subject: Organize Your Kitchen Before the Holidays [print this page] Organize Your Kitchen Before the Holidays
With the holidays just around the corner, figuring out how to make your kitchen clean and organized is sure to be on your mind if you are entertaining guests for the holidays. How can you make enough space for everyone? How can you get the all of your meal prepared in time?
Being able to organize your kitchen for holiday gatherings starts with having a good plan, both for your space and for your meal. For your space, you first need to figure out how many guests you are feeding and where they will all fit. If the kitchen or dining room table will simply not be big enough for everyone, figure out where it will be best to seat your other guests.
You an crate a nice, inviting space in your living room for those guests that cannot fit around the table by rearranging end tables to serve as dining areas for your guests. Be sure to add nice extra decorations to the place settings at those tables to keep it festive. If the kitchen or dining room table will be tight, be sure to take out any extra furniture in the room that you can.
When you organize your kitchen for meal planning, be sure that you have a list of everything that you are making. Be sure to mark down how long each dish will take to prepare and to cook. Be sure that you are not going to be trying to cook three different things at three different oven temperatures at the same time.
Look through the recipes a few days before and make whatever you can the day before to cut down on your stress and cleanup the day of. Doing whatever prep work that you can the day before can help too. Cutting up vegetables and even pre-making a dish and putting it in the refrigerator the night before can be a big help. On the big day, be sure to clean up as you go so that your guests are not coming into your home while your kitchen counters are piled with dishes.
