I plead the Fifth.

dcarch

I am a cook who is pressed for time. I work a split shift at home, first part of the shift ends at 3 and the second starts at 6. In that 3 hours I have to pick the kids up from school, do various things around the house and get dinner cooked. I usually get it done right around 5:55 or 6 and rush into my office. There is no time to clean up afterwards. The teenagers load the dishwasher but anything that does not fit will usually be there the next day, waiting for me. Because I am pressed for time, there is also not enough time to wash things to use again so I own multiple sets of measuring spoons, cups, etc. My kitchen has often looked like foodonastump's.

I am also a terrible laundress who hates shopping so I am good about wearing my apron because otherwise I forget to treat the grease on a shirt and then forget and stick it in the dryer setting the stain. Aprons have definitely helped prevent that problem.

I am a "clean as you go" type. SWMBO is a "make a big mess and clean it up at the end" type. Early in our marriage, we established the rule that whoever cooks the meal also does all the dishes. That was because I told her that I'd rather not eat her cooking than have to clean up after her. Nevertheless, we remain married.

I've never been able to master the "clean as you go" routine. I rinse my dishes before washing them. I keep my sink drainer in the second sink where they drain and I dry them.

So there's no way to rinse the dishes first before washing and I detest putting dirty, unwashed dishes in the sink.

No idea what the issue is. ....I make the mess and " himself" cleans up behind me. Kitchen is spotless when I'm done preparing and sparkling when I wake up in the morning to the point of a washed floor had I been particularly messy.

That is the way it is suppose to be isn't it?

Ok, a little over an hour.

Yes chase, that is the way it is supposed to be! I wish that was the way it was here. Dh used to load the dishwasher. I worked on getting the teenagers trained to do it so that he could get the pans done. That was not the way it worked out.

DH also has a penchant for using things that cannot go in the dishwasher. They live in a corner of the kitchen until he gets to it because while I like nice things, I do not like them enough to wash by hand, even if that means my wine is in a regular glass and not a goblet.

I do as Rhizo does, even at work. It's a lot easier to spend a minute or two washing up a couple of things as you wait for whatever to "boil for five minutes" or "saute for three minutes" than to stand around watching that happen then have a big pile of washing up at the end.
Johnliu, you and SWMBO are like DH and I in reverse :-)

I run and empty the dishwasher before I start making a new mess. Load it as I dirty things. Run it as soon as I'm done or it's full, whichever comes first. If I'm really on a roll and have a lot of things dirty and the dishwasher is already running, I can load my single bowl sink with a LOT of stuff and it's out of the way. Empty the DW right away and reload. I have multiple everything. I would like to invest in a couple of new 9x13 but at my age.....do I need to purge and buy new? Probably not.

I had this no piling dishes by the sink rule that only lasted for six months. :) It's random dishes that get to me. How much more work is putting it in the dishwasher? But then I put some water in an icky dish because my DW doesn't do particulates... Oh, yeah, that's why...then the glasses and spoons seem to join in... Oh, joy.

During cooking/baking is different, if I don't have a deadline. I'm not big on clean as you go. I'll just rinse very briefly and put things in the sink. I do clean as there's time. That is, if something is doing its thing without my attention, I'll clean up whatever is around. If there's a set dinner time, and I'm by myself (often enough there are minions), I'll just start piling things in the sink, including containers, scraps that fell on the floor and whatever, because I have no time to even think about it. Dirt goes in the sink, whatever it is. It's a big sink. :)

What I have found, however, is that the first time I make something, I'll do a full mise-en-place, with lots and lots of bowls, and intermediate trays from the first brown this, reserve that kind of thing, extra pots, plus the extra because the first was too small, etc. By the third time through, I usually have it cut way down, and the pot lid (which will need washing anyway) becomes a side vessel, etc. I've been learning to bake with the least amount of most dishwasherable items to save washing water with some success, but I save my handwashables with just a rinse until I have enough to make the water worth it. Or a day. Knives get washed immediately, no matter what.

I should mention that I saw this thread at an opportune time: I'm writing this while dinner is in the oven cooking, and I've just cleaned up the kitchen. :)

LOL @ foodonastump's posts. I try to as-you-go clean, too, but sometimes the dish needs constant attention, and is best eaten hot. So there can be a time lapse before the ideal countertop visual.....from time to time....lot's of times. :)

Like Sharon/chase, I cook and Elery cleans. If he cooks, I clean. It works really well for us as we are both extremely messy cooks, so whether he cooks or I do, the kitchen is a disaster afterward.

I do utilize my dishwasher and try to load it as I go, but, well, I'm remiss. LOL

Annie

For marathon messes (like holiday baking or getting ready for a party), I'll have hubby take a vacation day. He's the best tool in the kitchen because he's good at taking instructions, getting equipment or ingredients, and a real pro at clean-up. He's also good at putting up with my loud heavy metal and classic rock music. If it's Christmas I play Christmas music, and if it's cooking for a St. Patrick's Day Hooley (party) I play traditional Irish music, and patriotic music for Independence Day.

When I cook/bake I prep. all the ingredients first in dishes and condiment cups before making the recipe (that's a habit from too many years of doing food classes and demonstrations), so there's the first stack beside the sink.

I never use the dishwasher because we only run it once a week and I don't want things AWOL sitting in the dishwasher. I'm a clean-as-I-go person because my kitchen is too small for mess. ;-)

-Grainlady

Yes! I totally admit it. I'm more into the process of getting it done, and soaking up the enjoyment of it, to bother with cleaning. I typically use one side of the sink as a huge "bowl" to catch all the peelings, discards, trash, and the other for dishes, but beyond that, no organization. Bugged the life outta my now ex. I don't think that did it, but I'm sure it didn't help!

I am so glad I confessed my messiness. I feel so much better and along the way, I have been thoroughly entertained. What is the saying? "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions". Trouble is, I don't have multiple sets of stuff. I try to rinse as I go because I use the same things over and over. Still, when I know my son is going to drop by,, I try to hide everything. It's easy for him to give advice, 'cause he has a wife that does the cleanup.. Going to get more aprons and towels but still probably will do the same thing. God bless you all, and thanks for the fun. Barb

Too funny FOAS!

I wish I cooked as good as I clean. And the thought of the HG cleaning is laughable; on occasion he has moved his dinner plate to the sink.

My kitchen typically looks exactly like your first photo, foodonastump! I do mean exactly, I should go take a pic now, because our kitchen set up is very similar. Even our stoves are similar, but my fridge is where your stove is. I was about to fuss at you about leaving a bottle of cleaner on the counter, but then I looked closer...
I just can't seem to clean as I go, I've tried so hard, but just can't seem to do it. Holidays can be a real mess. DH can't use the dishwasher, says it hurts his back to load & unload it ~

I do the cooking, DH does the dishes. Makes for a nice balance of labor. Of course, when he bakes, he also does the dishes. (Shhh!)

The worst part is though, I have to get very possessive about my stuff, otherwise he's washing spoons before I've had a chance to use them!

Barb,
Thank you. I had a good laugh when you talked about hiding stuff when your son comes over. Once upon a time, when I was just a young mom, we were in the process of selling our house that had a very old oven. The potential buyer called and asked if he could stop by in about 15 minutes to show some visiting relatives the house they were really, really wanting to buy. I had the flu and a one year old but I said yes. The house was in great shape except for the dishes in the sink. I did the only intelligent thingâ¦I put the dishes in the oven. Now I know IâÂÂm not the only one whoâÂÂs tried this trick at some point in their lives but I bet you are expecting me to say that I forgot about them and turned the oven on later. Not so.

We were all gathered in the kitchen at the end of the tour. For some reason only the good Lord knows the buyer said, âÂÂYouâÂÂve got to see the inside of this oven. It is so old and really strangeâÂÂ. Then he flung open the oven door. There was about 5 seconds of total silence before the kitchen erupted into laughter. One of my more embarrassing moments but they did buy the house. Oven and all.

Don't be shy, ngraham, let's see it!

Barb - Thank YOU for inspiring me to clean. If it weren't for your post I would have woken up to the same kitchen. Publicly shaming myself was a great motivator to get it done, quick. I started thinking there should be a cleanup forum where you post before and after pictures. If you show the world your mess then you're practically forced to clean it up and show the after picture!

We just finished constructing our custom microwave cart and removed that appliance from the counter. Once the cabinet drawers are refinished, and the flatware and utensils are no longer in boxes on the countertop, there will be lots of extra counter room for "before".

Uh-oh.

I'm a messy person. Unfortunately, DH doesn't do cooking or dishwashing. He won't even unload or reload the dishwasher. In fact, he'll eat a bowl of cereal or ice cream, then let it sit so that everything hardens in it. At least I fill my cereal bowl with soapy water if I'm not going to wash it right away.

Jasdip I use a dishpan to actually was the dishes in. This gives me the opportunity to rinse before they go in the pan... and then to wash, I put the pan in the sink.

works for me.

:)

Moni

PS, I call my dishpan my dishwasher. When it is full, it is time to do the dishes. ;)

I compromise. I'm the chief (not only) cook in the house, who does cooking in bursts. DH does much of the meal preparation, in the sense of warming things up, making coffee and tea, bringing the food to me and DD. When I actually COOK, as I go along I wash everything that needs only a quick scrub and rinse, with no soap or hot water called for. Scrub, rinse, stack, and it can be used again. This takes care of a lot of cutting boards, knives, measuring spoons and cups, bowls that held cut up vegetables, and so on. I too always wash my knives, dry them and put them away. (Knives scare me. I don't like to think of them lying around waiting for someone to get hurt with them.) Other dishes get stacked by the sink waiting (usually) for DH to get to them. I do stack dirty dishes in the sink or beside it: I hate dirty dishes sitting around on the counters and the table. And I put food away as I go along. The detritus from one of my big cooking events is usually modest. We don't use a dishwasher, and our water heater is two floors above the kitchen, so that water takes a while to heat up. Much of the time we heat dishwashing water in a pot on the wood stove. I'm by no means punctiliously neat, but I'm far neater than my other family members.
P.S. About mastering cleaning up as you go, I think it has a lot to do with how familiar you are with your recipes and techniques. If you're doing something experimental, you watch it like a hawk. If you're sauteeing or baking and it's something you've done often before, you know how long you can turn away and do something else before you need to pay attention to your vegetables/bread/whatever. It also helps to have a good mental clock; otherwise, I suppose timers have to substitute.

This post was edited by melissa_thefarm on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 2:19

LOL FOAS !

I do it like melissa_thefarm and clean as I go. Once I know I'm not gonna need that bowl, whisk, whatever again, it goes into the DW instead of the sink filled with hot, soapy water. I just can't face a big mess at the end, it's overwhelming.

Been to this thread a half dozen times, going weigh in, but as soon as I scroll by FOASs photos, I burst into laughter. Ditto at my house most of the time. Still ROTFLMBO.

I try to clean as I go, but if I am pressed for time, sometimes that has to compromise. Also, in my tiny, tiny, tiny kitchen, all it takes is me making coffee and toast for it to look totally messed up. And all I have to do is wash the dishes from making coffee and toast to totally fill up my dish draining space. So unless I take the time to wash and dry and put stuff away, the kitchen gets cluttered every time I cook. It does clean up relatively fast though, from most meals. In fact, quick clean up is my baseline for judging the value of a recipe.

Okay, this is the exception...Chase/Sharon and Clive came to dinner and no way I was going to use wonderful CF visitation time cleaning the kitchen.

Oh man, what has been seen cannot be unseen! I'm kind of OCD...LMBO!

Mustangs, that counter, while full, is very organized. FOAS, you are bold!
I clean as I go, but only to a point. Just before everything is ready to be served, I stop the cleaning to get everything to the table while it's hot. There are usually at least two pot or pans that are left, some cooking spoons, odds and ends, and a counter that needs wiping down, when dinner is on the table. On the diet DH and I are on, we are quite limited in our possibilities for ingredients and preparation, and this has made for a neater, totally systematized, and boring food prep and clean-up routine. However, when I can return to my experimental mode, there will be less consistency and more to clean-up, no matter how much I try to clean as I go. Too bad I didn't photograph the kitchen during the peak of my sourdough experimentation. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get dried sourdough starter off of an Oriental rug?

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 20:07

I definitely clean as I go. I remember one time I was baby sitting for my niece and nephew and I was cooking us some dinner in their house. My nephew just thought it was the neatest thing how the kitchen stayed clean as I was cooking. HAHA! I also have to start with a clean kitchen before I begin cooking. It's a lot easier that way.

FOAS your kitchen is in great need of an island! You could buy a portable type island if there's not one built in that I can't see in the photo.

This post was edited by arkansas_girl on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 15:23

It depends on my mood. Sometimes it's put each bottle or container back in the fridge or cupboard, wipe up spills and stuff as I go, sometimes it's leave it all out and hate myself later.

Foas is only posting what many cook's kitchens look like while cooking! (very funny too)
I tend to think that cooks so concerned about clean up aren't very good cooks. (it's the process)

Grainlady, you are such a unique treasure and continue to astonish and amaze me. For instance: heavy metal and once a week dishwasher use!
I am Broadway theater and 3 times a day when cooking heavy.

You guys are so much fun. You make my day. Whenever II get bored, I run to the computer and read these all over again and it immediately puts me in a better humor. I need to put all of this on a tape and play it when I am "down ". Oh, and Chase, is this guy for rent? Consider yourself lucky, although I had one myself who I would say was equal. Barb

@Bumblebeez - Wow, that's a bit judgmental, isn't it? I'm a better cook when I'm not feeling stressed and when I can find what I need. Clutter makes me stressed and I can't see things I need. Clutter totally short-circuits my brain.

There's no one right way to do things. Some do well in messy situations, some don't. That has no impact on the final result.

If I wanted to be catty, I could say that messy cooks are careless and you can taste that in their food. But that would be mean and I don't believe that's necessarily true. Maybe you should extend that same courtesy to those of us who do things different than you.

Whoa, Funky. The point was that cooking should be the focus, not the cleanup. Foas' post/pics while in jest, is a good example; focus on cooking while cooking, clean up after.
If sauteing on the cook top and quickly getting foods ready for other dishes, don't worry about how clean the kitchen is at that moment.
I have been around cooks who were more focused on cleaning as they go, then the food itself. So something was cooked too long, too short, was ignored, so the countertops could be wiped down... The object of cooking is the food, not how clean is the kitchen during the process.

I am very organized and clean too and start cooking in a clean kitchen. I don't like clutter or mess but I do focus while cooking on the food at hand.

Thanks, Bumblebeez, for ignoring three days worth of dog food cans on the counters and pretending that was a singular cooking experience!

The good news is the kitchen has been spotless since.

We're not quite this bad, normally. It's just been a crazy couple weeks. And believe it or not, I'm VERY particular about food safety and cleanliness in the kitchen, so rest assured that if I needed a square foot to put down a cutting board and slice an apple, things were pushed to the side and the counter sanitized. You did notice the Lysol spray just to the left of the stove, right?

Ok, enough embarrassing myself - back to work!

And you, Bumblebeez, make an assumption that one doesn't know when it is appropriate to focus on the cooking vs. moments when it's safe to do 30-60-90 seconds of cleaning which alleviate the mess at the end. So "Whoa" yourself.

If I'm sauteing, stir-frying, making a sauce or gravy that needs stirring, broiling something that needs careful watch as seconds count, or searing or similar activities where vigilance matters, my focus is definitely on the food. If I'm waiting for the oven to pre-heat because I finished prepping before it got to the desired temp, waiting for water to boil, or something is on a low-simmer and doesn't require constant stirring, then I squeeze in some cleaning.

Or I will do all the prep needed for those types of activities, do at least a partial cleaning, and then move to the stove/oven. I like breaking up and alternating between the cooking and cleaning activities. And I enjoy the meal better if I know I don't have a big clean-up job after. A little clean-up, sure, but not the whole shebang.

Just because you know some folks who focus on cleaning and forget about and, thus, burn the food, doesn't mean we all do. I could give the opposite example: my DH's family, bless their hearts, focus on the cooking and create the biggest messes I've ever seen while cooking and I've never had a good meal at any of their houses. (Although my MIL makes the best pies ever!) Yet I would never make an assumption that everybody who waits until they're done cooking to clean up is a bad cook.

Ok, funky.

I don't think that messy or tidy matters about the end result. I cannot cook if there's clutter, that's just me and has no bearing on how anyone else cooks. I'd say I'm a pretty doggon good cook if I say so myself...HAHA!

Clutter is an interesting thing. If there's just stuff--mail, utensil pot, scale, bread basket, vitamins, shitake snacks, labeller, masking tape, measuring tape, etc., I can clean a space and cook/bake, leaving the detritus--and while I often spatter on me (yes, I have aprons), I'm pretty good about not getting it on the clutter (but I do clean immediately if I do).

If there's kitchen mess, however, or dirty dishes, I have to clean it all before I start, even if it's on the other side of the room.

But then, I find clutter inspiring. When I clean my studio and tidy everything away, the first thing I do is pull out supplies for a project or inspiration. I can't create in too tidy a space unless it's food. :)

I have had to make some concessions to the practice of "clean as you go" since I got an induction cook top. I can get engrossed and distracted by the CAYG activities; that has led to some minor disasters with the unattended pot(s) on the cook top.

This was meant as a "poke fun at myself". I am certainly not perfect, and I wish I didn't have any imperfections. I work daily to "transform" myself. Way back when, I worked for an attorney. At that time, people came in and we prepared things for them right then and there. I got used to working with a cluttered desk. Didn't have time to do otherwise while the boss waited . Times have changed. My, my. WOW. lost the fun. Really, isn't it wonderful that we are not all alike? Thanks all. Barb

Here is my excuse.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chaos Theory

kitchendetective---

Thanks for the link for the Chaos Theory - I loved it! That's going into my "Book of Odd Knowledge III". I'll need to pull it out for other occasions.

My hubby is a neat-freak too, but he likes the saying:

"Organized people are just too lazy to look for things."

-Grainlady

"Organized people find things easily"

Posted by kitchendetective "Here is my excuse.
Here is a link that might be useful: Chaos Theory"

There is your scientific answer to that existential question about if a tree falls in a deep forest and no one is there to witness it.

dcarch

Barb-Roselover, OP, are you sure you're not my husband? He has recently retired and is learning to cook. But he has not reached the cleaning up chapter yet.

fogbound - I am sure I have lots of companions in my thinking. I am retired, but as for learning how to cook, the issue is that I am learning how to cook the healthy way because of certain restrictions. You know, one step forward and two back. You are going to have to impress on him that when you play, you have to clean also. Barb