Heatwave-Friendly Food from Picard

Picard has your back for no-heat cooking. Picard is a French national treasure. An unassuming store full of freezers, with a rotation of seasonal and themed frozen foods that helps power families in France. Indeed, nothing pairs with a French canicule better than a trip to Picard and getting very close to the open ice cream freezer.

Now that I have lived in France long enough to become acquainted with both the heatwaves and Picard, one of my learned tricks to surviving summer is no-heat cooking. And there are a lot of Picard items that parents can stock up on for heatwave-friendly meals.

Here is a quick roundup of Picard items that can either be thawed in the fridge or heated up in the microwave so as to not turn on the stove or oven in the summer.

Disclaimer: since some of these are themed and/or seasonal, not all items may be in stores at the time you are reading this. But the ideas are still there for easy no-heat meals!

First up, Picard makes a gaspacho/gazpacho that can be thawed in the fridge. You can find big displays of gaspacho in other French grocery stores as well in the refrigerated produce section.

Picard also has a delicious lentil curry soup that can be microwaved (you can look up the difference between soupe and velouté while diving into this hearty goodness).

Speaking of lentils, Picard has frozen pre-cooked lentils. Genius. Bonjour cold lentil salad on a hot day! Other French grocery stores also have pre-cooked lentils in shelf stable bags and in the refrigerated produce section.

Something that Picard does better than other French grocery stores is its frozen peas. The organic ones always cook up so well, but my toddler prefers to eat them frozen. They can be microwaved with some water and added to that lentil salad you're making.

If you want a salad already made for you that only needs to be chucked in the fridge (12 hours in advance), look no further than the Greek salad at Picard! You can also easily make this yourself without heat if you have a bag of pre-cooked rice, and Picard also sells frozen rice.

Need lunch tomorrow? If a salmon salad bowl sounds good, put this in the fridge and it will be ready to eat the next day.

Picard did all the chopping and prep work for their veggie bowl. Pop it into the microwave and serve with beans and rice. Another great lunch option is the Picard Buddha Bowl, easily microwaved and full of veggie protein.

Picard assorted salmon sushi

In stock at the moment at Picard is a lot of sushi, buy ahead to thaw in time for dinner.

Picard smoothie packs

This is more of an idea for a category, because smoothies can be made at home but if you are a busy family in a pinch, grab some of the Picard frozen fruits or these smoothie packs for a quick blended breakfast or goûter.

Picard poissons glacés and tubes glacés

It isn't a trip to Picard without dessert! I held back on this category because a walk through the frozen dessert section (way more than just ice cream) is worthy of its own post. However I had to highlight the fish shaped chocolate ice cream bars which delight kids, and the tubes glacés which are a favorite as well. If anything makes a canicule bearable, it is eating ice cream. Bon appétit!

What are your go-to no-heat meals in the summer, Picard or otherwise?

This post was not sponsored by Picard but we can dream! Picard, call us!

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of Message.