Clean-As-You-Go in the Kitchen?

[ElsieLC]

For those of you who keep the kitchen clean while you're cooking, what is your strategy? I have streamlined so much in the kitchen but it feels like I never leave. (Cook, eat, look in dismay at the number of dirty dishes everywhere, wash up, do something else, put dishes away, repeat.)

For instance, DH and I serve ourselves out of the pots and pans. But now I'm thinking that if I were to dump out the pots and pans into serving dishes, the pots could be soaking/rinsing while we eat dinner (even though the food would cool faster).

I would happily solve this problem by eating takeout for dinner every night; alas, the budget won't allow that. But a girl can dream, can't she?

[zoebird]

i do clean as i go.

i'll just start with an example--such as tonight--so you can see how it goes.

spicy beans and rice, romanian sausage (for DH and DS), and salad.

1. we soaked beans today, so those were in a jar nice and soaked. i drained the water and rinsed them in the jar.

2. put on the rice in the water.

3. chopped vegetables--onion for salad and rice; peppers for salad and rice; cucumber for salad; lettuce.

4. salad things went straight from chopping board to bowl; onions, peppers, and beans went into the rice half-way through.

5. washed chopping board, knives, and bean jar.

6. started sausage in the pan; continued to stir rice/beans as necessary;

7. sausage done, removed from the pan to rest, washed the sausage pan;

8. beans and rice nearly finished, added spice mix.

9. rice and beans finished, divide into one container for left overs, put the for the evening meal on the serving plate, wash the rice pot.

10. set salad, dish with rice/beans, and dish with sausages out, and eat dinner.

11. after dinner, wash bowl, serving plates, forks and dinner plates (6 items total), wipe down counter tops and stove top. Put away any dry dishes from washing while cooking.

12. place left overs (now cooled) into the fridge.

here's an example of how i do breakfast:

bacon and eggs with steamed vegetables

1. put bacon in a pan to begin cooking;

2. put eggs in a mixing bowl with milk and whisk until smooth;

3. chop up veggies and put them directly into the pot to steam, then wash cutting board and knife;

4. flip bacon and put them on the "hotter" side of the pan, add eggs to the pan (for the record, i typically have yogurt and steamed vegetables and toast with peanut butter and honey for breakfast). scramble eggs and flip bacon as needed.

5. strain and turn out steamed vegetables into a bowl, wash veggie pot;

6. remove bacon from pan to rest, then when eggs are finished, place eggs on plate to rest. wash pan.

7. set out eggs, what not, make my own breakfast, wiping down cutting board, knives, etc as i go.

8, finish with breakfast and wash 3 dishes (egg/bacon plate, veggie bowl, and yogurt bowl) plus silver ware. wipe down countertops and stove top.

For me, the whole thing is just totally habit. as soon as i am finished using something, i wash it right away. i have enough time to wash the pot before i ahve to finish the rice or the bacon. so, i do it then.

thus, most dinners from start to service take about 40-5 minutes (at most; usually 20-30), and then after dinner, final clean up takes about 10-15 minutes. so the total kitchen time is 1 hr for cooking and clean up.

breakfast usually takes more because DH sometimes has a late snack and doesn't do his dishes, so i start with dishes, then cook and clean as i go, and then do dishes after--so there's an added 15 minutes, but it's usually no more than na hour then, either, because breakfast takes no time at all to make.

and, sometimes i make polenta, or oatmeal or muesli--all one pot meals. even more simple.

so, that's how i do it.

[yeahwhat]

I wash as I go, but not to the point of using serving dishes and creating extra washing up (unless we're having guests). But cutting boards, vegetable peelers, knives, measuring cups, stirring spoons, etc. are all washed as I go so there's only the pots on the stove and the dishes on the table when the meal's over.

[mamadelbosque]

I clean as I go where I can, and definetly serve out of pots & pans (the exception being pasta which has to be drained - we serve out of the collandar. I rinse things as they cease to be used and wipe counters when I have a spare minute or two while I'm cooking. My mother drives me crazy when she comes and cooks cause' she just makes such a HUGE mess and doesn't do anything to try and clean till after dinner - and then it just LOOKS like a huge mess, even if its not really that many more dishes than I typically make - she simply hasn't done anything to make it look better, yk?

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

I clean as I go where I can, and definetly serve out of pots & pans (the exception being pasta which has to be drained - we serve out of the collandar. I rinse things as they cease to be used and wipe counters when I have a spare minute or two while I'm cooking. My mother drives me crazy when she comes and cooks cause' she just makes such a HUGE mess and doesn't do anything to try and clean till after dinner - and then it just LOOKS like a huge mess, even if its not really that many more dishes than I typically make - she simply hasn't done anything to make it look better, yk?

That's what I do. Whenever I'm done using something, it goes in the dishwasher or in the sink full of soapy water. I still have the plates and such to deal with after dinner but it doesn't take much time.

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

My mother drives me crazy when she comes and cooks cause' she just makes such a HUGE mess and doesn't do anything to try and clean till after dinner - and then it just LOOKS like a huge mess, even if its not really that many more dishes than I typically make - she simply hasn't done anything to make it look better, yk?

I have a sister in Ohio that I never knew about....because apparently we have the same mother!!

OP, I take advantage of short delays in the cooking--e.g. waiting for the oven to preheat, water to boil, veggies to finish steaming--to clean up some things here and there. Ingredients go back in the cupboard and refrigerator as soon as I'm done with them. Sometimes I'll just pause the cooking to clean up a little.

[riaketty]

Step 1: Get a sink of hot water and soap going! We're lucky to have a two-part sink (is that standard now?). One side I run full of hot soapy water.

Cutting boards, utensils, everything goes in the water. If it's too big, it gets washed immediately. I keep a wash cloth in the water too, and when I'm done with a section of counter, I wipe it down.

We serve from pot straight to plate. If there's extras, we leave it with a lid for 2nd's. As soon as it's empty, I put it into a hot water soak. We go eat. Plates go straight into the dishwasher. Then I load up the dishwasher with everything else, wash up whatever's leave, spray the counters with vinegar and wipe, wipe down the stovetop, and presto!

Forgot to mention. Lunch stuff gets washed immediately. Pots get washed, dishes go into the dishwasher. I try to save dishwasher space for dinner pots since I don't want to wash them at night.

[Katie T]

Originally Posted by yeahwhat

I wash as I go, but not to the point of using serving dishes and creating extra washing up (unless we're having guests). But cutting boards, vegetable peelers, knives, measuring cups, stirring spoons, etc. are all washed as I go so there's only the pots on the stove and the dishes on the table when the meal's over.

This is what I do as well.

[ElsieLC]

I read this thread during breaks in cooking...instead of washing up . I guess I've been missing the idea that you could pause the cooking in order to clean up. Maybe I've been cooking too pell-mell and need to start the meal a little earlier so I have some leisure time amidst the cooking events. Also I didn't realize I should wash EVERYTHING as soon as I was done with it (rather than setting it aside to wash later).

And it sounds like you people have some conditions in place before you start:
- empty dishwasher
- empty dishdrainer
- sink empty except for hot soapy water

I tried to do a little clean-as-I-went tonight, and here are some questions:
1. Emptied one pan into another and realized, "Hey, I can clean this right now!" so I did, and it washed up very quickly (more than if I had rinsed it and cleaned it later) BUT it was still a hot pan...where to put it to dry? It would melt the plastic off the Rubbermaid dish drainer, and the counters are Formica, so I settled for the stove but there were still pots cooking and bubbling there.
2. If you immediately package up food for leftovers (rather than waiting till after the meal), what are you packaging your hot food IN? I don't want to put hot food into plastic containers but sometimes that's all that's available.

[zoebird]

i don't use a dishwasher, but yes i have an empty drainer next to the sink. i only have a single sink, and i also have a small kitchen--small prep space--so keeping it clean as i go makes it easier to serve it.

our dish strainer is metal, so the hot pan doesn't matter. i also had a wooden one in the past, so it didnt' matter there either. otherwise, some other alternatives are cork hot "plates" or just a folded dish towel and on the countertop.

for food storage, i use glass. it cools on the counter and then i put it in the fridge later.

[riaketty]

Originally Posted by ElsieLC

I read this thread during breaks in cooking...instead of washing up . I guess I've been missing the idea that you could pause the cooking in order to clean up. Maybe I've been cooking too pell-mell and need to start the meal a little earlier so I have some leisure time amidst the cooking events. Also I didn't realize I should wash EVERYTHING as soon as I was done with it (rather than setting it aside to wash later).

And it sounds like you people have some conditions in place before you start:
- empty dishwasher
- empty dishdrainer
- sink empty except for hot soapy water

I tried to do a little clean-as-I-went tonight, and here are some questions:
1. Emptied one pan into another and realized, "Hey, I can clean this right now!" so I did, and it washed up very quickly (more than if I had rinsed it and cleaned it later) BUT it was still a hot pan...where to put it to dry? It would melt the plastic off the Rubbermaid dish drainer, and the counters are Formica, so I settled for the stove but there were still pots cooking and bubbling there.
2. If you immediately package up food for leftovers (rather than waiting till after the meal), what are you packaging your hot food IN? I don't want to put hot food into plastic containers but sometimes that's all that's available.

1. If you have extra pot holders, put that under it and set it on the counter. Once cool, put it away.

2. Err, well, this one we don't do. We wait until afterwards to pack things up. I have to admit that's bit us in the butt a few times before.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by ElsieLC

I tried to do a little clean-as-I-went tonight, and here are some questions:
1. Emptied one pan into another and realized, "Hey, I can clean this right now!" so I did, and it washed up very quickly (more than if I had rinsed it and cleaned it later) BUT it was still a hot pan...where to put it to dry? It would melt the plastic off the Rubbermaid dish drainer, and the counters are Formica, so I settled for the stove but there were still pots cooking and bubbling there.
2. If you immediately package up food for leftovers (rather than waiting till after the meal), what are you packaging your hot food IN? I don't want to put hot food into plastic containers but sometimes that's all that's available.

If I have a hot pan, I leave on the stove (off the heat) to cool and wash it later. Or just leave it in the sink of water to soak and cool that way. If the stove's full, I'll just leave it on a pot holder.

The only time I pack up leftovers before we eat is if dh isn't there. Then I'll make his plate and put the leftovers in something, usually whatever is closest and easiest to get too, sometimes plastic, sometimes not.

[rcr]

My Dh cleans after me as I go, which drives me nuts. I wish he would just clean afterward, but he is a clean-freak. We have a rather small kitchen.

[wendyland]

I clean as I go as much as I can. What's helped me most is deciding to enjoy cleaning the kitchen. I put on headphones, listen to my favorite podcasts, and enjoy it. I actually get a good Zen buzz out of it.

[sunnysandiegan]

I employ most of the same strategies as already mentioned.

For the OP's additional questions:
1. I don't have a dish drainer. I use a "bar mop" type of towel on the counter for wet dishes to dry on. When they get put away (usually by DH while I am washing & rinsing), we wipe that counter and move that towel to another use (depending on level of cleanliness, last stop is floor cleaning before being washed). Get out a new towel and place it on the counter ready for use. Hot, clean pans do no damage to our set up.

2. Packing up leftovers depends on several criteria. If we cooked an extra meal at the same time (two quiches or lasagnas, for example), then I make sure one cooking dish can go directly into the freezer (although we set it aside to cool during dinner first, usually). If we make enough for two meals (or more) on purpose, but it is a type of dish that is cooked all together (spaghetti or stir-fry, for example), then we use our glass storage containers and let the food cool without the lid while we eat dinner. Put the lid on before final clean-up and pop in the freezer. If it is ordinary leftovers that we didn't plan, those wait in the pan usually until the final clean-up and then go into our glass storage containers and put in the fridge immediately. (They've cooled enough usually.) If I need to leave something [food-related] out past clean-up time, I set a timer.

DH & I both cook and both clean. He cooks more than I do and I clean more than he does, but we're both in training ( ) on our weaker spots. I am learning to cook more (technically, I know HOW to cook and am learning to ENJOY cooking more) and DH is learning to clean up along the way when he cooks. IMO, the best motivator is praise and appreciation. When I express gratitude for the little clean-up jobs DH does do when he cooks, he tends to do them more often and more of them. He is getting to where he has everything possible in the dishwasher and put away (food items) most meals. He is getting to handwashing certain items, too! When DH expresses gratitude when I cook, I feel good and offer to cook more often. When we get into a groove of feeling good about our contributions to the family, we meal plan as a family and each of us takes on specific meals each week and things run really smoothly and happily.

[mamadelbosque]

Well, I don't wash things as soon as I'm done, but I do rinse them when I have a moment. It does occur to them though, that most of you have seperate dining rooms from your kitchen - we don't So, my table is like my #1 cooking surface. Luckily though, most stuff is, at some point, simmering/baking/whatever if only for 5-10 minutes and that gives me time to

a: throw scraps in the compost/trash
b: rinse cooking utenslis and stack neatly beside sink to be washed
c: wipe down table/counters/etc
d: put away dishes that are clean

Really, when your cooking, you almost always have a few minutes of downtime here and there, and if you just get in the habit of using those minutes to put stuff away, and wipe stuff down, cleanup after dinner becomes *SO* much easier!!

ETA: oh, and as noted upthread, we serve out of pots'n pans... but thats also easy as the stove/oven is, oh, maybe 2-3' from the table And I put leftovers away as soon as I'm done eating and nobody else wants anymore. And I use pyrex for leftovers so I'm not putting hot food into plastic... if its still hot though, I'll set the lid underneath it while I finish cleaning up and then stick the lid on and put it in the fridge when I'm done - thereby giving it a few more minutes to cool down.

[elsie]

Hey - we pratically have the same user name (and for the same reason I'm guessing)

Anyway, what I usually do is unload the dishwasher while cooking. There is usually a time where I have two minutes to do it without needed to do something with the stove. I then place all the dishes I need for the table on a counter behind me and if I have time, reload the dishwasher. This all done during the meal prep time where I don't get more cooking utensils out, but pretty much have the stuff I need already in use. I finish loading the dishwasher after dinner and DH even knows to put his stuff directly in there unless he sees a huge pile in the sink, in which case he asks. After I am finished eating, I put my dishes in, wipe down the counters, start the dish washer and either soak or wash any extra pots. Sometimes there is a pot that needs a little extra soaking. If anything is left over in the sink, it is usually ready to be washed before I go to bed. That takes about a minute.

[proudmomof4]

Here are some things that work for me. We have a dishwasher, we eat in the kitchen but I do have enough counterspace to not use the table as working surface (apart from cutting Christmas cookies!).

- "Shine your sink!" (à la Flylady in the evening) makes for an easy start in the morning.
- Clean the sink and clear the table and countertops right after any meal so you're ready to go next time.
- Use an extra bowl or something which will be thrown away anyhow (wrapping foil or plastic "plates" from fruit or veggies) to collect scraps and peels - don't just throw those in the sink. (It's quicker, cleaner, and keeps your sink ready for more important jobs.)
- Stay in one place with the messier jobs.
- I often fill a pot that needs to soak anyway with soapy water and give things a quick rinse before they go in the dishwasher.
- Give the stovetop a quick spray or wipe and do something else while it can soak.

I've found that saves me a considerable amount of time (and nerves!).

[ElsieLC]

Thank you, everyone! Reading between the lines, I infer that none of you cooks like a tornado on a deadline (as I have been doing). It may be time for me to slow down the cooking a little so that I can actually have two minutes here and there. I like the idea of "stolen moments" while cooking. Especially if I can preserve the hurricane illusion so that no one dares enter the kitchen and I can read a magazine two minutes at a time.

[zoebird]

another thing that helps is having a small prep space. i prep everything first (pull things out of the fridge/cupboard, chop, etc), and then add it in as i go. as things are added in, i then have the time to clean up as i go.

if i have a second or third thing to prep, then i have the space to do it. it's a small kitchen (but bigger than my last one, ironically).