Do you have any tips for this messy cook?

This is a spillover from the bundt pan thread. I'm so messy in the kitchen. I swear I can't even make toast without being up to my ankles in crumbs. So any tips to keep the place clean are helpful.

One thing I do is keep the large sized aluminum foil on hand. I always line the roasting pan. This cuts down on the greasy cleanups.

And I suppose I could wash as I go when baking. When I do remember to fill the sink pan with hot suds before I start, things do clean up faster. Can you tell I still don't have a dishwasher?

though I mostly just rinse and stack in the sink and put away ingredients after I use them. I have limited counter space so that's the only way I can do it and have any room to work. I also keep wiping the surfaces with a sponge or wet paper towels.

I love the smiley! :D

They allow remote linking. http://www.my-smileys.de/

And thanks for your tips. I should be more disciplined. Oh, one more fomr me - we use cheap paper plates for stuff like a quick lunch sandwich or morning toast. I have a stack of wicker under-plates, so the cheap paper works fine.

I'm a clean-as-you-go cook. In fact, I find there are many times (but surely not always) that I enjoy cleaning. I'm a tool guy kinda person. I really like tools. My car tools get cleaned. I enjoy waxing a saw blade to make it shine and allow it to cut without binding. Same with my pots and pans and knives and cutting boards and mixers and .... and .... and. I enjoy cleaning them. I get a tactile satisfaction from holding them and wiping them.

Sparkly, on the other hand, is my polar opposite. When she cooks, the spoon gets laid *next* to the spoon rest. When she washes things, there's water everywhere. (One big reason we got the stainless counters!) For her, the best kitchen would be one made like a large Tupperware bowl with a hose at the top and a drain at the bottom so we could just spay it all down when she's done.

Now, to be fair, she uses far less pots and pans, knives and gadgets when she cooks than I do. I like to use them. She likes to simply get the job done and eat a great meal. For me, its the process. For her, its the result.

Now eleny, I have to ask a personal question. Are you messy at the bathroom sink, too? Sparkly goes in there and in seconds there's water everywhere. Virtually every night she comes out of there after her evening ablutions with a huge wet spot on the front of her shirt. I mean a huge wet spot ... not a few little drop spots. We're talking the size of a dinner plate wet spots. "I have *no* idea how that happens" she sez. And ya know what? She really doesn't.

I think messy vs clean is a genetic thing. One's easier to live with than the other, but they don't measure a person's worth. My son's SO is very much like Sparkly. My son is very much like me ... only worse. A neat freak. She calls him "anal" ... and she's right. He makes even me nutz.

Bathroom sink is the complete opposite of my kitchen sink area - which I truly try to keep up with. We have one bathroom in this house and I like the counter neat and dry. In fact, I'm always reaching for a tissue to get the counter droplets after washing up. So, go figure. Now that you describe it, I'd like a kitchen with a ceiling spray and holes in the floor. Mine would need to be designed by the same people who design car washes!!!

When we did some remodeling a few years ago, I had them install a work sink in our back hall. It's a sort of back entry, hall and mud room all in one. 8' by 8' square. We had them move our hot water heater from the bathroom to that area. And under the window, between the heater and my stackable washer & dryer, I had them install my little plastic jewel of a sink. We make so much use of it. Being next to the water heater, the water comes out steaming in a flash. I use it to arrange cut flowers, wash big pots, clean paintbrushes and have a quick hand wash when I come in from shopping or gardening. It helps keep the adjacent kitchen a bit cleaner. I think they should be mandatory in any new house.

Now, your habits in the kitchen remind me of a library book I wish I could find again. I went through a phase decades ago of reading all sorts of books by people who bought old places in the country. It was a new genre back then. This one book was by a guy in England who bought a very old country estate type house. It even came with the old gardener in residence. The gardener was so fastidious that he kept a metal bucket filled with sand and doused with some oil. He'd clean his tools and then dip them into the sand/oil mixture before giving them a last wipe to keep the metal tools from rusting. Now that's a guy who respects his tools. And I think you must be like that with all your gadgetry.

and I've been told that the "in" thing is to go with a pedestal sink. Where do you put the *stuff*??? We have an 8ft long vanity with a sink in the middle and when I walk out of there, I've used it ALL!

It's been suggested that we at least put in two sinks. Why? So my husband can shave while I brush my teeth? I don't think so. It's a one person bathroom. I don't think he wants to be anywhere near the sink when I'm in there.

Mary

...we finally installed a tub on feet that we had for a long time stored in a shed. So, I was really hot to trot and get a pedestal sink. But like you, we wondered where to put our stuff. So, we got a Corian with the molded sink. Countertop looks like beach sand with the white sink interior. the combo goes really well with old fashioned styling. So, although I love the pedestals with some storage are for a cup and stuff, I'm so happy we went with contemporary design. Having a place for everything keeps things neat looking.

and now use a few tricks to minimize the mess.

I keep my cutting board right next to the stove and a compost bowl next to the cutting board. Cut veggies are scooped up and put directly into the pan next to the board; scraps go right into the compost bowl. I keep a wet sponge there at all times and frequently wipe down the counter. I have a double sink, so it's easy to give measuring cups and spoons a quick rinse and drop them into the drainer.

My 1952 kitchen has exactly 48 inches of counter space, so keeping things convenient and tidy is an absolute necessity.

was half the fun :bounce:

but I do have a bunch of "bar rags" that are too ratty to go to the store that I use to wipe as I go (sponges are just bacteria breeding grounds and paper towels are expensive and end up in the landfill) I start with a fresh bar towel every day and wash them once a week in bleach and hot water

I do keep a sponge that I use to WASH the dishes but never the counters

once the "whatever" is in the oven I put stuff away and wipe up but my apron "shows" that I am a messy cook and God defend my clothes the time I cook without it

if you need bar towels they are cheap at Costco in the automotive section (don't buy "bar towels" they want stupid $$)--$15 for 45 towels (and worth every penny)

I start with two fresh ones in the morning and toss them in the laundry every night. I have a special laundry bin in the laundry for the kitchen towels. I try not to use a sponge for anything other than dishes. I also microwave my kitchen sponge for 45 seconds every night to sanitize it.

for folks who don't have a dishwasher (i put mine thru the dishwasher) but the microwave idea is better! Thanks!

in my business I had to do a two day seminar and testing for "food safety/sanitation management" and it's changed how I do things quite a bit in my kitchen.

edit to add... at the shop I have 4 counter towels that rotate thru the "sanitation solution" (better known as weak bleach water we change every 6 hours) and there are times I seriously consider getting a bucket for the same thing at home!

Since I make coffee drinks at work full of sticky sweet syrup and fruity puree my counter towels get thrashed and my station is a disaster after a "rush" I don't get too worried about my messes at home. They can't hold a candle to the counters at work when I put out 3 drinks a minute for 20-30 minute stretches all full of coffee, sugar and milk LOL

I'm going to get some this week. I like that idea so much. We go through paper towels like mad around here. I even use that new paper-like cutting boards in the package for cutting up chicken. Tom Martino (Troubleshooter.com) is on the radio and tv here. His people tested them out and found fantastic results for keeping the counter free of bad poultry bacteria. But I'm thinking I can put a small bucket of mild bleach solution under my work sink in the mud room for those shop towels.

I've gotten some really good tips today that I can already put into practise.

at Ace Hardware or Home Depot for a couple bucks. They are white and have a handle so they are easy to move. If you fill the can about 3/4 it takes about a capful of bleach for the perfect "solution"

I've never done that but will do it tonight!

45 seconds is enough to kill the bacteria. The added benefit is that the steam and soap from the sponge soften the crud inside the micro, making it easy to wipe off.

And then I washed up the tub of odds and ends dishes etc from today. I know you can't really see a difference in the sponge. But it feels great knowing that it's been sanitized so well. I left a little ceramic plate on top of the microwave to remind me to do this until it becomes second nature. I'll probably sanitize it a few times a day. Thanks again!

I have "levels" of messy. I guess the only real tips that comes to mind are make lists and do as much ahead as possible, so you at least have a window of opportunity to cover-up and look less messy. Live casual, cook well and enjoy food. The messiness won't be as noticeable.

We're very casual when we have friends over for a sit down meal and we eat in the room we call "The Gathering" which is only separated from the kitchen by a long bar.

The gathering is what was built as a formal dining room, but we have a 30ft long living room and feel having a formal dining room is a waste of space, so we have our dining room set at one end of the living room. That's just used for large parties, which are buffet style and we spread all over the house for sit down spots. Actually, at the beginning of such a party, I put the appetizers there to try to move people away from the kitchen. That's not a tip, because it never works!!

Soooooo, for those large groups and even the small sit down, though I'm messy as hell, I'm a compulsive organizer, so everything is prepared well in advance and my husband keeps following behind me cleaning, so all I have to do before people arrive is put away what he cleaned. Cause, of course, he somehow has no idea where things go. But he does clean, so that's huge!

When it's just for us.............I'm pathetic!! When I sit at the table, I sit with my back to the kitchen mess.

When I'm preparing food to take somewhere or doing a mega cooking, it's worse than pathetic. If my husband has been following me cleaning, the clean stuff is piled everywhere, along with the pans of food to go. Maybe I need less "stuff". Like do I really need 8 mini muffin pans? And do I use just two? Nah, I get them all out and messy!

When we leave, the joke is "Did you lock the door?" The reply, "Why bother. If someone broke in, they'd see the mess and figure someone beat them to it."

Mary

The clutter got to be too much and I got tough on myself when DH and I moved into the little house.

My two saviors in the mess prevention department are my pantry, and flour-sacking cloths. The former is where everything goes, and as soon as I've measured, it goes back in the pantry. We have an island with the stove in it, and the pantry is opposite the side of the island that is the bar space. So things get mixed on the bar, put back in the pantry (because if I don't we don't have any place to eat!) and wiped up there.

The other thing - flour-sacking towels - go under everything. If we're making waffles, there's a towel under the iron to catch drips. If we're making salad, there's a towel under the cutting board to catch water and little flecks of stuff. The towels were really cheap (not that I remember the exact price, but I didn't feel bad about buying a gajillion of them) and they wash fine. I pick them up when I'm done with whatever, wipe down the cabinet with a damp one, and the dirty ones go in the laundry. While DH is doing the dishes, I catch the floor with a dustmop nightly, and steamer it once a week.

Given free reign and someone to pick up after me, the kitchen would be a health department violation.

That's a new one to me. I like it. Sometimes we put a paper towel in front of the coffee maker to catch spills and keep the old almond colored countertop from geting stained. But I never thought to put it under my other work when I'm at my bigger all-purpose counter. I'm short on counter space around here and try to not beat up what we have. Thanks!

the units twice that size

http://www.americanchairstore.com/flsato28x291.html

For some reason, McGuckin's is floating to the top of my head, but that may be because I buy almost everything at McGuckin's.

*Sigh* What a great place. A Boulder legend. They have it all.

in cleaning up was to spray any pan that was going into the oven.
Spray Crockpot's before filling, too. That is the cutest smiley.:)

I've used this for a good 20 years and even sent it to Heloise.

I doesn't keep me from being messy, but it helps me keep track of notes or recipes, so I don't lose them under egg shells or whatever.

I took a page from one of the photo albums. The kind you can slide 4x6 photos into. Now I have photos of the grandkids in them and thumb tacked it to the inside of a wall cabinet, so when I open the cabinet, they're right at eye level. Mine is the door of the cabinet where the drinking glasses are, so it's nice to see the photos every time I open the cabinet.

When I'm using a new recipe, or have notes to myself for a major cooking day, I slide all the recipes and notes into the 6 pockets (right over the kiddie pix) and I have them right there at eye level. I sure beats lifting bags of sugar or whatever, trying to find where I laid my note or find it got wet and the ink ran. And of course, having a cabinet door wide open while I'm working is par for my kitchen anyway.

Mary

I use the internet to find and print recipes all the time, now. And guess what - they all have those runny blotches on them. That or little crusty "unknowables". I have open shelves over my main work counter. But I can find a way to rig up your idea. It will keep recipes clean and also keep them from sliding out of view like under the microwave. Thanks!

Martha Stewart's way vs Maxine's way


Martha's Way: Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

Maxine's Way: Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You're probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway.



Martha's Way: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Maxine's Way: Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix, keep it in the pantry for up to 1 year.



Martha's Way: When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

Maxine's Way: Go to the bakery! They'll even decorate it for you.



Martha's Way: If you accidentally oversalt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix-me-up."

Maxine's Way: If you oversalt a dish while you're cooking, too bad. Please recite with me the real woman's motto: "I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!"



Martha's Way: Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

Maxine's Way: Celery? Never heard of it.



Martha's Way: Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Maxine's Way: Take a lime, mix with tequila, chill, and drink!



Martha's Way: If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Maxine's Way: Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.



Martha's Way: Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

Maxine's Way: Leftover wine?? HEL-LO!!!!

Martha: A complicated routine for making hospital corners and fixing the bed up fancy

Eleny: Shut the bedroom door.

A few splashes of bleach and fill it with water. I use it to sanitize the counters and cutting boards. I spritz the counters before food prep - particularly fish items - and after I'm done. I also spray all the cutting boards after washing them. I let them air dry and thens tore them in a wire rack made to hold plates. It keeps the cutting boards apart and allows air to circulate.

I saw my troubleshooter guy, Tom Martino, give a report on these on the local tv news. He had them tested and reported about them here on his web site. http://www.troubleshooter.com/cf_misc/Columns/ColumnDetails.cfm?ColumnID=459 The only problem his chef had with them is that they tended to slide a bit. But no cross contamination on the counters. I use mine placed over my largest wooden cutting board and didn't experience the sliding. Sliding could be a disaster. I only use it for taking a chicken apart. And for that I usually use my best kitchen scissors. Thankfully, my wooden board keeps any sliding from occurring.

P.S. Edit: I also use a bleach spritz followed by Countertop Magic for the glow that has a great fragrance.

But after using them, I find I prefer the heft of a good old fashioned solid cutting board. Sparkly Jr uses them to cut apples and such.

I've never seen the disposable ones. Reading your comments and the news story you linked, I suspect they'd act the same as the mats I used.

In 1993 the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin conducted tests of wood surfaces. Their goal was to compare wooden cutting boards with plastic cutting boards for relative safety and cleanliness.
Seven species of wood were tested with intentional contamination of E-Coli, listeria and salmonella (bacteria which can cause sickness in humans); as were four types of plastic. To everyone's surprise, they found that on all of the wood surfaces the bacteria were killed off within 3 minutes of touching the wood surface. This did not happen on the plastic surfaces.
Therefore their recommendations were as follows: Simply use normal hygiene (soap and water) when cleaning a wooden cutting surface and all bacteria left behind will be killed by the wood itself-leaving a sanitary surface for your next usage. We also recommend using a weak (1-10) dilution of bleach if it makes you feel better. It won't harm the wood.

an article with more... http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/cut-bo93.txt

An old friend once posed that reasoning. But I never knew it worked to kill off bacteria in 3 minutes! I have a couple of plastic ones that I'll start using exclusively for veggies, saving the wooden ones for slicing cooked meats and my paper ones for raw protein foods.

one for every day of the week. After each use, I stick the cutting board in the dishwasher. I do this even if I only used the thing to cut up veggies for the salad. I know the board is probably safe to use again, I just don't want to take the chance.

i'll set that up tomorrow in the kitchen

I used cheap spray bottles and the bleach literally would dissolve the little nozzle inside. Sometimes in a month or less! I finally went to a restaurant supply house and bought one for about $5. That has withstood the bleach quite well. Several years now, and still going strong.

After cooking bacon -- lay the paper towels you drained the bacon on into the cooling empty skillet, and all the fat will be absorbed. Take the paper out when it's time to wash the pan, and just throw it all away. No more wondering how to dispose of the bacon fat. (Of course, some people may SAVE bacon fat for cooking.)

Oh, and when I need to degrease browned ground beef, I pour the fat into an empty yogurt cup. Pop the lid on, throw it away.

(Those lids are also great for kids' craft paint palettes.)

(Oh, and they also make great impromptu tiny frisbees.)

Paper towels work great. Bacon makes so much grease!

stuff. Probably not good for me but so easy and convenient

They had a great 'buy one and get one free' sale at Soopers. I stocked up for my mom. She loved the convenience and I didn't worry about her dealing with the hot grease while I was at work. I don't think I've tried it since then. But it was so good. I should give it another try. It would be perfect for camping. Anythng to make cleanups easier.