Planning, cooking and serving get all the attention on Thanksgiving, but the hard part doesn’t start until the meal is over. That’s when the cleanup begins and it tends to be just as big a job as getting the turkey dinner on the table. And the worst part? It’s the last thing you want to do when you’re so stuffed that all you feel like secretly unbuttoning your pants and lounging on the couch.
Unfortunately, those roasting pans aren’t going to wash themselves, so your best bet is getting out of the kitchen as soon as possible. These tips for Thanksgiving cleaning duty can make the chore easier and faster so you can get back to the couch sooner.
- Make some things in advance - If you can make soups, gravy, cranberry sauce and pie crusts ahead of time, you’ll have your mess from those cleaned up long before the first guest arrives.
- Deep clean the house the week before - Get that chore done this weekend so it’s one less thing for you to do next Wednesday or Thursday.
- Enlist cleanup partners - Ask your guests who’s willing to be on cleanup duty and entice them to help by telling them they don’t have to bring a dish if they do.
- Invest in a rolling cart - Top it with absorbent dish cloths and use it to move plates from the table to the sink with ease.
- Use as much disposable stuff as you can - We know that single-use kitchenware is usually a no-no as it’s bad for the environment, but you can make an exception for a large Thanksgiving gathering. Foil baking pans and plastic plates will give you so much less to scrub, making cleanup that much easier.
- Make it a Tupperware party - Not a literal one, just make sure you’re stocked up on plastic containers and ask guests to bring their own to-go containers for leftovers.
- Use the bathtub - Hear us out on this. You can use your tub as a dish-soaking station so your kitchen sink is still usable as a rinse station. You could also set up a folding table somewhere just to hold dirty pots, pans and dishes until you’re ready to wash them.
- Have supplies handy - Make it easy for guests to pitch in by having paper towels, empty trash cans and heavy-duty trash bags right there.
Source: Lifehacker
Photo: Getty Images