Clean while you cook
Start with an empty dishwasher and an empty sink, since a kitchen that begins the meal full of yesterday's dishes never catches up. Keep one bowl on the counter for peels, wrappers and trimmings, and empty it once. Fill the sink with hot soapy water and drop tools in as you finish with them, except knives, which should never hide under suds. Anything that simmers for ten minutes gives you time to wash a board and a knife. Wipe spills on the stove while they are still warm, because the next burner cycle bakes them on.
The ten-minute close
- Put the food away first. Leftovers go into shallow containers and into the refrigerator within two hours of cooking, or within one hour if the room is above 90 degrees.
- Load the dishwasher or wash what is left.
- Clear the counters completely, sweep the crumbs into your hand, and wipe with a hot soapy cloth, working toward the sink.
- Wipe the stovetop, the knobs and the handle of the refrigerator.
- Finish with the sink: scrub the basin, rinse the strainer, run the disposal with cold water, and wipe the faucet dry.
- Sweep the floor by the stove, and take out the trash if it holds meat scraps.
Hang the dishcloth where it can dry, and put out a fresh one every day or two.
After raw meat
Cleaning removes grime, while sanitizing kills what is left, and raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs call for both. Wash the board, the knife and the counter with hot soapy water, then wipe them with a solution of one tablespoon of unscented chlorine bleach in a gallon of water. Let the surface stand wet for a few minutes and air-dry. Do not rinse raw chicken, because the splash carries bacteria two or three feet around the sink. Keep one cutting board for raw meat only, and send the cloth that touched it straight to the laundry.
The weekly extras
Heat a bowl of water with a sliced lemon in the microwave for three minutes, leave the door shut for five more, and the spatters wipe off. Go through the refrigerator the night before trash pickup and throw out anything past its time. Wipe the cabinet pulls, the light switches and the front of the trash can, which are the surfaces everyone touches with food on their hands.
Tip Set a timer the first few nights. The job is shorter than it looks, and knowing that is most of the habit.
