How to survive a month without a kitchen?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

We are in the very fortunate and longed for position of having our kitchen completely done in a couple of months. It needs everything right down to rewiring and new ceiling. Our kitchen chap is planning for a month.

we live in a teeny house, no downstairs loo, no utility room etc. How are we going to manage?

So far plans are:
I'm cooking double amounts of things, like bolognaise. Freezer will go in garage temporarily.

At some point the washing machine will be plumbed into the garage. But before it does I guess its the laundrette. Tricky - I don't drive and dh is working long hours. I guess it will be Sunday afternoons at the laundrette!

fridge and microwave going in dining room. Along with essential foods plates and kettle etc. Do have a camping stove and a bbq that can come into play. oh, also a slow cooker. its the carbs bit that seem harder. Can you do pasta and rice in the microwave?

Washing up to be done upstairs in the bathroom? Grim.

I keep telling myself we go camping for a fortnight with less than this but it still seems like a bit of a challenge. Any hints and tips please to make it easier?

We managed with a mocrowave and a lean mean fat reducing grilling machine.

lol greg - you make it sound like you employed a personal trainer

a microwave and a russell hobbs panini press worked for us!

We had an electric steamer, a microwave and a slow cooker.

Slow cooker for "saucy" type things to serve with pasta, rice or jacket potatoes cooked in the microwave.

I bought a rice cooker from Lakeland which did rice or pasta. Or threw it into the slow cooker for the last 30-45 minutes of cooking the sauce.

Jacket potatoes could be converted into mash.

Sausages could be cooked & browned in the slow cooker in just under two hours.

Chicken & fish could be done in the electric steamer with veg: tbh I could have got away without the steamer except that it meant I could cook quantities of stuff, more than in the microwave.

We also BBQ at the weekends. And used every special offer and token for eating out or getting takeaway

Week 1 - stay with friends as much as possible, especially this kind of weather. We had loads of plaster dust flying around - not great with a baby around. Without the baby I would possibly have tolerated it, in summery open-door kind of days, but not if I had another option! The first day I blew my nose and didn't see plaster was a GOOD day in our house.

I was reading this and thinking how lucky i am to never have to go thru' this,only to realise i will! in a few weeks time.With 4 dc's and dh abroad working - god what fun!.Will it only work if we do this during school holidays and i can hive off a few kids.

Had this exact same situation and was a bit tough.
We set up a table in the spare room with microwave, toaster, little hot plate, and kettle.

Paper plates and paper cups.
If you can plug in fridge then you'll be fine, if no room, then hire a little 'hotel' fridge.
Get invited to friends as much as possible.

For the first week I did take the kids (dh was working on the kitchen) away to a holiday camp when it was really dirty/dangerous. It was January, empty and weird but it kept them away when it was really horrible.

Plan on takeaway at least twice a week!

Cor - more tips. Thank you :) I went to sleep arranging everything in my head.

Also had a discussion with dd about what colour we should paint the walls. We are having blue cupboards. She reckons that orange would go

teta! I pity you!

I feel your pain, BadKitten. We had 'renovations' in another house and it was easier to keep tins and other non-gnawables outside in a tent in the garden.
Yes to paper plates and chopsticks. Toastabags are handy for cooking bacon in the toaster.

Two slow cookers, one for soup and the other either stew or pudding.Good for porridge too.

I am old fashioned but think a buttery cream on the walls.

It will be lovely when it is finished!

I think buttery cream on the walls too :)
I do have a shed that I can clear out. That would work really well for tins and things. In fact - (lightbulb goes on) I could put a washing up station in there

Thanks :) I'm getting pretty excited now!

LOL at Gentleness re plaster dust - we had the beams sand-blasted, just for good measure - and ended up with 3/4" of sand in the room above the kitchen - so before we even got to the blowing plaster dust out of your nose stage it was like living in a permanent state of just-got-back-from-the-beach (except that it was January and the doors were permanently open with builders going in and out) - there was sand in everything (and DD was 2 months old at the time )

Definitely cream walls.

Mmm - Dulux Twisted Bamboo 4 is vanilla-tasty not yellowy cream.

Stealth - I would have been so far away at that point...

Also top tip on being able to cope with living in the house and renovating:
Keep all the doors firmly shut, and put up dust sheets over them, the dust is a nightmare.

Also put down cardboard for them to carry stuff in and out. And don't let them leave you with a whole load of junk - they create the mess, they must clear it away and dispose of it.

I tried to live in ours whilst they were rewiring... Gave up after 5 days and decamped to my mums! Have never encountered so much mess, it coats everything and cleaning it once doesn't really cut it - it simply moves it around. Bank on cleaning it at least 3 times before it approaches clean after they are finished. Failing that hire the industrial cleaners - I did!

Good tips northerngirl, esp re the cleaners after a rewire, I tried to clean up myself when we had the bedrooms re-wired, madness!

We did this, had 2 months living upstairs with just a microwave, washing up in the bath. It was pretty grim. In addition to the usual, cold food is your friend. Think Deli style. Now is the time to spend some cash in Marks and Sparks if you can afford to.

Also plan a meal out each week, for your own sanity as much as anything else. You can get Early Bird offers and vouchers online to keep the cost down, or use your Tesco clubcard points for Cafe Rouge/Pizza Express etc.

Do you have parents or inlaws close by? Sunday lunch a must there if so.

Re the washing How well do you know other mums or neighbours? It it were me and it were 4 weeks, I'd do two washes a week at a local good friend's house rather than schlep to a launderette. Give her a big bouquet of flowers and some good fizz or a case of wine at the end to say thanks.

oh crumbs.
I guess it would make sense to temporarily relocate the pc from the dining room into the spare room while they are doing it then.

will have a look at that dulux bamboo paint - it sounds like a lovely colour

sadly no relatives at all nearby :( I was hoping it would be over half term but we are ending up fitting slap bang in the middle of the school term, so no escaping. I was thinking that considering the cost of the kitchen I may as well budget in some meals out. I reckon that if we have each Sunday lunch out and eat loads then thats at least one day sorted!

brrrr stealth - that sounds like a freezing nightmare!

fab tips from everyone :)

This risks sounding like all those platitudes people come out with when you are pregnant - but it was all worth it. I love our kitchen, and I would not have reached the end of mat. leave with my sanity intact if we hadn't done it (it was the one bit of the house we couldn't "live with for now" when we bought it)

Not sure this can work in your kitchen but used to referb loads of kitchens and used to leave the old sink and kitchen unit in the kitchen during the works, it was pulled away from the wall and plumbed in with temp hoses so it could be moved around to allow access for workmen.

If your current sink is set in own unit this might work

Oh and you should anticipate that it will over run

its one of those ones that sits on top of two (very wobbly) cupboards. I hope it doesnt over run too much, but I'm anticipating that it will once they get to the templating bit.

stealth - that is good to hear :)

Kitten i am already feeling sorry for myself!.The worst thing is we have several overseas relatives coming at easter when it could be done.So the whole 'knocking through' will have to be done during half-term holidays - hence delying the whole project.LB's mum that sounds a brilliant idea - but it won't work if our external wall and associated drainage is removed will it?.

It might be worth asking your builder before they start if it is possible to leave you the old sink as a freestanding temp unit, wobbly or not it might serve a purpose for a couple of weeks.

Teta - I don't think it could work if wall and drainage currently associated with the sink are being removed at the very start of the project. If the new plumbing and drainage are going in some time before the new sink is fitted you might be able to save the old sink unit and ask that it's connected up in the meantime ( if that makes sense).

It might well be a faff for the builders involved but sounds like you are both spending considerable sums so they should be willing to at least consider leaving you with some facitities during works esp with young children

I'll ask LBsmum - good idea :)

Yes it will over-run, but having a good relationship with your builders and as many of their workers as possible made a difference for us - they became quite protective over me!

Oh - and dustsheets with plasterdust MUST be plastic. It gets through the weave on fabric ones. That was one of the most heart-sinking moments of moving back in...

we had extension done 18mnths back, and kitchen, took 5mnths in all.

make friends with neighbours, that helps with things like dishwashing stuff, and washing etc.

set up camping-type kitchen in dining room...things like microwave, kettle, slowcooker, fridge etc, and maybe use a couple of old cupboards and old work surface set up for a work area.

oh, and a toaster.

I did a lot of stews, casseroles, beans on toast, soup etc.

for washing, I used neighbours, and for drying uses clothes airers.

water......flame provided each day on massive bottles :o