Repetitive Kitchen Tasks: How Do You Pass the Time?

Snazzy new cherry pitter or no, twelve pounds of cherries just takes a long time to pit. So I discovered last week when I found myself faced with a seemingly endless mound of shiny red fruits. For mindless, repetitive work like this, how do you make the time go?

My top choice is to do it with friends. Whether it's shelling fava beans, hulling strawberries for canning, or shucking corn for a barbecue, it's much more pleasant in the company of friends. Even if the friend is just sitting next to me at the counter, the time goes by more swiftly with gossip and idle chatter.

Next to this, streaming videos, good music, and radio programs save the day. I was all alone in the kitchen for my cherry-pitting session the other week, so I set up my laptop nearby and brought up my Netflix Streaming queue. The laptop was far enough away to avoid cherry juice carnage, but close enough to let me glance at the screen now and then while pitting.

Sometimes, though, I like a completely quiet kitchen. Repetitive tasks can be meditative and soothing. It's nice to let my mind wander while my hands work. It all depends on what I'm in the mood for.

How do you pass the time while doing these kinds of repetitive kitchen tasks?

Related: How to Host a Canning Party

(Images: Emma Christensen)

Comments (18)

If I know I'm going to be alone in the kitchen I usually turn on an audio book.

I'll listen to an album track to track, or an audiobook.

I love to rewatch old movies. I've seen them so many times I can repeat the dialog; so I don't mind missing the "good bits" while working. Otherwise, I listen to podcasts, or the CBC.

podcasts...especially this american life and radiolab

Not really my thing, but get yourself a hands free headset for your phone and you can pass the time catching up with whomever you please. I personally prefer to crank up the music.

I prefer music. Need to have SOMETHING in the background.

I argee with Elaura, this American Life. Or to get in the cooking mood, Splendid Table.

All that red juice calls for mindless and so bad it is funny horror movies! Or Trueblood (falls in the same category)

I love to put on some 80s/90s hip hop or current pop music and dance around! (Carefully, if the task includes a knife ...)

I turn on MPR/NPR, grab a kitchen stool, and forget the time. I rather love repetitive detail-oriented tasks it seems.

Though sometimes I clear the dining room table and wheel the TV over...that's best for tasks that aren't so messy I need to be near the sink or otherwise contained in the kitchen.

I almost never watch tv or movies at any other time or place in the house, but I do have a personal DVD player on the counter next to the kitchen sink for longer tasks.

I'm a science researcher. Repetitive tasks in the lab and the kitchen are part of my daily life. NPR podcasts (i.e. Fresh Air, This American Life etc.) are wonderful.

Star Trek, and if not Star Trek, old podcasts of Good Food.

I enjoy the meditative quality of repetitive tasks and when I find myself wandering, I listen to my breathing. If that's not enough, I will listen to Eckhart on my mac or iPhone...

Podcasts, especially the comedy stylings of "My Brother, My Brother and Me." If you don't mind getting caught laughing to yourself wildly while cooking, check it out!

I love repetitive tasks. I can sit and do the same thing for hours with just my own thoughts. I used to work 12 hour shifts of just sitting on a lawnmower, which I obviously, for safety reasons couldn't listen to music. Loved it.

If it's painfully boring I'll listen to music.

Listen to Music, news, radio/npr, podcasts, digital music channels, anything interesting.

I listen to the Harry Potter audio books over and over and over...

I don't know why I continue to return to them, but the reading is excellent (Stephen Fry!) and I've heard them so many times by now that I don't really need to pay much attention.