“It’s weird to make my coffee in the laundry room.”
—Quote from my husband during our recent kitchen remodel.
Not a remodel exactly. We had new countertops installed. Thankfully, we were only kitchen-less for a week. I’ve heard that full remodels take a couple of months. That would require a lot of fast food.
I organized everything before we started.
The first day we ate leftovers from Thanksgiving. So many plastic containers to wash by hand in the utility sink. Why did I schedule this for the week after an eating holiday? If the water were hot enough to make plastic containers to feel clean, it would burn my hands. The oils never wash off.
The next two days we ate the soup from the crockpot. So far, so good.
After that my plans fell apart. Instead of the two-day process I had imagined, it took five days. I don’t want to prepare raw meat and vegetables in the laundry room or hall way. Time for fast food.
The struggle to prepare food in a make-shift location reminds me of camping. How can I keep my camping kitchen clean, tidy, and efficient? Actually, it was the camping table that I set up near the laundry room. No wonder it reminded me of camping.
In the great outdoors, I have to heat water on the fire. No easy washing as I go. Nothing seems clean after shaping hamburger patties and peeling potatoes for foil dinners. When I get home, I throw all the camping dishes in the dishwasher.
When camping, I’ve learned to prepare food ahead to limit the mess. And, just like with the remodel, my system falls apart after a few days. We would find ourselves at a restaurant in town. Although, I don’t mind having someone else cook. ?
It’s always kind of weird to use a non-kitchen space as a kitchen. Like office holiday potlucks. All morning, the tiny break room is stuffed with crockpots. Delicious aromas filter out to the cubicles. Afterward, everyone tries to clean their crockpots and serving spoons in the little coffee bar sink. For the next week, wayward pieces of potato and peas hide under the coffee grounds.
That’s what happened in my utility room during the remodel. That sink wasn’t designed for dishwashing. By the last day, I stacked all of the dishes to wait for the dishwasher.
And then the dishwasher didn’t work! It wouldn’t drain at all.
I need my dishwasher. After Googling and watching a YouTube video, I climbed under the kitchen sink to knock out a plug in the new garbage disposal (a plug that is there for people who don’t have a dishwasher).
Now the coffee pot has returned to its rightful place.
And I can do laundry without any danger of getting dirty clothes into my food preparation.