Always use little pauses during cooking to clean stuff. That way the kitchen doesn't like Dresden back in 45 afterwards.
55So much this. I can't remember the last time I had a huge pile up of dishes that I didn't clean while something was simmering or whatever. By the time my meal is ready, everything is clean or there's one pot that might need to soak while I eat.
15I really think this is one of the secrets to successfully keeping up with household chores as an adult. After I started focusing on cleaning up when I could while cooking and saw how much easier it made my life later, I started noticing stuff that's quick and easy to put away/clean while just walking through the house on my way to do something else. Doing little things all the time instead of saying "Oh I'll clean that up later" and leaving everything as a big project was a switch in mindset that's helped me a lot.
23
Doesn't this like triple the use of your cleaning products though?
2Not really, a pan that needs a spritz of dish detergent needs that either way, if I clean it alone or along with other stuff. And even if I needed a bit more that is absolutely worth avoiding the situation OP posted.
6
Cleaning as you go is a lifesaver.
21- Batch cooking
- Cleaning as you go
- Listen to something while you're doing it
Makes it a pretty efficient and fun time.
5
Mental illness, which is why I as an enlightened man of the 21st century only drink meal replacement shakes
15Vybey gang rise up!
1
so stop cooking dinners for the queen? if i'm lazy i can whip up food in like half an hour and i'll just make 2 portions of it so i have for later too
boil some spaghetti, fry some meatballs, whip up some powder sauce, done.
12Oh man, it's been the complete opposite for me the older I get. Cooking has now become a pretty relaxing activity, but I think that's because I've gotten more confident and skilled with my knife, prep, cooking, and cleaning abilities that I can really just focus more on the joy and experience of making delicious things for both myself and the people I love.
It's probably one of the only true forms of self love that I engage in.
But for real, learning to clean as I cook was probably the most important skill I developed that has seriously reduced how painful cooking used to be for me. There's no giant mess at the end and really, once you get good at it, you'll find that there's hardly any big daunting cleanup (unless you're making a large family dinner or a finicky dish).
11Cooking is not worth it if you live alone; limited fridge/freezer space and stuff being sold in larger quantities than I need means most of the ingredients won't get used fully and I end up throwing away something anyway or have to eat it for three days straight.
10Cook 4 or 5 chicken filets on Sunday, 2 cups of brown rice in the rice cooker, bag of frozen veggies.
Lay out 6 containers in each put about 100g of Chicken into each, 100g cooked rice in each, and about half a cup of frozen veggies in each.
Put all the containers in the freezer. Take one each day for lunch, microwave for about 2 to 3 mins.
All up that's like $15-$20 for lunches or morning tea for the week.
6It may not be an option if you're severely restricted on space but it helps if you make enough to freeze a couple extra portions of food and eat them weeks later. Generally when you are cooking for yourself it's healthier than processed or restaurant food and it's cheaper. I tend to gravitate to international markets where they have bulk bins of vegetables so you are able to just buy a single carrot, single potato etc. Cooking in slightly larger portions and shopping that way really helps to reduce waste for myself.
5I have like a "babys first playschool refrigerator/freezer" thing that basically belongs in a camper, but I make it work. The key for me is to cook things kinda "basic" as in limited, generic, seasoning and then spice it up how I want when I'm ready to eat it so it doesn't get boring. Then as others mentioned you cook all in one day. I make a chicken dish in the slow cooker that lasts a week in the fridge, so you shouldn't need a freezer for your weeks worth of food.
I buy a family pack of chicken and separate a few breasts to stick in my tiny ass freezer that doesn't even have room for a normal size ice cream tub, I freeze a few rolls, and anything else like vegetables is generally canned so I don't need to worry about waste.
You save so much money when cooking for yourself!
1
One pot wonders are good for regular cooking. Crock-Pot can make it easier too. Dump it in and come back a lot later.
I think Dan Olsen on Folding Ideas said it best that it is maddening when people talk about cooking at home that they always exclude the clean up.
https://youtu.be/V-a9VDIbZCU?si=IJ1Ffr_luBReNfIV (Folding Ideas, longer video about Jamie Oliver's war on chicken nuggets)
9If you clean as you go, there should be very little cleanup after.
For me, the only cleanup after eating is rinsing the pots/pans that had been soaking while I ate.
4I think it depends on how many guests you have for the post-cleanup. However, I generally agree with you.
I sometimes get on my partner's or family members case about things left around when we're waiting for the oven or something and they're like: "I'll just do it at the end". For big meals, the large dish rack plus the dish washer (which seems to be another dish rack for us) almost always gets over crowded and we need to use those drying pads.
2
I recently thought "God damn it's 2024 where is my potato washing, peeling and cutting robot???"
6Potato peelers exist and they're the best fucking invention ever. It's like $15 max on Amazon. The ones for apples work on potatoes too just FYI. Yeah you still gotta cut it unless you get another gimmicky kitchen device but anything is better than hand peeling potatoes imo
2
Or make the other people who ate help clean up.
6
