A lot of us budding cooks may never get the opportunity to try making the recipes in a restaurant unless hired into one or open one of their own unique places. This is not to say we can’t experiment whilst in our kitchen for our family and friends, and also for those Halloween parties, Christmas gatherings, and birthdays.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of the restaurants and food industry facilities have shut down making it difficult for us to ignore our kitchens at home, and just go out for a decent meal or two with family and friends. But this doesn’t need to be the case, and one can make eating at home exciting again.
Whether you have just moved into a new home, or just
planning on updating parts of the house or your kitchen, there is never a reason not to improve on the things that are most useful to us. You can go for either just the baking section and get some new and improved tools, or you can do the total package. Whatever you choose, nothing makes one happier than having the right equipment to make a proper meal in the home for the family.
This guide below gives you some guidelines on how you can get rid of those old stale crockeries, cookware, and stirring spoons, and replace them with brand new, more exciting ones to turn your mundane cooking life into one budding chef! Not only will you have more fun using your new tools, but perhaps the food you make may even taste better!
Here’s what we’ve come up with, just for you…
The Minimal Items You Need in The Kitchen
When anyone goes to the store to buy something, especially if it is a cooking tool, there are tons of different brands, different styles and colors, and great offers that greet you straight in the face, making it somewhat confusing on the one hand and exciting on the other. Sprucing up your kitchen need not be so hard.
We would suggest starting simple and choosing one or two things from each category as mentioned below. The items below are some of the essential ones that one should consider when walking into a kitchen appliance store, or if you are shopping online as well. There are a few different categories of items one would need or typically use in any kitchen these would be:
- Preparation tools and essentials
- Bakeware and cookware
- Appliances
- Kitchen utensils and cooking tools
- Everything else
When choosing one from each of the above make sure you have the following items in your basket to fully kit-out that amazing kitchen of yours.
- A Good-Quality Knife. A chef’s knife is the ultimate companion in any home. If you have ever used a cheap one you would know the difference it can make to any food or task of preparing a meal. When you upgrade your knives to something of a higher- standard and good quality, you’ll never have a bad day in the kitchen. Check here on how to choose the right knife to use https://www.wikihow.com/Select-Quality-Kitchen-Knives.
This is because a good quality knife provides far more pleasure than a blunt one. It is sharper, has more stability and a better grip. Not to mention cut your cooking time in half, when you can cut 6 carrots in half the time it took you before, you will see the difference this makes. Be sure to handle the knife in your hands before buying it, to get a feel for it.
- A Good Quality Chopping Board. Of course, if you’ve got the knife, you need something to use it on. A chopping board would be the ideal companion. These come in an assortment of materials, from plastic to wooden and marble.
The one we see as the best and kindest to the knives would be the wooden or plastic ones. The ones made from marble or glass are usually used for rolling or kneading pastry dough or can be used as a smooth surface to keep hot items from scorching the kitchen counter.
- A Heavy-Duty Sauce Pan. Again, a very popular addition to our gear guide for home chefs is a good saucepan, you should never go wrong with this too. Everyone needs a pan at some point in their life. Whether it is to make a smashing breakfast and fry some sausages, bacon, and eggs or it could be to try out some new recipes for “Gyoza”, and steam things instead. Also, another very versatile piece of equipment in any kitchen.
Saucepans come in many shapes and sizes, so get the ones that will be useful to you. You can get something like a frying pan, a small saucepan to make sauces, and a larger one to make stews and boil pasta in. These come in a variety of materials as well. You can pick the one with the best heat conducting capabilities such as the aluminum ones or you can go for the aesthetically pleasing ones which are the copper varieties, and add a sense of style to the kitchen as well. You can choose from pans or pots.
- A Skillet. One can never go wrong with a skillet, and a cast-iron one is even better. If you are a beginner at cooking or a chef enthusiast, a thick cast iron item is possibly much better than a non-stick pan because these are the sturdier of the two.
When a non-stick pan gets scratched or used too often they tend to “weaken” at the surface becoming incapable of what they are meant for. In which case a cast-iron one can handle a lot more thrown at them. Although this does not mean you can handle them as you wish, looking after them will help them last a lifetime, this includes not soaking them in soapy water for too long.
The great thing about having one of these is, it cuts out on you having to purchase 4 different kinds. Because they are so versatile, they can be used for an array of cooking types, to make something as tough as steak, to frying up some chicken or even a deep-dish pizza can be made in one of these.
Last but not the least, you can choose from a meat thermometer, a box grater to grate those lemons for the cheesecake or for grating some nutmeg, or chocolate to layer on top of it, a measuring spoon and cup, and a funky pair of copper utensils to complete the set. One must need proper utensils to prepare a proper meal, and don’t forget to grab a few steak knives while you’re at it. Bon Appetite!
Hi I'm glad your here! I love to cook, bake and try new recipes. I enjoy food photography and reviewing products. Hope you enjoy my recipes, thanks for visiting! Sheila