Take it to the Mat

These are flexible cutting mats and probably one of the most used pieces of kitchen gear after my knife (who likes these boards too).

Here’s the deal: Color-coding helps you to remember which mat is used for sweet stuff, which for savory (foods like onions and garlic-savory is the opposite of sweet), which for poultry (i.e. chicken and other birds) and maybe even one for fish. If your mats are not marked for these things out of the box, you can designate which color goes with which. A chart on the side of your fridge is something you can make to keep track.

Why is this important? Nothing is worse than a piece of fruit that unexpectedly has a hint of onion flavor. Raw chicken is tricky stuff and you want to insure that anything having had contact with it is thoroughly cleaned afterwards. Dedicating a board to chicken is good kitchen hygiene.

What is super useful? These boards take up very little space when stored, are easy to clean AND you can have several in use at once as you prepare more than one ingredient. Onions go in before carrots? Use a separate board. Because they are so light and flexible, your ingredients can be easily transported to the pot or anywhere else for that matter. A simple bend of the mat and your ingredients are directed to the pan like kids on a water-slide.

One less kitchen dilemma to wrestle with!