We get it. Between classes, social life and extracurricular activities, there’s not much time for the average college student to cook, quick, healthy and good-tasting meals.
In order to maximize what little time you do have, keeping the kitchen as clean as possible is vital. Cooking in a messy, disorganized area will waste valuable time and energy.
Here are three easy steps to keep your kitchen in tip-top shape:
- Get a drying rack
The last thing anyone wants is to reach in the cupboard to grab a plate and get soaked with water.
A drying rack eliminates much of the hassle when cleaning dishes. Stack pots, pans and plates, or get a rack with a special spot for silverware. There are endless varieties to choose from.
On another note, a drying rack serves as a good reminder to put dishes back in the cupboard, too.
Once a dish is cleaned, it’ll rest on the rack as other utensils and items stack up around it. Once the rack runs out of space, it’s time to clean it out, restocking your cupboards in the process.
Basically, a drying rack will add a nice flow to your cleaning process. No more leaving dishes out or putting soaking wet utensils back into your cabinets.
- Clean off countertops after every use
This one sounds like a lot of effort, but in practice only adds a few extra minutes to your clean time.
If not properly attended to, your countertops can get dirty quick. It only takes a few meals for spilt ingredients and food to pile up, and the longer they’re left sitting out, the harder it’ll be to pick up later.
Also, an often-overlooked part of college cooking is hygiene. If you’re constantly working with raw meats, you’ll want your countertops to stay clean. In many apartments and homes, kitchens are the dirtiest areas; countertops in particular, as they’re often cleaned with other dirty items like sponges or dish towels.
So, after each meal, just do a quick wipe down of your countertops. Water works fine, though an all-purpose cleaner or any appropriate cleaning agent works better. And most importantly, use a clean paper towel. Otherwise, you’re just adding more germs instead of removing them.
- Practice good fridge hygiene
A common place many overlook when considering the cleanliness of the kitchen is the fridge.
Since it’s only used to store food, and not to prepare it, it’s often considered to be clean by default. This is not the case.
First and foremost, make sure you’re storing all meat on the bottom shelf. This will ensure that no juices drip down, contaminating other foods. The bottom shelf tends to be the dirtiest in the fridge because it collects all the residue from the shelves above it, so ensure that you’re cleaning there frequently.
Temperature is also crucial. Many college fridges don’t come with high-tech equipment built-in, so it’s imperative that you test the efficacy of the appliance yourself. This means buying a cheap thermometer to check the temperature of the fridge from time to time.
Lastly, wipe down everywhere. It doesn’t need to be every day, but like your countertops, fridge shelves and drawers can accumulate bacteria quickly. The average salad drawer should only contain between zero and 10 bacteria per square centimeter. In reality, that number is nearly 8,000, according to a recent study.
There are many other ways to keep your kitchen clean, and you shouldn’t stop with just the three things on this list. Make sure you find a cleaning rhythm that works for you, whether it be buying a new package on sponges once a month or washing dish towels once a week, everyone is different. All that matters is that every inch of your kitchen is getting cleaned as regularly as possible!