Keeping an organised kitchen: my kitchen rules

Some useful habits to make cooking easier

For many people, the desire to cook at home is defeated by the mere thought of how much washing and cleaning will be required. If you think that here, I will reveal a special secret and from now on you will cook, bake and not have to wash anything, and there will always be order in the kitchen, it is not. You will have to wash. But if you develop a few simple habits and learn some kitchen rules, it will simply be less of a hassle.

I didn’t need to develop kitchen habits myself, I grew up with a father who had a rather strict and firm opinion about children’s responsibilities, order in the kitchen and not only that. My mother was fine with our fighting with my brother, even if she often gave in to our negotiations and “had mercy”.

I will not tell you how much horror the “doll audit” caused, when all the toys had to be lined up and “passed the commission” and only fully assembled items survived the right to avoid the trash can. No matter how beloved the buffet doll is, if it’s without one arm, that’s it, it’s not fit to stay at home 😭

But let’s go back to the kitchen.

Before sitting down to eat, no dirty cooking utensils should be left in the kitchen. Nothing. The only cleanup after a meal should be picking up dirty dishes from the table and loading them into the dishwasher and running the dishwasher. Everything.

To make it so, I follow a few rules.

Kitchen rule no. 1

Any used tool is immediately washed and returned to its place. There are none there, maybe you will need them later. Wash anything under warm water immediately almost no effort required.

Kitchen rule no. 2

The sink must always be empty. If tools, dishes, anything will be washed in the dishwasher, then immediately (after washing) put them in the dishwasher. The energy consumption of dropping something in the sink or putting it in the dishwasher is almost the same. But if you “put it off” it is already a completely separate and unpleasant task to unload the dirty dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. And that’s it.

Kitchen rule no. 3

Then about the cooking process itself. Everything happens much more smoothly and without panic when you know what you want to do. I prepare all the ingredients before turning on the fire.

I cut the vegetables and put them separately in jars. I choose the spices that will be needed. I find myself and put all the tools at hand. I will heat the oven if necessary. A few minutes of thinking about what you will need and how you will cook it helps to avoid situations when something is already on fire and you are looking for a spatula or trying to open a can.

When everything is at hand, then it is easy to follow the rules of cleanliness, wash everything only after use or put it in the dishwasher.

By the way, even when the food is put on the plates, there is still another minute to clean the table top and arrange the last utensils, because even in a restaurant it takes time to bring the food to the table, there is less risk that someone will burn their mouth.

Also read about what I think need in the kitchen: Tools, what is necessary and what is possible to live without. And about the standby products, who should to be in every cabinet.