Tell Us: What Do You Do While You Wait?

Even for the quickest meals, nothing ever times up perfectly. There are always little bits of down time here and there while we wait for water to boil or onions to soften or some meat to thaw. What do you do during these moments?

If we're being virtuous, we clean up the kitchen during the down time. Five minutes of dish-washing while the sauce cooks a little longer means five less minutes of clean-up on the other end!

If we're feeling more lazy, we often end up reading - our next most favorite past time after cooking. We'll read the other articles in the magazine we're cooking from or flip through cookbooks. If we're in the middle of an especially good novel, we might even bring it into the kitchen to read a few paragraphs in between chopping and simmering!

What do you do while you wait between cooking tasks?

(Image: Flickr member sndrspk licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (48)

Drink wine!

Depends on how long the downtime is... if something is simmering for an hour I will probably leave the kitchen and watch the news, fold laundry, etc.

If it is 5 or so minutes I definitely, always, clean.

Clean! I hate a dirty kitchen. So I clean everything I can.

I usually prep something: get the dishes out, fold the napkins, clear off the table.

If it's a long wait, I usually get some work done (I work from home) or read. I used to go work on whatever project I was in the middle of, but touching your WHITE SILK sewing project after cooking, even if you've washed your hands well, can lead to disaster, so I don't do that anymore.

Yes, sip some wine and think about cleaning, but probably not :-) (that's for short waits). For longer waits, like letting a soup simmer, I'll usually try to tidy up, then go hang out on the couch.

Prep, clean, drink.

I clean as I go, or I clean the fridge.

drink. check email. post pictures. tweet. sharpen knives.

I'm also in the drinking some wine category. Also cleaning up the kitchen. (I prefer the wine)

Clean the kitchen, set the table, drink some water, occasionally berate myself for not being organized enough to have it all done perfectly at once (yeah, I have issues).

Read! (Usually nothing cooking related, just whatever book I have going). I do also try to clean as I go too, but my first thought it always to pick up a book.

drink wine and chat with my husband!

Clean the kitchen, check/reply to emails, listen to the radio, read a magazine/newspaper, watch TV, talk on the phone.

drink wine for sure.

Prep food, prep dishes, or clean. There's always soething to do! If I waiting for soething to bake, I just leave.

I usually pour myself a glass of wine and drink it while I clean. Best of both worlds!

I also enjoy some wine and a chat while I wait. I also help my daughter with homework, giving her spelling words and such. And I clean as I go, rinsing dishes and loading the dishwasher, if I'm alone.

have a smoke

If longer than 10 minutes, I go to the piano and sightread music.

Shorter, I clean.

Longer than 20 minutes, I start making something else.

Definitely clean up. Right after I pour some wine or a beer.

Kitchen dancing, too.

ABreadADay.com

I'm a neat freak, yet also lazy (a bad combination), so I either clean up the mess I've let accumulate or I ignore it and drink some wine and watch whatever network TV has to offer me for the evening.

I so enjoy that "drink wine" seems to be the #1 choice in the community here

My Sis worked at McDonald's in High School. They had a saying, "Time to lean, time to clean".

I hookup my ipod to speakers on top of my fridge, so I usually clean and enjoy Fresh Air while things cook.

In theory: clean

In reality: head to the computer, start reading this post, start writing a response to this post, realize that the food needs to be turned over and end up with just slightly overcooked meat.

Clean, if I'm feeling productive. Sometimes fiddle with the computer (check sites, chat, that sort of thing). If it's a very long wait, once I'm done cleaning, I'll putter on the computer in the breakfast area so I can still hear what's simmering/cooking and get an earlier start on smelling the smoke if something is burning.

If I can swing it, I clean AND drink wine. But more often, I just clean. Or clean and entertain my child. Or just entertain my child.

In order of priority:

1) Prep
2) Clean
3) Do a few sets of crunches / push ups
4) Pet a kitty cat

Dishes! With 4 roommates, they tend to pile up quickly in our kitchen. I use the time to clean up the space for the next person's meal.

clean up, wash prep stuff, clear off the table, post pictures of/updates about the food.

I do the dishes, clean, check email, check twitter, sort the mail. I'm always listening to my ipod.

Have a glass of wine. Have sex. ;)

clean the utensils i've been using, so when i'm done cooking the kitchen is ok!

I'm one of the cleaning people. If you've got a couple minutes, why not, right? My boyfriend, however, likes to check his email or go online. Even for short waits of a couple of minutes. And his computer is halfway across the house. If you are thinking that could lead to disaster, you are absolutely right.

Clean, prep for the next step, tweet about ten minutes being like five hundred years. You know, the usual.

How do you read while you're cooking? When I read I get so engrossed I'm usually done the book before I know it, and dinner would be burned if I cooked that way!

Setting table and cleaning kitchen for me.

Usually my husband will wash whatever dishes we've already used while I get our lunches ready for the next day. This way we don't have to do all of that after dinner when all we really want to do is veg out on the couch at that point.

I'm totally on board with drinking and kitchen dancing! I think of that time as a bit of reprieve-- so no need to do a chore :)

Usually I wander off and hang out on the internet or read. Sometimes this means I burn things....

Often I talk on the phone while I cook, less chance of burning.

If I'm cooking something that requires constant attention I either start cleaning or sometimes I just start something else that is fiddly. Because I'm in there anyway.

Usually do food prep or have more time clean daughter's bottles and prep her things for the next day. I leave the dishes for husband since I cook he cleans. My dishes aren't so bad usually just one or two things.

Clean up and sing along (loudly) to whatever the ipod is serving up.

"Drink wine!"

Haha...I clicked on the comments to say exactly the same thing :)

Generally, when I cook, I'm cooking two or three or four dishes for the week, all at once. I wish I could cook dinner every night, but I just don't have the time (or energy, lol).

Usually, I make a list of all the recipes I'm going to make, list all of the ingredients I need to pick up, and all of the ingredients that I need to complete the dishes.

I spend some time prepping the ingredients, then look at the cooking times to determine what to make first, what to make second, and so on - I live in a 375 square foot apartment with an even tinier kitchen, a 3/4 oven and fridge, so doing the food shuffle is often an entertaining practice.

While one dish is cooking, I'm prepping the next. As the last one is put on to cook (it's usually a baked dish of some sort), I sit down and eat dinner - usually cooked right there earlier that evening.

I do dishes the next day, lol ;)

Maybe this sounds a little self-righteous, but I ALWAYS clean as I go. It's just a leftover habit from years of working in a restaurant, but I've really gotten good at it. Whenever my boyfriend and I do the "I cook, he cleans" thing, there's rarely more than a few dishes to wash. Considering I can't manage to fold my laundry, well, ever, I'm pretty proud of myself!

I either review the next steps of the recipe (if I'm using one) or wash the dishes I've already created. Much better to do it now than interrupt my after meal bliss!

I always clean what I can so there's less to do later on. And if there's more time after that, I play Mah-Jong on my iPhone. That stuff is totally addictive. Water has never boiled faster while playing that game.

I was given a beautiful set of wooden cooking utensils as a wedding gift and while I'm waiting for things to simmer, I break out the mineral oil and wipe them all down to keep them looking nice and lasting longer. Every once in a while I'll do the big wooden salad bowl too.

Spin records!

If i am not cleaning dishes as I go along. When i get a point ready to wait i love pouring a glass of wine, going to the couch listening to music and reading the paper. I love relaxing like this!