Cooking During a Kitchen Makeover

A kitchen makeover means either eating out throughout the project or setting up a temporary kitchen in your home. It's expensive to get all your meals from fast food and take-out restaurants, and limits your options to maintain a healthy diet.

You may not need the full complement of your kitchen tools and appliances to provide healthy meals throughout the renovation, though, if you plan ahead and design a practical, temporary kitchen.

Cook Before the Project Starts
Before the start date of the renovation, prepare several make-ahead meals that freeze well. This includes soups and stews, burgers, pot pies, lasagna and chili. Make enough frozen meals to cover several nights of each week during the kitchen renovation.

Make several quick breads as well, such as zucchini bread, banana bread and muffins. These breads freeze well, defrost easily and quickly, and can be used for both breakfast foods and for desserts.

Set up a Temporary Kitchen

An area in the garage or utility room may serve as kitchen space, providing the room can accommodate a refrigerator, stove and temporary counter space. If the weather permits, consider setting up an outdoor kitchen.

Ideally, you want a refrigerator, stove, and enough counter space for a microwave and prep area. Two cabinets salvaged from your now deconstructed kitchen with a sturdy sheet of plywood or a length of salvaged countertop across the top can serve as your counter space. The cabinets also provide storage for non-perishable food, cooking pots and utensils, and dinnerware.

If you're unable to hook up a stove, expand the counter space and set up a toaster oven and hot plate. You can reheat your frozen meals in the microwave, boil water for pasta on the hot plate and make hot sandwiches in the toaster oven.

Set up your coffee maker up in your master suite to free up counter space in your temporary kitchen, and to avoid dashing out for expensive coffee from the coffee shop.

Use Convenience Foods and Dinnerware
Canned and pre-packaged foods make it a little easier to pull together a quick meal in your temporary kitchen. These include jarred pasta sauces and dried pasta, boxed macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, sliced bread, peanut butter, cereal, and snacks such as microwave popcorn. Keep your refrigerator space free for perishable stables such as milk, sandwich meats and condiments.

A sink is standard in your kitchen, but your temporary kitchen may not have one close by, much less a dishwasher. This leaves you with the task of washing dishes in the bathroom sink or tub. As often as possible, use paper plates and cups, and plastic utensils. You still need to wash your microwavable dishes and cooking pot, but you've at least reduced the washing load.

Eat Out on Occasion
If the kitchen renovation takes several weeks, plan on eating out on occasion. The mess and chaos of a kitchen makeover is enough to fray anyone's nerves, and eating out or getting your favorite take-out may relieve some of the stress. Look for coupons and restaurant specials to keep the costs in line with your budget.

Keep in mind, this is a temporary situation and you will soon be cooking in your new kitchen, rather than on a hot plate in the corner of the garage.

Resources:
HGTV.com
Kitchens.com

Further Reading:
Five Essential Tools for Your Kitchen
Do-It-Yourself Kitchen Cabinet Refacing
How to Write a Recipe