Whether you’re a mom, a wife or single living alone, you have still probably hit the kitchen looking for something tasty to cook up more times than you can count or even try to remember.
You probably don’t think about things like safety in the kitchen, or the kitchen water you’re using to cook with. You probably just think about the food you’re about to prepare and how to get it done most quickly and without a lot of fuss.
If I’m cooking in my microwave oven, I look inside to make sure that I properly cleaned the inside the last time a bowl of leftover chicken noodle soup exploded at the 3-minute mark. And if I’m cooking on the stove-top range, I always check to make sure no food had fallen beneath the burners and that no sauce and dripped and dried on the burners themselves. It saves a lot of energy, a lot of time, a lot of stress and a lot of worry if I do that ahead of time.
When I’m washing vegetables or fruits, I always think about the way I’m about to prepare the food I’m going to eat. You absolutely have to consider your kitchen water when you’re cooking with it and drinking it. Do you really want to wash your fruits in water that has been treated with fluoride? Many cities and state governments have mandated the addition of fluoride to the public water wells and systems to promote dental health. They say it’s not enough to harm you—I drink a lot of water and I also use a lot of water in my cooking. If you’re boiling your water then the addition of fluoride and dozens of minerals probably shouldn’t be a problem. But if you’re drinking 90 ounces of water every day and rinsing all of your vegetables in that water and using it to make iced teas and cold soups, like gazpacho, then you might want to think twice about the role kitchen water plays in your diet.
Generally, I’m cooking for 4-10 people, and when I get to the larger end it can be a really big hassle in my small kitchen, especially since when I’m cooking for 10, everyone will eat seconds and thirds, so I’m really cooking for 20-30. A lot of people don’t understand that you can’t cook for 20 in small kitchens. Unless you’re smart about it.
Safety in the kitchen is the number one thing you have to think about when you’re cooking in small kitchens. You have to make sure that you don’t lay the plastic mixing bowl on the burner that’s starting to heat up for the stir-fry. And you have to make sure that your countertops are free of sharp objects that shouldn’t be there, unnecessary objects and clutter that could easily catch on fire from a searing pan or slow cooker, and of course, tiny hands—you’d be surprised how quickly your children can sneak into your kitchen, get burned and send what could have been a peaceful evening packing right into the emergency room.
The next thing you have to think about is taking all of your ingredients and necessary cooking appliances and utensils out of the kitchen cabinets ahead of time. Once you start cooking, it will be virtually impossible to get to your kitchen cabinets without causing some sort of disaster that could have been avoided if you had only planned ahead. But once you’re in that situation there’s really no use in thinking about the what-ifs. There’s only recognition and learning so you don’t get stuck without salt ever again for that Salted Redfish you’ve been slaving over for hours.
But cooking full-time in your kitchen at home isn’t just about avoiding fluoride-injected kitchen water and ceiling-high flames from that little piece of bread that was caught between the burner and the plate when you started boiling water for your macaroni and cheese.
It’s about something bigger: feeling good about yourself.
I don’t think there’s ever a day where I walk into my kitchen, pull open the kitchen cabinets, throw all my favorite seasonings over a fish or chicken breast that I’m pan-searing on the range, take a bite and then feel bad about myself. The kitchen is the only place where I can make that perfect birthday cake for my son or my nephew. It’s the only place where I can make my special top-secret Christmas fudge wreath that everyone always asks for the recipe to but that I never give away. It’s the only place where I can open the window and let the smell of my latest creation waft out into a waiting world and let the smell of the waiting world (hopefully flowers and a summer breeze) waft back in.
But I don’t stop thinking about safety in the kitchen and ways to make my small kitchen more efficient just because I love to be there. In fact, I think about it more.
One of the things people do wrong the most when they’re cooking all the time is forget about the “little things” like safety and efficiency that make the later experience more enjoyable. If I have to search for hours for my whisk because I’m using it to prop up the corner of the refrigerator, my kitchen isn’t safe and it isn’t efficient so I’m left whipping my scrambled eggs via fork and that’s never as good.
That’s why I always tell people that when you’re cooking full-time in the kitchen, the ingredients come last. Safety in the kitchen and being efficient always comes first—that’s how you cook for 4 or for 30 and still have time to enjoy every last minute.
Tags: safety in the kitchen | kitchen cabinets | small kitchens | small kitchens | kitchen water | countertops | countertops