5 Things to Do In the Kitchen Before You Leave for Vacation

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSenior Vice President of Content at AT Media
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and former Editor-in-Chief of The Kitchn. She is the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning, The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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updated Jun 4, 2019
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Are you going away for vacation this summer? What do you to close up your kitchen before you leave? Here are five things we always check before leaving the kitchen to itself for a few days.

  1. Take out the trash and recycling. This one is obvious: don’t leave a scrap of trash in your kitchen. Take it all out and put in a fresh bag. In fact, this is a good time to clean out your trash and recycling containers.
  2. Deal with your compost. If you compost indoors, this is a good time to dump it all outdoors. Or just make sure that any scraps in the refrigerator or in your compost pail are disposed of before you leave.
  3. Dispose of food that will spoil. Hopefully you’ve been working on this for a few days before you leave; eat up any leftovers in the fridge, and eat or cook things that will spoil like soft cheeses, dairy, and produce. Some perishables might last just fine; check the expiration dates on your yogurt, eggs, and butter.
  4. Do the dishes! We love coming home to a clean kitchen. Sometimes a plate or two will get left in the sink when we race off to the airport, but generally we always wash the dishes before leaving.
  5. Do an extra wipe-down of the fridge and countertops. When you leave home for awhile, especially if it’s summertime and the air conditioning will be off while you’re away, it’s a prime time for odors and germs to proliferate in the kitchen. We try to leave an extra-clean space behind by wiping down the countertops and fridge with cleaner before leaving.

That’s our little pre-travel routine in the kitchen. What’s yours? Do you have any must-do tasks before leaving for a trip?

Related: What Foods Can You Carry On The Plane?

(Image: Flickr member *Ann Gordon licensed for use under Creative Commons)

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