I kept my refrigerator plugged to store food. Then, I moved my stovetop and microwave to the dining room and used them to cook and reheat meals. Sometimes, I used paper plates and plastic utensils. Other times, I use the 1/2 bath sink for washing dishes.

I also used the microwave to boil water when needed. At times, I had to settle for TV dinners.

I later purchased one of those camping stove and cooked some decent meals when the weather cooperated. It was also very useful to have during one of the hurricane that passed by here and blew out the power for several days.

WINE!!!!

(and lots of it!)

Whine, and lots of that , too!!!!

Seriously thou, we put our old fridge out on the patio (Calif). We have a 2 burner DCS cooktop next to the bbq.
So even thou we were without a kitchen for 5 months, It wasnt the Pita, It could have been, biggest pain was washing pots/pans in the bathroom, but I installed a high rise faucet there (still a bathroom faucet) that made things a bit easier, and we still have that faucet and continue to like it.

Use paper/plastic plates as much as possible, and use the bbq (assuming you have one as much as possible too).

Others have bought small ovens and small induction units to "Fill the gaps" too.

Good luck!!!

Gary

We set up a temporary kitchen all the way on the other side of the house. I had my refrigerator, a microwave, a toaster oven, a single induction burner, an outdoor grill (covered by 2 feet of snow until just about a week ago), an electric teakettle, and a bar sink. I was able to turn out 3-4 course meals but you really have to plan it out. check out the veggie aisle at your grocery store. I was surprised to find out that many veggies can be microwaved in a bag for a couple minutes and they're done! I even made spaghetti by making the sauce first and placing it in a microwave bowl and, then, boiling the pasta on the same burner (my only one). If the sauce cools down just a minute in the micro will heat it back up. The toaster oven worked for the garlic bread.

All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My demo started on Jan. 17 and tonight I cooked my first meal on my new Wolf stovetop! I'm very happy to have a light at the end of the tunnel. We're not done yet but we're getting there!

I looked at the whole thing as a big challenge. I didn't really want to eat out. So I set up a temporary kitchen in the LR with pots and pans, dishes and paper plates, crockpot, electric frying pan, microwave and a single electric burner. I had to be careful though, too many things going at once and I would trip the breaker. We didn't have any kitchen to use for about six weeks.

We only had pizza once and fast food two times. A cookbook of 30 minute skillet dinners can be your best friend.

Nancy

We started our reno/demo on Aug 21. DH put the old kitchen into the basement complete with stove, refig, dw, sink and all cabinets. I kept out the bare min of dishes and gadgets that I would need during this time and packed everything else up into boxes. I labeled the boxes with everything that went into them and what cabinet/drawer they came out of. I stacked them into a spare room w/the labels facing out so if I need to get into them it is easy enough to find. We are about 1/2 way done and hardly ever eat out and we use all our dishes and pans since I still have use of the sink and DW. But there are still days when I need lots of wine...lol

well, ours is being torn out now. Kids and i are at my mil's (she's out of town thank goodness!!!) The fridge, microwave and coffee maker are in the dining room, and i cleaned out a bookshelf to make room for the dishes, utensils and booze that we'll need to get by. This week though (crossing fingers!!) the wiring and new walls will be back up and we can temporarily hook our old sink back up, & plug the fridge and stove back in while we wait for cabinets.

My husband was such a jerk today.. I don't know how we'll survive each other during this process!!

First, keep your eye on the prize. A wonderful new kitchen. Forget about today's food.

Knee deep into week 3. Painters tomorrow on Mon and Tues, cabinets come on Wed, appliances arrive Thurs. I am guessing it will be a week from Friday til it is 85% done. Havent picked out countertop yet. Have the sink, faucet and soap dispenser, but keeping my options open re the sink.

I thought about this today.

Have a lot of plastic grocery bags and rolls of paper towels. Food is not a big deal for us and we have had pizza once and gyros twice. I Cook very little, but we are empty nesters and dh only eats a sandwich for dinner. So I buy deli tuna salad and reheatable double cheeseburgers, toss the buns, low carb, big lettuce containers, deli cheese, almonds, grapes, bananas. It's relatively short term anyway. Rotisserie chicken. Unprocessed stuff. Deli stuff. Cabbage and chicken salad. Lean cuisines. Nuke eggs or beaters in sprayed mugs. Have microwave and fridge.

I precooked a bunch of chicken breasts, plain, which are still untouched in the freezer. We don't, nor do we care to, have wonderful dinners every night. Dh goes out to a nice lunch a few times a week.

If I still had starving teens, I'd have milk and cereal, "the great (thursday nite) cereal buffet and get sushi for dd. raw veggies and spinach dip.

Simple and plain. Home brewed and store bought Starbucks. wine. it is ok. So happy about the kitchen our food is minor. The kitchen is a little miracle.

Again, plastic bags(save 'em beforehand), paper towels, cooking spray, paper plates, and whatever are your own personal necessities and convenience items.

important.

Use paper towels to wipe out your dirty dishes, utensils, and anything with food or grease. Then toss the dirty paper towels into a trash bag.

Do not clog your bathroom or basement sinks with food or cooking stuff. Put it in a plastic or paper trash bag.

No Clogging.

Wow, thanks for all the great ideas! I can see there will be lots of wine and whine in my future :) as well as setting up a temporary kitchen in the living room.

Laxfanmom you must be so excited to be cooking in your new kitchen! I am so looking forward to that.

Joyjoyjoy - I hear you about the jerky husbands - some days I wonder if we will make it through these renos (we are also gutting out bathrooms as well as all new floors and doors). Just have to keep in mind that the stress brings out the worst in us.

Westsider40 - thanks for the tips on the paper towels/plastic bags. The last thing I need is clogged bathroom sinks!

important.

Use paper towels to wipe out your dirty dishes, utensils, and anything with food or grease. Then toss the dirty paper towels into a trash bag.

Do not clog your bathroom or basement sinks with food or cooking stuff. Put it in a plastic or paper trash bag.

No Clogging.

We bought a one-burner induction unit, which was soooo helpful. I think it cost about $60 or $70, which we figured was more than paid for if it saved us a couple of meals out.

The other thing is a decent water source (meaning a deep enough sink for filling pots, etc). We ended up setting up in the basement laundry room for that reason. While it was inconvenient to cook in the basement, it was nice to be away from all of the dust and mess of the kitchen remodel, and there were a couple of nights when workers were working pretty late.

Don't forget any electric appliances you might have (crock pot, rice cooker, toaster oven, wok, griddle, fry pan, etc).

We were amazed at how many decent meals we were able to turn out during that 6 weeks in our make-shift kitchen. Hopefully the weather will allow you to grill outside.

Good luck!

We are in the middle of it right now too. I was doing fine until the sink left. Now it is starting to bother me. We only have one bathroom, so only one sink. It is challenging! I also have a 16 month old, which adds to the challenge. We did take out on Thursday and Friday and then I escaped to my parents house for the weekend. I was able to make some Mac and cheese there for my little guy which should fill in for some meals for him this week.

I do Dream Dinners in our town which is a make ahead freezer meals. So we are doing that tonight as I have one that you simply need to bake in the oven and serve (in a disposable aluminum pan)

We still have our stove hooked up and hope not to unhook it (it isn't moving). Our refrigerator is staying too. Sadly it is still too cold to be barbecuing here in Massachusetts! I am envious of you California folks.

We created a temporary kitchen-of-sorts in our dining room, which is adjacent to the kitchen. We moved our refrigerator there and kept it running. We have a small roaster oven that we typically use at Thanksgiving, which functions as a small electric oven. Before the remodel began, I made several meals in large quantity and split them up into smaller portions to freeze. We were able to bake the frozen home-cooked meals in the roaster oven during the remodel, which supplemented the pizza, take-out, and restaurant meals that we had on alternate nights. We also had an electric frying pan, toaster, and small microwave set up on a folding table in the "temporary kitchen." We were able to occasionally make scrambled eggs for breakfast in the electric fry pan. We set up our coffee maker at the sink in our daughters' bathrooom, since they're at college or out on their own now.

Kitchen in garage with fridge, freezer, microwave, long tables with boxes below and cubbies above full of microwavable foods.

Used disposable plates, bowls, cups, cutlery despite desire to live green.

Our major bottleneck for home was dishwashing, which we did in the powder room. Powder room ceased use as a bathroom. Dish washing buckets on the tank, seat, and floor held washed dishes to air-dry. (Floor covered to protect it, with plastic and then towels that we changed regularly). Everything scraped in advance to protect sink from clogging.

We actually had borrowed an electric ring but just about never used it as we didn't want to deal with cleaning the pots and pans.

Microwavable meals from as many sources as possible.

Friends who had us to dinner regularly.

Friends who let us use their kitchen regularly (we brought food, used and cleaned their pots, dishes, etc.) when they were working late.