Tips for being without a kitchen

[mikado1]

We'll be without a kitchen for maybe 5 weeks. I have portioned off meals and the freezer including cooked rice and pasta sauce. I'll get some frozen veg too. We will have fridge, microwave, a kettle and a hotplat in the sitting room, plates, bowls and cutlery.
Any tips on how to make this not too painful and general tips for building in the house while living there?
TIA

We bought a pair of electric rings and with that and a microwave you could cook most things. If you have an air fryer even better. My DH made a Dexion frame with wheels for the washing machine to live on so we could move it around out of the way and hopefully reconnect it whenever the builders weren't working.

Mainly just be flexible, treat it as an adventure otherwise the mess and noise will drive you crazy. Ours was also in winter and the back of the house was just plywood for a few weeks, it was freezing.

Have you planned how you will deal with washing up? We were lucky our downstairs bathroom was next to the kitchen, but it is impossible to deal with a lot of washing up in a small bathroom. I had two flexible trugs, one for washing up in, and one for putting the cleaned plates etc in. I'd recommend really thinking about meals that minimise pans, occasionally use paper plates.

I went through this last year. The longest 6 weeks ever!
I had until that point resisted buying an air fryer but I did then and I am a complete convert. A small chicken is roasted beautifully in 30 mins and can rest while you roast some potatoes.
it heats up food like an oven , can make desserts, cakes and bread. I don’t have a microwave but if I had to have either an air fryer or a microwave it would be an air fryer every time

i also had never bought preprepared meals but I discovered Charlie Bigham food and they are very good. i still keep some in the freezer for the nights I cannot be bothered to cook. They are far far superior to any takeaway.

-Can you set up an area to wash plates/cutlery? If the weather is nice, an outdoor table and hose could work, otherwise in a bathroom sink. Wasteful, but paper plates for a few meals will save the washing up.
-Could you borrow an air fryer so you can also have hot/crispy type things?
-If you only have a single, hot plate, a steamer can be helpful so you can cook multiple things at the same time and stack them up. Fish can be cooked wrapped in baking paper on 1 layer, veg in the other layer and new potatoes in the water at the bottom.

-Don't underestimate how much dust will travel within the house! I used sealed crates for things and even so, things inside got dust on them.
-Many supermarkets also sell a complete, frozen meal in a bag in the freezer section which just needs defrosting and heating. Not individual ready meals, but usually enough for 2-4 people.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/birds-eye-inspirations-spanish-paella-with-chicken-prawns-350g
https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/317403223?_gl=1r6xl16_upMQ.._gaNDkzMDMyNzA4LjE3Nzc2NDgzMDg._ga_H653QXESTPczE3Nzc2NDgzMDckbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzc2NDgzMDckajYwJGwwJGgxNzg3NTA0Njg._ga_33B19D36CYczE3Nzc2NDgzMDckbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzc2NDgzOTUkajQ2JGwwJGgxNTMwMTk0ODE5
www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/322326290?_gl=11w0tywo*_upMQ.._gaNDkzMDMyNzA4LjE3Nzc2NDgzMDg._ga_H653QXESTPczE3Nzc2NDgzMDckbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzc2NDgzMDckajYwJGwwJGgxNzg3NTA0Njg._ga_33B19D36CY*czE3Nzc2NDgzMDckbzEkZzEkdDE3Nzc2NDg0MTAkajMxJGwwJGgxNTMwMTk0ODE5

We were without for six weeks, a few years back. We bbq’d a lot and used microwaved meals. Also you can have salads and cold meats to save on cooking. We were also lucky that we had lots of invites to friends houses for dinner. Washing up is a faff but you get in your groove and know it’s not forever.

Airfryer and full size camping gas hob. After two major renovations we've worked it out! Will you have a water supply?

I honestly think if it was me, the thing I'd struggle with is the washing up/tidying up and the general prep. The actual cooking I could get away with a combo of BBQ, air fryer and microwave. Maybe a camping hot plate.

So if it was ever me, I'd be spending money on pre-prepped/chopped veg and salads, pre-marinated meat etc. Becuase that's where the problem would be.

Buy an air fryer. I was always anti getting one but when I was without a kitchen for 10 weeks it was a lifesaver. I was having a new kitchen fitted and bought an all singing all dancing range cooker which cost a bomb. I barely use it, but use the air fryer most days. Get a big one. I had it installed in the dining room with a microwave and kettle and my washing up station on the patio with a washing up bowl, drainer etc.

We did this for 5 months and my tips are:

• have the absolute minimum, eg we had 5 plates, 5 bowls, 5 forks etc. one sauce pan, one roasting tray etc
• Good quality ready meals
• pre plan all meals so you don’t buy anything extra
• Pouches for rice
• Pre-cooked rotisserie chicken is very useful
• Store things in a suitable cupboard to you don’t have to look at them (we used an old chest of drawers)

Best of luck! Totally worth it but a slog at the time.

I have a Sage smart oven and airfryer and as a result have only used my proper oven 4 times since we moved in nearly 3 years ago. A double induction hot plate as well plus microwave and you are pretty sorted.

Have a look at the Joseph Joseph washing up bowls with handles and a plug at the bottom.

We were without for about 5-6 weeks last year. DH set up some of the old kitchen base units and work top in the hall way so we had somewhere to store plates and cups. We had a microwave, air fryer and rice cooker so in terms of actual meals we did fine. The fridge sat in the living room so not fun but made it all tolerable.

Biggest ball ache was the washing up. That really got boring after a few weeks of bending over the bath.

We also got a lot of takeaways from Harvester! I love their rice bowls and you got a salad bowl too so didn't feel as unhealthy as getting fish and chips or chinese.

Another vote for an air fryer! I was always in the "I don't need one" camp until I cracked and now pretty much the only things that go in my oven is pizza and baking.
Microwave rice
Fresh pasta because it cooks quicker.
Noodles only need a few minutes to boil or soak in boiling water.
The weather is getting better so bring out the salad!

A pressure cooker/airfryer combination will do anything your usual cooker/oven can do.

We had a new kitchen last year!
Honestly, just have the bare minimum of crockery/mugs/glasses available. But blimey, if anyone messed up my routine, they were in trouble!
We had a microwave and an air fryer. Ate out twice but just resigned myself to the kids having shit ready meals and a bit of salad most days and just went with the flow!
I’m usually, ‘Oh they need their five a day’ but honestly, with all the dust, mess and chaos, just being fed is a win in my book. We survived lol.

Thanks all these are great tips. Yes planned to keep things to a minimum. Honestly I'm not a bit wasteful, never use the dryer or plastic bottles etc but I am planning on paper plates as this seems one of the hardest bits.
Yes the pace will be covered with dust no doubt. We were told 2 weeks then 3 etc but it sees to be lengthening.

Always takes longer than you thought. Just get through it however you can, make life as easy as possible. It won’t be forever, and it’s worth it in the end.

I washed up in the shower. Had lots of microwave ready meals, borrowed an air fryer from a friend, used a big camping water container along with the kettle, coffee machine set up in the sitting room. It was an absolute pain, but I soon got into a method that worked for most things. I think taking the pressure off ‘normal meals’ eg, have a pasta ready meal and a bag of salad, don’t worry about your 5 a day and also factor in costs for takeaways and eating out even if only McDs (we went to our local McDs A LOT that month!). And hold on to the promise of your new and lovely kitchen, it’s so appreciated even to have running water after living without a kitchen at all!

Definitely set up a temporary area if you can. I started out with just a table with a couple of plastic tubs underneath, but lacked a prep area. I rescued a couple of the old base units and a length of counter top and rigged up a kitchen area in our dining room. I kept the toaster and kettle there too, so they were still easily accessible.

I got lots of use out of my Instant Pot as a bonus it mostly contains the smell of cooking.

Just a little reminder that you should not plug kettles, microwaves and air fryers in to extension leads. They melt and catch fire. 🔥

Jesus we went through this during covid when we decided to upgrade the kitchen after the first lockdown. The day the kitchen sink came out was the day DD2 got covid. No takeaway, no visits, and washing up in the downstairs hand basin. I have no idea how we managed, so I dont have any tips. The same DD2 who took out the oven glass during covid in a tantrum, and the lead time was 9 months for a replacement. I think I have PTSD tbf

I agree that cooking was the easy part, washing up was the hassle. I took the bottom rack thing out of my dishwasher and kept it in the bath or shower - that way when I was washing up in the bathroom I had somewhere to put the stuff to drain/dry.

As we're DIYing a full house renovation we've been without a functioning kitchen for 12 months 😆 So no boiler, hot water, tap, oven/hob.

Initially it wasn't too bad as we're relocating the kitchen to a different room, but as the kitchen we inherited when we bought the house was 60 years old, everything soon began to fail (boiler, tap, undiscovered leak under the sink which had obviously been going on for years, causing the joists to collapse).

Cooking has been fine. On a previous renovation we borrowed a full size camping hob from a family member, but this time we invested in two plug in induction hob and two airfryers in addition to our microwave.

As others have said, it's the washing up that's the killer. We've had a huge Belfast sink in situ in the new kitchen since October, but we have to get (cold) water from a temporary tap in the downstairs cloakroom which we then boil in the kettle. We have two washing up bowls side by side in the sink, one for washing, the other for rinsing. It took me a while to remember not to empty into the sink, but to take outside to the nearest drain.

Luckily no DC here. Some days I honestly wish we'd never started, but hopefully the end is in sight now!

Hosing the washing up now the weather is better or better still, paper plates/cups is the way to go, imo. Lots of BBQs and salads too.

We're 7 months and counting into being kitchen-less and it's been OK tbh. I think previous posters have pretty much covered the cooking side of things. What has been an absolute sanity-saver for us is that we had our old dishwasher plumbed in the whole time. So pretty much the only thing that's needed to be washed up by hand is the air fryer baskets when the silicone liners have been in the dishwasher 😂

If there's any reasonable way of doing this, then do it! I would probably have lost my mind if I'd had to wash everything up by hand, particularly as at some points washing up involved a head torch, a kettle, hose and an open manhole cover 🙈.

My other top tip is that Charlie Bigham makes really good ready meals. Don't be a hero