Bachelor's Complete Cooking/Dining Set
I like good food. I’ve eaten a lot of it. I’m kind of a connoisseur.
Did I mention that I ate at The French Laundry for my fortieth birthday?
BAM! Foodie cred established.
Not only do I eat good food, I also try to cook it every once in a while. I don’t mind making something complicated and labor-intensive if I’m in the mood. When I’m just cooking everyday fare for the family, though, I like to keep it simple and quick. Quick meals aren’t only about preparation. Cleanup is a major consideration in my scheming to avoid unnecessary work.
Over the years, my wife and I have built up an extensive armory of cooking gear, including two sizes of Cuisinarts, a huge array of German cutlery, lemon zesters, food mills, spice mills, rice cookers, mandolines, every kind of pot and pan you can imagine, melon ballers, steamers, strainers, microplanes, ice cream makers, salad spinners, whisks, spatulas, waffle irons, panini presses, slow cookers, and pasta makers.
Bachelor's Deluxe Cooking/Dining Set
On a typical weekday, though, I may be in charge of dinner for four, so I’ll hardly touch any of that stuff.
A lot of the cooking wisdom I’ve gleaned comes from my years as a bachelor, cooking in a minimalist kitchen with very little equipment and only the most basic serving accoutrements. I didn’t realize that I was onto something back then, but I had a finely developed kitchen management system based on three basic principles: Reduce, Reuse, and Resist.
Reduce
Eventual cleanup is not just a consideration in planning a low-labor meal; it’s possibly the deciding factor in how you’ll prepare your meal.
My wife and I used to follow “you-cook-and-I’ll-do-the-dishes” system of dividing kitchen labor. This worked well for years, with only a few instances in which one of us would feel shafted. Still, it was not lost on me that, when she cooked, she used approximately 98 percent of all our dishes, pots, and pans in the preparation of any meal, no matter how simple.
I, on the other hand, rarely ever used more than one pan and one dish when I cooked.
Now that our family dynamic has changed, with the addition of kids and me staying home with them, I’m more likely than before to end up cooking and doing the dishes, while my wife does other, usually child-related, work. This has made me even more conscientious about keeping the cooking mess to a minimum.
Remember, if you start with good ingredients, you don’t need to tart them up much to make a good meal. This is especially true when you’re feeding little kids. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a kid turn up her nose at some beautiful sauce you labored over for hours. Just season everything lightly and cook it in the simplest way possible, and if it doesn’t need to be cooked at all (e.g., vegetables)? Even better.
Another way to reduce kitchen mess is by grilling outside. I wasn’t a huge grilling guy until we recently bought a totally kickass gas grill that always cooks everything perfectly. It’s changed my life. One of the beautiful things about it is that using it often means there will be zero pots and pans to wash. Be smart when you grill: as long as you’ve got the thing fired up, cook all your side dishes on it as well.
Also, if you happen to have toddlers in your house, here’s something that you may not know: they mostly don’t
If you have more dishes than this in your sink after lunchtime, you're doing it wrong
give a shit whether they’re eating off of a china plate or out of a plastic bucket from the sandbox. My wife likes to make nice presentations of our kids’ meals, with plates and little bowls for side dishes and dessert, and that’s fine. It makes her happy. I won’t begrudge her that small pleasure, even though I grit my teeth every time I wash up after one of these genteel affairs.
But, thankfully, I’m usually the one feeding the kids. And you know what they get besides food when Daddy’s serving the meal? A fork. But only if they absolutely need it. They sit at little booster chairs with trays that I have to wash anyway, so why would they need another dish on top of what’s already essentially a dish that snaps onto a chair? C’mon!
Reuse
I think my wife is getting better at not using every pan in the cupboard to make eggs and toast; but sometimes she does what she did last week. While preparing a simple meal for the kids, she used no less than five–that’s FIVE (5)–cutting boards. She explained the logic behind this, and it kind of made sense at the time. But now I can’t even remember what five things she would have had to cut for one meal.
If that had been me, I would have used one cutting board at the most. First of all, if you’re cutting that much stuff for a kids’ meal, you’re doing it wrong. Second of all, unless I’m cutting raw chicken or something equally disgusting, I’ll pretty much use the same cutting board for everything. Don’t want the juices mingling? Dab them up with a slightly used paper towel. Even better? Use a plate instead of a cutting board. After you’ve chopped on the plate, it can be your dinner plate. In fact, if you must use a cutting board, it makes a perfectly good dinner plate afterward. By the same token, if you’re just cutting some tomatoes and cucumbers into bites, don’t break out the damn broadswords: a dishwasher-safe serrated table knife or steak knife will do just fine.
Resist
You may, like me, be surrounded by handy gadgets that could make cooking a bit easier, and the results somewhat more predictable. IGNORE THEM!
“Conveniences” require washing when you’re done with them, and you will regret ever having laid eyes on them if you fall prey to their siren songs. If you just think for a minute, instead of grabbing that double-boiler or colander, you will be amazed at how easy it is to MacGuyver some work-around that doesn’t require any extra scrubbing in the end. Here are a few examples:
- The Finger-Strainer: Need to wash some berries or mini-tomatoes? Your cupped hand is nature’s strainer!
- The Salad Shaker: Romaine leaves right out of the bag a little to gritty for the more refined diners in your house? Run them under the faucet one at a time, and then shake the bejeezus out of them until they’re clean and dry (mostly).
- The Fork-Blender: Feel like indulging yourself with a decadent milkshake? Leave that hand blender or (God forbid) countertop blender in the cupboard. Throw the ingredients in your largest cup and mash ‘em together with a fork, like the pilgrims used to do. Not only will you save yourself some washing, but you’ll also burn off some calories to make room for your frozen confection.
I’m proud of the innovations I have come up with in the kitchen to support my intrinsic laziness, but I don’t pretend to have a patent on this kind of ingenuity. I’m sure you, gentle reader, have some awesome, more-or-less sanitary, shortcuts that make your meal prep and cleanup easier.
So spill ‘em already! Tell me how you do even less work in the kitchen.
About BetaDad
A couple of my favorites are:
Make sandwiches on a paper towel, it is a plate and napkin! Also, my cat is very finicky and never finishes all of her wet food, so instead of cleaning up her disgusting dish, she eats off of paper plates.
Oh, yeah! The paper towel is key! I use it whenever possible. If you play your cards right, you can use it to clean up the counters and sink after lunch, too.
On weekends, I put a piece of masking tape on 4 cups and write each of our names on one of them. Then, you have to keep up with your own damn cup all day long. Misplaced your cup? Find it or eat dinner dry. The choice is yours.
That’s not really a cooking tip, but after washing 17 cups for four people one Saturday at home, I decided enough was enough with the freakin’ cups.
Twitter Name: ladyjess78
That’s awesome! We used to use little wine glass charms for the same reason when we hung out with grown ups. I guess this the equivalent for family time.
Brilliant. Genius. What about cooking everything in one pot, giving each member of the family a fork and you all dig in? I am going to try some of these tips. Having a love/hate relationship with my New York style kitchen.
Twitter Name: NubianOR
My wife and I definitely eat out of one dish together. She’s still too refined to eat right out of the pot, most of the time.
In my student days, I cooked everything at once in a rice cooker. Cabbage, while normally a nasty veg, helps to add moisture and flavor to one-pot rice dishes. If one adds cooked sausage or Asian fishcakes, protein’s included too.
I’m going to implement ladykess’s suggestion today! Our household of 2 adults and 1 baby somehow uses 6-8 mugs/glasses at the weekend.
Twitter Name: akatsukira
We have a rice cooker, but it’s almost always got rice in it! My wife is Vietnamese, and we have rice about 4 times a week. Kids love it. Still haven’t tried to make any full meals in it though. Might have to buy another one.
We’re in the same boat; if it’s not rice, it’s pasta. But on nights when you want a little less prep work than rice and side dishes, east asian glutinous rice with mushrooms and some kind of protein (eg pre-cooked diced chicken, shrimp or chinese sausage) in a rice cooker gives an approximation of chinese sticky rice. Sprinkle with sliced green onions to be fancy. Of course, a chinese cook would fry the ingredients first, but that breaks the one pot rule ;)
Twitter Name: akatsukira
I’ve got a solution you will LOVE. It’s called a rice cooker. You can totally whip up a really yummy meal, in one pot, in no time. No watching it, no stirring it. I even have a rice cooker cookbook. You can look up lots of recipes online and there are even a websites dedicated to cooking like a college student/bachelor. I like a “comfort meal” I make using just rice, canned condensed cream of chicken soup, and peas. For a little extra flavor (when there is some left over) I use chicken broth instead of water. If you add about a 1/3 cup less than the right amt. of water/fluid for the rice and soup combined, it gives you a less soupy consistency and the peas both taste and look good in it. If you thaw a piece or two of frozen boneless skinless chicken breast and smash it flat with the back of a pot (put the chicken in an open plastic bag or in plastic wrap first for no cleanup of a cutting board) you can sprinkle it with Ranch dressing mix and put it in the steamer basket in the top of the rice cooker. It takes the same amount of time for the rice as to steam chicken. Tools used: pot that did not have to be washed, rice cooker, pot and steamer tray in rice cooker, can opener. I have a cookbook that I just found on Amazon that is chock full of stuff like that. Oh, and Target has a really nice rice cooker for like $25.
We have a rice cooker, but I have only made rice in it so far. I’m not sure what the difference would be between a rice cooker and a regular slow cooker (I have one of those too.) I know Roger Ebert has a very popular rice cooker cookbook out. I’ll definitely have to try your recipe. Thanks!
I’m all about the grill…
A typical summer dinner here is as follows:
Soak corn on the cob in the kitchen sink – husks and all (remove excess silk)
Toss chicken breasts or steak into a ziploc baggie with some salad dressing (chicken) or oil/vinegar and spices (steak) and let sit while you prepare the rest.
Chop veggies into bite sized pieces, add olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper and put in tinfoil pouch.
Turn on BBQ, put all components of the meal on the grill. Flip all after 5-6 minutes, wait another 5 and it’s ready to go.
Total prep time under 10 minutes, and only prep pieces are a knife and a cutting board – both of which are dishwasher friendly in our household.
I really dislike doing dishes and clean up in general, so we also eat outside as much as possible, and the dog is welcome to assist in clean up.
I’m gonna try this! I haven’t done enough veggie grilling. Asparagus works well, and of course kabobs, but I need to get into more side dishes. Thanks!
Two vegetables that we grill with moderate success: whole courgettes and aubergines (US: zucchini and eggplants). If you keep them whole, they stay moist inside and are pretty easy to slice up after. Needs minimal seasoning.
Roasting peppers while the charcoal is still too hot is another way to maximise grill-time. It takes more work afterwards to de-skin them and slice them, but the trick of putting them in a sealed plastic bag immediately after grilling really helps to get (most of) the skin off.
Twitter Name: akatsukira
My signature move is to cook something so incredibly large that we “need to” eat it for three or four days. This usually involves beans, and always involves the Crock Pot. LIke two gallons of chili. O! Crock Pot. Sadly, the natives don’t seem to appreciate eating the same meal over and over and over.
Lining casserole dishes with Tin Foil makes cleaning the baked on stuff mega easy. I’m all about one pot wonders. And my slow cooker is a life saver. My kids,also, only get a bowl for cereal. Eveything else is straight off the highchair tray. :)
Twitter Name: Qn2Tsmommy
Several years ago when I hosted a party and labeled everyone’s cups, my sister referred to me as the cup nazi. Now, all my friends are doing it! You have a couple kids and your priorities CHANGE. Most of my faves have already been mentioned here but last year I also discovered you can buy disposable crock pot liners – worth every cent! Also, a tip for your wife, just rinse one cutting board between veggie chopping (if you must) and cut the meat LAST. If I do have to use multiple marinating bowls, etc. (I’m too green to use TOO many ziplocs in one meal but I use them a lot for freezing), I really try to wash those bowls as I go so there’s not much left to clean at the end. After listening to the kids scream and whine over food choices, who feels like doing a lot of dishes?
I also like to cook large but then I freeze the other portions so we don’t eat it for days, but when we eat it again, I only need to dirty one (foil-lined) casserole dish :).
Twitter Name: HeatherSchiavo
Uhm. I have a live-in Nanny.
I needed one of her years ago. Waaay before my kid was born.
Twitter Name: Nicole013
Awesome post, BetaDad. I had to laugh out loud at the part about the use of five cutting boards though…my wife would do the exact same thing if she could! Thankfully for me — a SAHD who has become something of a professional dishwasher these days — we only have three cutting boards. SCORE!
I hate cleaning the food processor – too many parts (I think I counted 7 last time). So, whenever possible, I use my immersion blender, only one part to clean!
Chips, popcorn, pretzels, etc…can be served to the little people in coffee filters instead of bowls. Paper cups also work. Sit them in front of PBS with a coffee filter full of popcorn and you can have a dish free few minutes of peace.
This is awesome! I loathe dishes and the reason I hate cooking is cause after all that hard work you are just left with more work. (I prefer to write, then you have something to show for it at the end.) Oh and I am really lazy.
And as another commenter mentioned – oh yes, the paper towel.
Twitter Name: 5minutesformom