What you need in your kitchen
This list of basic kitchen equipment will enable you to cook at home. As you spend more time in your kitchen, or want to cook different things you will find you need more. It is better to startwith good basics than to over buy and find you have a storage problem - or worse a whole heap of equipment you hardly ever, or never, use.
Knives
- Paring knife - for chopping and slicing vegetables and fruits
- Chef's knife - for just about everything else
Frying pans
Saucepans
- 3 litre saucepan - double saucepan is ideal with steamer on top for doing vegetables. It increases the usefulness the saucepan.
- 7 to 8 litre stockpot. You need this to boil pasta and make soup.
Baking
- A roasting pan
- A baking sheet
Other Useful Utensils
- Colander - for draining pasta and anything that has been boiled
- 2
Chopping boards - you need one for fruit and vegetables and one for
meat. Choosing two different colours or styles will mean you know which
is which.
- Measuring cups - a set of metric measures
- Measuring spoons, also metric.
- A set of mixing bowls
(Note American recipes are in imperial weights, so you need to be careful if using recipes off the internet).
Kitchen gadgets
- A kitchen jug
- A toaster
(A jug and toaster are cheaper to run than using the stove).
- Blender - you can make purees, drinks, soups, sauces and baby foods with a blender.
- Hand held mixer. A full size mixer is more useful but if you are on a budget a hand held mixer is a good start.
- A
rice cooker is considered essential by many. It is possible to cook
perfectly good rice on top of the stove with a bit of practise.
Kitchen equipment
How do you choose? In the beginning you can get by with:
- a pepper grinder
- a salt grinder
- wooden spoons
- a rubber spatula or two
- a grater
- a vegetable peel
- maybe a garlic press
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