Hostel Tip #01: Thriving in the Kitchen
Posted on 25 February 2009 by Justin
This launches what I hope will become a recurring (read: weekly) column that discusses how to make the most out of time spent in hostels.
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The Kitchen Environment
A hostel kitchen can be a very busy place. At peak meal time (12-2 for lunch 5-7 for dinner) a typical kitchen may contain half of the night’s guest with anywhere from 5-10 meals being prepped and prepared simultaneously. Although not usually dangerous, this can be a frustrating experience. Instead of fighting over that last stove top burner, learn to thrive instead.
- Early or Late: If most people try to eat dinner between 5 and 7, consider skipping the rush altogether. If you use the kitchen at off peak hours, you will have more access to the limited supply of cookware and you won’t be dancing around your bunk mate to stir your pasta sauce.
- Read the Signs: Most kitchens are plastered with signs encouraging guest to wash their dishes, label their food, and clean up after themselves. Some hostels have signs that indicate where the FREE food is located or how to operate a tricky stove. Reading the signs will keep you informed and save you from looking like an illiterate bumbler later.
- Be Polite (Ask Questions): If you don’t know where something is, ask the other people in the kitchen. If you want to use a pot someone has previously used but not wash, ask for it and wash it yourself. If you want to use the last burner on a stove top, ask the Italian girl who is frantically stirring pots on the other three burners and cursing softly to herself. Politeness and civility, with a touch of boldness (consider talking with your hands to the Italian girl) will take care of most issues.
- Don’t Steal Food: Whether on purpose or on accident, stealing someone’s food, even a little milk, is just not okay. If you need some butter for your corn on the cob, ask someone. In many cases, most people will be more than happy to give you a small amount of almost anything (read: not beer).
- Clean Up: People will watch how you clean. Seriously. If you wash your fork halfway and put it back with crusty food on it, the other people in the kitchen will notice. They are trying to use the fork you just put back and crusty food stuck to dishes that should be clean is really gross. Clean dishes, counters and stovetops well, and not only will you make more friends, people will be more willing to share food with you.
- Be Aware: Most of the time, a kitchen has enough cookware that you can cook, eat your meal, and then do all your dishes. However, in some kitchens, there may only be one frying pan. Or one stirring spoon. Or one pot. Don’t be selfish. If you are in a cheap hostel, look around the kitchen, figure out that the only sauce pot in the kitchen is covered with the remains of your lentil soup surprise (surprise…why does it taste like that?) and wash the pot before you eat. Nothing is quite so embarrassing as when a 19 year old Dutch girl looks at your lentil surprise pot and asks, in a small quiet voice, “Are you still using this”? Typically, she will forcefully demand, still in a quiet voice, that she be allowed to wash the remains of your lentil surprise (scrubbing the pot for all she is worth with a fist full of steel wool) because she inconvenienced you by asking for the pot. Trust me. This will make you feel like a schmuck.
- Before you buy it, try it: When you arrive at a new hostel, take a look at the available cookware. This is important later in regards to meal planning. If you buy 10 pounds of potatoes at the grocery store, thinking you will make enough mash potatoes to last for 5 days so you can skip out on this cooking nonsense, you will be a bit sad when you get back to the hostel and discover the lack of a potato masher. Mashing potatoes with a wooden spoon is possible but not pleasant. Check the kitchen and shop accordingly.
Cooking effectively in a hostel kitchen requires you to gracefully learn the steps of a delicate dance and then to execute the dance with the boldness and cunning of a privateer. If you travel long enough you may just get knighted.
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Tags | Hostel Tips
Excellent tips guys – thanks!!
All great tips. I think the food issue is very important as those costs can add up very quickly. Utilize the kitchen to save money and keep you traveling!
“Cooking effectively in a hostel kitchen requires you to gracefully learn the steps of a delicate dance and then to execute the dance with the boldness and cunning of a privateer.”– Good advice for hostel kitchens and hostile ones.
@Brian from nodebtworldtravel.com – You are right, food costs certainly add up fast. A hostel kitchen can really save your budget as self catering will allow most people to travel for a much longer period of time.
You forgot to mention the most important requirement of all!
Must have a good supply of pots, at least 3
Ah too true! Nothing sucks more than a hostel without pots. Actually, a hostel kitchen that lacks any of the necessary elements (pots, pans, spoons, forks, knives, mugs cups, etc) is just no fun.
my boyfriend and i own backpackers and I must say – no matter how many pots you have, some people are very inconsiderate to others. for example- we have group of four people who used 5 pots to cook the meal and guess what – they’re full of food. and then other 20 guestshad to share to small pots.
So you see, it doesn’t really matter how many you have, in my opinion i think less is more as they are forced to give up the pot after they used it.
but thats me…. otherwise i really like your check points for guests as many of them leave 80% for cleanliness and they don’t really see what to look for to check for review. i get really angry when they saying that our cleanliness is between 80% and 90% when you have full house of people !!! they dont see that the place they go for piss is clean every single time and showers aren’t clogged up with hair.
I’m printing your check point and putting up in our backpackers for other people to really see what to check. Thanks guys, just carry on with your great work
I’m so proud of you both!
@Margarita – Thanks. Your right. I don’t think many people understand how hard it is to run a backpackers. Keep up the good work and thanks for supporting independent travel.
I loved this article! It’s certainly one of those less glamourous areas of travelling to consider, but very vital!
I stayed in a backpackers in Manly which had only mugs, one saucepan and three spoons for everyone to use. My partner ended up eating his cereal out of the saucepan!