A Traffic Jam in the Kitchen
Dishwashers are a fantastic invention. When I was in college, the apartment I rented with a friend didn’t have one. We made a deal that if one person cooked a meal the other would have to do the dishes. I loved to cook so luckily I didn’t have to do too many dishes. When looking for my next apartment, I insisted on it having a dishwasher. Being single at the time, I had to run it only a few times as week.
Now that I have a family, the dishwasher gets runs every day. Although it’s still useful, it’s become the source for kitchen traffic jams. This occurs when you have a dishwasher full of clean dishes, the drying rack is also filled, and no one has put them away. As dirty dishes accumulate, they pile up in the sink and any open counter space. At the point that you’re trying to cook dinner that evening there is no free space to work in. It can sometimes take us up to a 1/2 hour to clear this all out. I don’t remember Rachel Ray dealing with this as part of her “30 Minute Meals” show!
What can we do differently such that dinner preparation doesn’t require a prologue?
A few simple techniques you may want to try:
* Put away all the clean dishes in the evening such that the kitchen is ready for the next day.
* If you are more of a morning person, put the dishes away while the pot of coffee is still brewing.
* Consider involving your children to help put away the dishes.
* Taking a tip from my college days (and if your negotiation skills are up to par) consider assigning one person to cook and another to clean and put away the dishes afterwards.
* When all else fails use paper plates (biodegradable would be the most environmentally responsible choice here).
