Wednesday, December 30th, 2009...12:45 am
Frugal Living During a Kitchen Renovation
A wall of cabinets came down in my kitchen today, as we finally got our kitchen renovation started. We’re keeping this project affordable by doing all the heavy lifting ourselves. But by doing it ourselves, it also means that our kitchen is going to be out of commission for a bit longer than if we’d brought in a contractor.
I know that this decision will pay off (quite literally) in the long run. That’s because when we ordered our kitchen cabinets, the store automatically included the cost for installation–even though we were opting out of it. Let me tell you that installation number was a scary number. Though our cabinets cost $5,000, we would have paid an additional $20,000 to have them installed. Um, no thanks, I’ll save that money by doing the work myself, thank you, even if it means being inconvenienced at meal time.
So here’s where I’m concerned: how can I stay on track with our frugal living when my kitchen isn’t up and running? I don’t want to fall back on our spendthrift ways of ordering in food, but at the same time I need to accept that without a working stove, I will be limited in what I can cook for dinner. Thankfully, my husband has set up a working mini-kitchen in another part of the house, where we have a sink, dishwasher, cabinets and mini fridge, plus the microwave.
Here’s how I’m hoping we can succeed on the meal-planning front while we’re under construction:
- Make more meals in the slow cooker. The great thing about a Crock-Pot is you can set it up on a countertop, tabletop or on the floor, and let it simmer all day so dinner’s ready when you need it. I have only a handful of slow cooker recipes I’m comfortable with and know that my kids will like, so I’m thinking that I’ll treat myself to Stephanie O’Dea’s new book Make It Fast, Cook It Slow to help me get over the kitchen renovation-cooking hump. Her book is all about using your slow cooker to make all kinds of meals–I blogged about my attempt at making her slow cooker French Toast recipe awhile back. It was quite yummy. (I got an Amazon.con gift certificate for Christmas so at least the book will be free for me to buy.)
- Use our grill, even if it’s freezing outside. Since my pans are going into storage when the stove/oven goes offline, we’re going to have to cook all of our meats outside on the grill. Not a great option when it’s single-digit weather like it is today, but it is for sure less expensive than ordering in Chinese. I also plan on using my countertop George Forman grill whenever necessary.
- Accept that we’ll have more cold meals for dinner. I’m thinking sandwiches, cereal and things like cheese and crackers. Who says dinner has to be hot every night anyway?
If you have additional suggestions on how to stay on budget with meals when you kitchen isn’t usable, post a comment to share your ideas. I’m gonna need all the help I can get.
You need an electric skillet! You can use it as a griddle, to stir fry, or to deep fry…..hamburgers, grilled sandwiches, salmon patties, french toast, breakfast-for-dinner, chicken fried steak (and gravy)…..I have a full working kitchen and I STILL would feel crippled without my electric skillet!
Boy, I don’t envy you with the mess of renovating your kitchen. We women don’t like that kind of confusion in the kitchen. However, the good news is that you seem to have a great mini-kitchen set up. That will be a great help. Don’t know if you have an electric frying pan, toaster oven, or even a wok but all can be used in limited space. Also a George Foreman grill is great. There’s just my husband and myself but I use the fry pan and toaster oven to make the main course of many means. I make chops, and even bake rolls, cookies, etc in my toaster oven Hope this helps a little.
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Hooray! I love the slow cooker tip! I can’t get enough of that beautiful appliance
If you need any recommendations for good recipes/books/websites, just ask 
Hi,
If you have access to stores that sell convection toaster ovens, you can make almost anything in one. Ours has a curved bump out in the back so it holds a 12″ pizza. I cook the hot part of our dinner in it almost every time I need an oven and rarely use the big one. I just checked, we have an Oster.
Also, you can make oatmeal for a hot easy dinner! Finally, Leanne at Savingdinner.com has tons of crockpot recipes. You can get an ebook, sign up for weekly recipes, or order a regular book. All health too.
Good luck with the remodel – I’m envious as we live in a rental with a terrible kitchen!
Do you have a rice cooker? You might want to invest in one. That and one of those rotissiere chickens from the store can make an easy meal. Salads are a good no-cook, healthy meal too.
You can cook baked potatoes in your microwave and have a baked potato bar for dinner.
Holy Moly, that was a staggering number and I don’t blame you one bit for doign it yourself. Be frugal but make sure you go high end on whatever hardware you choose to hold up your cabinets
I have a friend that has been trying to get me on a raw diet…I said “ew” at first BUT I’m still kind of curious. I hate to leave my crock pot comforts but having an excuse like a kitchen remodel would be a good way to start it.
How many weeks will you be out of “kitchen Commission”?!
Um, what’s an electric skillet? I’m embarrassed that I don’t know what one is!
Hi, DIana:
Yes, we have a George Foreman grill, which I plan to put to good use. I find it to be great for making grilled cheese or cooking chicken fast. Too bad it can’t make pasta, too!
Leah
How many weeks with my kitchen be out of commission? How many days until my husband goes back to work! Seriously, he has off until January 3rd so we’re going to try to get as much demo done before break ends, and then I guess we’ll be hanging cabinets whenever we have free time. Part of the problem is I’ve been sick since Sunday so I haven’t been able to pitch in. I’m hoping to suck it up today and help him out so the work goes faster. Then after the kitchen is demoed, he needs to lay new flooring, which will be the biggest time suck. Then we have to have those new floors redone. I’m thinking we will be kitchen-less all of January. Oh, that is scary to admit!
Lee:
Thanks for these suggestions. I’m familiar with Leanne of savingdinner because I subscriber to Flylady messages. I’ll have to go check her stuff out.
Leah
I normally cook rice in the microwave, in a covered dish. Is there a benefit to having a rice cooker? Can I make pasta in a rice cooker?
Leah
Great ideas from your readers. Especially the electric skillet suggestion. Maybe you can get one on Freecycle or Craigslist. And I have one more really frugal idea. I know you have a beautiful wood-burning fireplace – so next time you have a fire, wrap a few potatoes or sweet potatoes in foil and place them near the some hot coals in the fireplace…not right in the fire but close. Depending on the heat of the fire, the potatoes will be thoroughly cooked in an hour or so. Then you can have them as a side dish to your chicken or beef that you’ve done on your grill. Or fill the potatoes with broccoli & bacon that you’ve cooked in the microwave. Fireplace baked potatoes taste better than when done in the microwave, btw.
Dee Dee: Love the potatoes-in-the-fireplace idea!
I just read all the other suggestions, so I think you have it pretty much well covered with the microwave, slow cooker, toaster over, electric skillet. Since you will be so busy working on renovating, you should cook larger amounts at once and freeze for a quick dinner on the very busy days. I enjoy my slow cooker, but I totally love my pressure cooker, but you need a stove for that, so maybe after your project is done. I have some recipes posted for slow and pressure cookers on my website: http://www.suburbangrandma.com , of you would like to try these. Good luck with you project. I love your site, and your ideas.
This post is perfect as my kitchen will be undergoing a renovation next week and I hadn’t given much thought as to what (or how) we would eat for the next few weeks. Thanks!
Definitely good suggestions above. I was going to suggest one of my kids’ favorite meals — the make-your-own salad night! Chop up all your favorite raw veggies, add a protein or two (cheese, pre-cooked chicken), find their favorite dressings, and put everything out in bowls on the table. The kids take ownership of their (very healthy) meal!
Good luck with the renovation! Incredible how much they charge for installation . . .
Excellent ideas! I was just about to suggest moving the stove and microwave to another part of the house if you had a space you could temporarily move it to and then I read you did =-) The crockpot and grill are excellent ideas too…I’ve been reading around on peoples DIY kitchen renovations to see what people are up to and this is the first where I’ve seen someone discuss this particular issue and set out some fab solutions! GREAT article!!!
Slow cooker, George Foreman grill, electric skillet… all great options. The outdoor grill would be a better option in the summer, but I give you credit for giving it a try!
A kitchen renovation project is always an inconvenience but in the long run it will definitely pay off! You have some really great tips on how to make it through and still be able to eat and have a meal. That’s not always easy when your kitchen is under construction.
I’m also considering kitchen renovations. Do-it-yourself is cool. It would make it more like adding a personal touch to your kitchen.