Do you enjoy cooking and love to make dishes in your free time? This article is not about cooking techniques or recipes. Here, we want to reveal a topic that other experts rarely discuss. We would like to talk about cleanliness in the kitchen, its importance, and how to keep it clean while cooking.
In fact, the appearance of your kitchen and how clean it is can say a lot about you as a chef and as a person in general. Dirt, food scraps, and smudged dishes interfere with the normal cooking process, so you can use meal prep glass containers, keep a bin handy, and clean up as you go. Don’t underestimate this process and let your kitchen turn into chaos. Read on to learn some important tips for keeping your kitchen clean while cooking!
Tip 1. Keep only essential food and tools close by
Every year, you can see how the list of the world’s best chefs is updated. Each of them is a unique chef with their own approaches and methods. However, the thing that unites them is cleanliness in the kitchen. Any professional chef emphasises tidiness as one of the main factors in preparing delicious dishes. And one piece of advice you often hear from professionals is to keep only the most necessary tools and ingredients close at hand.
Your kitchen can be organised even before the cooking process. What do we mean? Prepare the ingredients and equipment you actually require, as opposed to rummaging out everything in the cupboards in case you need it. This eliminates the accumulation of clutter, and you have adequate space to cut, blend and move freely. It is also prudent to have soft cleaning wipes around at the initial stages themselves. Splashes, crumbs and drips are much easier to handle when they are fresh.
Tip 2. The bin should always be close at hand
A trash bin or a compost container must be placed near your prep area. Whenever you have the opportunity to clear food waste, wrappings and peels, you will not be tempted to leave them lying around. This reduces the chances of cross-contamination, as well as helps in keeping your preparation area clean, particularly when you are dealing with raw meat or particularly on a strong-smelling ingredient.
Preferably, use a bin with a foot pedal or touch-free lid to be hygienic and fast. Its proximity makes you feel organised and ensures that you don’t have to stack waste on the counter. The fewer the number of journeys that you make around the kitchen, the more your ability to keep the surrounding environment clean and concentrate on your recipe.
Tip 3. Use special containers
It’s no secret that cooking is a multi-step process. What’s more, some complex and sophisticated dishes can involve up to 10 techniques at once. Using the same pots and pans after each step is not the best solution. That’s why culinary experts advise having a set of special containers in your kitchen. For example, you can prepare meals with glass containers, storing fresh or pre-processed foods in them. Imagine making fish and chips, where you need to make batter, fry the fish and potatoes, and make the sauce. Special containers are great for storing food and keeping other utensils clean.
However, you should pay attention to the choice of such special containers. Not all plastics are harmful, but you should look for ones that are food-safe and free from problematic additives. Glass containers remain a reliable option, but it’s also worth considering only reputable brands. Thus, companies such as Igluu Meal Prep have proven themselves in the UK market and beyond.
Tip 4. Choose the right chemicals for cleaning
What you are using is equally important as the frequency of cleaning. Use cleaners that are specific to the kitchen environment since they are more akin to dealing with grease, food particles, and substances that are subjected to heat. Weak multi-surface spray can be used to do daily wipe-downs, and stronger degreaser can be used in hobs, ovens and oil-prone areas.
You may also want to take into consideration eco-friendly or odourless alternatives in the case you are a regular cook. They are less toxic to the food preparation areas and limit severe exposure to chemicals. Your preferred products need to be kept in an orderly and accessible place where they can be easily accessed to deal with spills in the moment.
Tip 5. Invest in a dishwasher
Having a dishwasher at home is no longer a luxury, but a requirement. For example, just look at the statistics for dishwasher ownership in the UK in 1994 and 2018. These figures have more than doubled. This fact suggests that people no longer want to spend their precious time washing dishes. That is why we recommend investing in a reliable, high-quality dishwasher that will help keep your kitchen clean after cooking and eating. Here are some situations where this decision will be beneficial for you:
- You have a large family (more than three people).
- You are tired of washing dishes by hand.
- Traditional dishwashing leaves traces of dirt or food residue.
Dishwashers aren’t just for plates. Modern appliances can handle a variety of utensils and cookware, including glass containers for meal prepping, pots and pans, and much more. It’s a great solution if you value yourself and your personal time!
Wrapping up
Keeping your kitchen clean while cooking is something that many people ignore, but they shouldn’t. If you keep surfaces and utensils clean at all times, you will also have better control over all cooking processes. A dirty kitchen environment simply prevents you from cooking well and quickly. Therefore, you should follow a few tips from this article. For example, choose special containers from Igluu Meal Prep to store ready-made meals or products.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of your personal time cleaning the kitchen, you should get some tools such as a dishwasher and a waste disposer. What else? Don’t forget to choose the right chemical liquids for quick cleaning of kitchen surfaces. We hope our article will help you maintain constant cleanliness in your kitchen before, during and after cooking!
