11 Ways To Prep Your Kitchen For The Holidays

Despite the fact that we’re well into November at this point, I have yet to do a single thing to get my kitchen ready for the rapidly approaching holidays. If you haven’t either, then at least we’re in good company, and it isn’t to late to get ready either!

In fact, I’ve broken it down into a handful of the most important tasks. Tackle one task at a time, and soon enough, your kitchen will be in tip-top shape for the holidays, regardless of how grand or intimate your gatherings will be.

11 Tips To Get Your Kitchen Ready For The Holidays

1. Clear Out Old Food

Clear out any old food items (especially anything past its best-by date) from your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Not only will you get rid of all those expired or unwanted things that are taking up valuable shelf space, but you’ll free up room for incoming ingredients and future culinary creations.

Be sure to clean up any sticky messes if your fridge or on your shelves if you happen to have any. (This isn’t strictly related to holiday prep, but you’re already moving things around so it’s a good opportunity to take care of those messes!)

If you’re freezer’s feeling crowded, take things out of their bulky packaging to free up more space. Discard foods that show signs of freezer burn. If you have an older freezer that needs to be defrosted on occasion, you can probably gain some valuable storage space by defrosting it now.

2. Check Your Spice Cupboard

Go through your spice cupboard and check the best-by dates on everything you know you’ll use for your holiday dishes. When in doubt, spices that are over a year old could probably use replacing, as well as any that don’t smell like much of anything when you open them.

Here are some spices commonly used during holiday cooking to look for and restock as necessary:

Poultry seasoning
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Parsley
Garlic
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Ginger
Vanilla extract

3. Clean Your Oven And Dishwasher

Your oven and dishwasher are likely to get a workout in the coming weeks, so you want to make sure they’re relatively clean and in good working order for the holidays. If your oven or dishwasher is looking particularly grimy, check out my tutorials detailing how to clean each here:

4. Inventory Your Cookware

Making sure you have all the cookware you need (and that you know where it all is) can go a long way toward making your holiday meals more efficient. Start by taking an inventory of your pots and pans—do you know where your roaster is, and where all the lids to your pots are?

Another good thing to do is check out your cookware for cracks, chips, or broken pieces so you know what needs replacing.

5. Wash Your Tableware And Linens

Since a lot of our holiday pieces only comes out once or twice a year, they might be a bit dusty. It’s a good idea to pull out any special dishes, glassware, flatware and serving pieces and give them a good wash—doing it ahead of time will ensure you’re not trying to wash a bunch of large dishes during the hustle and bustle of food prep.

Take the time to wash and iron your tablecloths and napkins too. If you like to use candles on your holiday table, make sure you have enough on hand and a lighter or matches to light them with.

6. Get Rid Of Clutter

If you’re anything like me, once the cooking begins in earnest, you need all the counter space you can get! To help free up more workspace, go through your kitchen and remove extra items from countertops, tables and shelves to declutter.

Put all these things into a storage bin or closet so you can get them back out and replace them after the holidays. With your temporarily pared-down kitchen, you’ll have the room you need to cook and bake your holiday meals to perfection.

7. Sharpen Your Knives

Don’t settle for hacking up your turkey with a dull carving knife—take the time to sharpen it beforehand, along with your other go-to kitchen knives. Use either a sharpening steel, a knife sharpener, or take your knives to a local knife shop and get them sharpened by a professional.

8. Stock Up On The Basics

I find that if I’m going to forget about something, it’s not usually the ingredients or the table settings—it’s those everyday housewares that I didn’t think to check on! Save yourself some time and stress by making sure you have plenty of those everyday necessities. (For instance, you don’t want to finish up a big holiday meal and realize you’re out of dishwasher detergent!)

Not everyone will need all of these things, but here’s a general list of household basics you can check your stock of:

Trash bags
Kitchen string
Aluminum foil
Plastic wrap
Ziplock bags
Cheesecloth
Dish soap
Dishwasher detergent
Toothpicks
Batteries
Coffee filters
Paper towels
Napkins

9. Give Your Kitchen A Safety Inspection

Whether or not you’ll be expecting little ones in your home for the holidays, making sure your kitchen is safe is a smart move! But if you are expecting little ones over, you’ll want to ensure they can’t get a hold of any potentially harmful objects, such as matches, lighters, sharp utensils and household cleaners, by storing them cupboards with safety latches.

And everyone should make sure they have a functional fire extinguisher and smoke detector in their kitchen. And speaking of smoke detectors, take the time to test all the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your house to make sure they’re working correctly. Better safe than sorry!

10. Give Your Appliances A Checkup

Check each appliance you plan to use, including your microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, crockpots, food processor, mixer and blender, to make sure they’re working and ready for action. As you assess each appliance, clean anything that could use it.

It’s also worth checking your oven temperature to make sure it’s heating up to the correct temperature. Learn more about calibrating and adjusting your oven at the link below.

11. Consider Setting Up A Drinks Station

One thing I find helpful during holiday dinners is setting up water, sodas, and any other beverages out of the main kitchen area. That way, people can help themselves to drinks without creating a traffic jam for those of us who are working in the kitchen.

You can do this for the duration of the season, which may be especially useful if you’ll have guests staying with you for the holidays. Set up an easily accessible beverage station with your coffee maker and coffee, water kettle and tea, and all the add-ins too. Put it in your living room, dining room, or wherever makes the most sense in your house so that guests can help themselves without crowding the kitchen.