Kitchen essentials

[drpiggledy]

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, I find myself living in temporary accommodation at the moment. Though I am grateful to have a roof over my head, all my kitchen stuff is packed up and what the friend who owns the place described as a fully equipped kitchen, isn't really. At least not by the standard of someone who actually cooks!

This has made me very appreciative of what the absolute essentials are in a kitchen.

To start with, my knives. I REALLY wish I had kept my knives with me. Or at least the big knife and the paring knife. And a somewhat decent chopping board as opposed to the glass thing that's here.

Decent pots and pans. There's a good frying pan here, but only two tiny little sauce pans. They cheap and light aluminium things, not even really big enough to cook pasta for two adults and a toddler. It's driving me mad. I like to cook large quantities!

A gas cooker. Perhaps not really equipment, but still, I really don't like cooking on an electric hob.

And that's it really. Anything else I find I can make do without, but if I ever find myself in a situation like this again I'm going to make sure I'd have at least the knives, chopping board and pots and pans. If I were to do any baking, I'd want some decent size mixing bowls and scales as well.

I know I am really going to appreciate my brand new kitchen when the house we've bought is finally ready!
What are your kitchen essentials?

 

[Night Train]

When I first moved into my house I used one of the smallest rooms as a temporary kitchen, only 5'x8'.
In it I had:
Sink
Fridge
Microwave
Rice Cooker
Electric Steamer
Toaster
Jug Kettle
Single Electric Cooking Ring.

The utensils consisted of:
8" Aluminium Frying Pan
10" Cast Iron Frying Pan
3 Stainless Steel Pans
Carving Knife
Paring Knife
Bamboo Chop Sticks
Wooden Spoon
Wooden Spatula
Wooden Chopping Board

That was about it for food prep. I managed to cook three course meals for one or two if I planned the meals really carefully but it wasn't easy.

 

[OhioTom76]

You can cook pasta in a microwave. It's pretty straightforward, just throw it in a bowl with some water and microwave it for about 15 minutes as a starting point. It will bubble over a bit, and works better with certain types of pasta more than others. Spaghetti doesn't work so well, but Rotini and Penne do. This helps if you have limited burners and need them for sauces and other stuff.

You might also consider getting an electric pressure cooker. You can use it as a traditional hot pot, a slow cooker and a steamer too. Plus they make fast one pot pressure cooker meals too. I cook pasta and meatballs in it by throwing everything including the sauce in it - no extra water needed, no need to boil the pasta separately at all.

I could probably get by with a single deep stir fry pan - since you could boil pasta in it as well as cook sauces and soups in it too. For knives, I can get by with a good santoku knife, which is what I typically use 99% of the time anyhow. A small plastic cutting board, which is safer since it isn't porous and won't dull the knife either.

You can also pre cook pasta in bulk and portion it into sandwich bags to be reheated later. Just toss it with a little vegetable oil before you portion it.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

About 2.5 years ago, we sold or gave away almost everything we owned and set off to cycle around the world. When it came to setting up home again, we pretty much had to purchase everything again from scratch.

Things I still miss the most are:

• the pans - large, heavy based stainless steel pans of varying sizes including a simply huge one which has found its way back to me thankfully (think it is 10L)
• my very large, heavy based frying pan with lid - we replaced it almost immediately because I cook most of our meals in it even today - it doubles as a casserole bowl and if great for the recipes that say "fry the onions with the spices and then add stock/liquid..."
• our global knives - they went to my brother who was training to be a chef and we thought he could make good use of them.
• a decent garlic crusher (don't ask!)
• our old wooden spoons - new ones seem to be so wide and 'clumsy' by comparison.
• my pyrex bowl collect - the new ones have a different shape which I just don't get on with!
• my kenwood mixer - replaced with in a couple of months with a second hand one...

What is still missing from our kitchen (we rent) is a proper oven. We have 4 gas rings provided, but no oven, so purchased a combi oven, but it is just not the same at all, taking much longer to cook things at the same temperature, has a maxiumum temp of 200C and min of 110C which causes huge issues for me with some of my cooking, and no shelves, so I can only cook 1 item at a time! If I am having a cooking session, or need to cook something like the Christmas Cake, then I have to go over to my parent's home and use their oven!

But the biggest thing I miss about our old kitchen is the space. The new one is tiny, only 1 person in it at once and there is so little storage space in it.

 

[chocomore]

Its only when you find yourself in a tight spot that realise what you truly miss, l love cooking and if you cook you want to have all your tools in front or around you and if you don't its a struggle all the way

 

[Chris_A]

I also learned to improvise a lot when cooking. It is not so hard if you think about it. You just need some basic things, like a good stove, and a good pan and maybe an oven so you can bake things. What is not very essential but what I would totally love to have is an outdoors grill. I love grilling things and you just can`t compare the taste a real grill gives meat.

 

[crimsonghost747]

Well, to be honest the only thing I'd really need 100% is a knife. Other than that, everything is optional.
Now I daily use... a frying pan, a pot for pasta/rice, a wooden spatula, obviously my knife, and a plate + spoon or fork for eating. And yeah.. that's pretty much all the things I use constantly.

I'm also in a temporary kind of living arrangement so I'd rather not buy new things now and then leave them behind or alternatively drag it all with me when moving the next time.