Article

5 little missteps that are killing your kitchen

Here are a few missteps you are likely to make that hinder you from maximizing your weekly cooking efforts.

January 20, 2016

By Jeff Rebh, president and CEO, Innsoeal

Many culinary aficionados use cooking as a therapeutic and often creative outlet. But for the average working man or woman, sometimes you just want to put food on the table as quickly as possible. There's a new wave of Paula Deens who are learning the 'kitchen curve'; ways to condense shopping trips, assemble quick primal meals throughout the work week, and make themselves available for activities outside the kitchen. Here are five missteps you are likely to make that hinder you from maximizing your weekly cooking efforts:

1. Not keeping track of your inventory

Maintaining a poor or inconsistent count of the physical inventory in your kitchen can create quite the headache for your budget and your overall organization. The physical inventory is a count of all the ingredients, equipment and utensils that are used on a weekly or monthly basis. Some even use an array of software-based inventory control systems. Using this software, such as RICS software, can help confirm your expected usage and helps investigate significant item variances. Restaurant managers can easily track the number of each item on the menu sold daily and will have a solid idea of which ingredients are used regularly and how that should be reflected in the weekly or monthly inventory and budget.

2. Poor architecture

Let's face it: not every kitchen set-up is the same. However, some kitchen architecture may look great in design, but may be putting a thorn in your spacing. This applies at home and in your restaurant. For instance, you should keep larger pans and pots closest to the lower area of the stove. These areas are usually designed to have the ease of access to larger cooking tools and utensils closest to the cooking vicinity. At home, keeping glasses and regularly used china in the cabinet space above or adjacent to the dishwasher or sink helps prevent accidents such as breaking or damaging.

3. Is it cleaning time?

Although this supports your mental sanity more than your kitchen; a clean kitchen is a happy kitchen. Waiting until the end of your meal preparation to start cleaning can increase labor costs and isn't a timely choice. In the kitchen, something can always be done or improved! Utilize the time between meal-prep and cooking to start cleaning dishes that are dirty. The less work there is in the end, the happier you are knowing you saved time. 

4. Freeze, freeze, freeze!

Sometimes its hard to get to the meat of the problem. The shopping time consumed in gathering all of your required supply of meats and produce can be cut in half with a little creative planning and storage help. Purchasing your meats in bulk from a local supplier leaves you with an ample amount of cuts high in both quantity and quality. This same measure works for veggies as well. Stored and packaged with devices you can save time and money on your weekly vegetable needs by packaging and freezing these items for later use. 

5. What's on the menu?

We've all rummaged through our cabinets at some point to pull together a last minute spread only to realize that key ingredients are missing to every idea that crosses your mind. Plan out your meals for the following week, then make a grocery list based on that plan. This will make your shopping list more concise saving you both time and money. No one wants to walk around their local market trying to figure out what they may want that week. With a full weekly menu, this also allows the option to repurpose some leftover meals into a different dish without having to make unnecessary store visits.

Jeff Rebh is president and CEO of Innsoeal, an international manufacturer and distributor of tamper-evident bag-sealing solutions.