Will you leave the kitchen while food is cooking?

Yeah. Assuming I’m close enough to hear/smell the food.

Yes. I use a timer that I can hear in the room where I am.

Anything in the oven for a protracted period of time; pies, cakes, a turkey or pizza I will trust to the timer on the stove. I can hear that sucker from anywhere on the first floor, and the whistle repeats every 30 seconds til switched off.

If I’m cooking something that takes a long time, yes of course. Although i still hesitate to go outside and do something even if it’s perfectly ok.

Yes. And challenge myself I don’t need a timer to remember I have something on the stove. Half of the time I forget. TV’s in another room.

Nope.
I’ll stay in the kitchen…, going to the living room isn’t way too dangerous; I’m known to stay put once I sit myself down to watch or read something.
Plus, I’m not the best in multitasking, so I need all the time that I’m there.

Is, not isn’t.

It depends on what it is and how long I would be out of the room.

I have burned rice twice and that makes a big, smoky, scary mess. Don’t remember the first time, but the second time I was in the dining room (open floor plan) and just forgot until I smelled the smoke. Now I’m really careful with rice, and I put the timer on.

If I had to go down to the basement or outside for something, yes, if it was only going to be a minute or two, I would leave, or be outside on the deck. Again, it all depends. A big pot of soup, that’s going to take hours, yes, I’m all over the house while it’s on the stove.

Always when I put the oven on, I use the oven timer so there’s no forgetting things. A big nightmare would be going to work or out and realizing I left something in the oven. The timer is great for that. Timer off, oven off.

I was always taught to be very careful about fire, cooking, the stove, don’t play with matches, etc. Then when I had my first apartment, a big beautiful old Tudor style building that you needed connections to even get into, it burned in a fire and so I’m a bit paranoid when it comes to fire now. I have a fireplace and I have never used it in twenty years that I have been here. I have a barbecue grill and I have never used it. Friends come over and they use it, but I won’t.

Yes. I use a timer to tell when to return.

I find it interesting a lot of people focused on burning the food, when initially I was just thinking about the safety. I guess because if the food needs tending to while cooking, of course I need to be in or right by the kitchen, but when it Can be left alone for 5 or 50 minutes, that’s when the possibility to do other things more likely comes up.

As I get older I have to use a timer. I don’t know if it’s age, or that I have more on my mind and more to do, but I’ve overcooked more food in the last 10 years than in my first 40 years of life.

I’ve never had a massive disaster in the kitchen, but I have twice left a burner on, and and recently the oven, not realizing until much afterwards and grateful I discovered it when I did. I’m shocked I made the mistake, because I’m so paranoid about it.

My SIL had a kitchen fire. She was taking a shower and there was plastic that caught fire on the stove. She thought the stove was off I think and put something plastic on it and went to take a shower. I NEVER leave plastic or paper in or on or near the stove. That’s a rule from my mom. My SIL’s children came running to the bathroom screaming the house was on fire. Also, I’d be reluctant to take a shower while something was cooking, although I might for a roast. I’d still be reluctant though. In the shower you can’t hear or smell anything. I was at her house a month later and my SIL put something plastic on the drive and her son yelled out, “mom, it’s plastic!” She replied, “the stove is off.” Shake my head.

I will go to other parts of the house for foods that cook a long time though and don’t need to be tended to very much, once I know they are at a constant simmer, and I know it won’t bubble over. Mostly, I stay right in the kitchen or attached family room though. I make most meals in less than 30 minutes.

@jca2 Is that right? When the timer goes off the oven turns off? I wonder if that’s true for all new ovens? That would be great. I always use my microwave timer, so I don’t even know the functions of the oven timer. That would be great if the timer on the oven turns off the oven. I’ve always wanted some sort of safety for the stove and oven that after a certain amount of time it would shut itself off. Some hotels have timers on the burners, you can’t turn on the burner without turning on the timer.

Ok I admit it! I ran to the store, which is 5 minutes away, to get an essential ingredient for whatever I was cooking in the oven. I worried the entire time that something would happen and my oven would catch fire and my dog would be in that fire. I’ve never done it since. I will do into other rooms of the house while cooking.

@chyna LOL. It’s awful the trip we do on ourselves when we break our own rules. I’m like you that I figure the one time something will go really wrong is the one time I do something I know I shouldn’t do.

Yes, unless its like fried chicken or something flammable, i may sit and watch tv a minute or fold laundry. I dont leave it long.

Our house burned completely when I was 12, so I’m leery of fire.

What caused it @knowitall?

Oh yes, chef gets very nervous for some reason if I watch over him.

Yes I do, and to great peril. Apparently being distracted by shiny things is not a good attribute to cooking.

When I have left food cooking it usually does not end well.

Yes, I leave it. No, I can’t see it. If I think I might forget something, I set the timer to remind me.

@JLeslie: No, I mean when I shut the timer off, I shut the oven off at the same time. The oven doesn’t go off automatically, I shut it off when the timer goes off. The timer is my reminder to shut off the oven.

Yes – and most of the time I remember to go back before the food burns!

@chyna Electrical fire from an old fan in a bedroom.

Why yes,I do.
I remember taking a shower while a sunny side up egg was cooking in the pan.(many times)
When I’d come down, it was ready to toss like a frisbee.
I really don’t love to cook.

I usually stay in the kitchen and read or listen to the radio. The few times I have left something in the grill the smoke detector has gone off.

I cook a lot of bread stuff, like garlic bread. I know when it’s toasted because I can smell it.
I broil bagels some “mornings” and walk away to my desktop, and get.online. No timer. I’ve never burned a bagel yet (knock on wood.) I have an internal timer that makes me jump up and then I have to remember why.

Depends on what I’m cooking. When cooking in my Instant Pot, I have no hesitation of leaving the kitchen because there is nothing that I can do once the pot is locked & up to pressure until it comes to the end of the cook time. Then I spoon it onto the plates. When cooking something like a roast, I can go about my business because I know the time and temp required to cook it perfectly. I do set the timer on my cell so I don’t forget to take it out of the oven. Now, when cooking veggies on a burner, I seldom leave the area out of fear of it sticking and/or burning.

Sure, I leave while soup or anything is cooking. If I’m upstairs I have a time to remind me to go check on the food.