I grew up with a wonderful mother who fed my family home-cooked meals almost every day of the week. Growing up I didn't think much of it but as I got older and older I realized that this wasn't something that the typical kid experienced. I'm not dissing parents who utilize Hamburger Helper and the like, but there is something to be said about sitting down at the dinner table as a family to a home-cooked meal. To this day I'm positive it's the reason I'm so close with my family. Not to mention, it taught me to be a pretty decent cook (if I do say so myself). I never thought that my passion for cooking and eating would actually help me save money later on in life. That being said, it would be fair to say that my kitchen is not typical of a poor college kid. I've dumped more money than I would ever recommend for anyone who isn't in love with cooking. There are a few things - five to be exact - that I do have that I feel anyone planning to do any sort of cooking should have. Without further ado, I shall introduce them and tell you exactly why you should have them in your cabinets!
**DISCLAIMER: For those of you living in the dorms... I apologize, this list most likely won't be of much help. I live in an apartment and therefore am writing more for those people. However, if your dorm has a community kitchen, you can get most of these and they'll be of help to you even there. Enjoy!
Without a doubt, I think that a Crock-Pot is the single greatest kitchen appliance/thing a college kid can own. It takes delicious meals and makes them so easy to make a child could do it - true story; I've seen it. The wonderful thing about Crock-Pots is that their versatility is astounding. While you won't exactly be grilling steaks with this bad boy, you can definitely do more with it than make soups. Like the picture above (I'd have shown you mine but it's currently in use!), pot roasts like your momma used to make can now be on your kitchen table! Simple as throwing meat, taters, and veggies in before you go to school and by the time you get home for dinner it'll be ready! You can also to every kind of soup, some casseroles, roasts, and all sorts of other goodies. These babies are so practical they have complete cookbooks devoted to Crock-Pot recipes.
I will offer one little bit of advice for when you go shopping for one of these. If you have the space, opt up from the 3qt. to the 5qt. You can easily get a 5qt. from Wal-Mart, Target, or Shopko for less than $30. The thing about a bigger one is that you can plan for leftovers. Planning for leftovers is something you'll hear me say again and again when it comes to cooking. It's one of the best ways to save money on meals; especially lunches! I personally have a 3qt. because that was what was given to me and I thought it'd be okay, but I always find myself with little to no leftovers at the end of the night. Just something to think about....
Next.
Before you ask; no, they technically don't have to be Pyrex brand but I highly recommend them. Pyrex has an amazing reputation for glassware. They're oven-safe, microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe and will last you as long as you make it without spiking them like a football in a dinner celebration. It's been my experience that somewhere along the line of existence, casseroles have gotten somewhat of a bad reputation. Obviously they were simply making them wrong! Casseroles can be a party in your mouth while being one of the easiest ways to save both time and money. As you see, I have two different sizes. Realistically you only need one, but as a cook I like to have options. If you have to pick one I would implore you to get the big one and here is why: If you cook a 9x13 (that's the size for you rookies) casserole you're obviously going to have a ton of leftovers. Generally too much to be able to store in the fridge without some of it going bad. If you utilize the next item on my list you can divide the leftovers into meal/snack sized portions and freeze them. This is an amazing time (and money) saver. Those nights when you get home late from work... or a party... and your stomach feels like it's going to eat itself simply take one of them out of the freezer and nuke that sucker until warm. Golden delicious....
Moving on.
Remember like two seconds ago when I mentioned that you'd be using these with casseroles? Yeah. Me either. As a refresher, if you want to save money KEEP EVERYTHING YOU DON'T EAT. Aside from using them in the freezer for casserole leftovers, any leftovers that amount to more than two bites should immediately go into a Tupperware. You'd be surprised how much money you'll save on snack foods and lunch materials when your fridge is full of dinner leftovers. My dad has this weird aversion to leftovers (something he still refuses to admit to) and if you're they same way... get over it! Here's a little-known secret: more often than not, things taste even better the second day. Overnight the flavors and spices become more and more bold as they meld together over time.
That being said, here's another little tidbit of advice. Start the practice of planning for leftovers now. Every time I cook a meal I purposely make about twice as much as I really need unless I'm really strapped for cash come grocery time. That way I know that for lunch the next day I'll have soup or casserole, or whatever I had for dinner the night before. If your a guy, this opens up your breakfast potential as well. Girls for some reason typically don't like eating last nights dinner for breakfast and that's cool.. I guess. Just kidding! But really, you may think your paying more money because your making more come dinner time but remember this: an extra onion or box of pasta is generally going to be cheaper than lunch meat or cans of soup for the week.
This seems almost too simple to mention but there is a vital aspect of this that I feel I need to bring up. A good frying pan and pot is not something to skimp on financially. Now, I'm not saying that you should go to Williams-Sonoma (a cook's version of porn) and spend $100 on a fry pan. That's just ridiculous. What you should not do is go down to Wally-World and buy the cheapest set on the shelf. There are a few things that you should keep in mind while shopping for these. First and foremost is size. Usually you can cook smaller amounts in bigger pans but you cannot, no matter how you try, cook large amounts of food in small pots and pans. I express to you how frustrating it is to try and keep a bunch of food in a small fry pan while cooking.. Save yourself the mess and get a good-sized pot/pan set. The second thing you should do is be sure to make sure that your fry pan has a Teflon or other non-stick coating on it. Nothing is harder to do than trying to scrap cooked-on crap off your fry pan. The other recommended thing when it comes to fry pans is a good heat-proof handle. Many of the recipes I'll be posting involve saute techniques in which you'll want to grab that handle and you don't want it to be hot when you do!
And finally!
Another no-brainer but don't fall victim to the same mistake I did. I used to think that because my momma had trained me in some of the finer arts of cookery I didn't need to measure ingredients. Like my dad always says, there's nothing better for measurin' than the good old Mark I Eyeball. That is a fallacy. You definitely need to measure things to begin with. Now more often than not I can get it close enough to what I want without dumping everything into a measuring spoon/cup... with the exception of baking. For those of you who don't know; baking is an exact science. Whenever you're baking anything, make sure that you measure everything exactly or else you're going to end up with some nasty cake. Trust me, I speak from multiple experiences... These are going to be one of your gold standard tools in the kitchen. And the beautiful thing? There is no such thing as a set of "high quality" measuring utensils. Dirt cheap at Wal-Mart or Shopko so go get the cheapest pair you can find.
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Well that about finishes it up for essentials. If you have any questions or additions definitely leave a comment. Let me know if you want any advice for equipping your kitchen.. where you can really start to cut corners and where you should actually invest in some quality things just let me know, I'll be happy to offer some advice. In the next week or so (I'm finally on Spring Break!) I'll be posting some recipes to start it off. Any requests just let me know!
Until you read again,
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