Tips & Tricks to live through a kitchen remodel

[definitelyO]

Demo starts May 23 and based on the project timeline should be finished end of July.

I'm struggling with how to live through this without eating out every.single.meal. We will have a fridge, toaster, microwave and outdoor grill - need to check if the side burner works for a pan.

Did you pack away all dishes and use paper/plastic? (seems easiest but also so wasteful )

Did you prep a bunch of food items first for the freezer?

any advice you can share (beside to be patient).

thanks!

[dutchgirl678]

I have never been through this before but I would get an instant pot and prepare a bunch of freezer bags with meals that you can just dump in there to reheat when needed. Do you have a big freezer? We have an extra freezer in our garage (we buy beef in bulk from a local farm).

www.adventuresofanurse.com/a-full-month-of-easy-instant-pot-freezer-dump-meals/
onceamonthmeals.com/blog/series/instant-pot/50-instant-pot-freezer-meals/

There are lots of resources out there.

Instead of paper plates and plastic I would get some more durable reusable plates and silverware that you can wash by hand. Check Target or Walmart for picnic items.

Make sure you make a plan ahead of time (maybe once a week) so you know what to reheat/prepare. Leave room for ordering in / eating out maybe once or twice a week.

Also check out if you have some local restaurants or some sites that deliver prepared meals to supplement and so you don't have to cook all the time. It could be cheaper than eating out. How many people are you cooking for? I have tried this site once and it comes to about $15 per meal and you reheat in the microwave: balancedbites.com/

[nicolewi]

I haven’t done a kitchen remodel, but I was going to say the exact same thing about the Instant Pot! And maybe an air fryer? I brought my instant pot to our small cabin and used it to make tons of things—burrito bowls, chicken Alfredo, spaghetti, a whole chicken, plain chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, soups, rice; you could also make hot cereal. An air fryer would also come in handy and let you make a ton of different stuff, But since you have the grill, I would put priority on instant pot.

[Susie]

If you ask around, maybe a friend can lend you a crock pot or instant pot for this period so you don't have to buy, but have an additional option.

My other suggestion is plan a vacation so that you're gone during the worst of it, lol.

[dancingirl21]

We did a full first floor remodel last year. We created a “kitchen” in our finished basement. We moved our kitchen table and chairs down there, and had 2 folding tables set up. One had our microwave, crockpot, toaster, etc. and the other had a large bin with utensils, cups, bowls, etc. We also had a shelving unit in our basement that we moved toys out of and used as a pantry. We did use paper plates during this time, as we just had a bathroom sink to wash dishes in.

We also had a portable stovetop burner. A friend did a kitchen reno first so she lent it to us.

www.bestbuy.com/site/cuisinart-countertop-double-burner-silver/6416397.p?skuId=6416397&ref=212&loc=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ORIhzkwwAdDohplt7FVX2r8tKB&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ORIhzkwwAdDohplt7FVX2r8tKB&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpcOTBhCZARIsAEAYLuXk4zEKJs45SJ6qjaDm_OGM3P2a-nlGgY-TVaLRjM-VVsEufcvhTFYaAvj7EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Beyond that, we did a lot of sandwiches, cereal, cold food. We also did Freshly. They are pre made meals that you heat up in the microwave. They aren’t amazing and I probably wouldn’t order them outside of not having a kitchen, but they were fine in a pinch.

Good luck! It’s not fun, but I found that keeping myself organized went a long way to make it manageable.

[mrsukyankee]

What we did two summers ago - we had a kitchen set-up in our living room (no garage). We had a small fridge, a microwave, a kettle and our slow cooker. We also had access to our bbq grill. We'd make a slow cooker roast every Sunday and use the leftovers in meals (buy packet of microwaveable rice, some sauce, heat it all up, done) and then we'd bbq at least 2x a week. We'd have lots of salads and sandwiches. We used the bookshelves in our living room to hold items of food and foldout tables with the top of a desk as our workspace/microwave holder. We probably ate out 2x a week.

We used our normal dishes, wiped them off and then washed them in the bathtub at the end of the day (we put a filter over the drain so food waste wouldn't go down.

It was a pain, but was doable.

[devonpow]

Our remodel lasted 4 months. Our contractor made our dining room
Into a temporary kitchen, which really helped. They moved the fridge in there but most importantly got us a cheap sink and counter thing from Home Depot (they put plywood over the door to the kitchen and put the sink against that so they were able to attach the water). Having a sink and small counter area was KEY.

We did a late spring/summer renovation so we grilled a lot. DH would grill 3 or so different types of meat on Sunday and we would parse it out through the week with different easy sides (we had a microwave and hot plate, so we could steam veggies, use a wok for stir fry, etc).

It wasn’t great but it worked. Good luck!

[definitelyO]

May 3, 2022 11:53:36 GMT -5 Susie said:

If you ask around, maybe a friend can lend you a crock pot or instant pot for this period so you don't have to buy, but have an additional option.

My other suggestion is plan a vacation so that you're gone during the worst of it, lol.

right?!

sorry I do have a crock pot as well.

DH is going to spend most of the summer in the mountains with the 2 dogs - they won't fare well with demo and construction.... I'll be up there for part of it too.  but someone has to be there part time to finalize decisions, etc... and that someone is me

[definitelyO]

dutchgirl678, there are 3 of us - DH will be in the mts about 50% of the time or more. so then just me and 16 yr old DS the rest of the time.

[bittybomb]

Definitely used paper goods and relied heavily on my crockpot and instapot. Godspeed!

[just]

A question for those suggesting vacation - have you gone away during a remodel? I 100% trust my contractor, but it seems like so many questions might come up daily that it's nice to be around. And even with the best people, being in the space regularly seems important. Would you really recommend leaving during a renovation? (No snark...excited to consider leaving town during ours

[dancingirl21]

May 3, 2022 20:50:40 GMT -5 just said:

A question for those suggesting vacation - have you gone away during a remodel? I 100% trust my contractor, but it seems like so many question might come up daily that it's nice to be around. And even with the best people, being in the space regularly seems important. Would you really recommend leaving during a renovation? (No snark...excited to consider leaving town during ours

I, personally, would not. I wanted to see the progress and be there for any questions. And my DH was our contractor (he’s a GC as a profession). Even so, the trades doing the work had specific design questions that only I could answer. If it was something like them only completing flooring in a week or something along those lines, maybe I would go. But not when they are doing electrical, putting up the cabinets, etc.

[libbygrl109]

We were without a kitchen from mid-December to the beginning of April. Our house is pretty small, so we had to do a mix of simple meals and eating out. For the first 6 weeks or so without our kitchen, we were able to set up a folding table that served as our counter top. I planned meals around our instant pot, crockpot, and toaster oven/air fryer. We no longer had our large fridge, so we used a smaller one in the basement to store food. I only bought enough for a week’s worth of ingredients, because that’s about all it could hold. We did use our back porch to keep things cold as well (yay for a long, cold NE winter). We used mostly paper and plastic, but did pull out mixing bowls, utensils, knives and a cutting board for food prep. We have a utility sink in the basement, where we did our dishes.

For the 2-3 weeks when the bulk of the construction was happening, we did get take out during the week, but used our grill if we had a warmer day, and crockpot or instant pot on the weekends. We did spend a week with my mom while our floors were being refinished and I had to have surgery, so being able to cook again and not live in chaos during that time felt nice.

Meal planning was definitely the one thing that kept me sane. Dinners weren’t necessarily always the healthiest option, but it did give us a little bit of normalcy.

[jinkies]

We did this in 2020. We gutted our kitchen, dining room and family room.

The contractors put up plastic zipper walls around our living room, which was the only first floor room that wasn't affected. We moved the fridge in there, and set up a folding table for our microwave and toaster oven, and set up some bins for food and basic dishes/utensils.

I had grand plans to use the crockpot and still make meals, but the reality was that I did not have prep space or a convenient sink and it ended up being too much hassle.

We used the grill for very simple meals-- burgers, hot dogs, grilled veggies. We ate a lot of sandwiches, salads, cheese and crackers, cereal. And yes, we did get a decent amount of takeout.

We did have a laundry sink on the first floor that we could use to wash dishes.

[bhnumbers]

for disposable dishes, we used all compostable stuff. our county provides a compost bin as big as our trash can, so I bought compostable plates, bowls, and utensils on Amazon. they were a little more expensive than regular paper plates, but it made me feel a little better about being so wasteful! we still had some dishes to do like coffee mugs, water bottles and occasional serving bowls or tupperware.

we set up an area off off our living room with a folding table that help our microwave and toaster oven. underneath it, I kept the plates and such in some bins. breakfasts were easy because it was usually cereal or toaster waffles. for other meals we did a lot of things that other described--sandwiches, burgers on the grill, salads. And yes, we ordered a lot of takeout. A bunch of the restaurants near us have family meal deals and those worked out great and we usually had leftovers.

Good luck, it will all be worth it!!

[magdala]

We had a renovation running from March 21 to September 21
1. Meal planning was key because we had to work with microwave, crockpot, toaster oven and grill. You have pulled out the right tools, but you have to plan how to use them and how to wash them. We had to wash the crockpot in the shower because it was too big to wash in the bathroom sink. When we went grocery shopping, we would freeze portions of chicken and fish in marinades for those tough evenings when we needed something that did not require much thought. When you defrost the marinated chicken/fish, the marinade sinks into the chicken/fish. Grilled chicken/fish and salad/fruit salad was in regular rotation. Grilled fruit was a fun treat some evenings.

2. Plan to eat your comfort foods more often. The stress of the renovation will take a toll. Planning to eat your comfort foods can help. The stress is temporary. The family is forever.

3. Take out was key. We build 1-2 nights of takeout into the meal plan so that we could have something that wasn't possible with the limited kitchen.

3. Look at where the electric plugs are and whether you need extension cords.

4. Cooking and cleaning will take longer than normal because the temporary set up is less than ideal.

5. I love cooking. During the renovation, I went into subsist mode to survive. The comfort food helped. If you can make your comfort food into freezer meals, that can help a lot.

6. We used paper plates (compostable) but real silverware and real cups. Silverware was easy to clean in the sink. We were able to pick up compostable paper plates at Christmas Tree Shops at a Discount. Christmas Tree Shops operate in New England. Each family member had one glass and one mug and had to wash their own.

7. Add extra tape to the plastic covered doorways and don't go through them. Some dust will come through but the extra tape can help to minimize the dust. Keep a dustbuster near the entrance to help minimize dust.

8. Plan for delay. The supply chain issues hit us and doubled the length of time that it took to complete things. I hope you won't have as many delays but some delay is likely.

9. We didn't take a vacation during the renovation.

10. We love our renovated kitchen and it was so worth it.

[bhnumbers]

May 16, 2022 15:08:52 GMT -5 magdala said:

3. Look at where the electric plugs are and whether you need extension cords.

YES! also, make sure they can handle the load. we quickly found out that the microwave (a little one!) and the toaster oven could not be on at the same time without tripping the circuit breaker, lol. 

eta: to clarify, they were fine in separate outlets, but we started out with them plugged into the same power strip.