With September looming, the next university intake of freshers are busy preparing themselves for the new term. For most of them, it will be the first time leaving home and living independently. They are going to have to buy some basic kitchen equipment to ensure that they can make themselves some healthy, home cooked food. After being a student myself, alebit decades ago and sending two teenagers off to university so far, here is my advice on what to get for kitting out that first kitchen.
1. Saucepans
If you are going to cook, you need something to cook in. From boiling potatoes and eggs to cooking a full on chilli, a decent sized saucepan will be an essential. One large and one small should cover basic needs. If you can get a set of three: small, medium and large then that’s even better as you will be able to cook more than one thing at once.
2. Frying Pan
Planning to fry eggs, bacon or make a stir fry for one? Then a good sized frying pan is really useful. I prefer non stick but make sure you do not use metal implements on non stick as you will damage the surface. I do have metal frying pans and they are ok, but for my first kitchen equipment, non stick will save a lot of heartache ie. trying to wash up burnt frying pans.
3. A Non Stick Wok
I’ve struggled with woks – they go rusty, they don’t cook the way I want, they don’t fit in the cupboards properly. I can go on and on. Then, when I moved in with my husband, he bought a non stick wok with him and it’s a brilliant bit of kit. I can cook a chilli for four people in it as well as stir fry and deep fry in it. If you have one of these, you don’t need a frying pan or a small saucepan – it can do it all. We have a Tefal 24 inch wok which I can’t link to here for some reason but plenty of places sell them including Wilkos.
4. A Decent Set of Knives
Or just one or 2. You need a big chopping knife and a small vegetable knife as a minimum. If you bake your own bread or buy unsliced bread, a bread knife is essential – no other knife will do and I’ve tried! Blocks of knives can be useful if you can get one at a good price. I’ve paid a lot of money for knives over the years but I do put them in the dishwasher which wrecks the handles. It can also cause them to rust. A reasonably priced knife should last a few years so try and buy a half decent one in a sale.
5. Chopping Boards
Very important and often overlooked, a chopping board provides a safe surface on which to chop things. They can also be throughly cleaned to provide a safe surface on which to prepare food which is really important to avoid food poisoning. I like plastic boards as they go in the dishwasher and can be washed hot. Don’t put a hot pan on them though because they will melt. Wooden boards look great but need washing by hand and oiling occasionally. I would avoid putting hot pans and lids on these too as they may burn.
6. Mixing Bowls
These are useful for preparing ingredients ready to stir fry for example. If you want to bake, then mixing bowls are a necessity. If you are smart, you can get ones that double for serving bowls for rice and salad. I had some add-and-weigh scales with a mixing bowl which worked really well for many years. Now I have a set of 3 metal ones and a set of 3 pyrex bowls which are great. As I cook a lot, I am a bit embarrassed to say that I can use them all in one cooking session – thankfully I have a dishwasher.
7. A Measuring Jug
If you are going to cook at home, you will need some method of measuring ingredients. I am very precise over my measuring so I have to have everything weighed and measured to the milli measure. Saying that, quite a lot of things can be measure in mugs and I don’t mean measuring cups. For example, you cook rice and lentils in proportions so one mug of rice to 2 mugs of water. One mug of lentils to 2 mugs of water for curry, 1 mug lentils to 4 mugs water for soup.
8. Other Useful Things
You can probably get by adequately with theses seven items to start with. You may find that you don’t like cooking at all and never use anything. On the other hand, maybe you will enjoy cooking and then you may find you need some additional items. A box grater, lemon zester and apple corer are all kitchen utensils that have a single use but if you need them, they really do the job properly.
If you enjoyed this article, then you might like my piece on how to chop an onion: https://cookingwithfi.com/how-to-chop-an-onion/