@flipcollar mentioned this in another thread and I thought it would be a cool topic.
For people that are serious about lifting what are the MUSTS in a kitchen? This is besides the obvious like pans, pots, knives, and forks lol.
Here’s my list:
THE MUST HAVES
Tupperware
Crockpot
Grill
Rice Cooker
Blender
Big Baking Sheet
THE LUXURY ITEMS
Instapot
Meat Grinder
AirFryer
KitchenAid Standing Mixer
Rotisserie
Ice Cream Maker
Just got the Instapot. I think that replaces the Crockpot and rice cooker. I am not sure how well that does with rice though.
I grill a lot. Could not go without it. The air fryer is also pretty nice.
The instapot is another version of a pressure cooker. I have an electric pressure cooker and its awesome. Cooks frozen chicken breasts into fall apart chicken in 90 minutest (not including pressure build-up)
The thing about pressure cookers is that it “drives” the flavors of what ever is in there with it into the meat. Whenever cooking anything in a pressure cooker, make sure to put your bouillon, veggies and seasonings in with the meat. Roasts and chicken are my main go to’s for pressure cooking. That makes enough meals for a week when combined with rice and veggies.
What about a “Ninja foodi?” Anyone got one? Claims to replace 5 or the cookers you name.
If I were on my own, I would just have a foreman grill and a slowcooker if I wanted to save money. Swap slow cooker with instant pot to save time.
But yeah, other than a nice big pan, I’d rank a rice cooker as number one most useful, followed very closely by a crockpot. Both make batch prep super-easy. Hear a lot of good stuff about the instapot, but I’m just leery about all-in-one stuff really doing everything as well as separate pieces.
For sure man! Even in IT we learn that “all in one systems” don’t really work as well as having things with specific purposes. But the instapot tends to have great reviews.
BTW my wife makes us healthy and fresh ice cream/sorbets (avocado, berries, etc) and it is awesome! It is now a must for me haha! The best one is literally avocado, lime, and spinach. I know it sounds weird, but takes like a creamy lime sorbet!
I’ve never had a rice cooker, but that would definitely be nice. I don’t put it in the must-haves, because I can just cook rice in a big pot on the stove. Easy enough for me.
I don’t have any must-haves to add, but I’ll share what I use the most.
Toaster oven: this thing is gold because it’s so versatile. It’s so much faster than an oven because it’s smaller. And you can do a handful of things with it. You can use it for any normal oven functions, and it also replaces your toaster, so the space it takes on a counter can be justified. You can’t cook a ton of food on it, but I can do like 4 or 5 chicken breasts or salmon filets a time in mine, and because it’s so fast and user friendly, I could do a couple runs in a row like that and be done cooking quickly. Good for vegetables too.
I use my green egg smoker for most of my meat. Clearly a 700 dollar grill is not a necessity. But it sure is nice. All my red meat goes on this, and I can cook about 8 burgers at a time on it, or a handful of steaks, etc. salmon and chicken are great on it too. I think things I cook on here reheat better than other cooking methods, usually.
pwnisher’s foreman grill suggestion reminds me of college. That’s how I cooked everything when I was 20. If space and money are limited, or if you don’t have outdoor space for a grill of any kind, that’s a solid option.
You must have a big size one to be able to cook all of that in there! I just have a tiny one that i use to reheat/toast items in. Could maybe put one 1lb chicken breast in mine.
I sold mine because it just became a pain in the ass to move. Luckily I sold it to a friend, so I still eat from it once a month haha! Definitely the best grill on the market. Food is cooked perfect from it!
I love this thing for all kinds of shakes, and more recently for whipping up eggs for omelets and scrambles.
yea, it’s relatively big, I THINK it’s this one: Bed Bath & Beyond | The Best Deals Online: Furniture, Bedding, Rugs, Kitchen Essentials & Moree
Oh yeah that’s one of the nice one for sure! I think the one I got cost like 200 dollars less LOL.
I don’t know if it counts as cookware but knives. I need good knives. Prep is so much easier with a good knife that it isn’t even funny.
Gotta have sharp ones for sure!!
That’s the one I have or at least similar model since I’ve had mine going back to 2011(it’s been replaced under warranty twice). Worth its weight in gold. I’ve never even used my microwave because of this thing.
Read this as Cockware and about had a stroke.
I have a hand me down deep frying pan that is permanently stained with garlic. I’ll be lost when that thing goes.
Also, sharp wooden… spatula? It’s not really a spatula, of just and angled sharp piece of wood. It helps tremendously with bulk ground beef. It doesnt bend, it doesnt get hot, and it’s easy to clean. Pretty much the only way I know how to cook 5lbs of ground beef at a time.
I notice nobody has said a microwave. I will now voice my displeasure towards microwaves…
I fucking hate microwaves.
Thank you.
All of that is cool but I hate cleaning all that stuff. I keep it simple.
Calphalon open skillet and two boilers small and large.
A good baking pan for chicken and fish. I like to pack my food for lunch in glass anchor hocking containers and that’s it.
This $200 rice cooker is also not necessary, but I sure do love mine.
I’ll also shout out to the toaster oven, though I don’t really get the crockpot love for meal prep. Everything is mush.
Mush means it didn’t matter how you cut it up during your meal prep.
