How to Survive a Kitchen Remodel and Still Eat Real Food - Part 2: Temporary Kitchen

One of the reasons I was hesitant on starting this project is FOOD! When we remodeled our kitchen at our old house, it was pre-kids and we could go out to eat whenever. To be perfectly honest, I didn't have much worries about what I ate. But now, we have two kids - one with a life-threatening food allergy to peanuts - and we are very picky about what food we eat. Not to mention my goals for weight loss and health improvements. Eating out or highly processed crap just isn't an option. Don't get me wrong: We do go out to eat plenty and there are many safe alternatives for us (even in our small town). But, relying on fast, cheap food is not going to make us happy. And we knew that going into in.

Today, I'm sharing with you my temporary kitchen setup for this project. This is my second part in my "How to Survive a Kitchen Remodel" series. In case you missed my first installment, you can read about our initial planning phase here.

Time to Get Creative

I had to come up with a plan: what can I use for cooking, what will I cook, when will we be willing to go out to eat.

Equipment

This is what I came up with for equipment:

• Grill - Yes, I'm in Wisconsin and I grill all year around. I don't subscribe to the "grilling season" idea. We grill every week all year long. So, this was a no-brainer.


• Microwave - duh...


• Electric Skillet - I have one that I don't use too often but it's great for making one dish meals and stir fries. Perfect.


• George Foreman - for those days when I don't want to start the big grill.


• Crockpot - another "duh" ... of course I'm going to use my crock pots all the stinking time


• Toaster Oven - I'm borrowing one from a friend because our timeline is shorter than originally thought. Otherwise, I was pricing these out at around $40 at Walmart (some go as high as $90!). All I really was looking for was toast, bake and broil and is it big enough to hold my small sheet pan for veggies.


• Other small appliances like my Magic Bullet, Keurig, and immersion blender.

Bye Bye Batch Cooking

This one - I just know - I will struggle with. I like to cook ahead to save time. So, instead I'll need to keep it very simple with brown meats and veggie stir fries or tossing a roast with some veggies in the crockpot.

I also try to make up the kids snacks for the week on Sundays. With the toaster oven, I should be able to continue.

My freezer is already well-stocked with beef, pork, and salmon so making a bunch of dishes in advance just isn't going to work out well.

This is going to be a challenge for me!! But, it's only for a few weeks - so I keep telling myself.

Breakfasts and Dinners

I'm trying to plan out where to cook for meals. I'm thinking we'll use the living room for breakfasts. The boys can have waffles or [crockpot] oatmeal in the mornings - maybe eggs on occasion that I mix up in the skillet for us all. I typically eat my breakfast when I get to work so egg muffins made up on the weekend may come in real handy.

Dinners will be downstairs where I'll have more room and not feel so odd cooking on a carpeted floor.

Thank goodness for the BASEMENT!!

Have I told you that I have a wonderful - HUGE - basement!?! Yes, it's like my entire house right underneath us!

We've been taking out our cabinets to get ready for D-Day and have been installing them in the basement. This way, if I don't want to cook in my living room, I can go downstairs and get things ready. I'm thinking this will be my primary area for the crockpot.

Kids Lunches??

We haven't taken hot lunch in almost two school years. However, I had to come to the realization that perhaps I need a break one day a week or so. I spoke with our lunch coordinator (an awesome benefit of attending a private school!) and she showed me the March calendar early so that I could plan ahead. Safe choices included scrambled eggs, hamburgers, sloppy joes and barbecue pork. All bread is homemade by her at the school (no peanuts in kitchen but there may be some products which are made in a facility). She doesn't buy pre-made sloppy joes or barbecue - whew! And, no longer gets the hamburger patties from the food service company so it's 100% beef! While the fruits and veggies are not exactly ideal (my kids have a more sophisticated pallet, I guess), they really wanted to take hot lunch. Milk is the one that I'm really not happy about - my youngest has dairy issues. Once a week may not be too detrimental so we'll see.

Meal Plan for Week #1

I regularly plan out our meals for the week; something I do on Saturday morning sipping coffee while the rest of the house is still in bed.

Here's what we planned for our first week (Sunday start, which was the final d-day):

• Breakfasts:
  
  
  
  • Boys are on a waffle kick so I'll partake for them; they also have fruit (banana or cutie) on the way to school
  
  
  • For me, I made a crustless quiche before we took out the oven. Plenty to last me for the week
  
  
  
  


• Sunday Dinner: Roast chicken on the grill, veggies


• Monday
  
  
  
  • Lunch - chicken quesadilla, baby carrots, cutie, snack bar
  
  
  • Dinner - shredded pork roast, steamed carrots & green beans
  
  
  
  


• Tuesday
  
  
  
  • Lunch - Hot lunch (sloppy joes)
  
  
  • Dinner - Nachos on the grill
  
  
  
  


• Wednesday
  
  
  
  • Lunch - Homemade lunchable day (nitrate-free meat, organic cheese, carrots, cutie, gluten-free pretzels)
  
  
  • Dinner - out for dinner (wing night!)
  
  
  
  


• Thursday
  
  
  
  • Lunch - Sunbutter & Jelly (SBJ) with veggies, fruit and a little dessert
  
  
  • Dinner - sloppy joe's (I use Wildtree seasoning for my sloppy joe's)
  
  
  
  


• Friday
  
  
  
  • Lunch - Hot lunch (sub sandwiches)
  
  
  • Dinner - salmon patties, veggies, salad
  
  
  
  

So, that's the plan ... We'll see how we do in our first week!

Oh, and before I forget, here are some pics that I snapped of my "temporary kitchen". Enjoy!