Here is a flashback post of what tools and steps you can take to make your cooking hour go smoothly. Make ahead meals are are much more efficient than making a mess in the kitchen every night. Who wants to do more dishes then they have to? Not me!
I don’t feel like I make any bigger of a mess doing all 5 dinners than if I just do one. Most utensils are reused during the cooking hour. Here is a look at a cooking session mess.
The first thing I do is get all tools out listed on the kitchen tools list. Most of the time I mix things right in the bowl or bag it is going to be stored in.
Then I get out all the ingredients and open cans and packages.
Fill one side of the sink with hot soapy water and keep a wet wash rag handy to wipe down cutting board and knife.
I mixed this pork chop recipe right in the bag.
This is everything in the sink after I finished assembling meals. I don’t put anything that touched raw meat in the soapy side. I like to just quick rinse the measuring spoons and mixing spatula’s right out of the soapy side so I can reuse them easier.
Most things are just rinsed and put on a towel to dry. The others are put in the dishwasher.
If I had a helper (funny how everyone seems so busy when it comes to cooking and cleaning) I would probably have them rinse things and have them on a towel ready to use. If you are lucky enough to get helping hands, your cooking hour will be more like a cooking 40 minutes!! :)
Don’t forget to kick everyone (even the pets) out of the kitchen unless they are helping. I poured sauce on the wrong recipe once because someone was talking to me and I got confused. The plus side is we have more time to talk daily because I don’t have to worry about what to cook, run to the store, spend 30 minutes prepping a meal or clean a huge mess in the kitchen.
