OT - Eating during a kitchen reno?

[TxRabbit]

I'm looking for some practical tips from anyone who has dealt with a kitchen renovation.

I will be painting the kitchen cabinets. Then we will have a period of time where we won't have truly usable countertops while we install a plywood deck to support the new countertops.

I can't afford to eat out for several weeks! I need help on how to keep my family eating home cookin' while the kitchen is a bit rough to use!

Please share!

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

Are you able to grill? You can cook almost anything on a grill that you can cook on a stove. Maybe a convection oven? toaster stuff and microwave stuff.

 

[TxRabbit]

I can grill. I don't want to entirely rely on it though because I don't have a covered grilling area and I live in a place that can have severe gully washers making grilling difficult.

 

[rottiemom]

I was kitchenless for 5 months while we did major work to the house. I cooked nearly every meal on the grill. What I couldn't grill I microwaved.

Do you have a place where you can set up a temporary kitchen? And will you have a place to easily wash dishes? Because it was the lack of a ktichen sink that hit me the hardest. Think disposable...foil pans, foil wrap, steam-in-bags, paper plates, etc. My cast iron pans got heavy rotation because they could be scoured with salt, rinsed & oiled but even so it was much easier just to use foil whenever possible.

Boil in bag rice (microwave), steamed veggies or even those microwavable "meal in a bag". Think pre chopped whenever possible. Cast iron is your friend on the grill...so are foil pans.

A crock pot will help (they sell those disposable liners) but I didn't have one & did just fine. I tried to view the whole experience as a combination Iron Chef & Survivor. 5 months. The first thing that I made in the kitchen was margaritas.

The hardest part for me was figuring out how to have coffee (no sink, remember). I caved & bought one of those single serve coffee makers. Best thing that I could have done & it truly saved my sanity during the reno.

Good luck!

 

[rottiemom]

I can grill. I don't want to entirely rely on it though because I don't have a covered grilling area and I live in a place that can have severe gully washers making grilling difficult.

Oh yeah, a covered grilling area. I had one of those...kinda. I set the grill up underneath one of the tall pine trees so that I had some shelter when it rained . But I see your point.

My microwave is actually a combination micro/toaster oven. If yours isn't I suggest picking up a toaster oven. This was GREAT for cooking and baking things for those days when I just couldn't stand to grill (again, hooray for foil pans).

 

[akersten]

I went to a local meal making place (Dinner by Design) and made crock pot meals for the freezer. I cooked a lot in the crock pot since it was winter in Wisconsin and with a 2 year old, eating out wasn't fun. I also tried to freeze some things ahead of time that I could just heat in the microwave. Our remodel lasted about 2.5 months from beginning to end, we went down to the wall studs.

Dinner by Design isn't super cheap, but it's less expensive than eating out and it really made our remodeling quite tolerable! There are similar places across the US.
http://dinnerbydesignkitchen.com/dinner.aspx?f=home

 

[momtomatthew]

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be when we re-did our kitchen 3 yrs ago. And I was dealing with an 18 month old. You figure out pretty quick some ideas. The grill is great, as are salads and leftovers!

P.S.- I haven't heard too many others use the term gulley-washer since I moved to PA from AZ! I enjoyed that!

 

[Califgirl]

I went to a local meal making place (Dinner by Design) and made crock pot meals for the freezer.
Dinner by Design isn't super cheap, but it's less expensive than eating out and it really made our remodeling quite tolerable! There are similar places across the US.
http://dinnerbydesignkitchen.com/dinner.aspx?f=home

In other areas of the country these types of places can also be called "Dream Dinners" or 'Dinner Studio'. I'm sure there are also a few other variations.
We're in the planning stages of a kitchen remodel, I have my crock pot, microwave and toaster oven at the ready. But I have to say I loved rottiemom's comment of "The first thing that I made in the kitchen was margaritas."

 

[hopesmommy]

Toaster ovens are great! My mom set up her toaster oven, microwave, and coffee maker in her den. She washed dishes in the tub in the bathroom. She was without her kitchen for 8 months. She was able to bake, broil, toast, and reheat all in her toaster oven. When you bake you just have to watch more carefully than in the oven.

 

[Astro Orbiter]

When we did our kitchen, we set up a kitchen-ette in another room. (We still had our fridge.) A table with a toaster oven, toaster, and microwave. (We also don't do coffee.) Piles of paper plates, paper bowls, plastic cups, and plastic silverware. What needed washing was done in the laundry room sink.

I don't remember what we ate, but I know that the peanut butter lived on that table. Lots of sandwiches, frozen veggies. With the toaster oven and a family of 3 we could do chicken breasts, fish filets, rolls. We ate take-out more than usual as well. And I'm sure we used the grill more.

It ended up taking about 3 weeks to go from first day of tear-out to final installation of the counter tops, but it was worth it!

 

[TxRabbit]

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions!

I'm putting together all the ideas! Keep them coming. The more specific the better. Details people. I LOVE details.

Anyone got good pasta dinner suggestions? DS LOVES pasta. Red sauce pasta.

Thanks again!

 

[TinaLala]

It sounds crazy, but check out Cracker Barrel. I use to work there and people would tell me it was cheaper to eat there then buy groceries and make dinner.

 

[Shagley]

Do you have an electric skillet? We have one and it is great. You use it for anything that you usually make in a skillet - burgers, hamburger helper, stir fry, etc. They cost around $40.00 but we use ours all the time (and we take it camping in the summmer).

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-06852-16-Inch-Electric-Skillet/dp/B0007XRTDG

My favorite recipe right now (can be made in an electric skillet)...

1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 small onion chopped (optional)
1/2 small green pepper chopped (optional)
1 box macaroni & cheese (the cheap stuff)
1 8oz. can of pizza sauce (or tomato sauce and add italian spices)
2 1/2 cups of water

Brown the ground beef with the onion and peppers, add the macaroni from the box of mac & cheese, the pizza sauce, and the water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until the macaroni is cooked. Stir in the cheese from the box of mac & cheese. Serve with breadsticks & salad.

 

[rottiemom]

But I have to say I loved rottiemom's comment of "The first thing that I made in the kitchen was margaritas."

3 things that were on hand at all times during that reno were a bottle of gin, a bag of ice and a bottle of tonic water. G&Ts in big plastic cups were the official beverage of our renovation. Because when you'd come home from work to find that one wall had been replaced by a tarp, or when you could see daylight around the ceiling fan in the living room, or when you'd be greeted by a squirrel that was sitting on the steps that went to what used to be the attic...well, you get the idea. But our renovation was far more than just the kitchen (and we'd do it again in a heartbeat...squirrels and all).

OP- pasta is tricky unless you have a crock pot or something to boil the water in. But I have to say that in a pinch those Bertolli frozen pastas in a bag are really OK. And this is coming from an Italian. I would tend to beef them up a bit with some veggies, olives and extra pasta (cooked in my hot pot) but they're pretty tasty. Check out your frozen food section & stock up because there may be times when you just want something that doesn't involve much effort on your part.

We had a temp kitchen set up similar to astro orbiter's except that we had to wash dishes in the tub (hence-disposable) and the temp kitchen was actually nicer and more user friendly than the original kitchen.

 

[TxRabbit]

Rottiemom:

How do you do your pasta in the crock pot? Do you just wait forever for the water to boil and then throw it in? Are there instructions for crock pot cooking on the Bertolli bags?

There used to be the skillet meals where you added your own chicken or pork or ground beef. This was a while back. They were basically veggies and a sauce packet. I LOVED those. They were so easy. And cheap! Because they didn't include the meat already. Now, I only see the ones where the meat is included. I miss those dinners. Those would have been great in an electric skillet. But I don't think my DS would eat those well. Too many veggies for him.

 

[Princess Roo]

Along with the other things mentioned, we have an electric griddle. Each week we had a roast chicken from the grocery deli one night and then used the extras for some type of quesadilla/panini another night. It was also great for breakfast-for-dinner.

Be careful when you're washing your pots in the tub. I thought we were gentle, but we banged up our tub pretty bad (not chips, just marks we can't get off).

 

[lunalibre]

How much time do you have before you start your renovation? If I were you, I would cook as much beef/chicken/pork as you can beforehand and freeze it. For my family, if you have the meat already cooked, you can ready a meal in a hurry with very few fixings. If you season the meat as generically as possible (like maybe only salt and pepper), you can dress it up however you need it.

I second the idea of an electric skillet. Do you have a camp stove? If you have a camp stove, you wouldn't need the skillet.

Anyway, with your meat already cooked, you can fix tacos, bbq, or meat pasta sauce. You can chop up the meat to put on salads or a baked potato. If you have a larger pan of some sort, you can make small amounts of soups and stews (use canned broth/gravy).

Um, shoot -- I just sort of assumed you'd still have your fridge plugged in somewhere. You won't be living out of an ice chest, will you?

What would probably help would be for you to sit down and come up with two weeks' worth of dinners that you think you could cook with the minimal prep space you have. Then take a good look at that list. Will you be able to live with eating (almost only) those meals for a few months?

I haven't done a kitchen remodel. I'm in the midst of adding a gameroom over my garage, and as part of that we moved/replaced the hot water heaters. We're also repainting and recarpeting the whole house. This has been enough of an uproar for me! I feel like we've had to move out of our house, but still live here. We're in the home stretch (painting started last week), but I'm still wondering "WHAT WERE WE THINKING????"

Ugh.

Surely all the changes will be worth it when it's done -- for you and me both!

Good luck!

 

[estherhead]

I did this for 6 weeks while I was kitchenless. In my laundry room (which is big) we have an industrial sink. Nasty, but a sink is a sink. We set up a table & I had a microwave, a crockpot, an electric skillet, and a rice steamer. I was 7-9 months pregnant & it was winter, so no grilling at all. It actually worked perfectly. I never complained once as it wasn't that bad.

We also only used paper & plastic plates & forks, etc. I only had to wash whichever cooking utensil I had used for that meal. Honestly, it was fine. We ate out less than normal as we were working our butts off on our kitchen and had no time to eat out! And no money, considering a baby was on the way & we were putting in a new kitchen!

Some things we enjoyed: Pancakes (in skillet) & sausage (in microwave) for breakfast. Eggs with ham & cheese.

For dinner: Lots of chcken skillet stirfries with rice. Baked potatoes in the corckpot (wrap in aluminum foil with 1/4 cup water at the bottom for 4 hours.) Roast beef (crockpot) with Betty Crocker mashed potatoes (microwave.) Tacos (super easy in the crockpot.)

Anyway, you get the idea. It was no big deal. We also tried all the prepared foods at Aldi's that I normally say have to much sodium & are too expensive. It was my excuse to give them a try & quite a few were great. My girls fell in LOVE with the turkey meatballs (Fit & Active) which we did in sweet & sour sauce over rice & one night made meatball subs with them (melted the cheese in the microwave.) Also they have broccoli topped twice baked potatoes which were absolutely delish.

Good luck!

P.S. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen. The tiny inconvenience was sooooo worth it.

 

[rottiemom]

Rottiemom:

How do you do your pasta in the crock pot? Do you just wait forever for the water to boil and then throw it in? Are there instructions for crock pot cooking on the Bertolli bags?

If memory serves, the Bertolli stuff can be prepared in the microwave.

I would use my hot pot (basically a small stock pot with a heating element on the bottom) to boil water & then throw the pasta in. Since the pot is only about 3 qts I'd have to cook 1/2lb of pasta at a time or it would stick because there wasn't enough water. I would also boil water on the grill using a stock pot but this was time consuming & a bit of a pain.

There used to be the skillet meals where you added your own chicken or pork or ground beef. This was a while back. They were basically veggies and a sauce packet. I LOVED those. They were so easy. And cheap! Because they didn't include the meat already. Now, I only see the ones where the meat is included. I miss those dinners. Those would have been great in an electric skillet. But I don't think my DS would eat those well. Too many veggies for him.

They sell lots of frozen veggies now that come with their own sauce- you could use that for a base & add your own meat, then serve over rice or pasta or whatever. Pre cooking, then freezing meat, as some have suggested is a great idea! Less work for you.

And an electric skillet is a GREAT idea (well except for that whole having to wash it thing). Provided that you have the counter space for it.

 

[jen2207]

I'm not sure if I will cry........ or throw up. Just reading your title made me flash back to when we were renovating our kitchen. Oooohhhhh cold chill just ran down my spine........ The worst part for me - wasn't even the no stove part - - - it was the NO DISHWASHER!!!! I did not handle it very well.

Here's my, "I'll never do it again, but if I HAD to" list:
1. Buy plastic cups, plates, silverware - anything disposable. Sorry environment - but for the short term it is worth it.
2. Get used to sandwiches - nuff said.
3. When you go out to eat (with 3 kids in tow) make sure there is a Margarita for mommy on the menu!