Steps to Getting Your Kitchen Ready for the Holidays
Can you believe that the winter holiday season is already right around the corner? Not only is this a busy time for you and your family, but it’s also a very busy time for your kitchen.
Here are some tips for how to prepare your kitchen for holiday cooking so that this year’s festivities feel more fun than hectic.
Clear Away the Clutter
It’s impossible to work in holiday kitchen with a bunch of clutter, so make decluttering your first priority when getting your kitchen ready. This means sorting through piles of paperwork that have collected from neglected mail and organizing items into drawers and cupboards so they don’t take up valuable countertop space.
Assess and Replace What’s Broken
There’s nothing worse than starting to prepare a holiday meal only to find that a crucial appliance you need to use is broken. You probably already have a good assessment about the working condition of your refrigerator, stove, and microwave. But test your blender, crockpot, food processor, and any other small appliances that are rarely used to ensure they are working. This is a proactive tip for how to prepare your kitchen for holidays.
Clean Your Appliances
The pre-holiday season is also a great time to do some cleaning in the kitchen to avoid embarrassing grime and set your holidays up for success. Wipe down the inside and outside of your microwave, and clean around your stovetop and inside of your oven too before the big meal prep day. Also, use this opportunity to clean out your refrigerator to allow more space for holiday ingredients and toss out expired condiments that belong in the trash.
Repair or Upgrade Your Sink and Faucet
Some kitchen sinks and faucets are better equipped to handle holiday meal preparations than others. To accommodate more dirty dishes, you may want to upgrade to a sink with a double basin or triple basin, for example. Faucets that come in handy at this time of the year are pot-filler faucets for boiling water and bar and prep faucets for preparing beverages, and these options come in a variety of models to choose from.
Learn How to Properly Dispose of Scraps
Garbage disposals are particularly useful to have while preparing holiday meals, but it is important to understand what can go down them and what can’t. Most fruit and vegetable scraps are fine to put down your garbage disposal, as well as small cooked meat scraps and citrus rinds. Some food scraps to avoid putting down the garbage disposal in large quantities are banana peels because of their fibrous materials and potato peels because of their starchy content. To prolong the life of your garbage disposal, do not put eggshells, coffee grounds, or meat bones down it. Also, put these items in the trash rather than the garbage disposal: butter, grease, oils, fruit pits, paper scraps, pasta, nuts, corn husks, and seafood shells.
Ensure Cookware and Dishes Are Clean and in Good Condition
During the holidays, many families bring out their nicest dishes to use for visiting guests. Pull out these dishes and silverware in advance to wash it and have it ready to serve. Also, take a look at your recipes and make sure you have all the pots, pans, and baking dishes you’ll need or if you need to go out and buy a new item or two.
We hope you’ve found these tips for how to prepare your kitchen for holiday cooking useful, and we hope you enjoy the holiday season!