Temporary kitchen

[zeddybrek]

Hi All

Whilst doing up our house we decided to rent elsewhere as we have 2 young children (2 years and baby is just 4 months). Unfortunately we are running low on cash and cannot afford to rent and pay mortgage so we have to move back but I won't have a kitchen for maybe 4 to 6 weeks. The thought of it is freaking me out. My mum and MIL will cook for us a lot and we will make do as it is only temporary however I wanted to ask if anyone has been in a similar situation and how do you make do.

I plan on having a table with a small fridge underneath. On top of the table will be a kettle, toaster and microwave. Luckily D'S goes to nursery 4 days so his lunches will be covered there. Any tips will be appreciated!

TIA

Buy plug in hobs, either electric or induction (try Andrew James who are online). We've been without a kitchen since June with 2 of these. Lots of extension leads are useful so things are spread out.

We got the plumber to plumb in the washing machine so we had that, and also a sink, but you could just wash up in a bowl on the table using the bathroom sink taps.

Its not fun, but it's doable.

Have you seen those mini ovens with a couple of hob rings on the top. I managed with one of those for a while, sold it when I'd finished with it.

We've done this a couple of times. Tips :

1. Can you get (or borrow) a slow cooker (means you can still done stews / curries / casseroles and have with microwaveable rice / microwaved jacket potatoes). Have done soups / pasta / even a roast chicken in mine.

1. Can you get (or borrow) a George Foreman grill - means you can have toasties / grilled chicken / fish.

1. Couscous is your friend (just pour on boiling water) / salads / ready made deli products.

1. Some of the steam microwave meals in Aldi are actually very nice. Iceland do better quality microwave meals than you might expect.

1. If you're losing your sink too and don't want to have too much washing up in the bath buy a load of paper plates and plastic cutlery.

1. Buy a big plastic bucket to put washing up in to take it up and down stairs.

1. Lower your expectations as to what constitutes a nutritious meal for a few weeks

We'll be looking to do this soon. IKEA has single induction jobs for £35. Planning to have fridge, hob, slow cooker, microwave kettle and toaster. Washing machine in the bathroom and washing up in the bath tub.

Fingers crossed it works as it does in my head :-)

What will be your washing up situation? Cooking is fairly easy using the ideas from pp, but washing up in the bath (and hoiking it all up and down the stairs) nearly tipped me over the edge.

If your builders can rig you up a sink it will make life a lot easier. If not, think paper plates/cups/bowls/cutlery, eating out of kitchen roll, hand to mouth type food, microwave meals eaten out of the containers, takeaways etc.

We did this for a couple of weeks. It wasn't too bad as our fridge/freezer was able to be delivered really and was put in the living room for the duration. Between that and the microwave, we managed! If you can get hold of a freezer, maybe try cooking loads of food at your mum's/MIL's and freezing it to be reheated in the microwave. Try Gumtree or Freecycle for a cheap/free freezer or hob. Could you borrow a camping stove use it outdoors? Or even barbecue a bit?

Also agree with lowering your standards for a bit and eating things like toasted sandwiches (you can even cook chicken in some sandwich makers)! And accept any invitations you can to dinner - or even outright ask friends if you could come to theirs and bring food for everyone in exchange for using their kitchen.

Dishes - use the bath! And if you have a dish draining rack thing, take that, as it keeps the bath cleaner than letting the dishes slide about.

Thank you so much! Feeling a bit less daunted by the prospect of being kitchen less. And it seems to be more common than I thought given the number of us who end up in this situation. I have 11 days to get my temporary kitchen organised. I will report back with any more things I find useful once we move

I have been known to take an IKEA bag of non breakable washing up to my mum's house on occasion to stick through her dishwasher... Just FYI!

Back in the dark ages, we had to move into our doer upper 4 weeks before we could get into the rented flat. The kitchens ( it had been a HMO ) were filthy and condemned. DH rigged an electric oven up in the sitting room and all washing was done in the bathroom. ( after it was bleached). Small clothes were washed in the bath, I can recommend a salad spinner to spin socks and underwear! enjoy you new kitchen when it comes.

Slow cooker.
Gas or single induction hob plate.
Remoska?
Sandwich toaster.
We did it whilst we were having major work done in the kitchen.

If you can afford it, ikea has a new range of small portable kitchen

www.elledecoration.co.uk/news/sunnersta-portable-kitchen-by-ikea/

I'd combine with microwave oven (rice/couscous/steamed veg/steamed meat and fish for weaning baby) and an induction job (frying stuff). Yes to borrowing electric ovens/slow cookers/pressure cookers too.

And lower your eating standards.

Online you can buy very cheap Eco-friendly (ish) paper plates. Better than blocking your bath up.

The ikea sunnersta looks perfect.

Thank you again everyone!

We used the old wall cabinets on the dining room floor (lifted up a bit) and on the dining table to store plates, food etc. Fridge just moved to the living room. Ours was a galley style so we did half at a time and it was fine.

Asda deli pizza are nice and not too expensive!

I'm going through this at the moment, but luckily I have the kitchen set up in the utility room, so still have a sink and washing machine. It's actually been quite fun so far discovering what you can do on a George Foreman grill and a microwave . I've got a slow cooker and Actifry rigged up too (discovered on Sunday that roast potatoes in the Actifry turned out much better than my oven ones anyway!!)
Everything just takes a bit longer and requires more thinking ahead.