Healthy summer platters

I hadn't thought too much about how to avoid cooking altogether until I didn't have the use of a cooker for a few months a year ago. I shouldn't even really have been using our kitchen because the ceiling had fallen through but I couldn't eat out much whilst waiting for repairs.

My lovely mum was cooking all the time when I grew up and most of the time for me since I fell ill. I have noticed a growing middle-ground between microwave meals and home-cooked meals in shops which I think is amazing for disabled and chronically ill people. Maybe you could call this half-prepared? home-assembled? Think shawarma wraps, frozen gyoza and burrito bowls.

I just thought you cook in the evenings all year round, but maybe this habit isn't essential all the time until autumn and that is a happy revelation for me!

Many of the components of a mezzo-style dinner can be made with fewer ingredients and in an ad-hoc way: guacamole can be made with a potato masher and is still tasty without sour cream, (chunky) hummus can be made in a bullet blender without tahini, and couscous can be prepared in cold water.

There are options to mix things up - cooking in a kitchen is a luxury but hopefully isn't obligatory.