2 Ways To Beat Common Kitchen Problems

This is me in Disneyworld, with poultry that made me laugh instead of wince.

 

I believe there’s nothing worse than touching raw chicken. This is one of the reasons I could never be a surgeon. A little thing called SAT scores would be the other reason. Human body parts can’t be that different from the chicken thighs I just got at the grocery store.

This is the sort of thing I think about as I cut open the chicken package and arrange the slimy pieces on the baking sheet.

It is absolutely disgusting. And yet it’s a task I do every single week because chicken is a dinner staple. There has to be a better way. So I gave it some thought: What is it about the process that really repulses me? How could I make it better?

I came up with the solution just this morning, thanks to the twisted thinking that had me pondering surgeons who have to touch slimy things like hearts. Surgeons wear disposable gloves.

I could also wear disposable gloves! I could order them up online and keep a box of them in my kitchen. In fact, as soon as I post this blog entry, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. (If you want to do so too, click this link to go to amazon.com where you can get a box of 500 disposable gloves for around $12.)

Think about a task you dread. Break it down. What is it exactly that makes you hate it? How could you minimize this part? Do it, and don’t worry if it makes you look silly. (How is anyone going to know? Unless you’re foolish enough to write a blog and offer it up as “expertise”?)

I also hate cutting up onions because the process makes my eyes burn. Now I buy my onions pre-cut, which is a little spendy, but when I was a newlywed-on-a-budget I kept my snorkel goggles in a kitchen drawer and would wear them when cutting up onions. It worked great, and the only downside I had to endure was a little teasing from my fella. 

Don’t let life’s chores get you down, guru girls & guys. Apply some creativity and tackle them with gusto (and/or ask your friends what they do). The “phone a friend” option is also very good when your creativity well is running dry.