HELP!! Kitchen Help - cooking without a kitchen (merged)

As some of you know, after my slug invasion I found out I had a major problem with damp in my kitchen! Now we have to have all the floating floor removed along with all the lower part of the kitchen cupboards etc and dehumidifiers put in to dry it all out.This is happening tomorrow which means no kitchen for 3-4 weeks!
:eek:

So my first cry for help is what can I cook without my kitchen?? I have just got a slow cooker (delivered yesterday) but do I have to brown all the meat to go in it first?? I have a microwave, a bradmaker and still have a little George Foreman grill in its box that I think might be useful at this time!! Obviously there are loads of 'ready meals' I can use but would rather not if poss!! This has all happened really fast so I have not had time to make and freeze etc etc. Any ideas???? Thanks in advance.

Edit by Board Guides: We have moved your second question to a new thread in "In my Home" which can be found HERE

Looking forward to all your replies and help!

Thanks in advance:T
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Comments

  • Can't really offer advice on replacing your kitchen, I haven't done it for 12 years so I'm really out of touch with the 'must haves'. In the interim you might want to look at a 2 ring electric table-top hot plate that Argos sells for around £40.00 and perhaps you can claim it back on the insurance
  • Xbigman
    Xbigman Posts: 3,882
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    Can't really offer advice on replacing your kitchen, I haven't done it for 12 years so I'm really out of touch with the 'must haves'. In the interim you might want to look at a 2 ring electric table-top hot plate that Argos sells for around £40.00 and perhaps you can claim it back on the insurance

    I've also seen a mini oven. Small over with two hot plates on top. But when I moved in my current house three years ago I did the kitchen up myself and to have a working cooker I simply bought some 30 amp cable and a 30 amp connector and had the cooker at the bottom of the stares on a long lead.
    This might seem like a big disruption but having no kitchen ain't gonna be easy no matter how you cut it.

    Kitchen wise. First find out what the insurance will pay out, then work out what you can add to it and then you know what you can spend. Granite work tops, very pricey. eek.
    Regards




    X
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  • squeaky
    squeaky Posts: 14,129
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    furrypig wrote:
    So my first cry for help is what can I cook without my kitchen?? I have just got a slow cooker (delivered yesterday) but do I have to brown all the meat to go in it first?? I have a microwave, a bradmaker and still have a little George Foreman grill in its box that I think might be useful at this time!! Obviously there are loads of 'ready meals' I can use but would rather not if poss!! This has all happened really fast so I have not had time to make and freeze etc etc. Any ideas???? Thanks in advance.

    Looking forward to all your replies and help!

    Thanks in advance:T
    Hi,

    You might get a better range of answers if you were to split your post into two parts.

    One to ask in here how to survive without a kitchen,

    And the other part containing your building questiions in In My House

    That way you should get the best of both worlds. :)
    Hi, I'm a Board Guide on the Old Style and the Consumer Rights boards which means I'm a volunteer to help the boards run smoothly and can move and merge posts there. Board guides are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an inappropriate or illegal post then please report it to [email protected]. It is not part of my role to deal with reportable posts. Any views are mine and are not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
    Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
    DTFAC: Y.T.D = £5.20 Apr £0.50
  • FrankieM
    FrankieM Posts: 2,454
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    Hi Furrypig,
    I managed without a proper kitchen for about a year. I used our camping gas cooker. It has two rings and then our a microwave. I was feeding 6.
    I don't have a slow cooker but I imagine you could do your main meal bit in that and then your rice/ pasta/ potatoes in the microwave. It takes a bit of thinking about but it is doable.
    In poorer days my hubby and I used to cook the pasta in the kettle....I'd advise descaling beforehand though... :o:o

    As far as replacing kitchens...we went to MFI but also looked in B & Q.
    I agree with xbigman though and it would probably be worth finding out what the insurance is going to pay and then budget accordingly.
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    I had more or less exactly the same thing happen a few years ago in our old house. Major difficulties were stopping toddler opening kitchen door and falling in to abyss and where to put allthat kitchen stuff.

    Can you get a neighbour or use a dry garage to store stuff? Preparing meals without a kitchen is hard enough, doing it without any space is hell.
  • Chipps
    Chipps Posts: 1,550
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    Hi furrypig
    I can't answer your questions about a new kitchen, as it is something we will be tackling later this year, I hope. So I will be looking at the replies you get, as they will probably be helpful for us.
    But about the slow-cooker, you do not have to brown meat first. I think this is mainly done for appearance. It would be a good idea to make sure everything is hot when it goes in the slow cooker, so use hot stock (I usually use stock cubes with water from the kettle) and/or heat everything up in the microwave first.
    I hope it all goes well for you.
  • Curry_Queen
    Curry_Queen Posts: 5,589
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    Have you got a barbecue? I know it will depend on the weather, although it does seem to be getting a bit warmer, but when I had my kitchen refitted (around May/June time) I resorted to cooking a lot of stuff on the barby and having salads with it. I didn't have a slow cooker back then and only had the microwave as back-up which was handy for heating tins of soup/beans etc and cooking veggies/pasta/rice.

    If it's just for a couple of weeks it's surprising how well you can adapt and manage with just basic foods, especially if you look on it as an adventure and imagine you're on a camping holiday ;)
    "An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"
    ~
    It is that what you do, good or bad,
    will come back to you three times as strong!

  • catznine
    catznine Posts: 3,192
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    Hi Furrypig

    We have just come thru this situation and now have a new fitted kitchen. We were having a fair bit of structural work done too and now have a utility room and downstairs cloakroom so was quite messy for a while (lovely now though so worth it)

    Anyway we moved the microwave, slowcooker and kettle into our dining room and managed to cook most meals using that combination. Often main course in microwave e.g. bolognaise, curry, stew, casseroles etc and a pudding in the slowcooker (once so busy we forgot we had baked apples in slow cooker for 2 days they were lovely and melted in mouth when we did get to them :D )

    I did miss being able to bake though but main problem was the dust so you won't want to do anything too complex. We did open a lot of tins during that time :o As for where to put contents of kitchen while the work is going on well we were lucky our daughter was at uni so everything went in her room! lol Did have a bit of a problem finding her bed though on the odd weekend when she wanted to come home :eek:


    As for units we had fairly cheap beech ones MFI but from Howdens the company that our builders like to use. You can choose from several different handles to get the look you want. We had a dark colour laminate worktop, cheaper - we have pets, and we can always change the look of the kitchen at a later date just by changing the worktops! But I really like them at the moment as they don't show up every mark and I just dettox them (I know vinegar in some form would be more MSE :o) everyday.

    Good luck with your kitchen!

    Hth
    Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.

    Jan grocery challenge £35.77/£120
  • squeaky
    squeaky Posts: 14,129
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    Stocking up the freezer while you can is an obvious one, taking care to label things unless you deliberately want to play "Freezer Surprise".

    If you have a suitable long extension lead you might consider plugging the freezer into a power point that is not in the kitchen so that if the work crew need to cut the power you won't get defrosted.
    Hi, I'm a Board Guide on the Old Style and the Consumer Rights boards which means I'm a volunteer to help the boards run smoothly and can move and merge posts there. Board guides are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an inappropriate or illegal post then please report it to [email protected]. It is not part of my role to deal with reportable posts. Any views are mine and are not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
    Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
    DTFAC: Y.T.D = £5.20 Apr £0.50
  • Bogof_Babe
    Bogof_Babe Posts: 10,803 Forumite
    I would treat it like an adventure. I'm a bit weird :eek: and have these fantasies of living in a bedsit or student digs (probably not much fun when for real, but I've always been fascinated by small space living and would love a caravan).

    Move a small table upstairs near to a power point, and take the kettle, microwave, slow cooker and toaster if you have one.

    Then try inventing different meals that you wouldn't normally have. I think it merits a whole thread of ideas that could be concocted with these few appliances, and I'm quite sure I'd be more than happy - the slow cooker is a luxury that isn't in my usual fantasies!

    Simple things like ordinary or toasted sandwiches and microwave chips, with a tin of veg (yeah I know, but it's only temporary) or bought coleslaw, would be lovely now that the warmer weather is (allegedly) coming :beer: .

    Another fantasy/wish-list I have is turning our under-the-eaves upstairs (it's a dormer bungalow with doors off from our bedroom) into an en suite, plus a tiny kitchenette. I have it all planned out in my head - small sink unit with fridge underneath, and worktop with microwave and kettle and a little cupboard for storing the tea-bags etc. It would mean we didn't have to go downstairs to make the morning cuppa! Ah well, I can dream on. The roof slopes far too sharply to be of any use without a full-scale, planning permission job :(.
    :D I haven't bogged off yet, and I ain't no babe :D

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