Creating a meal that pleases your family or friends can be an exhausting experience. Then there’s the cleaning up afterwards! It can be quite a tiresome affair…though that needn’t be the case. As with anything, planning ahead and preparation can lead to greater success.
Use these simple suggestions to help organize your meal preparations. You might be surprised to see that a meal can be prepared and cleaned away so quickly and effortlessly. You’ll also find that you’re better able to maintain a tidy and organized kitchen area.
1. Plan ahead. Any measure of planning will assist with the meal making process, be it following a full-blown recipe, or simply taking some meat out of the freezer the day before.
2. Organize your kitchen. Just because you’ve always kept certain items in a certain place, doesn’t mean you should. Give to others items that no longer get used and move the items that you most often use to places where they are more easily accessed.
3. Keep a plastic bag on the work surface where you cook. Do so, and you can drop all the garbage straight in there, rather than having it build up and get scattered around. Once you’re done, then you just need to make a single trip to the garbage can.
4. Place your ingredients away straight after you finish with them. Use some time to clean up while you cook and you will be amazed at how improved the state of your kitchen is when you come back to it after eating.
5. Buy in bulk where possible. Have dry goods on hand that you tend to use regularly to minimize the likelihood of last minute grocery store trips.
6. Wash a dish or two early. Sure there will be dishes to wash after everyone is done eating, but if you can clean at least of few of the dishes used in the preparation while you’re simmering or in between stirs, then you’ll be cutting down the workload later on.
7. Set the table as early as possible. If this task is out of the way early it won’t compete for your attention whilst you’re cooking.
8. Delegate. Make sure your family members know prior to eating what their job is i.e. clearing the plates, doing the dishes etc.
If you liked this, try : Learning To Cook
