Aprons: Do you use one?

[Darienne]

I cannot believe it but I have grown accustomed to wearing an apron all the time, often with the bib hanging down. Shades of my dear departed Mother. Do we all turn into our Mothers?

One day in Moab, when we had packed almost everything to leave, I was making our last Chinese mini-feast and discovered...no apron! So I fetched my sweater, turned it around and tied it around my waist. I felt much better.

I have all sorts of aprons now, mostly from second hand stores. And then I have my special expensive 'Chocolate' apron. And my 'chocolate' t-shirt.

[Maison Rustique]

If I didn't wear an apron, I'd have no unstained clothing to wear.

[Pam R]

M.R. - you just have to get really good at taking out the stains.

I get more stains at work where I wear and apron than at home where I don't. It's a mystery.

[snowangel]

A lovely friend recently sent me an apron. It is wonderful, complete with grosgrain ribbon and rick-rack (terms that apply to Women of A Certain Age). It is bearing some stains, and I am reminded of my favorite sweatshirt -- the one my husband swears that he will burn. Memories of favorite meals, in the case of the apron, and memories of my grandmothers, who had baskets of rick-rack and grosgrain ribbon in the case of the apron. Thye sweatshirt is ort of like my sweatshirt, which bears the stains of rooms painted, bloody kids fingers, etc. Oh, my, that meal was beyond belief, or that room sure looks good with a color of paint (as opposed to hubby's love of White).

The apron keeps my Good Sweatshirts and T-Shirts cleaner, and the ribbon around the waist makes a nice place to hang one of my boatloads of Day Of The Week dishtowels (thank you, Aunt Marta; and and extra bonus point if you know who Aunt Martha is).

Oh, and when it's a bazillion degrees below zero outside, and I've turned the heat way down, the apron will keep me just a tidge warmer when it's tossed over The Sweatshirt.

[Tolovana]

I mostly use nurse scrub tops for cooking. I buy them one size too large, and they fit over thinner shirts (I wouldn't wear them over a sweatshirt). NOTHING from the kitchen stains them. That's the point! They're also great for house cleaning, the ones I get have big pockets for stashing all the little things you find around the house that belong someplace else.

While most scrub tops aren't very fashionable, unless Disney Prints are in fashion, this one Cheeta Scrub is pretty nice. In fact, a lot of them from that site are pretty nice looking.

Carol

[annecros]

Well, after two years, I am much more likely to don an apron.

If it is bib style, I half wear it. I prefer the tied at the waste thing, with many, many pockets. It comes in handy when in the yard as well. The bib style seems to be entirely masculine. Curious. Perhaps because the bib style is not so slimming? Don't know. Pockets are hugely important.

Not becoming my mother (she never, ever wore one) but starting to be a bit like my grandmother, who would cackle and offer scared little children oatmeal cookies...

[carlux]

I can't understand how anyone can cook WITHOUT an apron. I have a dozen industrial white that I bought at a kitchen outfitters in Toulouse - they were nice enough to give me the students' discount, although I'm long past studenthood. Some will never be white again.

One is destined for cooking duck confit every year at our village Fete de Crepes. I cook half the 300 portions of confit, in apron and long white shirt so that I don't get too much hot duck fat splattering on bare skin. However, after some hours, I and the apron have to go home for a good scrub.

Plus an elegant black cotton from Constantia Uitsig in Cape Town, and two burgundy cotton that I wear if people are likely to see me cooking. In fact, when we first came to France I learned the expression 'rendre son tablier' - technically to give up your apron, or to quick working, when someone said he hoped I wasn't about to 'rendre mon tablier' at the beginning of dinner. I was able to assure him that I wouldn't, although I do remove it while eating.

[kitchensqueen]

I own four aprons - two half aprons, and two bib aprons. I only tend to wear them when I'm doing major cooking - canning or an all-day baking spree. I almost never wear them for everyday cooking. And I always reach for the bib apron - the half aprons have basically been reduced to decorative elements in my kitchen.

[Talat_kas]

It is always good to wear apron while working in kitchen as it protects your cloth from getting dirty. But it is hard to remember that I should wear it and even more annoying when I have to cook in a hurry. What do you think guys, is it necessary to wear apron all the time in kitchen? And what you people do with your apron ?

[cathrynapple]

I never used to wear an apron, but now I'm six months pregnant and my belly seems to attract accidents.

My husband got me a cute yellow polka dot apron as a Mother's Day gift. So sweet.

[Emily_R]

I always wear an apron, as I'm usually something of a messy cook. I use a full-bib apron made from fairly heavy cotton canvas, printed with the image from an old feedsack on it. Love it. My mom just got me an apron made of oilcloth, that while cute, isn't quite as useful because it is impossible to wipe my hands dry on it. I find my apron usually serves as half clothing protector / half dishtowel for drying my hands....

[annecros]

I also do the apron as dishtowel thing. It also makes a handy pot holder on the fly...

[jumanggy]

I don't usually, but I certainly do when I work with food coloring, especially when mixing up Red Velvet cake!

[eatingoutloud]

I keep receiving them as gifts but I don't like using aprons (although I am messy in the kitchen).

[Okanagancook]

I pretty well always wear an apron because if I don't something strange happens and I end up with some dinner on my shirt.

We have a couple of raw hide aprons for when we BBQ our whole pig in the summer.  They are bullet proof but too hot for indoor use.

[lindag]

I can't seem to find an apron that is comfortable (no strap around the neck).  I have several but none that I really like.

Also they just seem to make me look big-as-a-house.

[eugenep]

when working with flour I use an apron bc it gets all over me for some reason but not for other things

[blue_dolphin]

I have one like this and quite like it, though I usually don't think to put it on until I've already gotten something on my clothes 🙃

[Darienne]

I'm like Okanagancook except that I'm more like to spill if I am wearing good clothes than working clothes and if I am working with oil...I'll get it on cotton clothes far more than on acrylic or some kind of synthetic.  Of course, that's because it washes out of acrylic sweaters and such with no problem and is much harder to get out of cotton.

 

Yes, I have a small supply of increasingly ugly aprons.  Mostly I take off the original back ties and replace them with ties that will go around and tie in the front.   Oh,, and they all go up behind my neck also seeing as my top front is where I get most of the damage.

[lindag]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I have one like this and quite like it, though I usually don't think to put it on until I've already gotten something on my clothes 🙃

Thanks for the recommendation, I just ordered  mine!

Edited March 28, 2019 by lindag (log)

[thock]

I didn't used to wear aprons, but I'm trying to develop the habit. I don't care so much when I have "dirty-work" clothes on, but invariably, if I'm wearing something that I consider "good-for-work," I'll end up with something all over myself. I have an off-white canvas apron with a loop that goes around my neck. I tied a knot in the loop so that it starts further up toward my chin than it would otherwise, but still has enough room for my head to fit through. I added length, with shoelaces, to the tie-in-back ties so that they wrap around the front.

 

I did discover, last night, that I would like a longer apron, though. I am short, and have to climb up on a little step-stool to reach the top shelf of my cabinets. When I did that last night, the hem of my apron dragged over the cutting board I'd just been using to cut up a ham shank. :-(

 

Darienne, I find that Dawn gets oil/grease out of cotton, although you may need to attack it twice. I've never had any luck getting it out of synthetics, on the other hand. What's your secret?

 

blue_dolphin, I had seen one of those in some e-mail ad or another, and really liked the idea, and thought of trying to make one for myself, but I haven't yet gotten around to it. Hopefully soon, as like lingag, I do not like having something so skinny on the back of my neck.

[eugenep]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I have one like this and quite like it, though I usually don't think to put it on until I've already gotten something on my clothes 🙃

Nice. It looks super minimalist and reminds me of the style in Hunger Games - like this naturalistic earthy style 

 

[JeanneCake]

Hmmmm.  I wear one at work (in the bakery) but oddly enough I never wear one when cooking at home.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I have one like this and quite like it, though I usually don't think to put it on until I've already gotten something on my clothes 🙃

 

Ooo, I want one...and a bread bag.  Or two.  Sadly already I have piles of linen towels and napkins.  But, well, yet maybe, those Orkney linen napkins sure look nice.

 

I used to wear an apron in the kitchen but I never found one where the straps don't eventually break.

 

[SusieQ]

As a young girl and then teenager, I refused to wear an apron because I saw the pattern and didn't like it: Women wore aprons while they cooked the meals and did the dishes while men didn't wear aprons, they just ate the meal and then napped on the couch afterwards.  Why would I want to wear an apron?

Of course, I still had to help with cooking and washing up and clearing the table, and doing the dishes, don't get me wrong, but I (mostly) got away with not wearing an apron. 

 

I carried this habit into adulthood but, as an adult, I have gradually learned to always wear an apron because otherwise there are too many disastrous consequences.  😄