Do you have a burner on your gas BBQ? Our kitchen is out of commission for this week and we ordered pre-made meals from one of those places that offers pre-made home-cooked meals.

Here's a link to a thread that's fallen off. Luckily, we can still link to some old threads!

In particular, a pasta in MW recipe:

From pbrisjar: Microwave pasta

1. Take a large microwave-safe lidded dish and put in some water (maybe about 1/3-less than 1/2 full) and salt and/or spices if you want.

2. Place in microwave and cook until hot (about 5 minutes for the size I cook).

3. Take out of microwave and add pasta until the water just covers it. DO NOT overfill your container. Leave room for the bubbling/boiling action.

4. Cook for about 18 minutes. The water should become completely absorbed by the pasta.

5. If it's not quite cooked enough, you can add a little more water and cook for about 4-5 minutes more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: What/how do you eat when you have no kitchen?

Thank you! Keep those great ideas coming! Unfortunately, our microwave is tiny (think college dorm room), which makes it difficult to cook a meal for 4. I wonder how long one full tank of propane will last me on the grill...we'll be out of the kitchen for 3 months. Good thing the weather in CA lasts through the fall!

We were without a kitchen for about 4 months. One of things that came in handy is a camping stove. We had a very simple one with 2 burners. Make the best of the experience with your family. It's one you'll never forget.

Welcome to the Without a Kitchen Support Group! For two months all I had was a toaster oven and an electric teapot. You might want to find an electric teapot to use during this time. You can heat up soup (not exactly what you want to eat during the summer in CA--unless you live in San Francisco where summers can be freezing).

Also, pick up a good slow cooker cookbook. Lots and lots of things you can cook in a crock pot from soup to desserts. My problem was no sink other than a small bathroom one, so cleaning the crock pot was an issue. Don't know if it will be for you.

William Sonoma has the griddle Q on sale right now. You can use that on your bar-b-q to make pizza's, veggies, quesadillas, etc. You can always pick up some pre-made pizza dough and then add your own toppings. Pizza night one night a week might be fun for you and the kids. You can always do a dessert pizza too with bananas, strawberries and chocolate sauce.

If you run out of propane, get someone to help you fill it up. They are not hard to attach to the grill, just weigh a ton! The U-Haul place by me has the cheapest price to refill.

Try not to freak out. Cook up a storm now and freeze a lot of stuff in baggies, etc., that can be heated in the micro. It won't be pretty but you can get through it.

We are nearing the end of our 2 month journey, but I can relate. I've got a 5 and 2 1/2 yo too. We mostly grilled and used a 2 burner hot plate during the remodel. I thought we'd use the crock pot, but didn't (stews just didn't seem appealing in the summer heat). The hot plate was good for rice, pasta and eggs. I also used our waffle iron quite a bit on weekends. The one thing we didn't do as much as I thought was go out (although my parent's have had us over twice a week so that has been a huge help). We also ate a lot of salads & fresh fruits - things that didn't need to be cooked.

There's nothing quite like standing over the grill's side burner when one of those late afternoon summertime thunderstorms rips through and pegs you with gumball sized hail. I'd reiterate PP's suggestions to get a camping stove. (They also make single induction burners, if you don't mind spending more)

Our electric griddle has been invaluable. You can cook other things, like lentils, in your rice cooker. Sometimes I stir in a cup of lentils with my rice and add some cumin, etc. for an indian meal. Goes great with pineapple skewers on the grill.

My kids love this cold veggie salad. Broccoli and cauliflower florets + shredded cheese + yogurt + mayo + balsamic vinegar + Emeril's salad toppings. I always go half and half mayo and yogurt for any creamy salad, but feel free to do all mayo.

Now's a great time to introduce your kids to exotic fruits for some variety. It's been kindof nice too, because we eat at "uncle mark's house" once a week now. My brother has no children, so his house is video games, no precious furniture, no breakables. The kids love it there.

I have a 6 & 3-year-old (5 & 2 last year during our remodel). We made it through with an electric skillet, rice cooker & microwave. The rice cooker was great...you can make a tasty jambalya by throwing in rice, veggies, and cooked meat --from the skillet. Add broth and let the cooker do the rest.

Have you thought about getting a toaster oven? I love mine! They are only about $100 and you can make just about anything that goes in an oven in them -- just on a smaller scale. I have a small pyrex that I put in mine for fish or chicken; for kids you can put chicken nuggets (morningstar farms makes a great vegetarian version!), pizzas (or make pizza bagels), etc. I think mine is the best thing ever -- it warms up fast and is so easy.

About using a crock pot - you can purchase crock pot liners so clean up is very easy. Basically, it's a plastic bag that can withstand heat. Works great!

Here is a link that might be useful: crock pot liner by Reynolds

We bought one of those two-burner hot plate type deals, and we cook pasta on it all the time. Between that, our large toaster oven and the microwave, we honestly don't really eat that differently than we did before. We have been without a kitchen for five months now, but our setup is great, and we have not missed it much at all. The only types of things we don't make are pancakes from scratch, mostly because they are too messy without a large sink for cleaning the bowls, etc. But we baked cookies in the toaster oven the other night, we make soup and pasta on the burners all the time. We bought a rice cooker, but we haven't even used it. We also haven't used our crockpot much.

We cleared furniture out of a small room to set up our kitchen table, and I actually think that is key. Having a comfortable place to sit and eat makes all the difference.

My appliances were just installed yesterday and we demoed the end of April, so I know where you are coming from!! My kids are 3, 7 & 9 and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. We made do with a crockpot, microwave & gas grill. I bought a small cheapo toaster oven toward the end, but didn't end up using it too much. I browned alot of ground beef ahead of time and froze it, so I would put a pound in the crockpot with seasonings for sloppy joes, tacos, spagetti sauce, etc. I HIGHLY recommend the liners for the crockpot - makes cleanup a breeze, especially with out a GD. Also, I tried noodles in the crockpot, but they always ended up mushy. They worked better in the mircowave. Good luck!!

We've been without our kitchen for one month and have 2 more to go. My kids are 6 and 3 and we have a new au pair. For me, the hardest part has been living without a sink - I have to trek upstairs to the bathroom to wash fruit, sticky hands, etc. As a result, I've started buying 2 1/2 gallon jugs of water. We use it for drinking, washing small things, etc. I've also made the decision to not even try to cook meat. Instead, I buy prepared meat at Whole Foods - rotisserie chicken, sliced london broil, sliced turkey. I also buy prewashed lettuce and premade salad dressing. I also make a lot of couscous - all I have to do is boil water on the hotplate and then let it sit for 5 minutes - no draining and minimal mess. Although the kids eat on their plastic IKEA plates, the adults all eat on paper. It's not environmentally sound, but it's a lot easier on my nerves.

The one nice side effect of all of this, is that I spend a lot less time cooking. After I come home from work, I can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes. On weekends, I'm not busy cooking meals for the following week, but am out doing fun things with the kids. Although I'm excited at the prospect of my nice, new kitchen, not having to do as much house work has been an unexpected luxury.

Good Luck.

An induction cooktop. They are under $200 and work much faster than an electric cooktop. They can also be used after your remodel as a warming plate when you are having parties.

Good luck!

We cooked pasta all the time in our rice cooker - there's enough water that it doesn't automatically shut itself down to 'warm' and it worked just fine.

I definitely agree that for us the lack of a sink deeper than our bathroom sink was a bigger problem than any cooking thing. We were out of our kitchen for about 8 weeks (and then back in for 3 weeks and now out again for another week while the floor are being refinished; I've definitely lost my enthusiasm for making do).

We had a toaster/convection oven, a microwave, electric tea kettle, and we bought an electric skillet. I found that you can buy frozen rice (even brown rice) that was perfectly fine (it cooks in the microwave). I did a lot of stir fry type things in the electric skillet, with either rice or quick-cooking couscous just put in a big bowl with boiling water from the kettle poured over it and then covered with plastic wrap til done. We ate some frozen food (like lasagna) cooked in relay in our medium-sized MW and salads. We didn't eat out that much.

The thing that I think really saved me was having a counter-height table. We bought a 6-foot-long folding table for something like $40 at Costco a year or so ago that adjusts from table height up to counter height. Setting that up as the main prep space made cooking much less of a pain in the back, at least for me.