My current batch of "forever soup" is about 6 days old and is going strong.

My key secret ingredient: fermented pepper sauce from homegrown peppers; similar salt level to soy sauce and similar acid level to vinegar, but also spicy, just a bit helps pull out magical flavors and make the stew combine nicely. Salt + fat + acid + heat = easy flavors.