How in the first world do people survive when their kitchen is under renovation?

Eat out a lot, get food to go, Barbecue.

Your refrigerator should be in another location like your garage, and accessible. Then all you need is a heating device, like a microwave. Your kitchen appliances work anywhere there is electricity. So you set up an “alternative” kitchen knowing you will not be preparing a major meal like Thanksgiving dinner there.

When I was 13, we didn’t have a kitchen for a full year. We did have a microwave, a fridge, and a bathroom sink. It was pretty awful. You survive with lots of takeout and sandwiches.

with the refrigerator plugged into a different area and a gas grill you can painfully survive.
Lots of salads and fresh fruit.
It’s the new Kitchen Reno Diet.

@Forever_Free The current challenge is that being in the UK, fresh food is an issue due to Brexit.

@Pied_Pfeffer oh, yes the supply chain issues, fuel issues and adding Brexit on top is a real issue. I can’t even imagine how that is on it’s own. Hang in there.
Craving Bangers and Mash and mushy peas now

My entire HOUSE, including the kitchen, has been under renovation for a year. On Monday, tho, I’ll be getting cabinets. It is really difficult to function without kitchen cabinets.

You improvise!!! I was watching a documentary of a guy who lives in the wilderness & has NO kitchen. He wanted to have baked chicken for dinner. So, he cleared off a section of ground, figured out how much of it he would need. He placed large stones around the area, made a fire pit & then he placed whole chickens in a metal bucket, stuck a limb up the inside of the chicken, turned the bucket over open side down & proceeded to add more fire around the buckets. When he was finished, he had one of the prettiest baked chickens that I have ever seen or even cooked myself in my perfect oven!!! I was thinking the whole time that he was prepping…we Americans would need a whole kitchen worth of utensils to get that dinner done. ALL it took for him, was a LOT of work with a little imagination!!!

Give me a microwave, an Instant Pot, & a hot air fryer & dinner will be served. It might NOT be convenient, but it CAN be done!!!

We ate an awful lot of pizza.

From the stories I’ve heard, I don’t think kitchen renovations ever go according to plan.

Four weeks! Did they start the kitchen before they had all of the materials?

Lots of microwaving, using bathroom sinks, and eating out or delivery. You have the fridge and freezer to keep the food in. Pantry items wherever in the house that they fit. Paper plates for sandwiches and get some of the good quality plastic plates too. The plastic are nice to eat from for dinner, and strong plastic forks and knives. Not a time to worry about being green, make it easy on yourself. Careful when you microwave that you use microwave safe. If you have a grill that’s a great option for some tasty food now and then, and also I would eat a lot of cereal and salad, and limit cooking.

It depends on what kind of budget they’re on. If they don’t have the means to run right to Lowes and get everything they need, delivered, (like we don’t) they have to carefully pick and choose. That takes time.

My daughter is nearly finished with a remodel of the entire house. It has taken 3 YEARS.
Lots of pizza. Microwave food in the bathroom. Barbecue.

We had to wash dishes in the bathtub. You have to constantly improvise.

Set up a camp type kitchen out in the garage with camp stove or electric hot plate, refrigerator (large or small), and large wash pan for dishes.

As @kritiper is saying….camp

They don’t. Long kitchen renovations lead to death from starvation.

There’s a few hundred cases a year of people dying because their kitchen was still under renovation.

I’ve been having some remodeling done in my bedroom and it has taken a year to get in 2 windows. I’m thankful that I didn’t need my kitchen done. I can pretty much sleep anywhere as long as my hubby is there next to me. Working in a torn up kitchen is a challenge that I wouldn’t want to face

@Kropotkin I was hoping to lose some weight through the renovation, but the amount of time sitting on the sofa waiting for contractors to show up has had a negative impact.

I would expect to gain weight during something like that. Restaurant food has more fat and calories than even the worst things (regarding health) that I cook at home.

@JLeslie It isn’t what is consumed so much as being house-bound while waiting for contractors to show up as scheduled.

What we consume is probably 90% of what causes our weight to fluctuate. Exercise is a small part unless you are a dancer or extreme athlete burning a lot of calories per hour 4–5 hours a day.

@JLeslie Weight gain isn’t the issue. In fact, we are meandering along just fine except for the end date never-ending.

The only reason I mentioned weight was because you did.

I can imagine the waiting for it to be completed feels never ending.

Well I lost 30 pounds during my renovations.