Our kitchen will be out of commission for 3 weeks (and that’s always best case) and I am thinking there must be pro tips about living without it? We can’t eat out, so don’t suggest it (food allergies! heart diet! Small town!) . I am borrowing a little refrigerator and have a big portable electric flattop and of course a microwave. Just feel like imma lose my mind…
And a crock pot if you have it! I lived without a kitchen for 4 months. It was trying.
Designate a dish/pot washing area if you can. That was the biggest pain.
Thankfully we had an outdoor kitchen to fill the gap. Thanksgiving 2014 was cooked outdoors- turkey and all the sides!
Hugs. Our kitchen was out of commission for 3 weeks. We survived by grilling a lot, using Instant Pot a lot, eating a lot of salads, and using paper plates and cups and disposable utensils! Good luck!
I thought I was so smart to cook our first meal in the crockpot, until I realized I had to wash it in the tub - buy some crockpot liners!
Cook on the grill, use paper plates, and try to cook in bulk (assuming your fridge will be plugged in in another part of the house).
We moved the big refrigerator around to the dining room. Used paper plates and plastic since washing up in a small sink was a pain. The outdoor grill and microwave were great. If I were doing it now my instapot and air fryer would be my go to, also.
We put our refrigerator in the garage, put a microwave and crockpot in the basement, did dishes in the first floor laundry room tub, and grilled a lot. It honestly wasn’t that awful.
Almost forgot - A toaster! And the coffee or tea pot!
Between the microwave, toaster oven and outdoor grill cooking was not bad but dishes were a drag.
Dishes do seem like a problem! even paper plates only get you so far…
We “relocated” our kitchen to the finished basement room next to the laundry. This allowed us to wash up using the laundry sink (which worked well). We survived with our spare fridge, a one burner electric hot plate (borrowed from a friend), a small microwave, and the outdoor grill. We used mostly disposable plates We hit several snags in our kitchen redo and it ended up going on for months. My daughter was little and ate pasta every night for dinner, it took forever to boil water on that little burner.
If I were kitchen-less today, I would buy a portable induction cooktop. They heat stuff up so fast.
I did use disposable dinnerware. There are some decent disposable utensils, and I paid the extra to get those. I tried to reduce dishwashing as much as possible.
We went almost a year without a kitchen after water damage. I set up a temporary kitchen in the laundry room since I have a large sink in there. I used a double electric hot plate I bought at Walmart, an air fryer/toaster oven, a small microwave my daughter had from college and a coffee pot & keurig. I set everything up on a portable table and used the top of the washer and dryer as the drying space for dishes. I also used an inexpensive shelving unit we already had under the table for the microwave, pots/pans and cooking utensils. I used the grill as well. I cleaned out a storage cabinet to use as our pantry. Our laundry room is just off the garage, so I was lucky to be able to use the garage fridge.
Edited to add: it wasn’t too bad once I had a system set up; the difficult part was probably adjusting my cooking style to recipes that didn’t have so many steps or components.
I forgot that I used cheap storage shelving to hold food, plates, cups, etc. It was very handy. I used a folding table and chairs as our dining area. Also, used the top of the dryer as the kitchen counter for drying dishes.
Good time to rely on prepared products like bag o salad, already cut fruit - any step saving products that aren’t junk!
Also I might come up with 5-7 meals you can prepare easily and then just rinse and repeat those for 3 weeks - so you’d end up having them 3ish times each.
It seems like a toaster over would be handy.
Although I’ve not had good opportunity to do so… I’ve thought that inviting friends over to dinner during their kitchen rehab would be a nice thing. And then send them home for with leftovers.
We ate a lot of salads and stir-fries. Easy to make, easy to clean. I’m happy that my husband is not a picky eater - after a few training seasons.
I went two separate two week periods without a kitchen just recently.
I had a dish pan to wash dishes. (During a prior kitchen remodel, I washed my dishes in the bath tub, but this house doesn’t have a bathtub on the same floor as the kitchen and I did not want to be hauling dishes up and down a flight of stairs.)
I had a microwave, an air fryer, a single induction burner and a big ice chest that’s used for camping. ( I went old school since I didn’t want to buy/rent a mini-fridge).
Meals were things that different parts of the meal could be cooked via different modes. Like sear a steak in frying pan on the induction burner, bake potatoes in the air fryer and microwave some frozen veggies.
I actually documented my meals by taking photos of what I ate for dinner every night. BBQ pork ribs roasted in an air fryer, microwaved sweet potato and Cole slaw. Philly cheese steak sandwich, air fried French fries w/ raw cut up veggies. Chicken fajitas. Spaghetti w/meat sauce, garlic bread heated in the air fryer and salad. Pan grilled trout, couscous, roasted Brussel sprouts. One pot mac & cheese with chopped ham & peas. Air fried chicken thighs, mashed potatoes, frozen corn cooked in the microwave. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and cucumber salad. Rachel sandwiches w/ side salad and chips. Quick roasted salmon w/ pesto sauce, buttered noodles, frozen veggie. Roasted duck legs w/ potatoes roasted in duck fat + veggie. Eggplant parmesan. Stir fried beef & broccoli over rice.
I can pretty much cook everything I usually make, but it requires some forethought and planning.
One time my oven died and it was a month or longer before it could be replaced. I figured out how to bake in an electric skillet. I even baked a cake in the skillet. It turned out Ok. Crust on the bottom was thick and a bit hard, but it was edible.
Husband, the picky eater, went out of town, That helped a lot!
Son1 and I got by with a microwave, toaster, and coffeemaker. I know you said no eating out, but we found one neighborhood vegetarian place and went there. Close by, cheap, and healthy, offering the sorts of things we had difficulty making at home.
My daughter has a friend who has been without a kitchen for a year with no end in sight. Add in a one year old and another due in a few months.
She has metal racks with all of her dishes and appliances set up in her upstairs family room. There is a wet bar with small refrigerator and a larger bar sink. They have a larger Fridge in another part of the downstairs. My daughter said her friend uses an air fryer, microwave, toaster/convection oven, crock pot, instapot and an induction burner.