Setting up a first kitchen: equipment, fridge and food safety
Equipment for the meals you cook, the fridge at 40°F or below by thermometer, food stored to the charts, separate boards, and the cooking-fire steps.
- Start here: the essentials
- 1. The kitchen you have and the equipment it needs
- 2. Refrigerator and freezer: temperatures, storage times and the 2-hour rule
- 3. Cutting boards, sponges and cross-contamination
- 4. Cooking fires and appliance safety
- 5. Keeping pests out of the kitchen
- 6. See it: Dani's kitchenette and Rosa's range
- 7. Practice: thermometer, boards and a week of meals
- 8. Your home
- 9. Check your work
- 10. Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
At minimum, check that the refrigerator and freezer are cold enough, set up two cutting boards, keep a lid by the stove, and list the equipment your first week of meals needs. Everything marked Go deeper can wait.
- Put an appliance thermometer in the refrigerator, and read it the next day. Then do the same in the freezer, and move milk, eggs and meat out of the door (fridge and freezer temperatures).
- Set up two cutting boards: one for raw meat, poultry and seafood, one for everything else (cutting boards).
- Keep a lid or a baking sheet next to the stove, and read the grease-fire steps once (cooking fires).
- Write your first week of meals and the equipment they need. Mark what is missing on the essentials list (the kitchen you have).
Minimum time: about 40 minutes, spread over two days for the thermometer. Done when: the refrigerator reads 40°F or below and the freezer 0°F or below on the thermometer, and the kitchen rows on the essentials list are marked.
1. The kitchen you have and the equipment it needs Understand
A first kitchen is set up for the meals the household actually cooks, not for a picture of a kitchen. The space you rent or own decides what is possible; your meals decide what you buy. This chapter covers setting up the kitchen and using it safely. Planning meals, keeping an inventory and shopping are taught in Learn Meal Planning, a sibling manual: its kitchen inventory chapter and its shopping chapter pick up where this one stops.
Three kinds of first kitchen
Most first homes come with one of three kitchens. Each one allows different cooking and needs a different starting set.
| Kitchen | What it usually has | What it allows | What to check first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full kitchen | A range (cooktop and oven), a full-size refrigerator with a separate freezer, a sink, counter space | Most home cooking: roasting, baking, cooking several dishes at once, storing a week of food | Fridge and freezer temperatures; whether a free-standing range has an anti-tip bracket; the range's fuel (gas or electric) |
| Kitchenette | A small refrigerator, often with a freezer compartment inside it; a two-burner cooktop or a microwave, sometimes both; a small sink | One-pan and one-pot meals, reheating, a few days of fresh food at a time | Whether the freezer compartment reaches 0°F; how much the fridge holds; where hot pans can be set down |
| Shared kitchen | The full or partial kitchen of a shared house, a rented room or student housing, used by several people | What a full kitchen allows, on a shared timetable, with shared shelf space | Which fridge shelf and cupboard are yours; what equipment is shared; who cleans what (Sharing a home) |
If you do not know yet which kind you have, the walk-through in Lease and move-in record answers it. The condition sheet has a row for each appliance; note what is there and whether it works.
A starting set of equipment
This manual's starting list is small on purpose. Our convention No agency publishes an equipment list for a home kitchen; this one is ours, and your meals override it. A household that cooks rice and stir-fries needs a different pan from one that bakes. Start with the list, cook for a week, and buy the next piece when a meal asks for it.
| Item | What it does | Phase | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| One frying pan, about 10 in | Eggs, vegetables, meat, one-pan meals | First week | Check that it sits flat on your burner |
| One pot with a lid, about 3 qt | Pasta, rice, soup, boiling eggs | First week | The lid also covers a pan fire in a smaller pan |
| A pan lid or a baking sheet that covers your frying pan | Smothers a pan fire | First night | Kept next to the stove (cooking fires) |
| One chef's knife and one small knife | Most cutting | First week | Stored in a block or on a guard, not loose in a drawer |
| Two cutting boards | One for raw meat, poultry and seafood; one for everything else | First week | Different colors make them easy to tell apart (cutting boards) |
| A spatula, a large spoon, tongs, a can opener | Turning, stirring, serving, opening | First week | Heat-safe materials for anything that touches a hot pan |
| Measuring cups and spoons | Recipes; also the bleach ratio for sanitizing boards | First week | One set covers both |
| Appliance thermometer | Checks the refrigerator and freezer temperature | Key day | FSIS recommends one in a refrigerator that has none built in |
| Shallow food containers with lids | Leftovers, cooling food quickly | First week | Shallow, so leftovers chill fast (the 2-hour rule) |
| Plates, bowls, cups and cutlery for the household | Eating | First week | One set per person, plus one, as a starting point |
| Dish soap, a dish brush or sponges, a dish rack or towel | Washing up | First night | Cleaning products are chosen in Cleaning safely |
The full list, with what is fine to buy used and what to check first, is on the essentials reference. Essentials in phases sorts each item into have, borrow, secondhand or buy. Small appliances (a kettle, a toaster, a rice cooker) are not on the starting list: they earn a place once a meal you cook every week needs one, and once there is counter space for it. In a small home, Limited space decides where each one lives.
Sizing the kitchen to a week of meals
The quickest way to see what is missing is to write down one week of meals and, beside each, the equipment it uses. A meal that needs an oven when the home has a two-burner cooktop goes off the list or changes. A meal that needs a pot you do not own puts the pot on the essentials list. Seven dinners and a few breakfasts are enough; the point is the equipment, not the menu. If you want a method for planning the week itself, Learn Meal Planning teaches one; this manual only needs the list.
2. Refrigerator and freezer: temperatures, storage times and the 2-hour rule
Cold slows the growth of bacteria in food. It does not stop it, and it does not kill them. Every storage time an agency publishes assumes a temperature, so the first job in a new kitchen is to find out what your refrigerator actually holds.
The two numbers: 40°F and 0°F
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) says to keep the refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below (FSIS, Refrigeration and Food Safety). FoodSafety.gov's chart gives the same refrigerator figure and puts the freezer at 0°F (-18°C) or below (FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart, from the Department of Health and Human Services). Agency guidance
The dial inside a refrigerator does not show a temperature. Settings such as "1 to 7" or "colder" vary by maker. An appliance thermometer is a small thermometer made to sit inside a refrigerator or freezer and read the air there. FSIS recommends keeping one in any refrigerator without a built-in display. It costs little and answers the one question the dial cannot.
- Place it. Stand the thermometer on a middle shelf, toward the front, not against the back wall or in the door. Our convention
- Wait. Leave the door closed for several hours, or overnight. A reading taken right after loading groceries or opening the door is too warm.
- Read it. Write the reading and the time on the home facts sheet or in your notes.
- Adjust and read again. If it reads above 40°F, turn the control one step colder and read again the next day. If it stays above 40°F after a couple of adjustments, tell the landlord in writing (a renter) or check the appliance's manual (an owner). Test it
- Do the freezer. Move the thermometer to the freezer, or buy a second one, and repeat. The freezer should read 0°F or below.
A small refrigerator's freezer compartment may not reach 0°F. The thermometer settles it. FoodSafety.gov's freezer times assume 0°F or below, so a compartment that reads warmer does not meet the chart's condition. Our convention We treat a compartment that cannot hold 0°F as short-term storage for ice and food you will use within days, not as a freezer for months.
Where food goes, and the weekly clear-out
FSIS gives a short set of habits that keep the cold doing its job:
- Perishables out of the door. FSIS says not to store perishable food in the door, and to keep eggs in their carton on a shelf. Milk, eggs, meat and leftovers go on the shelves; condiments and drinks can go in the door.
- Spills wiped at once with hot, soapy water, and the shelf rinsed.
- A weekly clear-out. Once a week, throw out perishable food that should no longer be eaten. FSIS suggests a weekly habit; Weekly routines puts it in the weekly reset, and the routines sheet carries it.
- The condenser coil cleaned several times a year. The coil at the back or underneath gets rid of the heat; FSIS says to clean it several times a year. In a rental, ask the landlord whether that is their job or yours, and do not move a built-in unit yourself. Ask the landlord
The danger zone and the 2-hour rule
The danger zone is the range between 40°F and 140°F. FSIS says bacteria grow fastest in it, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes (FSIS, How Temperatures Affect Food). The two-hour rule follows from it: perishable food that is out of refrigeration more than 2 hours is thrown out, or more than 1 hour when the air is above 90°F, as in a hot car. The 2 hours count the whole time out of the cold, not each stretch separately.
Leftovers are cooled quickly in shallow containers. FSIS says to divide large amounts of food (a big pot of soup, a roast) into shallow containers and refrigerate them within 2 hours. A deep pot of hot food cools slowly in the middle, which keeps that food in the danger zone for hours even inside the refrigerator. FSIS gives 165°F as the temperature for reheating leftovers.
Refrigerate perishable food and leftovers within 2 hours, or within 1 hour when it is above 90°F. Food that makes people sick can look, smell and taste normal, so a sniff test does not settle whether it is safe. When in doubt, throw it out.
How long food keeps in the refrigerator
Storage times come from the agencies' charts. Where FSIS and FoodSafety.gov give different figures for the same food, this manual uses the shorter one. Our convention These are the foods a first kitchen most often holds; the whole chart is on FoodSafety.gov.
| Food | Refrigerator | Freezer | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw ground meat | 1 to 2 days | 3 to 4 months | FoodSafety.gov; FSIS agrees on the fridge time |
| Raw chicken, whole | 1 to 2 days | 1 year | FoodSafety.gov |
| Raw steaks and chops | 3 to 5 days | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov and FSIS |
| Bacon | 1 week | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov and FSIS |
| Hot dogs | 1 week opened; 2 weeks unopened | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov |
| Luncheon meat | 3 to 5 days opened; 2 weeks unopened | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov and FSIS |
| Egg, chicken, tuna and macaroni salads | 3 to 4 days | Does not freeze well | FoodSafety.gov (FSIS says 3 to 5; we use the shorter) |
| Raw eggs in the shell | 3 to 5 weeks | Do not freeze in the shell | FoodSafety.gov and FSIS |
| Hard-cooked eggs | 1 week | Does not freeze well | FoodSafety.gov |
| Soups and stews | 3 to 4 days | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov |
| Cooked meat leftovers | 3 to 4 days | 2 to 6 months | FoodSafety.gov (FSIS's short rule of thumb says 4 days; we use 3 to 4) |
| Pizza | 3 to 4 days | (see the chart) | FoodSafety.gov |
Refrigerator times are limits for safety. FoodSafety.gov says freezer times are for quality only, because food kept at a steady 0°F stays safe; it loses flavor and texture over time. Thawed food is handled as perishable again. Learn Meal Planning's chapter on how long food keeps teaches the full method: safety and quality limits, date labels, and a storage card for the foods a household buys most.
The storage times and temperatures here are the agencies' figures for food safety. They assume the food was kept at 40°F or 0°F and handled within the 2-hour rule, and they are guidance for a kind of food, not a guarantee for one package. This manual does not judge whether a particular food in your kitchen is safe, and it gives no medical advice about foodborne illness. A household member who is sick after eating goes to a physician; a person at higher risk (pregnant, older, very young, or with a weakened immune system) asks a physician which foods to avoid.
The rest of the cold-storage chart. FoodSafety.gov's chart lists dozens more foods, by category, with both columns. It points to the FoodKeeper app for more than 650 items. If a food in your kitchen is not in the table above, the chart is the place to look; where FSIS and FoodSafety.gov give different numbers, take the shorter.
What a power outage means for the fridge. FSIS says food in the refrigerator is safe after an outage if the refrigerator is still at 40°F or below, and that perishable food held above 40°F for more than 2 hours should not be eaten. The appliance thermometer is how you know which side of that line the food is on when the power comes back. Keep the doors closed while the power is out; every opening lets cold air out. Write the outage line on the fridge next to the thermometer reading.
A shared kitchen's fridge. In a shared house or a rented room, a few written agreements prevent most arguments: one shelf (or one door bin and one shelf) per person; shared items such as milk or condiments on a labelled shared shelf; leftovers labelled with a name and the date they were cooked; and the weekly clear-out on a named day, done by a named person. These are conventions, not rules, and they belong in the household agreement in Sharing a home. Convention Raw meat goes on the lowest shelf in a container, so its juices cannot drip onto someone else's food.
3. Cutting boards, sponges and cross-contamination
Cross-contamination is the spread of bacteria from one food or surface to another: from raw chicken to a knife, from the knife to a salad. Cooking kills most bacteria in raw meat; it does nothing for the lettuce that touched the same board. The kitchen habits in this section keep raw meat juices away from food that will not be cooked.
Two boards, washed after each use
FSIS's cutting board guidance covers which board, how to wash it and when to replace it (FSIS, Cutting Boards). Agency guidance
- Material. Wood and nonporous boards (plastic, glass, solid surface) are both acceptable to FSIS. Nonporous boards are easier to clean.
- Two boards. FSIS suggests one board for fresh produce and bread and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood. This manual makes this a Start here step: two boards cost little and remove the most common route for cross-contamination in a small kitchen.
- Washed after each use. Hot, soapy water, then a rinse, then air drying or patting dry with clean paper towels. Nonporous boards and solid wood boards can go in a dishwasher; laminated boards may crack.
- Sanitized when raw meat has been on it. FSIS's ratio is 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Flood the surface, let it stand for several minutes, then rinse and dry. (This is a sanitizing ratio for boards. Cleaning safely explains sanitizing, the bleach on your shelf, and why bleach is not mixed with other products.)
- Replaced when worn. FSIS says to discard boards that are excessively worn or have hard-to-clean grooves. Bacteria lodge in deep knife cuts that a brush cannot reach.
The same habits apply to the knife and the counter: wash them after they touch raw meat, before they touch anything else. The cleaning and sanitizing steps for counters and the sink are in Cleaning safely.
Sponges: replace them often
A kitchen sponge stays damp, warm and full of food scraps, which suits bacteria. This manual's default is simple. Our convention Replace sponges often, and keep the dish sponge for dishes, not for wiping up raw meat juice (use a paper towel or a cloth that goes straight into the wash). If you choose to microwave a sponge to clean it, put in only a wet sponge with no metal in it: a dry sponge can scorch or catch fire, and a sponge with metal fibers can spark. That caution is ours, from how microwaves work; the research release below does not give one.
How often is "often" is not set by an agency. One research team, after studying used sponges, suggested replacing them regularly, for example weekly; that is the authors' suggestion from a small sample, not a rule. A dish brush is an alternative some households prefer. Preference
The two sponge studies. In 2007, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service tested ways of cleaning sponges that had been loaded with about 20 million microbes each (USDA ARS news release, 2007). One minute in a microwave killed 99.99999 percent of the bacteria, and a dishwasher run with a drying cycle killed 99.9998 percent. Soaking in a 10 percent bleach solution for 3 minutes, in lemon juice, or in deionized water killed between 37 and 87 percent, which the researchers said still left enough to potentially cause illness.
In 2017, a research team analyzed the bacteria in 14 used kitchen sponges from households (Cardinale and others, Scientific Reports, 2017). They found very dense bacterial communities. Sponges their owners said they regularly sanitized did not carry fewer bacteria than the others, and some bacteria related to ones that can cause illness were more common in them. The authors suggested regular replacement of sponges, "for example, on a weekly basis."
Why our defaults to replacing. The two studies measured different things. The 2007 test asked what a single cleaning does to a heavily loaded sponge in a lab; the 2017 study looked at what was living in sponges people had used and cleaned at home. Neither is an agency rule. Replacing often is the default that holds under both results; microwaving a wet, metal-free sponge between replacements is a choice the 2007 result supports, not a substitute for replacing it.
4. Cooking fires and appliance safety
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) calls cooking by far the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries (USFA, Cooking Fire Safety). Its figures for 2021 are about 170,000 home cooking fires, 135 deaths and 3,000 injuries. The steps below come from USFA and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a standards body (NFPA, Safety with cooking equipment). Agency guidance
While you cook
- Stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling, boiling or broiling (NFPA). If you leave the kitchen, even briefly, turn the burner off (USFA).
- Turn the burner off if you see smoke or grease starting to boil (USFA).
- Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove, so a passing arm or a child cannot knock a pan off (USFA).
- Keep a lid or a baking sheet within reach, big enough to cover your largest pan (USFA). This is the Start here step: the moment you need it is not the moment to look for it.
- Do not cook when you are very sleepy or have been drinking alcohol (NFPA).
- Keep anything that can burn away from the burners: towels, paper, packaging, a curtain near the cooktop.
If a fire starts
| Fire | Do | Do not |
|---|---|---|
| Grease or oil fire in a pan | Slide the lid or baking sheet over the pan. Turn off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cool. | Do not use water. Do not carry the pan to the sink or outside. |
| Oven fire | Turn off the heat. Keep the oven door closed. | Do not open the door to look. |
| Any fire that does not go out | Get everyone out and call 911 from outside. | Do not go back in. |
NFPA says never to use water on a grease fire: water flashes to steam under burning oil and can throw it out of the pan. Cover it and turn off the heat. If the fire is not out after you cover it, or it spreads beyond the pan, leave and call 911 from outside. A fire extinguisher is covered in First night and safety; using one is a choice for a small fire with a clear way out behind you, not a reason to stay.
Appliances, cords and heat
- Major appliances plug straight into the wall. USFA says to plug a refrigerator, range, microwave or other major appliance directly into a wall outlet and not to use an extension cord with it (USFA, Appliance and Electrical Fire Safety). If a kitchen has too few outlets for its appliances, that is a question for the landlord, not a job for a power strip.
- Small appliances unplugged when not in use, and any appliance with a damaged cord replaced (USFA).
- The oven is not a heater. USFA says never to use an oven to heat the home (USFA, Heating Fire Safety). If the home is cold, the heat is a repair request (Repairs and requests). NFPA names fuel-burning cooking equipment as a potential source of carbon monoxide; the CO alarm is in First night and safety.
- A free-standing range and its anti-tip bracket. A free-standing range can tip forward if weight goes on its open oven door, for example a child standing on it. An anti-tip bracket is a metal bracket fixed to the floor or wall that holds the range's back leg. The CPSC's childproofing guide calls for anti-tip brackets on free-standing ranges (CPSC, Childproofing Your Home, publication 252). You can often see whether one is fitted by looking at the back floor corners with a flashlight, or in the range's manual. Ask the landlord
This manual does not teach installing an anti-tip bracket, moving a range or working on a gas line. If you cannot see a bracket, ask the landlord or manager in writing whether one is fitted; installing one is the landlord's job or a trade's. An owner asks the installer or the range's maker. This manual does not teach moving a gas range; that is a gas technician's job. If you smell gas, the steps in First night and safety apply.
Cooking on a two-burner cooktop. A kitchenette's cooktop puts both burners close together and close to the front edge. A few habits help. Convention Cook one pan at a time when frying, so you are not reaching across a hot burner. Use the back burner (if there is one) for the pot that stays on longest. Keep the counter beside the cooktop clear as a landing spot for a hot pan, or keep a trivet there. A microwave shelf above or beside the cooktop keeps reheating off the burners; check that its vent is not blocked.
Two sets of figures on unattended cooking. NFPA's estimates for 2020 to 2024 put unattended equipment as a factor in 25 percent of home cooking fires and half of the associated deaths, with ranges or cooktops involved in 51 percent of incidents. USFA puts unattended equipment as the leading factor, at 37 percent, in nonconfined home cooking fires in its own data. The two counts measure different sets of fires over different years, so both are right about their own data. Either way, leaving a pan alone is the habit both bodies single out.
5. Keeping pests out of the kitchen
EPA's citizen's guide to pest control says pests need food, water and shelter, and that prevention means taking those away (EPA, Citizen's Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety). A kitchen offers all three, so it is where prevention starts. Agency guidance
- Food sealed. Store dry food (cereal, flour, rice, pasta, pet food) in sealed glass or plastic containers. A folded-over bag is not sealed.
- No standing water. EPA names water left in plant trays, under the refrigerator or in buckets overnight. A drip under the sink is a water source too.
- Grease and crumbs cleaned up. EPA says to keep the kitchen free of grease. Wipe the stovetop and counters after cooking, and sweep under the table.
- Trash out often, into a can with a tight lid. The building's trash and recycling days go on the home facts sheet (Weekly routines builds them into the routine).
- Cracks and leaks reported. EPA's guide suggests caulking cracks and fixing leaky plumbing. In a rental, those are repair requests: write them on the repair log and send them in writing (Repairs and requests).
Pests that return after these steps, and any pesticide use, are in Cleaning safely: this manual does not teach applying pesticides, and in a rental, a pest problem is reported to the landlord.
6. See it: Dani's kitchenette and Rosa's range See it
Dani sets up a kitchenette. Dani Ortiz (they/them), 23, rents a 420 sq ft studio on the third floor of a 1958 building. Keys on 2026-11-01 (all names, dates and details in this example are invented). The kitchenette has a two-burner electric cooktop, a small refrigerator with a freezer compartment, and a shelf for a microwave. Dani brought a box of kitchen things from family. Money for setup is tight.
Known (from the case): the kitchenette's three appliances; no fuel-burning appliances in the unit, so no gas range question; Dani lives alone, so one set of boards and shelves.
Dani's first week of meals (added for this example): scrambled eggs and toast, pasta with a jar sauce, rice and beans, a vegetable and chicken stir-fry, soup from a can, and leftovers twice. Beside each, Dani wrote the equipment: frying pan, pot with lid, spatula, spoon, knife, two boards, can opener, shallow containers. Toast has no toaster: Dani crossed it off and makes eggs on rice instead.
The box from family, checked against the list: the box's contents were open until Dani unpacked it against the list. Dani marked the pot, a spatula and a set of cutlery as have. The frying pan, a second cutting board, the can opener, shallow containers and an appliance thermometer went on the essentials list as buy, first week; a knife went down as borrow until the first paycheck. Which of these waits for the paycheck is Dani's decision on the essentials list (Essentials in phases), not something this manual settles.
The thermometer. Assumed for this example: the refrigerator reads 43°F the morning after the thermometer goes in. Under that assumption, the fridge is above FSIS's 40°F. Dani turns the dial one step colder and reads it again the next morning. If it still reads above 40°F after two adjustments, the open question is the appliance, and the property manager settles it through a written request (Repairs and requests). The freezer compartment is open too: whether it reaches 0°F is settled by the thermometer, and until it does, Dani treats it as short-term storage.
Fire steps. The pot lid fits the frying pan, so it lives next to the cooktop. Dani turns handles to the back and leaves the cooktop off when they step away to answer the door.
Rosa's gas range and the bracket question. Rosa Aguilar and her son Mateo, 4, move into a second-floor one-bedroom on 2026-12-15 (fictional). The apartment has a full kitchen with a gas range.
Known: a free-standing gas range; a 4-year-old in the home. Open: whether the range has an anti-tip bracket. Rosa looks behind the back legs with a flashlight and cannot tell. The property manager settles it, by a written answer to her question; this manual does not know the answer and does not tell her to move the range to look. Also open, and not settled here: whether a CO alarm is installed, given the gas range. That is Rosa's check and the manager's written answer in First night and safety; state and local rules on who installs one vary.
Rosa keeps pot handles turned to the back on every burner, since Mateo can reach the front edge of the range.
7. Practice: thermometer, boards and a week of meals Practice
Minimum: put the thermometer in the refrigerator, read it the next day, then read the freezer; label two boards; put a lid by the stove; write a week of meals with their equipment and mark the essentials list. Time: about 40 minutes of work, spread over two days for the thermometer readings. Materials: an appliance thermometer (one is enough if you move it between fridge and freezer), two cutting boards, a pan lid or baking sheet, paper or the essentials list.
- Thermometer, day one. Put the thermometer on a middle shelf toward the front. Close the door and leave it overnight. Move milk, eggs, meat and leftovers from the door to the shelves while you are there.
- Thermometer, day two. Read it before you open the door for breakfast if you can. Write the reading and the time. If it is above 40°F, turn the control one step colder and read again tomorrow. Then move the thermometer to the freezer and repeat.
- Boards. Choose which board is for raw meat, poultry and seafood. Mark it (a color, a notch, a strip of tape on the underside) so anyone in the home can tell. Store them apart.
- Lid. Find a lid or baking sheet that covers your largest frying pan. Put it next to the stove where you can reach it without crossing the burners.
- A week of meals. Write seven dinners and a few breakfasts you will actually cook. Beside each, list the equipment it uses. Mark each piece of equipment have, borrow, secondhand or buy on the essentials list, kitchen rows.
- Clear the fridge once. Take everything out, wipe the shelves, throw out anything past the storage times above, and put food back with raw meat on the lowest shelf.
- Find the coil. Look for the condenser coil (back or underneath). Note in the home facts sheet whether it is reachable and whether cleaning it is your job or the landlord's.
- Check the range. Look for an anti-tip bracket with a flashlight. If you cannot see one, add a written question to the repair log.
- Walk the kitchen for pests. Note open food, standing water, gaps around pipes and any drip under the sink. Put leaks and gaps on the repair log.
8. Your home Your home
9. Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does the refrigerator read 40°F or below and the freezer 0°F or below on an appliance thermometer, read after the door was closed for hours? If not, is a next step written (an adjustment, then a request)?
- Are milk, eggs, meat and leftovers on shelves rather than in the door?
- Can anyone in the home tell the raw-meat board from the other one?
- Is a lid or baking sheet that covers your largest pan within reach of the stove?
- Does each meal on your list have the equipment it needs marked have, borrow, secondhand or buy?
- Are major appliances plugged straight into a wall outlet?
Worked example
Dani's result, checked against the criteria (fictional). The fridge reading is written, with a colder setting and a re-read the next morning, because under the assumed 43°F reading the first criterion is not met yet; that is a pass on "is a next step written." Perishables are on the shelves. The second board went on the essentials list as buy; until it arrives, Dani cuts vegetables first and raw chicken last on the one board, then washes and sanitizes it (a stopgap this manual suggests, not the two-board setup). The pot lid is beside the cooktop. Every meal's equipment is marked. The refrigerator and microwave plug into wall outlets; nothing runs on an extension cord. One criterion is open (the fridge temperature), and its next step and the person who settles it are written.
Common mistakes
- Reading the thermometer right after putting it in. It shows the room's temperature for a while. Read it after several hours with the door closed.
- Trusting the dial. A dial set to "cold" or "4" says nothing about degrees. The thermometer settles it.
- Keeping milk in the door because there is a milk shelf there. FSIS says perishables go on the shelves, not in the door.
- Cooling a big pot of soup whole. Divide it into shallow containers so it chills within 2 hours.
- Using the same sponge for raw meat juice and dishes. Use a paper towel or a cloth that goes straight into the wash.
- Buying the whole equipment list before cooking a week. The list is a starting point; your meals decide.
- A power strip for the microwave and the fridge. Major appliances go straight into a wall outlet.
What is still unresolved
This chapter cannot tell you whether your refrigerator can hold 40°F after adjustment, whether your range has an anti-tip bracket, or whose job the condenser coil is. The thermometer settles the first; the landlord or manager settles the second and third in writing (Repairs and requests). It does not settle what the household eats or spends: meal planning and shopping are in Learn Meal Planning, and what to buy now or later is your decision on the essentials list (Essentials in phases). Cleaning products for the kitchen are chosen in Cleaning safely, and the weekly fridge clear-out becomes part of the routine in Weekly routines.