Do dishes pile up while you’re cooking a recipe? Especially one that’s a little involved and requires a whole platoon of mixing bowls, measuring cups, and spatulas?

Do icky, sticky spoon splotches begin to re-surface your countertop like stalagmites growing on a cave floor? Does all the joy of researching and preparing a new dish evaporate as you survey the mountains of messy, but necessary debris awaiting your attention as soon as the casserole goes into the oven?

Then you need this basic maxim my grandma passed on to my mom and to me.

Clean as you go!

Earth shattering? No, but it does make cooking a little bit less of a chore.

It took me a while as a fledgling cook to appreciate this concept, but cleaning a bit here and there as you let the bread rise, or the yeast proof, the dough refrigerate, the meat marinate, or the next batch of cookies bake means that in the end, you only have a small amount of final clean-up to tackle. And, more importantly, you can focus on enjoying and sharing the goodies!

Grandma kept a dishpan/big bowl full of warm, soapy water in the sink and as she went she placed soiled utensils there to soak until she came to a logical break in the recipe, then she cleaned those dishes, rinsed and left them to dry. Sometimes, if you are a one-measuring spoon set household, it’s essential to clean a utensil and use it again during a recipe.

So, there you are! Keep your soapy water handy and clean as you go!

Keep a shiny penny and a positive thought!

Sources: My grandma via my mom