casii
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 19:33:01 GMT
We're suffering of death by a million cuts on our kitchen reno. When working on your kitchen, what did you absolutely have to have in your temporary food set up and also what easy meals did you make? First, our house is small. We have no garage. And the appliances are rolling in, but the work won't begin until late March. The appliance people want the stuff out of their warehouse and delivered here. Where is that, I wonder? I had already told DH to go into this with the expectation that the entire main floor will be staging area and storage, but he's not on board with that. Cabinets are due in March 21, but if the contractors aren't ready to install, they will need to be in this house which means main floor. Last week we had our electric box moved and updated. The head contractor came out today to inspect it and when he said the main floor would likely be used for storage because we need things onsite, aha, DH is suddenly on board (men  ). I'm thinking we can set up a little portable galley kitchen situation at the bottom of the basement steps. Basement is finished. We have a chest freezer in the laundry room and a small refrigerator (no freezer) we can use. When working on your kitchen, what did you absolutely have to have and also what easy meals did you make? I figure it's best to plan ahead than panic when the moment is upon us? |
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oh yvonne
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Jun 26, 2014 0:45:23 GMT
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Post by oh yvonne on Jan 31, 2022 19:46:51 GMT
Honestly, its not the cooking so much as the cleanup that becomes the issue. You can make meals in the microwave etc but to me its just not worth it.
I'd buy microwave meals and eat out until the remodel is done.
If you want to save some money then I would buy the proteins precooked and fill in with packaged/premade stuff at the grocery store. Like I would get whole family chicken at Pollo Loco and then get some sides at the grocery store, or buy a bunch of chicken sandwiches or burgers and have it with bagged salad or chips at home for the sides. It takes planning but to me that was the easiest way to do it.
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maryannscraps
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Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Jan 31, 2022 19:51:02 GMT
I'm getting toward the end of this now. We have a toaster oven, rice cooker, coffee pot, and just recently a microwave. We do either cereal and fruit or hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. I also kept my blender to make smoothies when I want. Lunch tends to be reheated Panera soups or sandwiches. For dinner, we've mostly been heating up prepared meals in the toaster oven -- there's a great restaurant nearby with a shop that sells quiches, fresh prepared dinners in foil trays, pot pies, things like that. I add a salad and we're good to go. We've been getting takeout a couple times a week.
We've been using paper and plastic - I packed all our dishes and flatware. It sucks to wash dishes in a bathroom sink.
If the weather was better, and my porch wasn't a second staging area, we would be grilling.
We have a large basement on the driveway level that held all the cabinets, plumbing fixtures, and appliances. It was filled to the rafters.
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Post by malibou on Jan 31, 2022 20:10:52 GMT
My friend just finished a very long kitchen reno, and sweats by the Sous vide she discovered early on. She follows a mostly Mediterranean diet. Do you have an open front of back porch? Or a carport? Is so, you can put up temp walls of super heavy duty plastic to store those items and give them some protection. If weather can be quite crummy where you are, I would consider one of those on-site storage PODs. |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 20:50:01 GMT
My friend just finished a very long kitchen reno, and sweats by the Sous vide she discovered early on. She follows a mostly Mediterranean diet. Do you have an open front of back porch? Or a carport? Is so, you can put up temp walls of super heavy duty plastic to store those items and give them some protection. If weather can be quite crummy where you are, I would consider one of those on-site storage PODs. The back porch is getting overhauled to become part of the kitchen, but we do have a front porch which we could use to store things on. Weather is an issue. I suggested a POD to DH and he also shook that off, lol. I swear if that man suddenly agrees to one because a dude recommended it, we are having a full on boxing match. Thanks for the ideas! I hope that the process doesn't drag on forever. Living near DC, we usually get some family company in the summertime. They all know they're not coming here if they're not vaccinated, but I've already got 2 sets of relatives who have put out feelers for the Casii B&B. |
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lizacreates
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Post by lizacreates on Jan 31, 2022 20:52:01 GMT
I had a major kitchen reno in 2019. The whole room was gutted from top to bottom and an extension needed to be built from scratch. Like you, I just set up a makeshift kitchen in the basement with a hot plate, slow cooker, Instant Pot and a small microwave oven. I have an upright freezer and extra fridge there. All the rest of my kitchen stuff was boxed and stored in the garage. I have a large sink in the basement but cleaning up/washing up would still be a hassle so I just used paper plates all throughout.
Prior to the reno I spent a few days freezer cooking so I had a lot of prepared meals that just needed to be thawed and reheated in the microwave. It was early autumn so I could still grill outdoors and that was helpful. I also did takeouts because the work took a bit over three months (I kid you not). I suggest sticking with the simplest foods—sandwiches, pre-made veggie salads with store-bought rotisserie chicken, slow cooker dump-and-go meals like a roast with some carrots and potatoes, canned soups, premade burgers, frozen meals that just need microwaving, hard-boiled eggs and other simple pressure-cooked foods in an IP if you have one, boil-in-bag rice, pre-cooked pancakes and sausages, veggies in microwavable bags.
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 20:53:01 GMT
Honestly, its not the cooking so much as the cleanup that becomes the issue. You can make meals in the microwave etc but to me its just not worth it. I'd buy microwave meals and eat out until the remodel is done. If you want to save some money then I would buy the proteins precooked and fill in with packaged/premade stuff at the grocery store. Like I would get whole family chicken at Pollo Loco and then get some sides at the grocery store, or buy a bunch of chicken sandwiches or burgers and have it with bagged salad or chips at home for the sides. It takes planning but to me that was the easiest way to do it. too, thank you for the insight and great ideas! I hate to clean up the kitchen in the best of times, so I imagine doing clean up will make me batty. DH likes to point out we do it on camping trips, but that's a long weekend situation. Not weeks of potential satellite clean up. |
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Post by craftedbys on Jan 31, 2022 20:54:36 GMT
We redid our kitchen this past summer and fall, but luckily since we were not beholding to a contractor we were able to work it so we were only without the use of the kitchen for a very short amount of time.
DH ordered a single burner that uses a can of butane for fuel. Sort of like a camp stove.
That was the best purchase by far because we have been able to use it when we lost power so we could still make coffee (thank you French press).
Like another Pea said, use paper and plastic as much as possible. You can make it up to the environment later.
Also, a crockpot and liners are great for cooking with very little clean up. You can actually make "real" food like a Sunday roast without an oven.
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Post by malibou on Jan 31, 2022 20:55:33 GMT
Honestly, its not the cooking so much as the cleanup that becomes the issue. You can make meals in the microwave etc but to me its just not worth it. I'd buy microwave meals and eat out until the remodel is done. If you want to save some money then I would buy the proteins precooked and fill in with packaged/premade stuff at the grocery store. Like I would get whole family chicken at Pollo Loco and then get some sides at the grocery store, or buy a bunch of chicken sandwiches or burgers and have it with bagged salad or chips at home for the sides. It takes planning but to me that was the easiest way to do it. too, thank you for the insight and great ideas! I hate to clean up the kitchen in the best of times, so I imagine doing clean up will make me batty. DH likes to point out we do it on camping trips, but that's a long weekend situation. Not weeks of potential satellite clean up. And by "we", who does he really mean?! 😁 |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 20:56:42 GMT
I had a major kitchen reno in 2019. The whole room was gutted from top to bottom and an extension needed to be built from scratch. Like you, I just set up a makeshift kitchen in the basement with a hot plate, slow cooker, Instant Pot and a small microwave oven. I have an upright freezer and extra fridge there. All the rest of my kitchen stuff was boxed and stored in the garage. I have a large sink in the basement but cleaning up/washing up would still be a hassle so I just used paper plates all throughout. Prior to the reno I spent a few days freezer cooking so I had a lot of prepared meals that just needed to be thawed and reheated in the microwave. It was early autumn so I could still grill outdoors and that was helpful. I also did takeouts because the work took a bit over three months (I kid you not). I suggest sticking with the simplest foods—sandwiches, pre-made veggie salads with store-bought rotisserie chicken, slow cooker dump-and-go meals like a roast with some carrots and potatoes, canned soups, premade burgers, frozen meals that just need microwaving, hard-boiled eggs and other simple pressure-cooked foods in an IP if you have one, boil-in-bag rice, pre-cooked pancakes and sausages, veggies in microwavable bags. Holy Cow, I may need some anti-anxiety meds! Great ideas though! We cook pretty much ALL of our food, so this will be an adventure. I will welcome some takeout opportunities, at first anyway. |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 21:00:27 GMT
We redid our kitchen this past summer and fall, but luckily since we were not beholding to a contractor we were able to work it so we were only without the use of the kitchen for a very short amount of time. DH ordered a single burner that uses a can of butane for fuel. Sort of like a camp stove. That was the best purchase by far because we have been able to use it when we lost power so we could still make coffee (thank you French press). Like another Pea said, use paper and plastic as much as possible. You can make it up to the environment later. Also, a crockpot and liners are great for cooking with very little clean up. You can actually make "real" food like a Sunday roast without an oven. I wish we were talented enough to do it ourselves and could maybe finesse it without losing the kitchen (and the main floor) for the duration. Old house means all the electrical and plumbing also needs total replacement which was outside of our wheel house. Great thought on losing electric. We usually get it back pretty quickly, but the thought of waiting on coffee makes me antsy. |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Jan 31, 2022 21:01:22 GMT
maryannscraps too, thank you for the insight and great ideas! I hate to clean up the kitchen in the best of times, so I imagine doing clean up will make me batty. DH likes to point out we do it on camping trips, but that's a long weekend situation. Not weeks of potential satellite clean up. And by "we", who does he really mean?! 😁 Exactly! Seriously! When the kids still lived at home, they got that special chore. Now I draw the short straw most of the time. |
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Post by bbkeef on Jan 31, 2022 21:02:47 GMT
We did a full gut remodel 3 years ago. The kitchen was taped off with plastic. The fridge and microwave moved to our dining room. Other appliances to the garage. I set up a little kitchen in the dining room. I had a single induction burner that we used to make eggs, hashbrowns, taco meat, chicken breasts, grilled cheese etc. I used my crockpot with the crockpot liners for ease of cleanup. We did a lot of microwave meals like Lean Cuisine, frozen pot pies, hot pocket type stuff. We have a pizza oven in the garage, so that got used a lot too. We mainly used paper plates, but real silverware. I hated washing dishes in the bathroom.
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Post by bc2ca on Jan 31, 2022 21:10:16 GMT
Honestly, its not the cooking so much as the cleanup that becomes the issue.  This!! I started off thinking we could use our daily dishes/flatware/glasses but quickly realized disposable for the short term was acceptable. Washing dishes in the bath tub is something I never want to do again. We have a food storage area and fridge in the garage already. The dining room table was our food prep area and the only appliances we used during the reno were the Nespresso, kettle and rice cooker. Dinner was salads, sandwiches and grilled proteins or take out. Thankfully, our demo to rebuild was only about a month. |
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Post by stargazer on Jan 31, 2022 21:13:43 GMT
I am living this right now…. Our range looks like it’s staying where it is (because disconnecting the gas would be a massive pita, particularly because it’s staying in the same place after the re-model) so I can still cook but the major pain is that everything needed to prep etc is in different places & then there’s no surface to chop/prep etc on. I’d recommend planning ahead with meals, particularly thinking about simple stuff, maybe freezing meals you could microwave; tonight we used the slow cooker. We’ve recently been actively losing weight (30lb so far!) & keeping that going may be a challenge, I’ll be happy with just keeping it off so I’m really trying to limit take-out etc. I guess we’re fortunate that we have a 2 car garage where we can store stuff (but first we had to clear the space! ) so some of the new kitchen is going in there & some in the conservatory which we also cleared to make room. Basically my entire house seems like it’s covered in dust & I have no idea when it’s going to end. Argh! Good luck!   |
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on Jan 31, 2022 21:26:01 GMT
Holy Cow, I may need some anti-anxiety meds! Great ideas though! We cook pretty much ALL of our food, so this will be an adventure. I will welcome some takeout opportunities, at first anyway. Girlfriend, I'm a cook like you so it was a royal pain in the backside by month two. But when all was said and done, it was worth all the aggravation and expense. Best of luck with yours! I swear, the day after when all the workers have left and everything has been cleaned up, you’ll be walking around touching every surface and marveling at your new appliances, tops, cabinets and all manner of House Beautiful additions, and all the hassles you experienced will just recede. (If you’re still a scrapbooker, you’ll take photos and scrapbook them to document the process. Lol. I did!) |
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Post by mom on Jan 31, 2022 21:35:33 GMT
Can your rent a storage room to store the appliances while you wait?
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Gennifer
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,171
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Post by Gennifer on Jan 31, 2022 21:37:27 GMT
I did two kitchen renovations within 3 years. Honestly? Sandwiches/eating out. I bought a hot plate and instant pot for the second one, with good intentions, and we literally never used either one.
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Post by katlady on Jan 31, 2022 22:03:06 GMT
The dining room became our temporary kitchen. The refrigerator and microwave were in there. We bought a propane camping stove. And we had our rice cooker and crockpot. Hate to say it, but we used paper plates. We were without a stove for about 3 months.
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maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,791
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Jan 31, 2022 22:46:50 GMT
I had a major kitchen reno in 2019. The whole room was gutted from top to bottom and an extension needed to be built from scratch. Like you, I just set up a makeshift kitchen in the basement with a hot plate, slow cooker, Instant Pot and a small microwave oven. I have an upright freezer and extra fridge there. All the rest of my kitchen stuff was boxed and stored in the garage. I have a large sink in the basement but cleaning up/washing up would still be a hassle so I just used paper plates all throughout. Prior to the reno I spent a few days freezer cooking so I had a lot of prepared meals that just needed to be thawed and reheated in the microwave. It was early autumn so I could still grill outdoors and that was helpful. I also did takeouts because the work took a bit over three months (I kid you not). I suggest sticking with the simplest foods—sandwiches, pre-made veggie salads with store-bought rotisserie chicken, slow cooker dump-and-go meals like a roast with some carrots and potatoes, canned soups, premade burgers, frozen meals that just need microwaving, hard-boiled eggs and other simple pressure-cooked foods in an IP if you have one, boil-in-bag rice, pre-cooked pancakes and sausages, veggies in microwavable bags. Our 4 week project of totally gutting the kitchen and primary bath started the week of thanksgiving and should be done by the end of next week. Then we’re having the rest of the floors in the house refinished the first week in March. Ewe have to move out for a week for that. |
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jan 31, 2022 22:59:00 GMT
Kitchen renovations are just the worst. We did breakfast and lunch stuff, but for the most part ate out for dinner. The entire process is stressful and messy enough without adding dinner to the mix.
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Post by workingclassdog on Jan 31, 2022 23:03:26 GMT
We have a small house.. years ago we put in floors and had to take out our appliances for it. We set up a kitchen area in our bedroom. We did a lot of sandwiches and takeout. We did a lot of Pioneer Woman's club sandwiches.. we could toast the bread downstairs but then finished it up in our room. It sound weird but worked out just fine. Used the bathroom as a make shift sink.
All paper/plastic stuff too... clean up is a pain in the arse.
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Post by lisae on Jan 31, 2022 23:26:45 GMT
We put our refrigerator and microwave in our sunroom which already has a sink in it. I used the crock pot a lot. What I wish I had bought was some sort of hot plate to cook real food in. We got tired of my crock pot meals. This was 15 years ago before Instapots and so many online recipes.
Do you have a sink in your basement?
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peabay
Prolific Pea
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Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Jan 31, 2022 23:29:22 GMT
We did a ton of take out or easy prep - lots of rotisserie chicken; lots of Trader Joe's easily microwaved meals. Kids didn't mind - it was an adventure to them.
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AllieC
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,087
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Post by AllieC on Jan 31, 2022 23:42:57 GMT
We used our barbecue (that has an attached wok burner) all the time but that might not be an option for you. I would have a decent sized bucket/drawer airfryer (easier to clean than the oven style I think), a microwave, sandwich press and a single or double hotplate so you can cook eggs etc.
Good luck, it will be a pain but so worth it.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Jan 31, 2022 23:49:17 GMT
I have a small house. We did a to the studs kitchen reno in 2019. Our kitchen/dining were taped off. The fridge lived in the dining room. All our appliances and dining room table were shoved into the living room. We had no room anywhere. Our little enclosed side porch became our temp kitchen. We had a microwave and coffee maker. We washed dishes with the hose in the backyard. We ate out a lot and grilled a lot. Our reno took 3 months (April 1-June 25). The worst was all the dust. They taped everything off, but it didn’t matter. The dust gets everywhere. I wouldn’t bother trying to cook unless you can grill, it’s not worth the hassle.
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Post by mom2kbs on Feb 1, 2022 4:06:40 GMT
We just did this. I set up a microwave and crockpot(and liners for clean up) we used all paper goods. Honestly we really enjoyed eating out for the first two or three weeks, then it got old and I tried to cook/ microwave things. honestly eating our for dinner was easier. We grilled some but if I did it over again I would budget for take out for the entire time!
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used2scrap
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,089
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Post by used2scrap on Feb 1, 2022 5:22:08 GMT
I feel you! We had a microwave, toaster oven and crockpot in the downstairs half bath. And declared it no longer a working bathroom lol.
Hang in there!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Feb 1, 2022 5:28:07 GMT
We lived through it when we rebuilt our lake cabin. We had our old fridge in the basement, a microwave, an instant pot and the grill out on the deck. We used all of the above and made it work until we were able to get our rooms painted, flooring installed, lighting installed and base cabinets and countertops put in (I’m still waiting on my upper cabinets 2+ years later, ugh). We probably used the grill and microwave the most, but we did use our Instant Pot quite a bit too. Later on we got the bigger air fryer and that got used frequently for frozen pizza and other stuff like that. I completely agree with oh yvonne that the bigger issue isn’t the cooking, it’s the cleanup. We had no kitchen sink for quite a while since the counters were one of the last things we put in, both upstairs and in the basement. Which meant washing dishes in either the bathroom sink, a dish pan filled with water from the walk in shower, or the laundry tub, none of which was ideal. My advice is to get a literal crapton of heavy duty paper plates and bowls, and a stock of bottled water or canned beverages because you won’t have a sink or a refrigerator with water in the door. Real silverware isn’t the worst to wash up because it’s small, plus plastic ware is flimsy and crap to eat with. I’d get a decent sized plastic dish pan and a drainer with a tray since you will end up using them literally every day while you wait for your dishwasher to be installed. |
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casii
Drama Llama
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Post by casii on Feb 1, 2022 15:18:29 GMT
As always, the Peas are a wealth of experience and information! I'm glad I asked because I would not have thought about a lot of the great ideas here. And yes, lizacreates I will LIVE in that new space! LOL When we moved in here, there were auto garage type metal cabinets on bottom and a couple of wood cabinets installed so high that I couldn't reach anything. There was a radiator along one entire wall which meant unused space and massive floor damage from termites and a sink that had probably leaked for years. I had a month to pull something together for very little money in very little time so the house would pass VA loan inspection. It was insane, but it was okay at that time. I'm all in favor of blooming where you're planted, but it's good to tend to that garden right? Now it's the kitchen's turn and hopefully once it's all done, we will fall in love with the house all over again. (adding paper products to my Costco list for when the time comes) |
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This!! I started off thinking we could use our daily dishes/flatware/glasses but quickly realized disposable for the short term was acceptable. Washing dishes in the bath tub is something I never want to do again.
