A Tidy Kitchen Routine for Stress-Free Cooking 

For many people with busy lives, the holy grail of cooking dinner looks something like this: a delicious, healthy dinner that’s quick to make. People want ’15-minute dinners’. Scratch that—let’s make it 10-minute dinners. Five minutes, even. But maybe it’s not so much how much it takes to cook dinner. Maybe it’s more about having a tidy kitchen routine that actually works for you. 

The desire for super speedy meals often stems from demanding routines. These may encompass long hours at work, small children, or an ever-growing to-do list. It’s totally understandable to want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible after a long day. 

That is definitely where I am right now—with a toddler, there’s just no time. Especially not when said toddler wants to be on your arm at all times. So for now, the days where I happily cook 1 hour+ meals are gone. 

When cooking stops being fun

Usually, I’ll make it a point to plan quick dinners. I often rely on recipes that promise not to take up too much of my time. And then find it still takes forever. And you know why? It’s not only because cooking simply takes a little time, even if you’re quick and have a routine. It’s also because I often have to tidy up my kitchen first. 

We have a small kitchen. And as someone working from home, I prepare a lot of meals throughout the day. So even if the kitchen was clean (if!) after dinner, by afternoon, without fail, it will be cluttered again with used pots, plates, and glasses.  

And you know what? A messy kitchen takes the joy out of cooking. Like, it’s zero fun to cook when you have to navigate your way around the chaos. The thought of making dinner suddenly feels overwhelming. 

If you have a small kitchen like mine, you’ll run out of space to put things while you cook. You put a baking tray on top of the coffee machine because there’s just nowhere else to put it. It’s chaos—and that chaos takes up mental space, too.  

Why a tidy kitchen changes everything 

When your kitchen is cluttered and messy, you have two options. You either start anyway and likely feel stressed the whole time. Or you tidy up first, in order to have a calmer, more straight-forward cooking experience. This of course means you lose time tidying up—and invariably, cooking takes longer. Like, waylonger. 

That 15-minute meal you had in mind? Suddenly it takes 30, often easily 45 minutes, an hour, even. (Though just maybe this is also due to recipes promising a little too much—or cheating, like relying on pre-cut ingredients.)  

So having a tidy kitchen really is about much more than aesthetics. It’s about having fun while cooking and making sure there’s very little friction. And let’s face it: At some point, you’re going to clean up your kitchen. So why not do it before you want to prepare your next meal? 

Simple habits & tips for a tidy kitchen routine

Here are some basic approaches to having a tidier kitchen that I find work well (when I stick to them, haha):  

• Tidy up while cooking. Whether it’s measuring cups, the lemon squeezer, or a pot you prepped some ingredients in—clean it up right away. Like, right after you used it. That way, you never even create a bigger mess. That means less friction and helps you keep your kitchen neat. 

• Make it a habit to clean your kitchen up at the end of the day, no excuses. So I started reading this book, “How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind”, by author Dana K. White. (Do I feel somewhat domestic admitting that? Hell yes!) And one of the first tips is: Clean your kitchen. Every. Damn. Day. So I try to do that. Honestly, often it just takes an additional 10 minutes. And you get to start the next day with actual space to prepare your breakfast! 

• Make tidying up your kitchen a game: You know what they say about habits—making a game out of them makes it that much more likely you’ll stick to them. So I thought of two games that involve cleaning up in my kitchen: 

• There’s the 10-minute game. It’s very simple: Set a timer for ten minutes. Clean up what you can in that time frame. Often, the chaos has vanished after that time. You could also make it the 5-minute game! 

• The other is the 10-item game. Just put away ten items—done! This game is most effective when you do it multiple times in a day. 

Find a routine that works for you

One last tip: Start small. So the cleaning the kitchen every night rule I just mentioned? Yeah, well, by the time my child is finally asleep way too late again the last thing I want to do is clean up. That’s not my idea of downtime. 

So I kind of got frustrated with myself when day after day, I didn’t stick to this rule. But then I invented the 10-minute game and the 10-item game, and you know what? I’m way more likely to stick to those, and it’s even fun! (A little bit.) 

So go easy on yourself. Start where you are. Every step in the right direction is, well, a step in the right direction. And when you’ve got your tidy kitchen routine sorted, cooking can be joyful and relaxing again.