The Gourmet Mama

Cooking can be one of the messiest jobs out there…especially if you have a little helper with you. There are quite a few different tips and tricks that can help you keep your kitchen nice and tidy without having to slave for hours in it. There is no reason why the majority of the cleaning shouldn’t be done by the time the meal is ready to eat. Here are the top ten kitchen cleaning tips and tricks!

1. Invest in some dollar store tin foil and use it with all of your baking and roasting. You know how all the juices of the meat turn into that sticky brown goo at the bottom of the pan that takes forever and a day to soak and scrub off? Well, if you line your pans with the cheap tin foil from a dollar store, you can simply wrap it up and throw it out when you are finished. The most your roasting pan will need is a little rinse!

2. When you first start cooking a meal, fill your sink with hot soapy water so that you can rinse or wash you dishes as you go or at least throw them into the water so that they don’t dry and get crusty food bits on them. It makes clean up time a snap!

3. Pull the garbage can out from under the sink for easy access. That way you can easily throw away peelings and wrappers as you go instead of letting them pile up on the counter beside you.

4. Keep a wet cloth close by so that you can wipe up spills as soon as they happen. The faster you clean them up, the less you will have to scrub later.

5. Use your downtime to tidy. While the oven is heating or the water is boiling, quickly load the dishwasher, wipe down the counters or sweep the floor. Every little bit helps.

6. Minimize the use of dishes. When making cookies with kids, one of the best ways to minimize the mess is to dump all of the ingredients into large zip lock bag and securing it firmly. Then let them squish and play with it as much as they want until everything is all mixed together! Its great fun for them and it sure saves a lot of mess for you!

7. put down a piece of tin foil or parchment paper when you are rolling out cookie dough or making biscuits. This will save you having to scrub down the counter.

8. If you roll dough onto the counter and end up with some stuck to the counter, the best way to clean it up is by scraping it with a pancake flipper. This does a great job and doesn’t scratch the counter top.

9. To keep things from sticking to the bottom of the frying pan, warm up the pan before you put in the oil.

10. Make it into a game and get the kids to help you clean up. Give them each a job and make it a race to see who gets it done fastest! The winner can get to choose the first cookie out of the oven or their choice of seats at the dinner table!