Clean-Up
Tips
Many
people avoid the kitchen
not so much because of the cooking, but because of the
clean-up chores that follow. If you're not gifted with the neat gene, a
good clean-up strategy is essential.
Start With a Clean
Kitchen
Nothing is a
bigger exercise in frustration than trying to cook in a messy kitchen.
If your sink is full of dishes, and the counter tops are cluttered,
you're just making your job more difficult. So take 10 minutes to clean
the kitchen before you begin.
Clean as You Go, But
Don't Stress About It
The "clean as
you go" strategy is much touted by the tidily-inclined group, but it can
be a double edged sword. Its success depends on what you are cooking,
and how practiced you are at preparing that particular dish. This is
because one of the most tricky things about preparing an entire meal is
to get all of the different pieces to be done at the same time! When you
try to throw clean-up into the middle of it, it's really easy to end up
burning or overcooking something while your attention was on the soapy
water in the sink. Don't let your meal suffer just because you're trying
to adhere to a clean-up rule!
You'll
probably have the most success if you approach this as cleaning a few
things as you go. If you find yourself with a few stray minutes in
the middle of cooking, don't stand there and stomp your feet waiting for
the water to boil or the onion to sauté clear, take advantage of the
moment to wash whatever utensils you are done with, or throw some things
into the dishwasher.
Get a Clean-Up
Partner
Here's where the "Clean as you Go" strategy can really start to work. If
you're lucky enough to have a partner who is supportive of your kitchen
hobby, you can enlist their help in the clean-up. The cleaning partner's
job is to mop up spills and wash bowls, knives & utensils as you finish
with them. This can be a great way to include your family in the cooking
process in a useful and helpful way.
Don't Delay
When you've just finished cooking a meal, or eating a meal, it's natural
to want to sit back and savor the experience. Unfortunately, you're not
really done cooking until you're done cleaning. If you do the dishes
before the food dries on and sticks there is no soaking or scrubbing
necessary, and it will take about half the time that it does once they
have become a congealed mess! One way to make this job easier is to
postpone dessert or coffee until after the clean-up from dinner is
complete. If you make this a habit, then you effectively insert the
clean-up in the middle of the meal, and can still enjoy that "just
finished with a meal" satisfaction when the meal is over.
Empty The Dishwasher
Promptly
The single most important
thing you can do to maintain a clean kitchen is to empty the dishwasher
as soon as the dishes are clean. This may
seem like an obvious and simple task, but it has a remarkable effect. It really only takes about 5
minutes to empty the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes, but if
you don't do it in a timely manner, you set in motion a deadly chain of
events that generally leads to a pile of dirty dishes in the sink!
Because if the dishwasher is full of clean dishes, there is no place to
put the dirty ones! If you're a cleaning procrastinator
you may chafe at the idea of not being done when the dishwasher is
finally loaded and running, but making this one a habit will make your
life MUCH easier.
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