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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
15/12/2025
By following this guide, you will be able to cut the amount of mess you create after a large Christmas dinner by 50 per cent. The information in this guide will show you ways to prepare your food more efficiently, produce less mess when preparing the food (cooking) and clean up while you are cooking.
When you plan to have a big feast, you will find that you have just a few extra things to clean. However, if you spend the time to develop new behaviours before you begin cooking, for example, to use one large pan instead of many small pans, you will reduce the amount of cleaning that you will need to do at the end of your feast. Additionally, by creating "scrap stations" for your ingredients, lining pans with foil to assist with cleaning up, and washing as a group for efficiency (rather than in the order of "first-come, first-served"), you will find that your clean-up will go more smoothly, resulting in a fun, stress-free festive season.
Christmas clean-up does not start after you eat; clean-up starts when you grab your knife! To make your evening go smoothly, use as many recipes that do not require you to cook in several pans as possible. Use recipes that incorporate baking sheets, cast-iron skillets, and Dutch ovens; using one pan to cook several items is much easier than juggling pots. Here's a quick tip: cut your veggies on parchment paper, and you can fold up your scraps and toss them in a trash can! No need to scrub your cutting board that has the baked-on carrot stains.
Also, if you have another dirty utensil to wash, try soaking it in warm water with soap in the sink while you're preparing your other ingredients. After all your food is cooked, most dirty butter knives and gravy spoons will be easy to clean.
While many people have heard the phrase, “Clean Up While You Cook,” there is no detailed explanation of what that means. One easy method for micocleanups is to use “dead time” during cooking processes, like when something is simmering or roasting. While your meat is getting brown or potatoes are cooking, you can rinse out mixing bowls, wipe down counters, and throw out any vegetable peelings.
Another good example of hosting psychology is to create a designated “landing zone” where your guests can place their dirty dishes, whether it’s a side table, a corner of your counter, or any other location that will fit with your kitchen’s design. A single landing zone prevents plates from piling on top of the dining table and lets your guests know where to place their dirty dishes when they are finished eating.
Additionally, another tiny but powerful suggestion is to serve drinks and water from a single location instead of placing bottles and glasses all over your kitchen. The less clutter and mess on your countertops and your dining tables means fewer random dirty dishes and a cleaner kitchen long before you even start cleaning up.
Begin your kitchen organisation and cleaning by removing clutter from all work surfaces so that there’s plenty of room available to work efficiently. Use a compost bin or waste basket to dispose of food scraps from your plates as you scrape them; this way, you are cutting down on the number of times you need to run back to the trash can after scraping plates.
When washing dishes, assess which is the most important and wash in that order:
1. Glasses (very quick to wash and give you the motivation to continue)
2. Plates and utensils (stack, rinse, and rotate to fit in the dishwasher)
3. Cookware (will likely be soaking in hot water)
When using a dishwasher, arrange items according to the ‘Tetris’ method: vertical with larger pieces on both ends, smaller items in the centre, and never stack bowls like Jenga towers.
Five minutes before going to bed, do a mini-cleaning: wipe the counters, empty the sink, and store leftovers in one or two large containers instead of many small ones. You’ll wake up looking at a clean kitchen, which is the equivalent of winning Christmas twice.
Put a bowl/bucket in the centre of the table to collect the used silverware, as it is a habit for people to drop their spoons and forks there. You can serve desserts on disposable paper squares or cupcake wrappers instead of having to wash extra plates.
Have a tea station with mugs available for the guests. That way, when they make ten cups of chai, you don't have a stack of dirty mugs to wash after each round of chai. If you organise the way guests work, you will have fewer dishes to wash when they leave.
