Bare Essentials and Add-on Desires to Establish Your Kitchen Equipment

What do you really need in order to set up a kitchen if you are really starting from nothing? I give you first the bare essentials, and thereafter, a long list of add-on desires. Indeed, my own kitchen includes many items not on this list at all, but I’ve been cooking for fifty years, and the yen increases over time in exploring new cuisines! (Most of what I have is for baking.)

Go to a thrift store (there is no reason to pay more for new items). You want the local one that offers the largest selection—a Salvation Army or Goodwill store are examples. There, in several trips, you can obtain whatever you don’t already have (from a previous household or from family) of the following absolute needs:

• pots (eight-quart, three-quart, and one-and-one-half quart, all with lids) Make sure they do not have plastic parts, so that you can place them in the oven (at no higher a temperature than 350 degrees Fahrenheit for safety. The covers will save you much aluminum foil.) Please don’t buy scratched non-stick pans, for the sake of your health. Your thrift store will offer you all-metal alternatives. And bear in mind that you ought not cook acidic foods like tomato sauce in an aluminum pot. Steel-coated/clad aluminum is good for all purposes.
• a skillet, uncovered (any size)
• a large strainer, with a handle. You can use this for everything from:
  • Cold-brewing coffee (straining out the grounds);
  • Draining canned produce; and,
  • Sifting flour or other baking ingredients. Not only that, but
  • By placing it over your largest bowl for safety, you can sub it out for a colander for draining pasta and such.
• A set of mixing bowls. To bake two loaves of bread, a thirteen-quart bowl is necessary. If you use eggs, glass bowls are much better than metal.
• a slotted cooking spoon and a regular cooking spoon—wood ones are good.
• a “spoon” spatula (concave) and a jar-scraping small and thin spatula
• a can opener and a bottle opener
• a long knife. A serrated one is best for cutting bread and tomatoes, but you can make do with it as your only knife. Its advantage is that you can do not need to sharpen a serrated knife. Later, when you can, you can purchase standard knives (carving and boning, if you eat meat) and necessary sharpening implements.
• Kitchen shears (you’ll use these frequently—to cut a whole bird into pieces if you eat poultry, to mince fresh herbs or green onions, to open plastic wrappings)
• a cooking fork, sometimes called a carving fork. (You will need this even if you are vegan!)
• one or two nine-by-thirteen roasting/cake pans.

You may be fortunate enough to find a package of regular sponges, a package of scrubbing sponges, and a scrub brush at the thrift store and a container of dishwashing liquid there, but it is more likely that you will have to buy these essentials new.

You can manage with the above for quite a good while, filling in with whatever flatware and dishes you may have, even plastic and/or paper supplies!

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When you have gathered the money to return to the thrift store of your choice, it will likely take a number of visits to amass the following. The blender is first because it will do so much to make your life as a cook easier.

• a blender (Oster is the most reliable brand). It’s best to choose one with an “ice-crushing” function. If it has a “pulse” function, all the better! If you place firm produce like carrots in the blender with water to reach one-third of the way up, you can use the “pulse” function (or release the activation button every few seconds) to chop the produce. (Then drain it. That water is a good base for preparing stock.)
• A slow cooker, such as a Crock-Pot, that will last. That means settings for high, low, and off only. (A keep-warm setting won’t affect durability. What you want to avoid keenly are electronic functions, which can break.) A five-quart to a seven-quart capacity will be the most versatile. If you have to get a four-quart, you will not be able to cook a full pound of beans with aromatic vegetables in one batch. If you want to cook meat or poultry, a seven-quart oval-shaped slow cooker is best.
• A twelve-inch covered skillet. This size will allow you to use it for recipes with six servings, of which you can freeze half the batch if you live alone. Just as you did with the pots, you should try to find a skillet without any plastic parts so that you can use it in the oven. (Restrict its use to a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven.) The cover will save you much aluminum foil.
• a colander on three “feet,” the biggest one that you can find, with the most perforations
• a large cutting board (made of any material except glass) with a trough if you cook meat (it doesn’t matter how narrow.) It is preferable to use two boards, one reserved for raw meat and poultry, but since you are buying used, for now you might as well assume that the board has already been subjected to Salmonella and E. coli bacteria…. That is, one board will do as well as two until you can buy new ones.
• two sets of measuring cups—one for liquids (you will need at least a two-cup measure, a set with a one-cup and a four-cup as well is better) and one for dry goods (one cup, one-half cup, one-third cup, and one-fourth cup.)
• two sets of measuring spoons—one for oil, extracts, and other liquids, and one for dry goods. If you can find flat-bottomed spoons, these will save you hassle if you need to open a second spice jar to complete a measurement
• a pancake turner spatula, metal unless your skillets are non-stick.
• A large funnel and a small funnel
• a pastry brush (but since these are hard to sanitize, you might want to get this new)
• a serrated steak knife (about five inches.) This makes a first-class paring knife.
• a vegetable peeler. It’s a plus to have one with a rounded hook on its business-end to nudge out eyes from potatoes.
• a standard four-sided box grater
• a long grater for nutmeg, ginger, zesting citrus, and cheese-grating—Microplane is the finest brand
• a pastry blender (or you can skip this and use two forks to blend fat with dry ingredients, if you expect that you won’t bake often)
• a metal juicer (about six inches across)
• a large balloon whisk and an old-fashioned egg beater—or, an electric mixer
• a potato masher
• a ladle, with the largest bowl you can find
• a salt shaker
• a pepper grinder (but you can purchase a bottle of peppercorns in the supermarket that comes intact with a grater. However, that is not something that you could refill.)
• a mortar and pestle, or, a second grinder that you use only for spice mixes. (If you cook East Indian foods, you’ll really need this.)
• three cooling racks
• two cookie sheets (measure the interior of your oven before you buy)
• two muffin tins, each holding a dozen standard-size cupcakes
• a nine-inch pie plate
• two eight-inch loaf pans for meat or neat loaves, or nut breads
• two nine-inch loaf pans for sandwich breads
• dishes and mugs, an assortment that coordinate—which looks far more attractive than a matched set (and no one need know that it turned out that way for the sake of economy!)
• flatware
• drinking glasses
• storage jars. Canning jars, while more expensive, can be sanitized by boiling, and, you can pour very hot liquids into them. You will need probably to buy new lids at a hardware store or on Amazon, as, at thrift stores, the lids are usually mottled.

The list above assumes that you will be baking bread and desserts. Doing so will markedly increase the nutrition you can get for each dollar available to you for procuring food. And, the taste of home-made is so much better than store-bought goods! (The aroma of rising bread will lift your spirits, too.) But, if you are certain that you will not be baking, you can skip the cookie sheets, muffin tins, and two nine-inch loaf pans on the list above. The rest you will be using in general cooking.

(C) Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.