How do I keep a kitchen tidy while cooking?

Cooking has a lot of waiting in it, and the difference between a clean kitchen and a wrecked one is almost entirely whether that waiting time gets used. It is a sequencing habit rather than extra effort.

Step by step

1. Clear the decks before you start.An empty sink, clear worktops, dishwasher emptied, bin not full. Starting into a mess guarantees ending in a bigger one.
2. Fill the sink with hot soapy water first.Before any cooking. Things go straight in as you finish with them and half of them barely need washing afterwards.
3. Get everything out before you cook.Ingredients and equipment on the counter. It removes frantic cupboard-opening mid-cook, which is when things get left out and knocked over.
4. Use the waiting time.While onions soften, while it simmers, while it is in the oven. Ten minutes of gaps in a typical meal is more than enough for the washing up.
5. Wipe as you go, not at the end.Spills wipe off in seconds while wet and need scrubbing once dried and cooked on. Keep a damp cloth to hand.
6. Keep a bowl for scraps on the counter.Peelings, packaging, trimmings. It stops the counter filling and saves twenty trips to the bin.
7. Wash the awkward things immediately.Anything with egg, cheese, pastry or starch. Two seconds under a running tap now, or a scrubbing job later.
8. Leave the pans until last but soak them now.Hot water and a squirt of washing-up liquid in a roasting tin the moment it comes out. It practically cleans itself while you eat.

Tips

• One chopping board and one knife for as much as possible, washed between uses. It is faster than getting out and washing three.
• Line roasting tins with foil or paper for anything that will burn on. The trade-off in waste is worth it for some jobs.
• If someone else is in the kitchen, washing up while you cook is the most useful thing they can do. Ask.

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