Easy Passover Preparation
Are you overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning and preparing for Pesach? Are you at home for the first time this year for Passover, and not quite sure where to begin? I promise you, you can do this! It’s not as hard as it seems! I want to share some practical advice that will hopefully re-size this challenge for you, and help you get through it. Preparing for Passover is not meant to reduce us to our former slave-selves!
First, focus on the fact that preparing for Passover does not require an entire spring cleaning of your house. While it might be a nice opportunity to go the extra mile, and do some home improvements, touch ups, or deep cleans that you’ve been putting off, it’s not a required part of getting your house ready for Passover. To make this realistic, direct your attention to the places where you prepare and eat food. Forget about the rest of the house for now. And in those spaces where you prepare and eat food, pay extra close attention to the surfaces that food actually touches. So, for example, most of us do not put food directly onto the surface of our refrigerator shelves. So no blow torches or boiling water is required to get your fridge ready for Pesach. Just remove the chametz (or store it in a specific drawer, compartment or shelf that will be completely covered for the duration of the holiday) and wash the rest of the fridge with soap and water or kitchen cleanser. That’s it!
Similarly, most of us do not put food directly onto countertops (at least my mother made me put my food on a plate!), but crumbs always seem to accumulate. Get a good cleansing spray and clean those counters and backsplashes well. If your countertops are granite or a similar material, most authorities advise pouring boiling water over them (I boil water in a teapot, then spill the water on the countertops... Note: Have towels ready!). I recently read an authoritative source that indicated cleaning granite is sufficient since really hot food does not usually get on the surface directly. If you have countertops that are formica, laminate, or other materials that cannot be kashered, simply cover them with aluminum foil, contact paper, or pick up a few vinyl tiles from Home Depot and put them on top of your counters. This looks really nice, and can be used from year to year!
If you have a stainless steel sink, you’re in luck. Clean your sink with cleanser, then take the teapot, boil the water, and spill it all over the surface of the sink. You’re done! Don’t forget to replace your sponges and soap too. If you have a porcelain sink, go to the dollar store and buy a couple of plastic basins (for dairy and meat). Wash out your sink, then use the basins. That’s it!
For your oven, do a quick wipe-down of the inside to remove cooking remnants and residue. Then run the self-clean cycle, after which you should remove any ash. If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven, just run it on the highest temperature for one hour.
If you have a stove top or range, clean all the surfaces thoroughly. Any elements that have come into direct contact with food should also be heated as much as possible (if you can get the elements to glow red, that’s great). It is customary to then cover the elements with foil.
There is a lot of cookware that can be kashered for Passover. Of course the easiest thing to do is to purchase the items you need and reserve them from year to year only for Passover use. Kashering is also not a difficult process. Please be in touch with me directly (or visit this page) with questions about whether a particular kitchen item is able to be kashered and how. Generally speaking, items that are metal and hard plastic can be kashered, while items that are ceramic or earthenware, or that have non-stick surfaces cannot. Drinking glasses can simply be washed and are ready to go (you do not have to soak them for 3 days in your bathtub!). Dishwashers can be kashered, but special attention should be paid to the areas where food could get stuck around drains and filters. After not using it for 24 hours, run your dishwasher empty with soap and water, on the highest/hottest setting (leaving the racks inside). However, if the sides of the dishwasher are made of enamel or porcelain, the dishwasher cannot be kashered.
Don’t forget to check around the house where you might have eaten food... between the couch cushions, inside your car, etc. But again, just focus on where food might be found. If you have any questions along the way, please don’t hesitate to call me on my cell phone: 240-687-7218.
Remember, you can do this!
Always,
Rabbi Raskin