How To Prep Your Kitchen For The Holidays
I can’t believe that it is already November. With everything that went on this year, it flew by! I don’t know about everyone else but it seems like once Halloween is over, we skip right over Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas.
Thanksgiving is a holiday I really enjoy. I like spending time with my family and of course, all of the food! I would like to talk to you guys about how to prep your kitchen before the holidays.
1. Make Your Lists
The first thing you will want to do is to create your lists. Your menus, utensils, paper goods and ingredients you will need for the day.
If you missed it last year, I created The Ultimate Holiday Planner for you guys to download and use for yourselves. In the planner, I have created lists for the utensils/cookware you need, a shopping list, and menus that you can use to work off of.
The good thing about this is that if your family is anything like mine, the Thanksgiving meal doesn’t change too much from year to year. So, you make this list once, then you save it for next year. Talk about a TIME SAVER!
2. Take In & Clean Out
The next thing to do is to TAKE INVENTORY of everything you have. Go through your cabinets, pantry, and any other places you store food or cookware. CLEAN OUT anything that is expired. If you need anything for your day, food or cookware, then write it on your shopping list.
***TUPPERWARE!*** One thing you want to make sure that you have on hand are Tupperware containers to store leftovers. You will also want to have cheap to-go containers on hand to send your guests home with leftovers as well.
3. Clear The Clutter
While you are going through your cabinets, or after, you are going to want to clear off your countertops as much as you can. Clearing the clutter will make cooking and prepping the food less hectic. It will also free up counter space for either laying the food out for the meal buffet style, or keeping appetizers on there as well.
4. Clean & Sanitize
This step kind of speak for itself. Clean and sanitize the kitchen. Surfaces and appliances.
5. Make Things Accessible for Guests
Another reason to clear your countertops of clutter is create different zones in your kitchen with all supplies needed that way guests are able to help themselves to whatever they need.
For example, you may want to set up a coffee/beverage station in a section of your kitchen or on a counter, you can create an appetizer section, and then a section where all plates and utensils are for the meal. If you don’t have room on your countertops for everything, you can get creative and use other surfaces to create zones.
I am very limited on counter space, so here is an example of a coffee station I created in my kitchen:
You will be busy enough worrying about the meal, you don’t want to be bothered being asked where something is.
6. Prep Your Refrigerator
Before you go shopping, you’re going to want to clean out and prep your refrigerator. There are certain steps you can take in order to do this. I will go over this part in more depth next week.
Get ahead of the holidays and get your own copy of the Ultimate Holiday Planner. Don’t forget to come back next week where we discuss how to organize your refrigerator for the holidays.