How to Set Your Kitchen Up for Cooking Success

Most people on average tend to eat three meals per day. Sometimes all three meals are cooked, sometimes only one, and sometimes it is easy to cheat and order a takeaway. However, generally speaking, preparing food and cooking in the kitchen will be something that happens at least once a day, and all throughout the week. For this reason, it would be advantageous to figure out how you can set your kitchen up for cooking success. Whether you are new to cooking, or a seasoned veteran with ample culinary skills, here are several tips and ideas that you could consider implementing into your home.

Don’t store short-life food in the drawers of your fridge

There is nothing worse than thinking you have all the ingredients for a meal that you wish to cook, only to find that you have left your fresh produce too long and it has gone bad. This can instantly lead to giving up, or not having enough time to cook a proper meal.

One of the most common ways for food to be forgotten about and to go bad is by putting all your fresh vegetables in the drawers of your fridge. The reason that you are likely to forget about the produce when it is located here, is because they are tucked out of sight, and therefore out of mind.

Instead of using the drawers, consider placing all your refrigerated produce at eye level in your fridge. This way whenever you open the fridge you will see, and be reminded to use your produce before it goes bad.

You might be wondering what you can put in the drawers instead. An easy option would be to put any long-life foods in here, such as opened jars or cartons as they will generally last a lot longer than your fresh produce. If you can make this switch, you will find that you end up cooking the meals you want a lot more successfully, rather than wasting fresh foods and going for an easier meal option.

Invest in equipment that will boost your enjoyment in the kitchen

Quite often people will have a problem with cooking, or doing anything in the kitchen for that matter because it involves a lot of time, and effort, as well as being considered boring. One easy solution to this, and to make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable, and successful is to invest in some equipment that will help to save you some of this time, and effort, as well as making the process of doing things in your kitchen more fun. Here are a few examples you could consider purchasing.

A coffee machine

Many people all over the world enjoy drinking coffee throughout the day. However, sometimes it just isn’t enough to make yourself an instant coffee. Similarly, if you decide to make yourself a fresh coffee, having to manually use a bunch of different equipment, to grind your beans, soak them, and then strain them can become a chore. If you are a regular coffee drinker, then it might be worth investing in one of the best Sage coffee machine that you can find. Not only will you be able to enjoy coffee shop quality drinks in the comfort of your own home, but the process of making them will be a lot more simple.

A slow cooker

Slow cooking for many people is a strong stepping stone to cooking more and living a healthier lifestyle. The ease of just being able to cut, chop, and throw a bunch of ingredients into a crock pot and let it stew for several hours means that you can spend more time doing what you want, while still actively using your kitchen to create healthy meals.

A rice cooker

A food staple that many people struggle with cooking correctly is rice. For that reason, some people will avoid cooking it, or they will begrudgingly check Google on how to cook rice each time. Instead of doing this, why not look into purchasing a rice cooker? Not only will you not have to check the internet on how to cook it, but your rice will be perfect every time.

Tidy up after every cooking session

Like with anything in life, you should set yourself up for success, rather than to fail. If you do not clean up in the kitchen after your cooking session and instead decide that you will just do it later, sometimes you can forget about doing it. This means when you return to the kitchen next, not only will you have the entire meal to cook, but you will have to wash and clean up prior to even starting any cooking. So, regardless of how tempting it might be to clean up the kitchen after you have finished eating, try to do it before. This way you will only have your plates, and cutlery to deal with after your meal.

A simple trick is to clean up the kitchen in stages, or while you are waiting for things to cook. For example, prep all your ingredients before cooking, and then tidy up all the scraps. When you have finished using a pot or pan, quickly wash it up. By doing this you will be able to keep your work area clean and clear while you cook too.

Consider your kitchen layout

Working on anything in a cramped, or crowded environment is going to be an unpleasant experience for anyone. When it comes to cooking, this is no different. It’s not uncommon to find kitchens that have been laid out in an incredibly inefficient way. To give yourself the most success in the kitchen, consider whether or not you need to change how it is laid out. This could be as drastic as even taking steps to start a renovation project. It doesn’t necessarily require you to start knocking down walls or installing kitchen islands in the middle of the floor, it could simply be moving your fridge into a different space that you create, or installing better and more adequate storage cupboards.

Put some effort into your herb and spice collection

If you want to boost the success you have working in your kitchen, then an easy win for you will be to use more spices in your cooking. When it comes to herbs and spices, sometimes they can go missing, or you might run out, purely because you have put little to no effort into where you store them, or what they are contained in. If you simply go to the supermarket and then chuck your spices into a drawer or box that you have to spend ages rummaging through at a later date you are making life a lot harder for yourself than it needs to be.

Just take a little extra time to find yourself a nice set of spice jars (or even make your own), and then create a spice rack, or space to store them on your kitchen side. This way, you will be able to visually see when something is running low, and there will be a specific place to put the jars back in when you are done meaning that you should not misplace them again.