Best way to use a Pesach kitchen

whirlwind

Sun, Jan 21 2018, 8:25 pm

We used to rent out part of our basement but don't have tenants at this point. We have a kitchen down there that is decent sized - sink, electric oven/stove, full fridge/freezer, lots of cabinets, and about 4 feet of counter space. I am trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of that for Pesach. Some details - our dining room is in the front of the house and the kitchen's at the back so you need to go down the stairs and all the way to the back of the house to get to the kitchen, making it inconvenient to serve meals from there on Pesach. All our bedrooms are on our first floor and we have young children so it's difficult to clean the bedrooms early since they are so close to the kitchen/eating area and the kids end up tracking food everywhere. I work full time through erev Pesach so I don't have any days I can use for intense cooking and cleaning and therefore need to be able to do things in bits and pieces in the evenings. Usually I turn over about a week early so I have enough time to do a final cleaning of the bedrooms and to cook a little each night to get everything done. I do freeze dinners so we can have some chametz that week but for the most part there's not much to eat in that week preceding Pesach. So on the one hand I think the best use of the extra kitchen is to turn over upstairs as early as possible and eat chametz downstairs until Pesach. Then just close off and sell the basement kitchen. However, the downside of that is that it doesn't ease the burden of emptying cabinets in the main kitchen, bringing up and unpacking the Pesach stuff, and then undoing it all again after Pesach.
Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to how I can use that extra kitchen even more efficiently or do you agree that using it to eat chametz and turning over upstairs super early is the best use?

amother

Blonde

Mon, Jan 22 2018, 2:16 am

My mother has a tiny Pesach kitchen in her basement. She uses it to slowly prepare food ahead of time so she's not rushed close to Pesach. She makes tons of soups and does a lot of baking and makes meats and whatever else she can think of that will freeze well. She also buys chicken in bulk and cleans it and freezes it raw in smaller packages so it's ready to be cooked fresh without too much prep time. She turns over her upstairs kitchen much closer to Pesach and serves in the dining room as usual.

I have an aunt who has a much more substantial Pesach kitchen in her basement. She uses it like a normal kitchen and turns the large basement area into a dining room for Pesach so there's no schlepping up and down.

I also know someone who lets her close friend borrow her Pesach kitchen and as a thank you the friend makes double batches of some things so she can have half to freeze.

You need to figure out what works for you.

Teomima

Mon, Jan 22 2018, 2:47 am

Can you turn your upstairs kitchen really early, and use the downstairs as your regular kitchen till Pesach? If the kids will play down there, they're less likely to track chametz through the house. You can set up a table downstairs to eat chametz during the period leading up to Pesach. So it won't save you the hassle of turning your regular kitchen, which sounds easier to use during chag, but it could give you the opportunity to start cleaning the rest of your house so early it could really maker life easier for you.