Discuss The kitchen renovation diet on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. The kitchen renovation diet - Cooking, baking...what are you doing in the kitchen?.
I am about to embark on my first kitchen renovation whilst still living in the same house with three boys. The last kitchen I did was in an empty house.
I am in the process of setting up my temporary kitchen in my dining room which will consist of microwave / griddle / crock pot / big shelving unit to hold everything - five plates / cups / cutlery / chopping board and bowls - oh and the BBQ outside. Still contemplating paper or washing in the tub.
As I usually menu plan a week in advance I am finding it tough to come up with good for you meal ideas for the few weeks we are going to be without a proper working kitchen.
I do not want to do take out unless absolutely need be - or I am just far to exhausted....<grin> and frozen meals are okay every once in a while but with three kids and one of which is a 17 year old who can eat three big hungry man frozen dinners at one sitting it will be expensive.
What did everyone who has lived through this do for meals - having three kids involved is the hard part - not that their are picky but hubs and I could live on salad and cottage cheese for a week but I know the kids wont.
I do not want to spend anytime than absolutely necessary to prepare healthy nutritious meals
Here is my idea.....
We should come up with a "kitchen reno diet / cookbook" for those in my shoes.....
My kids are littler, so they are quite happy with carbs, like spaghetti and mac and cheese. We ate a lot of veggies steamed in the microwave.
What do you typically make the boys? Maybe we can adapt it for your current cooking?
Do you have fridge/freezer access? If yes, I'd do a big ole batch of grilled chicken and keep it in there for quick healthy meals. Baked Potatoes on the grill- I've seen grill baskets for veggies...corn on the grill.
We had our sink available for the entire time except for four hours, which was a HUGE bonus. And paper plates are infinitely preferable to washing in the bathtub, for me anyway.
I would recommend you cook as much as you can now, and freeze in dinner size portions. Much easier to microwave something already prepared than to do the preparing from scratch with limited supplies.
Take a day or two and do a marathon cook...triple portions of stuff! It really isn't much more work than making a single recipe, and you're making the mess anyway. Chili, lasagna (or my preferred alternative, baked ziti), pot roast can all freeze beautifully and then all you do is heat-and-eat. Most Chinese dishes freeze nicely. Grill up a bunch of chicken breasts....I do a whole bag from Costco at once and then slice them up and freeze.
Rice and pasta/noodles also freeze well and if you have some entrees and bags of frozen veg you've got a meal at your fingertips that you can nuke in a few minutes. I store everything in gallon size ziplocs; fill, pile them up flat on a large baking sheet and stick it in your freezer until they're all frozen into shape. Then you can "file" them upright and pull out what you need and defrost in the fridge overnight.
Prep all your salad veg for the week as well...I take half a head of red cabbage, a bunch of scallions, three or four large carrots and chop them and store in a ziploc. Salad greens get chopped and stored in a paper towel lined tupperware. Salad is then a couple of handfuls of greens and a handful of veg and dressing.
If you've got a burner or a griddle, omelettes can be great for any meal, as can most breakfast items like pancakes, waffles and eggs. And hearty sandwiches for dinner that don't require any cooking will also be a hit...use an entire loaf of Italian bread and make a Dagwood, then slice and eat.
Eva has great ideas. If your freezer doesn't have the room to stock everything, then the Crock Pot could be your best friend. It's amazing how simply chili or stew goes together in there. It doesn't heat the room up, and is easy to clean. You can even get liners for it now. Make stew in the morning, and serve with a nice loaf of bread from the market that you can pick up on the way home.
Grilling is also great. Did you know you can do pizza on the grill? Pizza On The Grill II - Allrecipes That and a big green salad should please the kiddos!
Just about any meat, fish, or veggies can be wrapped in foil and "baked" on the grill. All they need is a little butter or olive oil, some herbs, salt, pepper and there you go.
Remember, if you are concerned about prep space, there are lots of things you can purchase pre-cut at the salad bar. Also, my supermarket's produce section has pre-cut veggies like sliced carrots, mushrooms, even potatoes. I don't feel they are the freshest, but in a pinch they will do. Frozen veggies come in so many combos now that are really healthy, you could find a lot to steam as Kelly suggested.
Eva has great ideas. If your freezer doesn't have the room to stock everything, then the Crock Pot could be your best friend. .
I never thought about the aching back from the tub - I am going to go paper.
I should have thought about preparing freezer meals from my OAMC cookbook - wish I would have thought about that but too late now......the garbage dumpster arrives tomorrow - tonight I am packing up the kitchen to get it ready to start the demo right after work tomorrow. i am so excited - just like a kid at Christmas - but better because I already know what I am getting and getting everything I wanted <big grin>
I am going to keep track of what I make for meals so i can create the kitchen reno diet <grin> - I want to make sure to make healthy simple few ingredient meals that wont put weight on us nor hurt my pocket book. I think I will be doing some menu planning tonight after the kitchen is emptied.
I never thought of pizza on the "Q" - great idea.
Keep the ideas coming - they are great......
YOU GUYS/GALS ROCK. I am so happy once again (getting mushy here) that I found this site and you my new virtual friends.........
YAY! Not only is the planning fun and exciting, you also get to use the wonderful kitchen afterward! This is sounds stupid, but it is important to remember 1)the excitement you feel now as well as 2) how great that kitchen will make you feel everyday as you use it when 3) you are doing dishes in the bathtub.
Is it possible for you to go to a friend's or relative's house and invade their kitchen for a day? If so, you can still prep meals to freeze there, then bring them back to your house and store them in your freezer.
I love the idea of a kitchen renovation cookbook--(the dishes could have clever names like "One-spoon chili", or "New floor is in sandwiches." My reno diet was pretty easy. I didn't even have a temporary kitchen, or even a coffee pot! But, that's the one and only thing that made NYC an ideal place for doing kitchen renovations. Want coffee? Walk up to the corner. Food? Ditto.
On a different note: hi again everyone, especially Susan, Tigger and the hard-working moderators. The site looks great. Since 97% finishing my kitchen almost two years ago, I've been lurking but not posting for awhile, but have some things in the works. I'll post queries in the right spot.
Do you have any Asian grocery stores nearby? Some of those around here have a LOT of pre-sliced/trimmed meat at good prices (meant for stir fry) which is great for a quick marinade and grill or stir fry in electric frying pan. Avoiding meat cleanup w/ no kitchen sink is huge!
On a different note: hi again everyone, especially Susan, Tigger and the hard-working moderators. The site looks great. Since 97% finishing my kitchen almost two years ago, I've been lurking but not posting for awhile, but have some things in the works. I'll post queries in the right spot.
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Go paper!
