The Renovation Kitchen III: What to Keep

We have a date! The plans were approved by the city and we've set the date to start for Oct 2nd. That's a week and a half from now and my stomach is doing somersaults at the thought.
This post is destined to be another edited-in-hindsight. Today we're looking at the things not to pack away for your time without a kitchen. I have an idea of how the next few months are going to go, and I'm betting that I'll soon learn how much I had no idea...

Let's see, we have a teeny corner of a slow cooker, a silicon baking mat, and muffin pans--seriously?

My kids love muffins. Like, march into the kitchen a 7 a.m., quiet and carefully keeping the parents blissfully asleep, eating breakfast and playing happily for at least an hour--without screens--if they know there's muffins waiting for them. I'm telling you, if there's a way to make muffins in a temporary kitchen, I'm going to find it.

I'm going to give you some advance warning: the majority of the meals I'm planning for the next few months are going to be super simple, requiring as little washing as possible, or ready-prepared foods. I'll post a weekly meal plan and try to minimize those ready-bought meals as much as possible, but as some point, I'll have very little to work with in terms of washing. We've got an old house with old pipes. I'm aiming to avoid clogging sinks and tubs by scrubbing pots and pans in areas not designed for dishwater.

The things I'm planning to keep:

• the slow cooker
• the old pots that double as camping cookware--the stuff I don't care if it gets grimy
• BBQ and daily-use cooking utensils--at least one set of tongs, the daily-used cooking spoon​ and spatula, etc
• the glass storage containers for leftovers and reheating in the microwave
• which reminds me, the microwave
• the fondue pots: they are great soup warmers, and I think it might be nice to have a special fondue night once in a while. It's a meal that doesn't dirty lots of dishes. Maybe?
• disposables (I'll be stocking and re-stocking these as we go): plates, flatware, cups, and napkins (I'll source recycled paper ones to minimize environmental impact of this ridiculous time and will post an update when I find good ones)
• salt, pepper, and that one spice you use on everything (for our family, it's a South African BBQ mix, and is amazing on everything)
• the  contents of the pantry and freezer--for the last two months, I've been slowly using up food in these places and not replacing them. But I'm not putting the rest in storage--they'll spoil before we can use them. So I'm keeping it all and seeing what I can use. Later, I'll post a list of what was actually helpful, and what wasn't used at all, in case you don't have room to keep everything.
• the coffee maker
• (and the muffin pans, with liners)

Next post, it'll be time to set up a temporary kitchen! Yikes!

via GIPHY

What are the things you can't live without from your kitchen? Please comment below.