Holidays are a stressful time for anyone who’s either volunteered or been chosen to host the festivities. If your kitchen lacks the space to adequately get everything ready, there are a few things you can do to set yourself up for success. Be selective with what’s being served to help reduce the stress of cooking. Removing unnecessary appliances from the kitchen will help maximize space in your kitchen. Cleaning up after yourself while cooking will give you a needed pause between cooking and help get everything put away after the meal easier.

Navigating A Tiny Kitchen During the Holidays

One of the unique opportunities the holidays present is an excuse to gather family and friends under one roof to celebrate each other and observe the traditions that binds us together. However, someone must host these celebrations. If you eagerly jumped at the chance to host for the season but are now realizing your kitchen might not be the best place to cook and serve a meal for the gaggle of relatives you’ve just invited into your home, do yourself a favor and read through the helpful tips we’ve assembled just for you. Also, do not let anyone who is not helping loiter in the kitchen, it’s time for business.

Manage What You Are Cooking

Make a list of everything you want to serve during the holiday and pair it down to the necessities. As the host, you can take this opportunity to be conscious of your guest’s dietary restrictions while also making sure no time or space is wasted on food that doesn’t excite anyone.

If a guest is insistent on a certain dish, ask them to prepare it before coming. This both adds something to the holiday meal and frees up space in your kitchen.

Maximize Counter Space

Over the course of the year, appliances, food and other knick-knacks will begin taking up space on tables and kitchen counters. And while everyone loves to think of themselves as masters of executive function, that’s often far from the truth.

Go over every surface that can be used to cook or set food – counters, bars, kitchen islands, dining room tables, etc. – and put away anything that doesn’t need to be there. On the morning of the big meal, put away coffee makers, toasters or anything else that you won’t use later in the day to maximize the space you have to get every dish assembled.

Clean Up

A meal of this size is going to be a mess while it’s being prepared and after everyone’s had their fill. Clean up used utensils and cookware as you go. Take a short break between dishes to clean up what you’ve used. It’s a lot of work, but the dishwasher will fill up faster than you think if cookware is just shoved in there.

Ask a guest who isn’t cooking to help clean up while everything is being prepared. While they’re sure to grumble about it, this will also help lighten the post-meal cleaning.

Manage Kitchen capacity

Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup. Your kitchen cannot hold every relative. If a well-meaning relative isn’t cooking or helping to keep the kitchen organized, get them out of there.

Set a clear understanding of who will be helping with which dish and where everyone else should be if they’re not helping prepare food. If a relative has a signature dish everyone looks forward to during the holiday, make sure you know what will go into it and what kind of space they will need to put everything together. Consider cooking meat that can be prepared on a grill or in a slow cooker to keep kitchen traffic down.

If you want children to be included when preparing food for the holiday, make time for them to help prepare a fun dessert they’ll be sure to enjoy that evening.

Following these steps will help keep everything running smoothly amidst the chaos of the season.

For more help with navigating the holidays feel free to look through helpful articles on our HOA management blog.