New kitchen installation - tips

[Thegrandoldelf]

We will be having a new kitchen fitted in around a months time. As we need to do some electrical prep works before its fitted and it will have quartz worktops that need templating, I reckon we will be without a useable kitchen for 3-4 weeks. Does anyone have any useful tips for this time especially as we have two preschoolers. Thanks

Get a cheap induction hob or hotplate and set up a temporary kitchen area somewhere else. Get a fridge plugged in and have some workspace - a camping table or trolley even. Batch cook easy to reheat meals now and freeze them. You can get them out to defrost in the morning and reheat in a pan or the microwave. A slow cooker or electric pressure cooker will be useful as you can quickly make meals.

We managed to keep the dishwasher connected and working and that made a huge difference. You might want to get a stack of paper plates rather than wash up.

I've said this on another thread, but the Ikea plug-in induction hob is brilliant. With that and a microwave, you can cook a whole load of stuff. You need surprisingly little in the way of cooking implements to survive for a few months - a couple of pans, one set of cutlery and crockery per person, glasses will pretty much do it. You can buy ingredients as you go, so don't worry about leaving tons of stuff out so that it's accessible. DO leave tea and sugar out for your fitters, and buy a huge tray of UHT milk as they will go through this like billy-o and you will be running to the shops every 2 minutes otherwise.

If preparation space is going to be limited, buy ready-chopped veg. Lidl and Aldi sell these now. Stir fry packs with fresh noodles are brilliant and will keep you healthy.

Move your old fridge into another room and keep it plugged in while the work goes on.

Oh, and make sure you have wine and gin to hand. At all times.