This week is The Week of Eating In influenced by Cathy Erway of "Not Eating Out in New York" who did not eat out for 2 years, and blogged about her experience. The idea is that by not eating out, or at least by eating out less, you are creating less waste, and ultimately spending less money. We're participating, so I'll be blogging about everything we are eating. Honestly, we're pretty broke right now, so eating at home is our only option... so it's a very good thing that I love to cook, and am good at it. I think this week will be largely about making the most of everything we have. Normally there are leftovers that never get eaten in the fridge which eventually go bad because we don't feel like having it again or whatever. It's food that is wasted and I would like to reduce our waste and consume everything (or at least most of) what we purchase.
I thought I would kick off the week by writing about my favorite kitchen tools. These are things that are invaluable to me. They aren't the only things in my kitchen, but I do use them more than any other items.
First off, my knives. I use Global Knives. They were a gift from my husband one Christmas and I adore them. I have one Chef's Knife, one Sanroku, one vegetable knife, and one paring knife. Honestly, I don't think you need any other knives than these. They are sharp as hell, are super light, and have a comfortable handle for a person with small hands.
I use an Anolon 5 qt sautee skillet and an 8 inch fry pan. I use the sautee pans (I have 2) almost exclusively, so much so that I have almost killed them. I am looking to replace all of my cookware with All Clad, but it's expensive and I don't have that kind of money right now. However, I know that when I do they will last forever.
I use a Le Creuset 5.5 qt enameled Dutch Oven. I LOVE THIS. I plan on buying another. It's such an even cooking surface and you can use it for so many different things.
I use a 16 qt stock pot. Not necessary for everyone, but I make a lot of soup and sauce to freeze and I make it in large batches.
My OXO cooking tongs and whisk.
My spider.
A set of glass nesting mixing bowls.
My microplane.
A half-sheet pan.
My kitchenaide stand mixer. (I really want a Cuisinart food processor too!)
And then an assortment of wooden spoons and a cutting board.
It's nice to have other things - I have other pots that I use less frequently (or as needed) and other cooking utensils. I think that without anything else I would be set.
What are your favorite kitchen utensils?
2 comments:
I remember growing up - we *never* ate out, except when we were on vacation, and we only ever went on vacation once every two years. The only time we even ate "fast food" was once a week, when we got "fish & chips" (a Friday night favorite in Australia).
I've been leaning towards eating at home more myself, not just to save money, but also to help lose weight. I might have to try this. I'm not a fantastic cook, so I don't know if it's worth blogging about LOL
My recent kitchen acquisitions that I don't know how I lived without are an electric skillet, and a crockpot.
Meh - it doesn't need to be fantastic to blog about it. I think it's a great idea to try to eat in, although I also realized that the whole idea of doing it to save money only works if you don't waste anything you buy (which has been our issue!! :-X)
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