Help me feed my family for 6 weeks while they remodel my kitchen

[Anonymous]

If it can be made in a slow cooker or heated in a microwave, we can eat it.

On paper plates with plastic silverware. Because we'll be putting the "ass" in class while they remodel my kitchen.

[Anonymous]

For 6 weeks, I would invest in a freestanding burner or hot plate. That would let you saute chicken and fish, fry eggs, make grilled cheese, heat up soup, brown meat for tacos, and cook rice or pasta. There's very little you need an oven for in everyday cooking, but a burner comes in awfully handy. We bought one to use with our dinky generator during power outages, and it was only 20 dollars.

[Anonymous]

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

And I agree w/ PP. Great idea.

[Anonymous]

When we did this, I got one of those deep electric frying pans with a lid. You can do lots in it -- make anything you'd make in a frying pan, use it as a griddle, simmer stuff ... combine this with crockpot and microwave and you will be good to go.

[Anonymous]

What about a toaster oven, too? You can do tons with a toaster over. Six weeks is a long time ...

[Anonymous]

Any chance that you can move your oven to your basement while under construction? This is what my parents did when their kitchen was being remodeled while we were young. It was a life-saver.

[Anonymous]

Grill fish or chicken on George Foreman grill.

[Anonymous]

Baked potatoes, bean soup or chili in the crockpot, pulled pork or chicken, meat stews, microwave poached eggs and frozen veggies (eggs florentine?).

check out the thrift store for a snackmaster or george foreman grill (or maybe borrow from friend/relative?)--that way you could make grilled cheese sandwiches and simple meats. you can also buy cooked deli meat (a nice sliced ham) and rotisserie chicken. same for a griddle or rice cooker--you could probably borrow one and there is a lot you can make with either.

some grains/starches that cook quickly and don't need the stove: couscous, bulgar wheat, asian rice noodles (you soften in hot water), summer roll wrappers (soften in cold water and roll around fillings).

[Anonymous]

We lived without a kitchen for a lot longer than 6 weeks during our remodel.

We used a microwave, toaster oven, and crockpot inside, and we also used our grill outside. My toaster oven is actually a combo toaster/convection oven - can make chicken breasts, fish fillets, etc in there.

Also, if you can cook & freeze some stuff before you demo your current kitchen, that's a good idea. You can make things like chili, hearty soups, etc. in smaller containers & reheat in the microwave. We moved our old fridge/freezer to the garage during the construction so we had sufficient cold/frozen storage. We also did plenty of meals that didn't require cooking, like sandwiches (with bread or tortillas for wraps) for dinner because frankly, there were many nights when I just didn't feel like "cooking" dinner in the toaster oven in the family room. You can still eat reasonably healthy with a little effort - get a rotisserie chicken and microwave a baked potato for the kids, put the sliced chicken on top of bagged salad with some veggies for the grownups. The crockpot is great for pulled chicken for sandwiches, ropa vieja (my kids really like that), and I even made a baked ravioli dish in it that was pretty good. We did turkey hot dogs and chicken sausages on the grill a couple of times too.

This whole thing gets old pretty quick, so give yourself permission to eat less than ideally for this brief period. I try to avoid takeout and junky fast food, but kitchen renovations are stressful enough without trying to prepare a healthy balanced meal every night on your coffee table. I just decided that to preserve my sanity, our family would have to eat a bit more junk or processed foods than I normally like, and that we'd survive & go back to our normal routine once we had a kitchen again.

[Anonymous]

I lived without an oven for years. Gas grill outside did the trick!

[Anonymous]

Even if you already have a toaster oven, it is worth it to upgrade to the Breville Smart Oven. I believe it is $249 and you can use a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond. Like the pp above, you can cook chicken, fish, pizzas in it. You can bake in it. I actually think it cooks some things better than my regular oven. It was a lifesaver during our remodel.

[Anonymous]

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0612290629805.html

lots of great ideas on the gardenweb kitchen forum. The links mentioned are definitely worth a look.

[Anonymous]

We lived without a kitchen for a lot longer than 6 weeks during our remodel.

I expect OP will, too. Good luck OP, but budget for a little longer than you expect!

We have a gas grill outside with a burner attachment that saved us. We did this during the summer but crockpot ideas from PPs are very good, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We lived without a kitchen for a lot longer than 6 weeks during our remodel.

I expect OP will, too. Good luck OP, but budget for a little longer than you expect!

We have a gas grill outside with a burner attachment that saved us. We did this during the summer but crockpot ideas from PPs are very good, too.

Same here.

For us, the tricky part was not having a kitchen sink. It made cleaning and prep work such a PITA and the bathroom sink wasn't deep enough to get the crockpot bowl to wash it so we grilled as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

For us, the tricky part was not having a kitchen sink. It made cleaning and prep work such a PITA and the bathroom sink wasn't deep enough to get the crockpot bowl to wash it so we grilled as much as possible.

Yep. We were able to use our big laundry sink b/c fortunately our laundry is on the first floor right off the garage. But it was still a pain, as it has a tiny little drain (and obviously no garbage disposal!).