Having a kitchen extension-what to eat when the walls come tumbling down?

[FourJays]

Hi everyone,
got the builders in and we can't afford to move out. In about a month I will have no kitchen at all, probably for about a month.
I don't think I'm capable of having a takeaway every night!
We'll have a camping stove and a toaster. Some-one has suggested ready roasted chickens, salad and pittas and I'll take kids for lots of after school picnics but would like to know what others eat when they are in a tip.
Cheers

can you borrow a slow cooker? My friend was without her kitchen for quite a while and said the slowcooker was worth it's weight in gold.

Can you plug in a microwave? we ate a lot of baked potatoes when our kitchen was being done.

One pan dinners like bolognese are good too - you can make the bol bit before hand, then heat it up in the m'wave while you cook the pasta?

Have you got a microwave and freezer?

If so pre-cook and freeze things like chilli, stews, soups, pasta sauces etc which can be heated in the microwave and serve with crusty bread or microwavable rice or pasta.

ooh good thinking betty!, will also be without kitchen in few weeks for couple of weeks! and as im a CM was worrying there, but fab suggestion!

Microwave toaster and kettle.Lots of couc cous noodles ready done chicken .Do daily shopping too as you can get in a terrible muddle with too much stuff.make up big batches of sandwiches too and wrap tehm in foil and keep for a few days.Eat out once a week as a treat if you can afford it and visit friends a lot it will be worth it

we will be taking table down in breakfast room, moving fridge freezer int here along with at least the dishwasher(to use as surface top!) so can put kettle on window sill(out of harms way) and toaster on dishwasher!...will have plenty of takeaways for us and lots of snadwhiches/toasty's/wraps for minded children

Can you tell that I've been there (twice) ?

Make sure you have a washing up bowl for washing up in the bath, plastic plates are easier than your normal ones (disposable ones even easier of course but not environmentally friendly).

Also its the right time of year for BarBQs

do you have a George Forman grill or a BBQ? In conjunction with camping stove and microwave, you will be fine.

Doing the washing up is harder IME - try to think of things that don't create a lot of mess

x post Betty

Happy to BBQ but as my garden is a building site at the mo can't quite picture it!

We camp a bit so am feeling quite ok about it. Just wanted a few ideas. All good - keep em coming!

Lots of people have said they'll feed us (bless them). Our best friends are having their's done at the same time so we'll be regulars at Pizza Expresss for boozy Friday teas.

i would be living for fridays in that case!

i have just had no kitchen at work for 5 MONTHS (they onlyleft properly on thursdya and began in jan)

we had a single hob (borrowed from a freind who had just had their ktichen rebuilt too)

and a stupid oven that was either off / luke warm or 250+C lol
a microwave

anyway we had lots of pasta with ready made supermarket pasta sauce
beans on toast
cheese toasties
make a big batch of bolognese, microwave it and cook pasta on the hob

breaded fish fillets (cooked in oven)
with fresh veg (on hob)
and mash (reheated in microwave)

jacket pots in oven

lots of sandwiches / salady / piccy bits

somehow we survived on this for 5 months!

For months before i was freezing lasagne / fish pie / macaroni cheese etc too so would use those as well (heating in oven)

am proud 2 say in 5 months i stil didnt even feed the kdis a single micorwave meal

Hats off to you nannyL! [SMILE]
Enjoy your lovely new kitchen.

I read about someone having a new kitchen and extension and she got the builders to rig up a temporary arrangement in her dining room with the sink from old kitchen plumbed in, plus microwave and camping type hob (and kettle too of course).
Is this an option? A month is a long time when you have kids.

we're in the middle of an extension..and our builders have done exactly as Pannacotta has said )perhaps she read about us?). Our cooker, fridge and microwave plus sink were moved into the dining room..they just knocked a hole in the dining rm wall and set us up for waste and hot/cold water. In fact they did this automatically..we didn't even have to ask for it. On Monday, the dining room wall will be knocked down but they said they'd put a floor to ceiling plastic sheeting barrier in first and that we could still use the kitchenette set-up. They've been great but it does show you what can be done. Ask your builders. Say you've got kids and ned to cook. Ours even plumbed in our washing machine in our shed. When I said we could get by with just using it at a weekend, they wouldn't hear of it (they think I wash clothes every day???)