Its Important to Keep a Kitchen Clean for Cooking

What’s the one most important place in your house? Is it the bathroom? Or dining room? No. It’s the place where your fats and calories witness a significant rise, yes it’s the kitchen. Being one of the most visited areas of your home, the kitchen also needs extra care. While it’s important to keep the entire house clean, the kitchen is a place where cleanliness is of utmost importance. You don’t need to keep it advert-worthy sparkly and shiny, but it must follow the basic hygienic procedures. Being in the kitchen presents many great opportunities to be creative and cook for example if you want to serve a unique cake, you can make a microwave cake instead.

Why Is It Important To Keep Kitchen Clean For Cooking? 

Creating a safe and clean kitchen is the most important step in creating a healthy environment at home. The kitchen is the place where all of your food and eatables are prepared and cooked, that’s why it must be clean. If it’s messy all the time and not clean, many indoor pollutants such as dust mites and bacteria can make their home in a kitchen. An unclean kitchen means an unhygienic house, and that means a warm invitation for mice, rats, and pests. These pollutants and pests foster an overall unhygienic environment, and your family members can also end up getting affected by severe diseases. 

Self-reported behavior in a web-based survey among 9966 European consumers on the question: “In general, when would you normally clean your kitchen countertop or other surfaces where you do your food preparation?” Multiple answers were allowed. The responses to the alternatives “other”/”none of the above” (both <2%) are not shown in the figure.

Aside from the health disorders, there are also many other negative aftereffects of an unclean kitchen. A nice and clean kitchen can lighten up your mood, and a messy kitchen, on the other hand, filled with scattered utensils can end up ruining your mood, and also your favorite dish. In a family setup, children may start perceiving the unclean kitchen as something ‘normal’, and that’ll surely affect their social and interactive skills in the future. In contrast, if they witness the cleanliness of a kitchen as an important ritual in the house, they’ll be more aware of the importance of a safe and hygienic environment. 

Benefits of a Clean Kitchen 

A clean kitchen doesn’t only mean clear surfaces and no dirty utensils lying around, it also means cleaning your hands thoroughly before cooking or doing anything. There are many benefits of a clean kitchen and some of them are life-saving. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.

1. Hygiene

A clean kitchen does not only foster a safe and healthier environment but is also brilliant for improving the hygiene in your dining area. Taking special cleaning measures for sinks and taps, equipment, and other storage areas, does not only make up for a visibly cleaner and beautiful kitchen but also frees it from any kind of potentially harmful microorganisms. By cleaning your kitchen thoroughly and sanitizing every corner, all of the dirt and debris are removed. It also effectively improves the food quality. When cooking tools are clean and free from microorganisms, the food will also be germ-free and healthy. 

2. Reduced Food Costs

One of the most underrated benefits of a clean kitchen is reduced food costs. Yes, you heard that right. Did you know that if you place a mold potato with the good ones in a bag, the rest of them will rot faster? Similarly, liquefying one lettuce in a crisper can have adverse effects on the other vegetables in the drawer. If you pay attention to food management with a proactive approach, it can significantly reduce spoilage and food costs. The increased number of rotten food items will not only create a mess in the kitchen but also put a dent in your budget. Hence, manage the food items thoroughly so that you don’t have to pay twice. 

3. Less Chances of Accidents

To avoid accidents in the kitchen, eliminate clutter. The cleanliness of a kitchen must not be only for aesthetic purposes. A kitchen is a place where high heat, water, sharp objects, and even electricity are all at hand. The best way to not let them overlap and create a hazardous accident is to keep the kitchen clean. No one plans to slip on a banana peel, light a kitchen fire, or drop hot boiling soup on toes. All of these accidents happen because of an unclean and messy kitchen. When everything is in its place and organized, there are lesser chances of you or your family members falling victim to such accidents. 

4. Have Fun without Embarrassment

You may prefer to have the whole kitchen to yourself when preparing for a get-together at home, but people generally like to peek into the kitchen and have a look at the whole process. Don’t be surprised if you lift your head from the marinating and see the guests making their way through messy counters and scattered utensils. It can be pretty embarrassing. Keep your kitchen clean and organized. Learn to have fun without getting embarrassed in front of your guests. Additionally, with a thoroughly washed and clean kitchen, cooking can be a great family activity.

5. Feel Refreshed

Just like we don’t always feel good, we don’t always feel like stepping into the kitchen, let alone cooking. No matter how passionate you are about preparing quick and tasty dishes, there are days when cracking an egg feels like a task. However, these feelings can significantly subside with a neat and clean kitchen. Even if your spirits aren’t the best, you can definitely create good-looking and minimal meals. A clean kitchen motivates you to cook properly when you’re being lazy or don’t feel like cooking. Being in an organized and clear space can also remove mood-disrupting clutter and make you feel refreshed.

6. Avoid Food Diseases

One of the biggest benefits of a clean kitchen is less food-related diseases. Mostly, people don’t pay attention to the spoilage or cross-contamination that becomes an active cause of food poisoning later on. Take extreme safety precautions and use different chopping boards for vegetables and meat, always wash hands before and after handling raw meat, and deep clean the sinks and countertops. In the US, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports almost 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses each year. By keeping your kitchen clean, there won’t be any rotten food items or food spoilage, thus improving the overall health standards. 

7. Save Your Time and Energy

Where’s the knife? Where’s the spatula? Next thing you notice, you left the bread in the toaster for too long and now it’s burnt. When time is of the essence, you’ve to do everything quickly and save your energy. Keep your kitchen clean and organized, fix the specific places for cooking tools, and label your drawers. This way, you won’t spend hours looking for utensils or food items. Streamlining your kitchen will not only help you save some time and energy but also improvise its interior. 

Look After Your Health – Clean Those Counters

A clean kitchen is not only related to clear counters, drawers, and shining floors. You also need to be germ-free, to cook meals in the kitchen. Your health can get affected positively or negatively by the kitchen’s hygienic conditions. Deep clean the kitchen once a month, by keeping tile clean with detergents, sorting out the fresh grocery, sterilizing the frequently used utensils, and most of all, keeping it airy and spacious.