Well, it looks like we're going to be renovating our kitchen in the next month or so and will be without a kitchen for 6 weeks or so. I think the toughest thing will be having no sink.

I can move our microwave and toaster oven upstairs where we have a small fridge. I figure breakfast and lunches I can do okay. But dinners are another story. While we might be able to grill (depending on when it happens and how much snow there is), I'm afraid we'll be going out to eat too much...

So, anyone been through this? Any advice on how to eat healthy dinners without a kitchen?

Do you have a Whole Foods near you? I'd try to get some healthy salad bar stuff from there, hard boiled eggs, things like that.

Maybe hummus, some sandwich stuff, lots of fruit to have on hand.

Eek, I'm at a loss. When I was moving and my house was in disarray I ended up eating sushi and burgers (healthy ones) a lot. that's what ended me up on WW.

Good luck! Maybe borrow a friend's kitchen once a week and share food with them?

I have a small george forman grill. makes quick work of chicken, and fish etc, then steam veggies in the microwave.

We do have a Whole Foods, but I'm trying not to break the bank, and sometimes their prepared stuff is $$ But I do think that things like hummus, pita and fresh veggies would certainly work. And eggs -- I hadn't thought of that. I can make some good salads.

Small George Foreman grill... does it need cleaning in a sink? If not, that might work in absence of a grill! And I can steam fresh or frozen veggies as I WILL have a fridge and freezer.

Good ideas -- keep em coming!!

We remodeled/gutted our kitchen a 7 years ago. DD was away at college so DH, I and DS (he was about 8-9 at the time) were the only ones who suffered through it. DH did most of the work himself, with the exception of a couple of subcontractors, so our experience of 7 months with no stove is the exception. Here's what we did:

1. I set up a long folding table with the microwave, toaster, crockpot, etc close to the bathroom so that we were able to wash a few things in the sink. We still had access to our refrigerator (which still moved around in the kitchen during the reno and is still working faithfully today) and deep freezer.
2. We used primarily paper plates and cups. And we washed our plastic cups and silverware in the bathroom sink, which happens to be oversized. I've heard of people washing dishes in the bathtub too.
3. I was not eating very healthy at that time and unfortunately gained about 10-15 lbs during that time so I don't have lots of tips there but we did generally eat at home. I cannot look at another Encore (sp?) dinner without feeling rather nauseous though. We ate alot of canned soups and sandwiches, toast and microwaved scrambled eggs (microwave 1 to 1.5 minutes per egg and stir), bagged salads. We ate alot of overly processed foods which is what I think led to my weight gain at that time.

Bagged salads are a great idea. Do you have access to a grill? We have a grill plate that I use for all sorts of things like pizza and fish and we grill year round. I think it's a matter of thinking outside the box. Luckily your reno will not take as long as ours so you'll be back in business before you know it!

Losermom -- Thanks for your experiences! 7 months!!! I was concerned about rinsing things in a bathroom sink -- there's no trap to catch food there, so how did you deal with that and not get food down the sink?

We do have a grill and will probably be able to use it, even in the winter.

You can buy a mesh drain strainer thingy to keep stuff from going down the bathroom sink.

Really, this is the reason that I do not want to renovate my kitchen. I don't want to be without it for an extended amount of time.
Hubby thinks it'll only be a couple of weeks -- yeah, right.


Oh, you can clean a george forman grill just by wiping it off with paper towels to get most of the stuff off before cleaning it in your bathroom sink or bathtub.

Also a hot plate that you could use outside (if you have an electrical outlet)

Good luck

I use simple green organic cleanser and paper towels to clean my GF Grill, then wipe it down with clean water. No sink really required.

Do you have a crockpot?

I do a lot of cooking in my toaster oven. I have probably used my regular oven once in 7 months.

Here are some things I've cooked in the last few weeks in my toaster oven -
Roasted winter squash
Baked tofu
Roasted veggies (various types)
Roasted chickpeas
Stuffing
or just generally anything I can cook in the oven.

We did our kitchen last year and it took 2 months. Your freezer is your friend!! Clean out your freezer and then go on a cooking spree and freeze all the great food you cook, then when it comes dinner time you can pop it in the microwave to thaw and reheat (or put it in the fridge the day before and it'll be nice and thawed for you). Any type of one-dish meal that freezes well is a good bet. I ate a lot of was soup, lentil soup and blackbean pumpkin soup are two of my favorites and both freeze well. Throw together a salad or steam some veggies in the microwave to go along side and you have your meal!

I also second the suggestion of a george forman type grill, It's great for chicken breasts or yummy hot wraps.

We were without a kitchen for five months!!!! It was brutal and I would hate to do it again. I'll be honest, we weren't very healthy during that time. You've got some good ideas here so far.

Mesh drainer for the sink!!! I hadn't thought of that!! That would make cleanup easier! That's actually been one of the biggest headaches looking forward is how to clean things up!! I like the idea of using a crockpot, but the cleanup....

if it's warm enough when we do it, I can hose big things off outside...

Thanks, these are great ideas!!

I don't know how many people are in your family, but maybe you could label some of your plastic cups with a sharpie so everyone knows which cup is their's. I know in my house that we forget and end up just grabbing a new cup, which means a lot of unnecessary cups to wash at the end of the day...

There are just 2 of us, so that is pretty do-able!

How about using one of those crockpot liners? I have friends that swear by them.