Eating tips while kitchen is replaced?!

[egdehsdrawkcab]

Finally having a new kitchen installed next week, and we'll be without one for 2 weeks. I've got space in the lounge for the microwave and a mini fridge - but what are your top tips for surviving with no kitchen??

Toastie maker. And slow cooker. And takeaways!

Cool loads of chilli and casseroles to freeze so you can thaw them out and heat it in the microwave with pouches of rice. Microwave fish steamers are great with rice or quinoa and veg. You can cook loads in the microwave with some imagination and some pre-planning.
We lived like that for months, it's not that bad.

That was meant to say cook not cool.

Microwave fish steamers?? Tell me more! Will this stink the house out?

Slow cooker is a godsend in thus situation.

I managed to find space in my dining room for my electrical goods - microwave, kettle, slow cooker, pressure cooker, fridge.

We also had the barbecue outside.

Takeaways and eating out counted for a fair few meals too. They were in the cost of the kitchen :)

mini oven. Then you can reheat or even cook pies, pizzas and chips, or cook real meat if you want.

I had a Baby Belling and used it in a couple of houses during building (given it away now) but cheaper versions are also sold, I suppose for people in HMOs or with no kitchen.

Argos and Robert Dyas have them

As they run off a 13A socket they are not very powerful. I wouldn't roast or grill if you can avoid it due to fat splashes and the lingering cooking smell.

A slow cooker is good value, but, er, slow.

As per CraftyGin - when we did ours, we moved the fridge, microwave+oven combo thing, slow cooker, kettle and toaster out to the lounge. We used the camping kit a bit, as well - big cube o'water was handy, as well as the burners on occasion.

Paper plates are good.

For a fortnight it's really not worth doing much other than get by on microwave meals and toast. If you were keeping a freezer on the go I'd say batch cook some chilli, veg curry etc but if you only have a fridge then ready meals will be fine. There are some decent healthy options in microwaveable ready meals these days with lots of fresh veg. Intersperse with a few basics like beans on toast and a takeaway or two and you'll be fine.

If you were talking about months then a slow cooker or electric pressure cooker would be worthwhile investments but for a fortnight it is not worthwhile unless you wanted one anyway.

Also, persuade dc to have a main meal at school, and you and dh to eat a main meal in the canteen at work if they have one. Then you can do the sandwich meal for tea sometimes.

However, I'd go with the slow cooker a lot, particularly at this time of year. the main difficulty is preparation area - peeling veg etc. Which is why, if you have room in your freezer, then preparing in advance is great.

Even better is getting 14 friends, relations and neighbours, each to invite you round for a one off meal

We had 6 weeks without a kitchen 😬. Personally we did microwave meals, toast etc.
Then we had meals out and friends hosting us.
Two weeks is not that bad I really wouldn't worry

We just went to M&S and bought loads of microwave meals. Much easier than trying to eat properly. Also went with paper plates and plastic cutlery. The washing up in the bathroom was actually the worst thing so do anything to minimise that.

Agree about washing up in the bathroom. I could not cope with eating off plates that are cleaned in the same room we use the toilet 🤢

We were without our kitchen for 3 months during our home renovations - we had a camping stove set up so we could make easy things like pasta.

Amazing, thanks all for this - it feels like an eternity in the thick of it but yes, DC can live in micro meals and beans on toast for a few weeks! Would it be cold enough to keep milk etc outside?!

Our old kitchen was cold enough to keep stuff as we had no wall at the back of our house 😂
I'd definitely say so in this weather or just buy a smaller carton for every day.
Personally I'd make your life as easy as possible during it! When I went food shopping I felt like I had to justify my poor food choices!
Be mindful that lots of ready meals aren't microwave meals (I made this error!)
The little porridge pots were handy too

I think I could live like this for a while. You can make almost everything in the microwave. Get some steam bags to put fresh veg in.

I have just done this for 6 weeks. I made a proper mini kitchen in a bedroom ( it was a flat ) as I couldnt bear to eat take away for 3 meals a day for 6 weeks. Or afford it for that matter.

Can’t you move your full sized fridge ? A mini fridge is useless except for keeping a couple of beers cold.

Buy a portable induction hob and check that you have some pans which are suitable.

Where are you going to wash dishes and get your water for cooking from ? I had to do this on the bathroom floor in a basin as we were also getting a new bathroom installed. This wasn’t fun.

Don’t think you can do this out a small corner of the lounge . Clear the room properly. Can you take out the old units yourself , cut up some of the old worktop and use to prepare food? Put down something to cover your living room carpets( dustsheets or old carpet ) and something to protect the walls behind your temporary units .

If you have a normal indication hob that you are removing from your old kitchen ( and not reusing ) you can set this and it’s unit up in you kitchen and use a normal ( not Cooker ) socket as long as you only use two rings.

Your electrician will be able to do this by disabling two rings .

It will take you a day to do all this but I promise it will be worth it. When you sit down to your spag Bol ( reheated from the fridge), pasta ( cooked on the induction hob) fresh salad and cold drink ( from Fridge) you will thank me.

Remember your project will take longer than the builders say it will.

induction or electric hob

Ikea sell a trio ring induction hob for £35. Never tried it but will be investing in the future as we will also be without a kitchen.

*two ring induction hob

We were without a kitchen for about 6 weeks. We had a small utility with a sink which helped. We had the old integrated fridge in the garage with a mini tabletop oven and 2 rings on top. Also had a microwave. We ate lots of Charlie Bigham meals which are lovely and much better than microwave meals. They're more expensive, but cheaper than takeout or eating out. We hardly ate out. I love my new kitchen. It was definitely worth it!

We are in middle of major renovation. I have two rooms downstairs full of boxes of stuff from other rooms, tried a camp kitchen but it's just so chaotic so we are living on toast and noodles and crisps and gin.
By the time it's finished we will all have scurvy

But the house will look lovely