How to cook in a small kitchen

I haven’t always had a small kitchen, but Over the last 12 years through various moves, kitchens have become smaller, even in spacious homes. I can not explain this, but it seems kitchens are a secondary thought these days. Why? I cannot obviously prove this but, I think it is because too many people make convenience meals or buy premade and pre-packaged foods. As a result, they designed less space for the kitchen, the thing is until sometime in the 80’s and 90’s, The kitchen was also a place of family gathering. The family would cook together and share in participation. Then it became more to sit in front of the television and eat a meal out of a sectioned tray, that is cooked in a microwave. 

The thing is, most of these pre-boxed and premade meals, are unhealthy in so many ways. They are high in chemicals to preserve them, They are high in salt most of the time, High in fats, Sugars, and sometimes even unhealthy versions of those as the case with sugars, Your body processes some types slower than others. Then you combine that with Over Loading of sugar, and then you start a path to many health issues. 

So, how do you cope with having a small kitchen, no energy to cook after a long day, and do not want to spend a long time cooking a meal? Start with your appliance selection, Use Multi-Purpose Appliances, and Find easy recipes (Hint, I am lazy too so my recipes are tailored to this), then as your health and energy improve you can do more and it gets easier while enjoying it. If your schedule is really hectic, maybe do a dump-and-go or slow-cooker type of recipe, or even meal prep Sunday, though ANY day of the week will work too.

Types of Multi-Purpose Appliances to Invest in:

Basics:

• Rice Cooker / Steamer

• Slow-Cooker 

• Bread Maker

• Toaster Oven

• Waffle Maker

• Air Fryer

• Indoor Grill like the George Foreman

• Hand Mixer

More Advanced

• Multi-Mode Air Fryer - I use the InstantPot 4-in-1 Vortex myself

• A Multi-Mode Cooker with Pressure Cooking, Commonly an InstantPot®

• High-speed Convection Ovens or Larger Non-Basket Air Fryers like the NuWave

• Rotisseries

• More Adaptive Indoor Grills (Like the Ninja Foodi)

• Stand Mixer - Make sure it has a dough hook

Here is an example of why the more advanced appliances are preferable for this. An InstantPot® for example, has a slow cook mode, so it works like a slow cooker, a common brand is the crock pot, but it also has Sauté mode, so you can fry or sauté items. This is also handy to sear roasts before cooking on slow cooker mode. Now, you only had to dirty one item to make that roast for dinner. To do this, you first heat up a tablespoon of oil on Sauté, then sear the roast on all sides for about 3 or 4 minutes, then turn off the unit, pour in some broth, and add your carrots and potatoes, put it on slow cook for 4 to 6 hours like you would in your traditional slow cooker, or if you are short on time, speed it up using the pressure-cooking mode. If you use the pressure-cooking mode, you can have that done in about 45 minutes instead. The advantage now is it does what took 8 appliances once, including a popcorn popper, so you only need room for one appliance.

A rice cooker is in my opinion a necessity, it makes it simple to cook rice, not that rice is hard to cook, but it can be tricky if not watched, and with a rice cooker, it is set and let it do its thing, so you don’t have to watch it. You can also get creative and cook whole recipes in the rice cooker in a dump-and-go format. 

These sorts of things are good for small studio apartments, RV’s, tiny houses, van life, dorms, or barracks that do not even have a kitchen at all. When space can be at a premium, I always suggest multipurpose appliances first to save room and to make cooking easier. As I said, I am lazy, not because I do not want to do things, but because I cannot stand as long as I used to due to my health. I have a hard time kneading doughs by hand anymore due to arthritis, but I like homemade bread. So I have adapted my recipes to bread machines and mixers instead, I can still make bread, but it now takes less effort.

I hope this gives you enough reason to check out the rest of my blog, Thank You.