As the summer months heat up, life moves outdoors and simplicity becomes the spice of life. Megan Roosevelt – Limoneira spokesperson and founder of Healthy Grocery Girl – has cultivated a list of her favorite ways to integrate lemons into easy, healthy summer living. Check out her video as she walks viewers through the tips below!
Notes from Shelly: I’ve been using the lemons that I was sent for all kinds of different things. I’ve used the freshly squeezed lemon juice on my hair, I put fresh juice in a basin of water and soaked my feet, I’ve used them to clean our bbq grill, to make fresh lemonade to drink and I am trying out their suggestion of using them to kills weeds in our yard which is working out extremely well! I’ve even used it to get rid of some ants near our one sidewalk that seemed to be infested by them. Since spraying the area, I haven’t seen them…yay!
Here are 10 Ways to Use Lemons This Summer
Season Veggies on the BBQ
Fresh lemons + sea salt is the perfect healthy combo to season your grilled veggies this summer!
Clean the BBQ with Lemons
Don’t throw away your lemons. Did you know you can use them to clean the BBQ when you’re finished grilling?
Hydrate with Lemon-Water
Whether you’re hiking, at a picnic or just lounging in the backyard, lemon water is a great way to stay hydrated and nourish your body, all at once. Up the ante and treat your taste-buds by adding other fresh ingredients, such as cucumber or mint.
Light Summer Dining with Lemons
When the weather gets hot, you might notice that your appetite changes. An easy way to keep meals light and nutritious is to stick to smoothies and salads. We’re here to help with some deliciously easy recipes for you to try – both featuring our favorite citrus fruit! Honey Lemon Salad Dressing and our Summer Lemon Smoothie.
In addition to Megan’s summer suggestions, The Limoneira Lemons for Life™ Website is chock-a-block with other lemony seasonal tips such as:
Fight Voice-Harming Infections
Lemon’s natural antibiotic properties make the citrus fruit a natural remedy to fight infections that can directly effect your voice, throat, and upper respiratory system. Keeping lemon on-hand, particularly if your summer plans include touring, is a great natural defense to viruses and bacteria.
Boost Energy
Summer is all about being active, so keeping your energy levels up is priority number one. Lemon is a proven natural energy-booster and can also maximize your mental clarity. We recommend starting your day with an invigorating lemon body scrub.
Whiten Your Smile
Your smile is one of your most important features. Forget those expensive treatments, all you need to whiten your teeth is probably sitting in your kitchen right now.
Natural Highlights
Add some lemon juice to your hair to revive the blond in your hair. This is natural and will refresh your hair at the same time.
Repel Pesky Ants
Place 1 cup of lemon juice in a water bottle and spray around the areas you frequently see ants. This will help repel them.
Weeds be Gone
Banish weeds for good using lemon juice. Fill up a spray bottle with 5 cups of lemon juice and two cups of water and douse the offending plants till they’re well-coated. It should take a couple of days for them to shrivel.
Each month, Megan will be featuring another wonderful facet of lemon living. Subscribe to Limoneira’s Youtube channel for more information on the many ways this endlessly versatile fruit can improve life inside the home and beyond.
About Limoneira® – The Limoneira Company was founded in Ventura County, California in 1893. Today, Limoneira has evolved into a global company whose mission is to preserve and promote its tradition, heritage and legacy in agriculture and community development. With 11,000 acres of agricultural production, Limoneira is the largest provider of lemons and avocados in the United States. In addition to agriculture, Limoneira has a long history of community building. Finally, sustainability has been woven into Limoneira’s fabric for over a century with strategic investments in water, solar, soil, and integrated pest management.
* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site. Thank you!
Megan Roosevelt & Healthy Grocery Girl ® – Megan Roosevelt is an internationally published author, cooking show host and producer as well as a nutrition expert for regional and national television and magazines. In addition to being a plant-based Registered Dietitian, Roosevelt through Healthy Grocery Girl® provides her extensive audience with on-line cooking videos and says “I love helping people get healthy in ways that are realistic and fun”.
Roosevelt is the spokesperson for Limoneira’s Lemons for Life™ campaign and says “As one of the largest growers of lemons in the United States, the partnership with Limoneira made a great deal of sense”, she said. “It’s synergistic. We all know that lemons are among the healthiest products people can integrate into their diets”.
Disclosure: Shelly received a complimentary box of fresh lemons to try out this ideas listed in this blog feature. Shelly did not receive any monetary compensation. Please read our Terms of Service & Disclosure Policy for additional information.
I use lemon juice, usually fresh, in my tea all the time and also with many dishes and desserts. I did not know that they could repel ants or kill weeds. I shall have to try this out with a spray bottle soon.
I love having lemon or lime with cold iced water in the summer. It is such a refreshing drink and I love that I don’t get all those calories from other drinks. I also use it as an air freshener as some other folks mentioned. Saw some amazing lemon trees on a recent trip to California. Wish I could have those in my yard.
I so love this post because I am a Huge lemon fan. I love lemon water and I love to cook and season with lemons. I had no idea about them fight off ants that is good to know. I love the way they smell and I love to have them in the house every single day.
I most often use lemon in tea or in recipes, like lemon chicken or on fish. I love some sweet lemonade, too.
Every time we make fish (freshwater fish) I season it with fresh lemon juice. I’m not a huge fan of fish and I think it cuts down on that overly fishy taste greatly. With that said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE seafood!
I’d love to try hydrating with lemon water, it will be a nice change from plain water. And also try it on the ants!
I like using it as a infection preventer.I also learned about the ants that was great
The most interesting use of lemons for me is that you can use it to discourage ants. I’ll have to try that when they come back.
I always choose the lemon or citrus flavors of freebie beverages I score. I love the flavor and figure if I spill it, it won’t make as much of a mess as a red berry flavor! My mom used to give us 7-up to settle our stomachs as kids, so think I developed a taste for it early. It still does the trick for me but I try to avoid the sugar subs now.
Those look like the Meyers lemons. I was lucky enough to receive a box a ew years ago and they are the very best! Lemon is also a natural whitener- I know I have used it for stains on older quilts. There are so many uses for lemons. We dont much have them available here either.
(10 Ways to Use Lemons This Summer) I use lemons all summer long in a lot of different things. I like them so much that I even grew my own lemon tree in a huge pot two years ago.
I should try growing a potted lemon tree here too. I LOVE lemons! During the summer, I can find them for about $1.00 per lemon but during the off-season…OMG, some of the stores around here will charge $1.75 and up per lemon!
You should Shelly, there is a couple that live here in town from me that have three lemon trees. They move them outside during the summer months so their lemon trees are huge now. I think that is what I need to do with ours too. I am going to go and talk with them about it. The thing is, getting back in the house once it starts getting too big! P.S. I give mine rainwater when it needs a good watering too-
Excellent ideas! I don’t think they sell lemon trees around here, not that I’ve seen but I can order them online and I do have some HUGE planters with wheels on the bottom so I can get them in & out of the house as the seasons changes.
I started mine with the seeds from a lemon Shelly, it started growing in no time. 🙂