The One Simple Habit People Who Always Have A Spotless Kitchen Swear By

Flour sprinkled everywhere; a pile of pans looming in the sink; ingredients strewn across the counter — if this sounds familiar, you might need to change your habits while you cook. There's one easy tip you should always follow: Clean as you go, whenever you cook or bake. We can almost hear the collective groan. No one really wants to clean up after cooking, anyway, but at least if you can delay it until the end, it doesn't seem quite so bad. But it could save you time to tidy up while you're preparing food. 

The importance of keeping your kitchen clean can't be understated. It's essential for keeping bacteria and germs out of your food. A dirty kitchen could lead to cross-contamination, especially when you're working with raw meat, but cleaning your cutting board, utensils, and surfaces between each type of food you're preparing can help prevent this. When you clean as you go, you end up with less of a mess at the end, so that final cleanup is quicker. And if you can complete those cleaning tasks while you're cooking anyway, you can move on with your day faster. 

Cleaning while you cook also gives you more workspace without dishes and utensils piling up around you. That can make it easier to find what you need and have ample space to prepare food, which can make you more efficient overall. Plus, you'll be less likely to knock over random bowls or containers of ingredients, which prevents spills that create more messes to clean up.

Keep cleaning supplies handy, so you can use them quickly. A bottle of diluted vinegar for quick countertop cleanups is a good option — since vinegar is edible, it's a non-toxic cleaner option while you cook. (Although there are a few common things to avoid cleaning with vinegar, including natural stone countertops, cast iron cookware, and unsealed grout.) You can also fill the sink with warm, soapy water to use for cleaning or allow dirty utensils to soak. Having a bowl or small compost container near your food prep station makes it easy to toss food scraps as you prepare food. You'll also want a few clean kitchen towels within reach to dry your hands and work surfaces. Just make sure they don't fall down — you can keep kitchen towels off the floor with affordable solutions to ensure they stay clean.

Timing your cleaning right also makes the job easier. Start with a clean kitchen, and take little cleaning breaks at key times. You might prep all the veggies, and then clean the utensils you've used so far before you heat your pan and start sauteing. As you're cooking, clean up unexpected spills when they happen. For many dishes, there are natural lulls in the active cooking process — while your chicken is roasting in the oven or while the sauce thickens, for example. Instead of grabbing your phone to doom scroll, get ahead of the cleaning tasks during those downtimes. Do tasks like loading the dishwasher before you sit down to eat, and get family members involved with the cleanup.