Pesach kitchen storage - no Pesach kitchen

Ema of 5

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:21 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Mostly on/before Pesach. But the biggest Pesach stress for me is emptying chometz cabinets, putting away the chometz contents, hauling out the Pesach boxes, filling the cabinets... then after Pesach undoing everything. This for me is more stressful than the cleaning or cooking. But if I have a solution to both at once, that would be awesome.

Right, so I used to turn over cabinets and drawers, but it just became too much. I don’t love on the counter storage, but it’s only for a week or two, so I have learned to deal. Last year, just getting the boxes back into the closet upstairs took almost a month, because most were too heavy for my kids to carry upstairs, and my husband comes home from work late, so he just took them whenever he wanted to. I’d love a pesach kitchen, but if I do have one it will be in my basement, so I will still need to have stuff stored in my main kitchen.

amother

Amber

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:23 am

I have only made pesach 1x. We have a large set of plastic drawers that fits almost all my cooking supplies (pots, cutting boards, knives, mixing bowls etc). It stays in our attic and we bring the whole thing down and it lives in our kitchen for pesach. Super, super convenient. We used only disposable plates and cutlery so no massive storage for that.

And we have 1 other big box with bigger appliances: hot water urn, electric kettle for kashering, food processor, tablecloth, seder supplies.

We emptied 2 cabinets: one for a pantry and one for the disposables and other random supplies (foil, parchment paper, ziplocks). And the counters get used for storage more than usual.

All the chometz stuff gets put away in a lockable pantry room in our basement.

SixOfWands

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:25 am

I live in an apartment.

I have never actually met anyone who has a Pesach kitchen, from my fellow apartment dwellers up to people with huge houses who host dozens of people.

My Pesach stuff is all stored in boxes on high shelves in my hall closet and kids' bedroom. During Pesach, I bring out a set of plastic shelves where I keep it all, including all our food.

This year, I'll turn my kitchen over a week in advance, so we'll be eating pesach and kitniyot for a week in advance. Maybe I'll leave my Instant Pot in the dining room so I can make soup if I'm feeling adventurous. The only foods that need to be made in advance are for the first seder (since its motzei Shabbat), and any food for the lunches and second seder that require electric equipment like a food processor. I'd much rather eat freshly prepared foods.

I'm not going to pretend that it wouldn't be lovely to have a lot more space, and even a "Pesach kitchen." But let's not start making it into a necessity rather than a very nice luxury.

sky

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:26 am

Based on an idea I got on here years ago I bought a tall 2 door cabinet unit. I keep it in the basement during the year with lightweight pesach items. And bring it into my kitchen on pesach and fill

On one counter I have foldable shelves like you’d use to creat extra storage in a cabinet so I can keep stuff on there and still have my counter available.

I keep my towels and tablecloths in large rubbermade year round and leave in there for pesach (we use seperate for pesach)

Pesach items are stored in boxes in the attic.

I do empty one cabinet that has real chametz food. We sell chametz so I used to not empty it. But one year a baby got into it. So now I empty out the chametz and use for pots. It makes things easier.

amother

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:27 am

Ema of 4 wrote:

Last year, just getting the boxes back into the closet upstairs took almost a month, because most were too heavy for my kids to carry upstairs, and my husband comes home from work late, so he just took them whenever he wanted to.

Yes!!

amother

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:29 am

sky wrote:

On one counter I have foldable shelves like you’d use to creat extra storage in a cabinet so I can keep stuff on there and still have my counter available.

I love this idea!

Thanks all for sharing. Thanks for making my Pesach less stressful.

amother

Cerise

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:31 am

I am blessed in a kitchen and dining-room. Over pesach, I clean off my counters and keep everything on the table, counters and in the fridge. We are a small family and we go very basic. The clean pots stay on the cooktop. I have an enormous stack of tin plans, and we eat off of paper plates. It’s my YT too. I don’t need to be the slave.

watergirl

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:35 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I keep thinking of doing this but the whole cooking/cleanup leaves me very exhausted (even basics. I never do elaborate). I don’t want to get into Pesach wiped out. Which is why for my sanity I need to have a chunk of it done before last minute. But it then brings on a host of other stresses. Sad

I know it seems like a LOT. It is. I make sure to literally be simple.

- I make a bunch of pans of chicken, all with simple spices or bottled sauces. No sauces made from scratch on Pesach. No recipes that tell me to sauté onions. Throw those all in the oven at once.

- I make ONE brisket, and never for the seders. I throw that in the oven with the chicken, and my brisket is also VERY simple and its delicious.

- I make a few kugels and utilize my instant pot as much as I can. Again, nothing that makes me sauté onions! Buy butternut squash, peel and cube, toss in the IP, when it comes out kugel it... make one potato kugel, one cauliflower/mushroom kugel (for this I may do the onions if I have time and am calm), make quinoa in the IP for tabbouleh which is a family favorite, I'll do roasted potatos, mashed potatos maybe (again, instant pot!).

- I make a huge chicken soup!

- Before bed at night when the kitchen is cleaned for the day, I'll make a special sponge cake that I make every year and my daughter makes brownies (I got the recipe from this site) and a vanilla pudding sponge cake. Done.

BH I do not go into Pesach wiped out. I truly limit what I make.

ra_mom

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 10:37 am

We built a small closet outside the kitchen. Pesach items are kept there year round. It makes the pesach turnover much smoother. No schlepping, no hidden items in boxes. No need to set things up all at once. Everything is on shelves neatly all year round. When I'm done washing a pot, I put it back in the closet off the kitchen even on pesach.

I gave up my pesach dishes. It's no fun washing all pesach. And now I have enough space for everything I need in that small closet, even the appliances.

The only cabinets I empty for pesach are the pantry and the spice/cooking cabinets. And 2 big drawers for utensils. All spices get placed (ok over-stacked) in a cabinet on top of what's already there, until after pesach. The cooking utensils from the drawers get placed in 2 lb ziploc bags and stored in the dishwasher over pesach.

Pesach food shopping is emptied into the empty pantry and cooking cabinet. And having the pesach utensils in the correct drawers helps make the cooking smoother.

It used to be so hard to get the kitchen back in order after pesach. I'd have to pad and pack the pesach items and lug downstairs. And then it would take weeks until all the boxes that had regular items, ended up back where they belong.

amother

Linen

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 11:16 am

amother [ Ruby ] wrote:

I empty a couple top cabinets and shove everything into any space in the bottom cabinets below. It's a giant mess, but it works.

I try to do this in some organized way but me too. I also have some things that go in the to be locked closet downstairs.
I have a small but fairly practical kitchen. I have two tall deep cabinets on one side, one with chametz, dishtowels, food processor base, stainless bowls; the other with spices, oil, miscelania. I consolidate the two.
So I have one tall cabinet, 3 over the sink that have been consolidated, and one small bookcase that holds cookbooks, fruit, toaster also packed up in the chametz closet that I line and use for products, paper goods, dishes. I don't unpack my milchig dishes anymore, just one place setting for my husband (he deserves some perks), a big frying pan, and spatula. I use a lot of disposables.

amother

Copper

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 11:32 am

I have a small house and kitchen. A few years ago I discovered something called a flip shelf. I don’t know how to post a link but search for flip shelf on Amazon. They used to have several sizes. I use it for pots and pans and the like. After Pesach, they fold flat. My food products are just kept in boxes in my living room. It’s only a week. This way I don’t have to change over ANY cabinets. Makes life so much easier.

imasinger

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 1:43 pm

Some genius ideas here!

After some heavy negotiation, I persuaded DH to give up a closet that he had been using for coats (we had other spaces for them), and coopted a closet for Pesach storage right next to the kitchen.

All other rearranging pales in comparison to box shlepping.

amother

Bronze

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 1:49 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Which is why I wont do that. I dont see how it makes sense to spend all that time emptying cabinets, hauling the contents away, etc etc etc.
We set up a folding table in a different room and put all the pesach stuff on it or in boxes under it. Yeah, so you have to go the other room and its not as convenient, but to me its much better than the other option.
Some highly frequently used items I keep on the kitchen counter.

ra_mom

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 1:52 pm

imasinger wrote:

That's awesome. I used to think I needed a pesach kitchen and now I that I have a small closet near the kitchen, I realize I do not. It was just what I needed. And I saved myself space for a bigger laundry room which helps me year round instead of a pesach area for 1 month of the year.

amother

Sienna

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 4:24 pm

I just take over one counter for stuff. I have more counter space on pesach as my microwaves aren't there, and also I cover the hob and use that as a counter. During the year I have 4/5 boxes that I keep all the stuff in. I'm very minimalist and only use disposables. Yes, it's more messy but this way I can just lock all my cupboards.

Ema of 5

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 4:42 pm

We are doing construction on our house after pesach. I’m hoping to be able to make a closet, or space in a closet, on my main floor for the stuff I won’t need for cooking. The stuff I will need for cooking will be moved from the third floor(!!) down to the basement.

saralem

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 5:41 pm

I hate mess and stuff all over the place. Especially when I’ve just cleaned and tidied the whole house. But— I live with everything on the counters and wherever for the week and a half of Pesach. We’re Chabad and minhag allows us to simply seal all the cupboards full of keilim and even chometz. It’s just so easy to keep all Pesach keilim out on counters and the kitchen table (which becomes my prep area). No fuss. And then I just rip that tape off my cupboards when all the Pesach keilim are put away. Back to normal again!

Hashem_Yaazor

Wed, Mar 03 2021, 6:03 pm

I have a freestanding keter pantry in my office for Pesach storage along with boxes in a closet in my laundry room.

I empty only a couple cabinets/drawers by using my dishwashers as storage and stuffing things together and pots and utensils go in those. Silverware is left on the countertop. The cabinets I empty are pots since they're bulky and so it's not so much stuff. The drawers are the cooking utensil drawers near my stove.

I empty my food pantry into boxes to eat in my laundry room as I transition so it's easy to fill with pesach food anyhow.