MEALS NEXT WEEK, after the kitchen is turned over

Good to know about the walls. I figured I have to give the dining room the same treatment as the kitchen (and my dining room is a postage stamp so it was never worth fussing over).

Re: floors. Really? I don't usually put hot chometz on my floors and I would never in a million years think that a utensil that fell on them would need kashering. Everyone has to do what she is comfortable with.

Getting a bit closer to kashering my own kitchen, I've remembered something else I do to make sure there's food available, especially because I'm busy and don't want to stop and cook.
I make up a huge batch of pasta to eat cold. If I had a big enough parev pot, it would be better, but I generally just make it milchigs. Easy enough to store in the fridge in a sealed tub, and to put out with whatever needs eating up.
This year, because I have about 2lbs of ground beef left, but I want to kasher my oven today when the electricity is cheap, I'm going to cook up the ground beef and a bag of pasta, and serve that when we run out of shabbos leftovers. Until I actually switch the kitchen, my stove can stay chametz for reheating, but I can also easily move the microwave and reheat in that.
I like pasta, because it tends to be easier to clean up after the kids, and it's filling. (And there always seems to be one last bag lurking in the back of the pantry that I didn't finish up!).

Good to know about the walls. I figured I have to give the dining room the same treatment as the kitchen (and my dining room is a postage stamp so it was never worth fussing over).

Re: floors. Really? I don't usually put hot chometz on my floors and I would never in a million years think that a utensil that fell on them would need kashering. Everyone has to do what she is comfortable with.

If you saw the day to day condition of my floor, you'd be encouraging me to do hagala, and not just stop at bleaching.

Hot chametz on the floor is what happens when kids cook. And my 9 yo makes the best pancakes ever... I just need to clean the kitchen afterward.

Zephyr - that is so true! And it's not just the kids - I'm just as guilty of not getting to wipe stuff up myself. I usually wash the floor with vinegar and water, but have bought something stronger to wash it before I start Pesach cooking (although I may have to get dh to do the floors, if I turn out to be sensitive to the fumes).
Otherwise, I would have to rinse off utensil that fell on the floor, and wouldn't feel comfortable using food that dropped. Considering how much I drop, that would be a big deal.
Which is why I also do the dining room floor, even though it rarely gets washed. There's a particularly interesting patch next to where the high chair sits!

Good to know about the walls. I figured I have to give the dining room the same treatment as the kitchen (and my dining room is a postage stamp so it was never worth fussing over).

Re: floors. Really? I don't usually put hot chometz on my floors and I would never in a million years think that a utensil that fell on them would need kashering. Everyone has to do what she is comfortable with.

If you saw the day to day condition of my floor, you'd be encouraging me to do hagala, and not just stop at bleaching.

Hot chametz on the floor is what happens when kids cook. And my 9 yo makes the best pancakes ever... I just need to clean the kitchen afterward.

ahhh yet something else to look forward to when my kids are old enough to really cook beyond mixing eggs and chopping veg.

Oh, yeah.

On the plus side, dd is an outstanding baker.

On the minus side, she makes a gadawful mess. Usually about 20 minutes before Shabbos.

She is just NOW, at 16, slowly beginning to at least throw out the garbage that she generated and put away the containers of stuff that she used.

It's worth it, though. She can make 100 mini-muffins, like I said, 20 minutes before Shabbos.

Wow - that's fast!
DD1 likes to bake but I need to figure about double the time it would take me to make a particular dish, because she is still learning. She does get the concept of cleaning up after herself, even if she isn't so skilled at it yet.
Considering that when dh "helps" by making supper, I have a ton of clean-up to do afterwards, I'm not complaining about dd's attempts!
And I'm the first to admit that I don't spot my own spills and messes, and hate cleaning up afterwards!

Ditto on the issue of cleaning up the kitchen after kids! People sometimes ask me, what do you do if your kids do the cooking for Shabbos? And I tell them, I do all the cleanup from them! It works for me, but yikes, sometimes I walk into the kitchen after someone has been cooking something, and I feel like taking a nap before I get started....

HappyMom - Knowing how proficient your kids are in the kitchen, I feel a whole lot better about the state of mine!
I have had a certain son offer to earn lots of "points" by cleaning the refrigerators for Pesach. I'm going to start him with the basement fridge, which is the easier one. If he isn't totally scared off by it, I'll get him to do the kitchen fridge tomorrow night!
And I've already offered lots of points for helping with peeling veg, etc once we start the Pesach cooking. (I had to find some jobs that the bigger kids would be able to do that my 7yo wouldn't want to, so that the big kids could catch up on earning Pesach Points because my 7yo got a head start while they were busy yesterday morning).
So, I'm looking forward to lots of kid help in the kitchen, and not all of it will be mess-making!

HM, I did that this past week. DS1 was home, but wouldn't take on any of the cleaning tasks I had, so we switched, he finished all the cooking and I finished the cleaning up, I was actually a lot more relaxed that way.

He's taking on the fridges today, should be fine because I emptied them already, it's just washing them down (pretty gross, but no impossible)

LfE - I wonder if there's something particular about boys and fridge cleaning?
Personally, it's a job I hate, and when I have paid cleaning help, it's a job they avoid, too!
I figured maybe it's because he has absolutely no clue what might be lurking in there?!

Oh, you know, boys spend so much time staring at the insides of the fridge anyway, they feel very comfortable with it, regardless of how gross it might be

I feel like I spent all day today cleaning my fridge. But now it's lined and all ready to use .

Looking forward to ds being old enough to do this .

Yeah well, I got excited prematurely.
DS wasn't available to help last night. He procrastinated on his desk, then got a stomach-ache and went to bed.
I spent much of yesterday trying to chase down yeshiva bochurim to come do the heavy cleaning in the kitchen, with no luck, but dh said he'd do the sink at least before he went to bed, so I could kasher tonight. Didn't happen (but I believe he finally finished his office?!)
This morning, a friend of his said he could come for a couple of hours at 10am. Davening that turns out, because the fridge, stove and sink all need doing, and if I do it, I'll be too exhausted to do anything else all day. I can probably manage washing down the outsides of the cabinets, etc.
Off to make the last chametz lunches that will be made in my kitchen, so I can run the dw before the sink gets cleaned.
The rest of the house is still unfinished, so I think we'll be working up till bedikas chametz. Davening that the girl who said she'd come and be a mothers helper tomorrow will actually turn up!

I hope it works out and you aren't left to do all the heavy cleaning yourself!