Kitchen Tip: Be Practical When You Stock Your Kitchen

When my college roommates and I moved into our first apartment – three girls living under one roof – we stocked our kitchen with every appliance under the sun. You might not need to be quite as detailed when you stock your kitchen, but here’s what we did.

Between us we had two George Foreman Grills, a toaster oven, a microwave, a tortilla warmer, a quesadilla machine and a roaster pan.

And those were just the bare essentials.

I’m sure you can imagine that we never warmed tortillas, roasted a turkey exactly one time in two years, and no, not once did we operate more than one George Foreman at a time.

When you’re stocking your first kitchen – or a new kitchen, or if you’re moving in with your significant other and purging the pots and pans he’s had since 2001 remember:

Be practical and be realistic with what you need.

If you know you’re going to be cooking a lot of pasta, pick up a good stock pot, a sauce pan and a colander and you have all the supplies you need to make dinner.

If you love Asian food – spring for a high quality Wok rather than a cookware set that comes with twelve different pots and pans that will collect dust in your cabinet.

According to Mark Bittman, you can stock your kitchen with less than $200.

Though I do think it’s worth it to buy a few solid pieces that will last you forever, I also agree that you don’t need to blow your moving budget on fancy kitchen supplies.

What’s in my practical kitchen?

• Durable French Oven
• All-Clad sauce pot and stainless steel skillet
• Cast iron skillet
• Colander
• Two rimmed cookie sheets
• 13x9x2 Pyrex baking dish
• Microplane grater – for cheese, zest, chocolate and garlic
• Knives
• Food processor or high-powered blender
• Miscellany: can opener, wine opener, slotted spoon, spatulas, dish towels, vegetable peeler, measuring cups/spoons, meat thermometer

What’s in your practical kitchen?