Combat Clutter This Christmas with a Dishwasher-Safe Bamboo Cutting Board

Despite having a seemingly infinite well of curiosity about all things food, I am somewhat abysmal at cleaning up.

My mise en place is always a mess.

The pandemic has only exacerbated this issue. I live alone, which gives me all kinds of lovely excuses to simply not bother. If I’m the only one home, then who cares!

This idea is all well and good in my ADHD-brain’s half-baked theory, but in practice, well… my apartment can be a stressful place to hang out in, let alone cook.

To combat the constant crush of clutter, I’ve been implementing some ADHD-friendly organizing strategies over the past couple of months. I purchased more open shelving; I put big trash cans in every room, I pried the lid off of my hamper with bolt cutters so that I would actually use it.

But my best ADHD hack was established long before I read up on any of those strategies.

My best ADHD hack, and something that will make anyone’s life easier, is my dishwasher safe bamboo cutting board.

Sure, dishwasher-safe cutting boards are available in all kinds of materials. You can get plastic ones, ones made from wood and plastic composite (to be honest I love these too and used to own one); the list goes on and on. But any serious cook knows that a wooden cutting board is just a different, better experience from any other material.

Unfortunately, most wooden cutting boards are so fragile I can’t be bothered to use them. When you have executive dysfunction issues that make it difficult even to remember to eat lunch or go outside every day, keeping a hand-washed, lovingly oiled cutting board pristine becomes one more impossible to remember task in a long list of important things that feel optional.

As a culinary school dropout, I can tell you that I’m intellectually aware of the risks of bad kitchen hygiene. But if not for this amazing cutting board, I’d be the queen of cross-contamination.

I don't know how it's possible and am happy to keep the process a mystery, but some wooden cutting boards are not completely destroyed by a prolonged trip through hot water.

Think of them as giving you the best of both worlds.

So, if you’re in search of the ultimate Christmas present for the food-obsessed friend in your life—regardless of their level of executive dysfunction—this is the present to get.

Photo Credit: Justin Leung, Caroline Attwood, and Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash