Kitchen Necessities: Scrap Trap

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I’m a devotee of the Alton Brown “no unitaskers” school of thought. While I have reasonable kitchen storage space, that’s balanced out by my sheer love of gadgets and gear so I have equipment stored in just about every kitchen nook and cranny. Frankly, there’s no room in that equation for one-trick ponies.

The importance of a garbage bowl is another key tenant of my kitchen philosophy. I have to admit I adopted this one from Rachel Ray but it’s an important part of efficiency in the kitchen. If I had to stop and toss scraps every five minutes I’d never get anything done. Or I’d have an extra messy kitchen counter which would simply undo my neat-freak self.

Given all of this, it’s easy to guess that my initial approach to a garbage bowl was simply that: a large plastic mixing bowl ala Rachel. However, the problem with the mixing bowl turned garbage bowl is that it takes up precious counter space, a problem compounded by the fact that I loose some space to the iPad or laptop that’s often on the counter as well. When faced with shrinking counter space I needed a creative solution. After a bit of mulling and shopping I decided to break my unitasker rule – just this once.

Enter the Scrap Trap.

I honestly can’t remember where I found my Scrap Trap but boy am I glad I did. The trap is a simple yet brilliant device that hooks over the side of a drawer to hang below the counter instead of sit on top of it. I scrape scraps and other cooking-related debris right into the trap and only have to stop to empty it when it’s overflowing. I typically position it right underneath my cutting board so I don’t even have to move the board to slide trimmings into the trap.

If I were a good composter (that’s on next year’s resolution list) I could easily have two traps so I could sort scraps as I cook. Because the Scrap Trap is long and tall but not particularly deep, it doesn’t get in the way of my standing at the counter. And, as a final bonus, it’s dishwasher safe.

I’m happy to report that the Scrap Trap is one of the few unitaskers in my kitchen and it’s been worth the extra storage space it takes up to give me extra counter space and make me just that much more efficient when I’m prepping everything from dinner for the family to a party for 75.

Sometimes rules are just made to be broken.