What Type Are You?

[SueK]

I was just reading Grace's response to the dishwasher post, and that triggered a question in my mind:

Are you a "Clean As You Go" type cook, or a "Clean Up Afterwards" type?

I myself am a clean-as-you-go. When I am cooking or baking, I immediately put pots/pans in the sink when I am through with them. Then, when the dish is cooking in the oven or stove, I stick everything in the dishwasher, or else wash it and put it away.

My husband is the opposite. One night he made spaghetti and meatballs (with canned sauce and frozen meatballs, mind you) and I walked into the kitchen after dinner, and I thought a bomb had gone off. There were dishes all over the place and everything was splattered with sauce. I thought I was going to have a coronary. Guess this is why I cook 100% of the time--I'm much too anal for anyone else to be touching my kitchen!

[sneezles]

I'd give you two thumbs up if I could!!!
I'm on my youngest child as for whose job it is to empty the dishwasher and I try not to go beserk when he puts stuff in the wrong place-but it's been his job for 4 months now.
how many lessons could he possibly need?

Let's here for all us anal types!!

[Natasha]

DEFINITELY clean-as-you-go as a rule. I DO NOT LIKE (okay, who does?!) dishes or a messy kitchen when the meal is over, even if I don t have to clean up myself. Ick! Of course, if we re having something that needs to be eaten as soon as it is prepared, there will inevitably be some cleanup afterwards (the last pot used and a couple of utensils, for example).

[lorilei]

I really must confess to being a bit of both.

I'm a whirlwind in the kitchen, and when baking I tend to be the girl who goes in as a slightly flushed redhead and comes out as a powdered white blonde. My KitchenAid is perpetually covered in flour.

On the other hand, if I'm being unusually organized I'll clean my pans as I go, put things away as I use them and generally leave no trace of my presence.

This is a paradox which even my mother will not forgive.

[lindrusso]

I too do both. When I'm frazzled and hurried my kitchen looks like a disaster area. However, if I'm organized and plan things well, I like to clean as I go. There's nothing worse than trying to enjoy a meal knowing what awaits you at the end...

[Gail]

Remember M.A.S.H. ?

Remember "The Swamp??"

...my kitchen after I've used it...

[SandyDee]

I am a bit of both, too. Since I don't have a dishwasher I will fill the sink with hot soapy water and put the pans and dishes in the water as I go so that they can soak. But I don't really wash them up and dry them until after dinner. Same with baking I put the bowls and dishes in the water as I go and while the dish is baking I will wash them. But then I think my biggest problem I have in cooking is getting everything to be ready at the same time. So I rarely can have time for doing the dishes as I cook because inevitably I am racing around the kitchen getting everthing that I have left til the last minute done in time to eat with everything else. What is this? "True Confessions"?

[This message has been edited by SandyDee (edited 09-21-2000).]

[karen w]

I am also a bit of both. With three little ones(4, 3, and 1), I can't cook every night, so I try to cook "ahead of time." This often means I am making more than one dish at a time. Generally, I make one dish piling the dirties as I go, and then clean up before I start the next dish. Sometimes this is out of necessity since I may need the sink or a particular pot/pan etc... for the next dish.

[shoefling]

I mostly leave all washing until the end, although I try and rinse dishes off as I cook. And I usually need the sink empty to put stuff down the garbage disposal. Unfortunatly I do not have much counter space at present, so the kitchen always seems really cluttered. Maybe I should turn over a new leaf and try and wash as I go?

[Zinnia]

Definitely a clean as you go person, & at times it depends on time or what I cook; & my Mom was the same way too so she rubbed off on me, . Cooking for 5 people over the years & not having enough counter space, glasses, dishes, or pans to cook with when first married was a contributing factor too.
Zinnia

[BernK]

I do it both ways. If I am baking I clean as I go along.
However if I am doing dinner I leave it all to the end. The reason being if I cook dinner I am not doing the dishes, my husband has to do them.
That's not very nice is it? Oh well he'll just have to buy himself a dishwasher some day.

[AndreaU]

Again, a little of both. For some reason, when baking I clean as I go. Maybe because dough, batter, flour, etc. cleans up fairly easily. Other things tend to sit around until I get sick of looking at them (like the pot in my sink right now from 2 days ago)... usually stubborn, caked-on stuff that I assume will just fall off after it soaks long enough! My husband, however, is the classic leave-it-in-the-sink-til-your-wife-complains guy all the way.

[MaryB]

I'm ruining the trend here. I almost always leave cleanup till the end. The only exception is when I'm baking cookies (I only have three cookie sheets). I have a dishwasher, but I don't put any cookware in there only glasses, silverware and eating dishes. One reason I do it this way is when I was first married and working outside the home, I cooked and hubby cleaned up. So I think I got in the habit of not cleaning up until after the meal. Now that I work at home, I do the dishes (he gets to walk the dog, however). I'll be really happy when my son is old enough (and tall enough) to help with this chore!

[Shirley Panek]

I started out as a clean-at-the-end kind of person. I'm a proscratinator, so I guess that's why. But lately I've turned into more of a clean-as-you-go kind of person. Of course it all depends on if I've checked to see if the dishwasher is clean or dirty before I start to cook. If I've remembered to empty it first, it's much easier!



Shirley

p.s. My husband, who is SUPPOSED to clean the kitchen insists I use every pot and utensil, and then leave it for him to clean up. Even after I've cleaned as I've cooked. Go figure.

[This message has been edited by Shirley Panek (edited 09-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Shirley Panek (edited 09-22-2000).]

[buddie]

CLEAN AS YOU GO!

i love a clean kitchen when i sit down to eat! i feel so much more relaxed and there is so little to do once dinner is done

=)

[Gwenniver]

Um, both, I think. I'm a "soak as you go" cook so the food doesn't get really caked onto the containers and utensils, but I don't usually completely clean up until later. Food comes off the pots and pans and things so much more easily after being filled with soap and water (or even just water) for a little while that it's worth the short time that the sink is full.

[jjf]

i absolutely clean as i go - i can't stand to have a mess around me when i'm cooking. i enjoy the meal more too - knowing that we don't have an awful mess after we am done eating. although when my husband and i are cooking together, i have to give him the credit for cleaning - not that i wouldn't do it, but he says he is the "laborer" and i'm the creative end.

jen

[Beth Y]

Clean as you go, as I am able. It is the only way I stay sane.