This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EffortlessMeals #CollectiveBias

The average temperature here for the past week has been in the mid-90s or higher, with absolutely no end in sight. We experienced 24 hours of a broken air conditioner in the midst of it, which was every bit as horrible as it sounds.

Y’all. It is HOT over here in east Tennessee! And I know a big chunk of the country is in the grip of the same summer heat wave. For me, this is affecting my meal choices. I don’t want to turn on the oven right now and further contribute to the insanity in any way!

But I also still need to be able to have a few effortless meals each week so that I don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen on a busy work day. Can you identify with this? Then let me show you a little hack I learned so that my family can have one of it’s favorite meals WITHOUT touching the oven knobs: pizza on the grill! 

We love picking up Marketside take and bake pizzas in the deli section of Walmart. They have a huge variety of options, all at affordable price points, and in my personal opinion, I think they taste better than frozen pizza options. Plus, they are GREAT on the grill!

Don’t forget to grab a Coca-Cola product while you are getting your pizza, as you might want to do what we did and make a Coke float to go with your pizza. More on that, later!

How to Grill a Pizza

1. Place paper on the bottom of a chimney starter and add charcoal on top. Place the chimney start on the coal grate. Add a few squirts of lighter fluid, and light a match to get it started.

2. Give the lit charcoal 10-15 minutes to get going, or until it looks a bit ashy on the top. Then spread the coals on the bottom of the grill, keeping roughly half on one side, and half on the other side (no coals right in the middle directly under the pizza).

3. Preheat the grill to 450 degrees (we used a grill thermometer to determine readiness).

4. Once the grill is preheated, place the pizza on some sort of a heat shield, like a baking stone of some sort.

5. Close the grill and cook for roughly 20 minutes, turning 1/4 of a turn every 5 minutes.

6. (Optional, but totally smart): since you have the grill going, make your life easier by grilling up some food for tomorrow, such as chicken or hot dogs!

During the downtime while the pizza was cooking, I put together a simple salad (make use of the bagged stuff!).

And I also prepared our special treats: Coke floats!

Here’s a pro tip for you (why yes, I DO consider myself to be a Coke float pro!): make your floats ahead of time and pop them in the freezer. Pull them out just before serving and add your whip cream and the cherry on top. Your mugs will be frosty and the float will taste extra cold and good! I made ours while the coals were first heating up, so they had about 45 minutes to get more chilled.

We had a delicious meal that didn’t raise the temps in our house even one degree! And because the meal was simple and didn’t require a lot of active time for the chef, we could spend that time watching a movie together (we watched the new Annie, and I LOVED it!!!). This is also a great meal to make on those afternoons when your kids want to be outside playing in the kiddie pool or under the sprinklers!

Thanks to this pairing for helping a busy family create an effortless meal and a great evening of fun together!

Be sure to check out more delicious effortless meal inspiration online. There are SO many great ideas! (subject to change). What ideas do you have for pairing Marketside products with Coca-Cola?