Like most people in these times, I turn to Google with questions. Medical ones, common sense but I forgot the answer ones, and ones I shouldn't call people about at that time of day questions. So it only made sense that I asked Google what to eat during a kitchen renovation.
What I found is that Google is an optimist. It didn't tell me "LOL takeout, canned soup and microwaveables," but that turned out to be the case for most of the first two weeks of not having a complete kitchen, and also having everything that was once in said kitchen scattered throughout our house, stuffed in boxes in various nooks in every other room. Our home turned into a funhouse, where getting from the bedroom to the front door involved squeezing through narrow passageways and twisting to avoid knocking over a precarious stack of cabinetry.
Before everything was ripped out of the kitchen and the stove shoved into the hallway, I did try to plan ahead and bought several frozen microwaveable and toaster oven meals from Trader Joe's. But did you know those things leave you feeling hungry when you've been flexing your muscles destroying your home? True story.
There goes convenience dishwashing...
Another inconvenience of not having a kitchen is not having a sink or dishwasher. So we stacked coffee cups, spoons, and knives in the shower. Some nights it was all I could do to actually shower, so the dishes, well... they took a shower too.
With the energy being drained out of me, I resorted to Chinese food, a lot, to get my vegetable intake and not just rely on carbs and carbs and carbs. Tofu and broccoli, steamed vegetables and rice, vegetable rolls, all kept me eating greens. Campbell's soup was another popular quick fix, and also got me through lunches once I went back to work after the winter break. It's just so difficult to live with your life in disarray, and eating shouldn't be another burden. My credit card statement suffered a bit for it, but not complicating things with that many more dishes to wash in the bathtub helped a lot.
So if you too, are planning a full kitchen renovation, don't go pinning crockpot meals that you think you'll quaintly make by doing your chopping on a cutting board on the kitchen table, because everything will be covered in a fine layer of inevitable dust. Don't forget to stock up on disposable items because if there's anything worse than showering with dishes it's probably crying in the shower at the sight of said dishes. And always remember to plan for the renovation to last twice as long as you think it will, because something will take longer to come in/be made/get measured than anticipated. But most of all, make sure you've got menus for the nearest Chinese and pizza places, as the dishwasher is always one of the last things to get installed.
Pin it for later!
