Thread 21535409

I'm moving out for the first time and I'll be living on a tight budget.
What kitchenware should I invest good money into, and what can I skimp out on?

>>21535409 (OP)
Pots and pans should be good quality, you don't want carciogens on your food.

Cooking knives you can skimp out on, those Japanese cooking knives sets are overpriced, keeping them sharpened is more important

People will break glassware it's inevitable, so get a cheap glassware set for visitors and keep the good glassware separate for special occassions. You want cheap glasses that are easy to replace in your day to day.

A good fridge & stove is essential, but a microwave oven doesn't need to be fancy.

>>21535430
>A good fridge & stove is essential, but a microwave oven doesn't need to be fancy.
I'm a rent poorfag so no way I get to choose the fridge and stove.
Should I be investing money in countertop stoves or equivalent?

>>21535482
Gas stoves are better, but there's nothing you can do about that as a rentoid. Just get pans that work well with induction for now

Buy 1 cast iron 10 inch pan and 1 stainless steel 2l pot
Then an additional stainless steel 5l pot for soup
Add a smaller stainless steel pan for eggs and sauces
That's basically all you need. Cast iron cheapest option since it's all metal, stainless steel 3rd cheapest since you don't want it too thin.
Knives buy one of those sets of 5 with a stand
One larger wooden cutting board is all you need
One glass baking dish for roasting, you don't need anything more (for roasting covered you just cover it with aluminum foil)
>>21535482
Don't bother just use whatever is there

>>21535493
Oh and don't cheap out on the wooden cutting board. Buy a maple or oak one, oil it twice a year by rubbing it with some cooking oil on both sides and leave it to dry, it'll last you a decade easily (cheap garbage like bamboo or whatever will be gone after a few months)

>>21535493
add a large mixing bowl and you're golden

The shit I keep using ALL the time:
5 quart jumbo cooker, semi-nonstick with glass lid
heavy aluminum half-sheet pan
3 quart saucepan with lid, something heavy
big nonstick skillet
large casserole, 9x13 at least and deep
Almost all of my cooking in those things, I have lots of other shit but this is what's getting really used.

>>21535500
>Bamboo hater
I switched from a shitty plastic cutting board to a random bamboo board from my grocery store 3 years ago, and there's only one scratch that's visible without getting less than a foot away from the board

>>21535511
I bought a bamboo cutting board once which cracked a month after.
My maple cutting board has been in daily use for 30 years

Get a 10-12 inch chef's knife, they're incredibly useful

>>21535514
Is it made from a single piece of wood, or is it a bunch of scrap maple glued together? I'm sure there're high and low quality bamboo boards just as there are high and low quality maple boards

>>21535430
>Tight budget
>Good glassware
You whole post reeks of retarded over-privileged "my parents pay for everything".

Good knife.
12" or 10" cast iron pan
One stainless steel pot.
Cheap tableware

>>21535528
>Good knife.
>12" or 10" cast iron pan
>One stainless steel pot.
Your whole post reeks of retarded over-privileged "my parents pay for everything".

OP, get a shitty knife and sharpen it on a rock outside. Get an aluminum stock pot, use that as your pan, just reach down into it. Eat out of the pan with your hands.

>>21535528
Calm down zoom zoom. I'm old I have been able to accumulate stuff over a lifetime. My post may not be immediatly useful in some things but it's a lifetime advice type post.

Anyhow yes wasting money on glassware is stupid, that's what I said, no need to seethe at me.

>>21535533
>knife
>pot
You reek of first world privilege.

OP should get a match/lighter/flint, find a trash can, and roast his wild-caught rats over an open bonfire like his honorable ancestors once did

>>21535493
>Then an additional stainless steel 5l pot for soup
What's the 2l stainless steel pot for then?

>>21535515
Online I came across Chef's Knife but also "Santoku Knife" in the same category. Does it make a difference?

>>21535500
>oil it twice a year by rubbing it with some cooking oil on both sides and leave it to dry
I always wanted to ask, but am I not supposed to wash the cutting board with sponge and soap like I do with everything else?

>>21535609
Braising, poaching, boiling pasta or potatoes or vegetables. I use mine daily and primarily use the 5l pot for stock or some larger dishes.
>>21535620
I always wash mine with soap, I think it's fine.

>>21535612
With a chef's knife, you cut with a rocking motion.
With a santoku knife, you cut with a chopping motion.
They do basically the same thing, disregard any weebs or anti-weebs

>>21535409 (OP)
a nice blender, you don't need any other cookware

Skimp:
Pot/kettle
Splurge:
Frying pan/skillet
Mid-range (unless you know a blacksmith/bladesmith):
Knives. Custom blades are surprisingly affordable.

Dutch oven if you can.
They can be expensive but are so versatile and durable they're worth it imo I make almost everything with them

1 pan
1 pot (with a lid)
1 big knife
1 small knife
1 cup
1 bowl
1 plate
1 fork
1 spoon
Cutting board

That's more than enough.

>>21535690
>>21535695
When you guys say pans, do you mean frying pans or woks or does it not matter?

>>21535692
Can you give some example of things you cook with your dutch oven, and how you cook them?

You don't need an expensive knife. The cheap ones work fine but go dull much faster, but it's not a big deal to run them through one of those cheap sharpeners every now and then. Most people who have nice knives don't sharpen them so they're dull anyway even though they cost $200+

>>21535620
Don't listen to her. She's talking out of her ass. Cooking oil will go rancid over time. Never condition wood with cooking oil of any kind.

Here's how to properly handle a good quality wooden board:
wash by hand (never ever ever ever ever submerge that shit in water or put it in the dishwasher)
rinse thoroughly while scrubbing (under running water)
wipe that motherfucker dry (if you leave it to air dry without wiping it down, it can both warp and promote bacterial growth)
speaking of air drying, do that on its side on a pot rack or something similar since that maximises the most space to open air; if possible, set that shit up next to a fan and/or sunny window
salt scrub it every now and then, about once a quarter; get some coarse-ass salt, dip half a lemon in that bitch and scrub it into board and rinse thoroughly then dry as described above
every so often, about twice a quarter, rub it down with food-grade mineral oil
sand it down a little, first coarse, then fine, about once annually or whenever it gets a little warped, worn or knife-marked and wear a well fitted dust mask when you do then wash, rinse, dry, salt scrub, rinse, dry and oil

That's it. To reiterate, never soak, never use cooking oil and Epstein didn't kill himself.

>>21535705
A normal frying pan. I guess you could use a wok to do pretty much the same things, though

>>21535705
>Can you give some example of things you cook with your dutch oven
Pretty much every braise and stew, most soups, every pasta sauce/ragu, roasts, even dutch oven bread is fucking delicious

>>21535705
>When you guys say pans, do you mean frying pans or woks or does it not matter?
>>21535690
>Frying pan
Gee, I don't know. Maybe I said pan but actually meant cocker spaniel. They're fantastic cooking equipment, you know.
>yes, I meant what I said, you tard
Also, if you get a deep wok/kadai/kazan, you can skip the pot. You can use it for both pot and pan. Just make sure it's good quality. And to hammer down the point I made in >>21535708, do not listen to >>21535493/>>21535500. She's a fucking retard who obviously doesn't ever actually cook. Like most women, she's more valuable for what a you can put into her mouth rather than what comes out of it.

>>21535692
>>21535714
Meme cookware, only useful for rare specific dishes you have to pressure cook in the oven or bread
Stainless steel pan with lid mogs it 99% of the time

>>21535723
>he doesn't know about heat retention

>>21535726
He's not wrong. Most people living on their own aren't going to be braising things on the regular or baking no-knead bread. A Dutch oven is nice, but not strictly necessary for someone just starting out.

>>21535708
>le rancid oil
The oil washes away within half a year that's why you reapply it you fucking retard
And your shit probably warped because you didn't oil it. I have left my board to air dry every day of the year for the past decade and had 0 problems.

>>21535729
Fair enough

>>21535730
If you take the dick out of your mouth and balls off your chin, you can actually read what was written rather than go into histrionics over what you imagine is there, you pussy-pained pretty, pretty princess.

>>21535729
but braising is delicous

>>21535729
You can braise just fine with a stainless steel pot and a lid. In fact a dutch oven is inferior for most braising since most dutch ovens are too large for 2-3 portions you'd braise for dinner normally.
Even a cast iron pan with lid is better for braising UNLESS you are cooking a large amount of food which OP is unlikely to do.
>>21535743
Kys mentally unwell tranny

>>21535747
It is but not practical for someone cooking just for themselves since it's kinda a waste of time to braise a quantity for one. Unless OP wants to eat leftovers over the course of a week, a Dutch oven shouldn't really be a priority right now. But if they don't mind eating leftovers often then it's a fantastic suggestion since braising is one of the lowest effort/highest payoff cooking techniques around.
>>21535754
>You can braise just fine with a stainless steel pot and a lid. In fact a dutch oven is inferior for most braising since most dutch ovens are too large for 2-3 portions you'd braise for dinner normally.
Exactly my point, you poor-reading-comprehension ninny.
>tranny
Congrats on being born with a cervix, Cindy, but men are talking here. Go and play with your dollies instead of bothering the grown folk with your obvious lack of cooking experience and inability to read things that aren't flashed on a TikTok one word at a time.

>>21535763
Ironically you're the only one in this thread typing like a 13 year old girl besides clearly being a retarded firstie cooklet

>>21535777
Aww! Cute! She thinks she's people!

>>21535784
I'm shitting all over you fool

>>21535864
That's the food poisoning from your rancid board.

>>21535873
You get sick a lot, huh

>>21536007
Of you and your lack of culinary ability, yes.

>>21535409 (OP)
Cast iron skillets; one or two normal size and i like to have a little one for eggs. You can find them cheaper at thrift stores and find tutorials on how to refurbish them. Pots/sauce pans you’re gonna want stainless steel. For tools I’ve always liked having a mix of metal and wooden spoons and spatulas. Silicone is crap, plastic is crap, teflon non stick is crap. Any dishware should ideally be white because if one breaks you can find a cheap white dish anywhere; dont have to match the set. Make sure you get some glass food storage bowls of varying sizes too

Go to the dollar tree. Fantastic plates/cups/kitchen ware/accessories there.

>>21536646
mmm microplastics

>>21535409 (OP)
Assuming you're starting from nothing:

Essentials
>Corelle Dish set
>Flatware set
>Drinkware set
>Food storage containers (recycle restaurant ones if need be)
>$30-40 Victorinox or Mercer 8-10" Chef Knife
>Bread knife with pointy teeth (not wavy)
>Can opener (I love the Kuhn Rikon, but it's $25, you can just get a shitty $5 one)
>Cheap Teak cutting board
>2-3qt pot (go stainless, go clad if you can swing it)
>10-12" Clad fry pan
>6qt Enameled Dutch oven (cheap Lodge one is fine)
>Sheet pans in whatever size you want. Don't think too hard about this one.
>Ladle, Tongs, Cheap set of wooden and silicone spatulas/spoons
>Cheap peeler. Kuhn Rikon is cheap and good.
>Cheap set of mixing bowls (at least 3)
>Pyrex 1 and/or 2 cup measuring cup

Nice to haves/preference dependent
>8qt SS stock pot (get clad if you can swing it, but not at all necessary. Buying a whole chicken is often the same price as 2 pre-butchered breasts. You can simply just cut its tits off and use those and turn the rest into stock and get way more value, or even better butcher the whole thing and get waaay more value)
>8-10" Teflon fry pan
>4ish quart sautee or saucier pan is better for hamburger helper style meals than the essentials.
>Blender and/or Food Processor(Unless you're doing big batches, just get an immersion or a Ninja nutri-blender: those do almost as good as a Vitamix in small batches. Don't bother with a stand blender unless you can afford a Vitamix or other good brand). Food processors can be handy, but you'll know if you need one.
>Good thin metal spatula/scraper and/or fish spatula
>Fine Microplane (or other cheap brand)
>Ramekins (handier than you'd think)
>Measuring spoon set if you bake or have zero intuitive measuring sense
>Kitchen scale for similar reasons (plus dieting if need be)
>Instant read thermo (cheap ones have good ratings, but I only have experience with Thermopen)
>Pyrex casserole set

A lot of this stuff you can buy used on Ebay for big savings as well.

>>21535409 (OP)

microwave with 1500w power
skillet
big pan
small pan
milk jug

god speed

>>21535409 (OP)
dont bother with nonstick. or if you do only use it for, like, eggs. never use metal on them. never in the dishwasher.

>>21536769
You're fine putting non-stick in the top section of a dishwasher. You need to view them as disposable anyway. You really only get like 200-300 cooks out of one anyway before you should really replace it anyway, even if you baby it.

>>21536752
Thanks for the effortpost anon. I probably won't be baking at the beginning, but I'll keep it as a checklist for later.

>>21537083
Another good thing that comes to mind, and you could sub out the dutch oven for it (you'd miss out on a few nice things like searing chuck roast without a ton of mess and baking bread, would be an Instantpot. They suck for searing, the sautee feature isn't the best, but it's good enough to cook down some aromatics. You might be able to use it as a stock pot, but I've never tried that. And thinking of stocks, I forgot to mention another thing that's borderline essential, pic rel. If you make stocks, you need to be able to filter it, and the mesh strainer does a good enough job as a colander for all but the biggest batches of pasts. You can use the Instantpot as a slow cooker and prep things before work and come home to a ready to eat meal. The pressure cook function can be nice for cooking braises in a couple hours instead of all day. Or if you're trying to eat on the cheap, buying dried beans and lentils in bulk to make highly nutritious meals that would normally take a long time really fast. Think things like Indian Dal Tadka, red beans and rice, frijoles charros, bean chili. I'm not a big vegitarian food fan, but beans and lentils make the best meatless meals to me. They are super slept on in the west for super cheap, very nutritious and filling, and pretty tasty meals.

>>21535409 (OP)
>kitchenware

>>21537128
More than half that shit are things that most people don't need.

>>21537127

Don't get a wire mesh colander, they're impossible to clean.

>>21537136
I've never had an issue with it, but I also have a sink fountain with a sprayer mode. But most other sinks have one of those separate sprayers with a retractable hose I think.

>>21537141
Most people don't need anything other than a chefs or santoku and probably a bread knife. I have a boning knife, and I still just wind up using my chefs to break down a chicken because I'm too lazy to root around in the drawer for it and it's zero issue. Paring is the next most recommended knife, but most home cooks don't really ever need to pare anything. Chinese cleavers are nice to haves, I wind up using my mulberry knife for most of my veg prep because it also works really well as a bench scraper. Utility/Petty knives are okay, but again, they aren't doing much that a chef knife can't already do. The only thing I can really see getting for most people would be a fillet knife, if they happen to buy a lot of raw fish to prepare. It's the one time where you can use a chefs, but it's way more awkward and gets lower yield.

>thread for minimalist cooking setup on a budget
>clown starts posting infographics with a bunch of shit 99% of people have never even seen let alone used

>>21537170
I think it's fine to treat the thread as a general kitchenware thread for others interested, 50 posts was enough to answer the OP question.

>>21537128
>>21537141
>>21537144
>>21537154
>>21537160
thank you for these useless garbage posts you fucking retard

I do all my cooking with one frypan, a rice cooker, one large pot, an air fryer and the ikea portable electric stovetop (my place only has a shitty electric that smells funny and sucks ass so I disconnected it from the mains and put some wood on top to make room for my coffee machine).
And here's a pro-tip for cooking on your own:
A serrated steak knife cuts anything you need, and doesn't have to be a 1000 folded nippon steel monomolecular edge that needs sharpening every 2 minutes.

>>21537188
>A serrated steak knife cuts anything you need
A serrated steak knife doesn't even cut a steak worth a shit.

>>21537189
I bought some cheap ass aldi steak knives 15 years ago and they still work fine.

>>21537186
>detailed information
>useless garbage posts

Stupid phonetarded zoomer fuck...

>>21537204
ah yes a catalog of product codes, very useful

>>21535695
>small knife
not needed

>>21537354
>1 big knife
>1 bigger knife
You happy?

>>21535409 (OP)
What items do you use when you cook now?

>>21535409 (OP)
As a poor rentoid: Material choice and features matter more than brands, so fuck the brands.
I'd say to get started:
1 pan (cast iron or carbon steel, the unbranded ones are super cheap. If you have more money stainless. (Do not get the super cheap stainless pans, you want one with a inner layer of a heat conducting material otherwise it's gonna suck)
1 pot (cheap stainless steel is fine, bonus if it has a lid. Glass is best, stainless is also okay, wood if needed)
1 decent knife (like 15-40€), chefs knife.
1 sharpening utensil - this is more important than the knife. Get a cheap sharpening stone or plate to maintain the knife.
1 wooden utensil each: long spoon, spatula. Both of these can be cheap, they won't last forever, but they'll last 5-10 years easy and by then you can get something from better wood.
1 cutting board, wood, cheap wood like bamboo is fine, make sure it's not too small or thin, or it can easily warp and get used up quicker.
A cheap measuring cup with amounts, glass or metal is great, plastic is fine here if needed.
A sheetpan should come with your oven.

Basically you can skimp out on almost everything IF you pay attention to material choice and features.
Easy example: A debuyer steel pan is 45-55€, the same pan, same material, same size, same thickness, by a noname brand is 15€.
A branded cast iron pan is 60€ on amazon, a unbranded one (same size) is 17€.

For tableware, cheap is fine, try not to go for glasses that are too thin, if you use cheaper glass then thickness equals longevity.

If you have money left, stuff you should get is a mixing bowl of some sort (preferably stainless), a smaller paring knife, a ladle (stainless is great), a cheap (!) non-stick pan with the understanding that you have to replace these every few years. A smaller and a bigger pot (small for sauces, big for stocks). A wok is great, roundbottom if you have gas, flat bottom for anything else. A cheap digital scale, a wire rack for the oven.

Good luck.

>>21537492
Plates to microwave mom's meals and forks to eat it with.
Sometimes I use a knife to cut a sandwich.

>>21537515
>1 pan (cast iron or carbon steel, the unbranded ones are super cheap. If you have more money stainless. (Do not get the super cheap stainless pans, you want one with a inner layer of a heat conducting material otherwise it's gonna suck)
Can you guy an estimate for what's considered "not cheap" for the stainless steel one? 100€? 200€? More than 300?

>>21537517
Based.

>>21537523
It's about the material, not the price.
The issue is that stainless steel is a shit conductor of heat. This isn't an issue if you have a liquid like water in it (which is why a cheap stainless pot is fine) but for a pan it'll develop severe hot spots.
So what you're looking for is cladding; a layer of stainless on the outside for resilience and a layer of a heat conducting material inbetween, see picrel.
The cheap but decent option is aluminium. The expensive option is copper. The pans I'd advise against are simply those that don't have any layer inside and are just stainless.
I got a used (and returned) stainless steel 28cm aluminium clad frying pan from AmazonCommercial (their commercial branch) years ago, and it's great, but again, it's not about the brand, it's about the technology used. The pan I used costs 46€ new, 27€ used (very good condition), if I were on a budget I'd get the used one, you can clean stainless easily and "very good" on amazon as condition basically means someone once opened the package, not that it's actually been cooked with.
So no need to go as high as you're saying, sub 100€ is enough. Just pay attention to it being cladded right and having a handle that looks sturdy.

>>21537533
>>21537523
To expand a little further on the pot part; if you have the money, by all means get a pot with a cladded bottom too. It's much nicer if you want to sweat some onions in it. In my opinion that's an area where you pay a little more and get a big return on investment. For pots it's just less important because the liquid in the pot will do part of the heat transfer that the cladding would have to do otherwise and while stuff like onions will burn easier, or get stuck to the pan, you can balance it with some skill and probably will deglaze it anyways by adding liquid later.

>>21537515
Had a look in my kitchen to see what I actually somewhat regularly use.
Remember this is a collection over years, you don't need as much, the list in my previous post explains what you need to get started.

1 big pot (soups and stocks), 1 small pot (sauces, single servings or stuff) - both stainless, both cheap, both worth having. If you can only get one, get the big one. The saucier is from ikea iirc. (9€ for the small one, 15€ for the big one)
1 carbon steel flatbottom wok with lid. Nice to have for asian cooking, but you can just cook it in a pan too, consider a luxury. (15€ from an asia market)
1 nonstick pan. For the rare times I want the nonstick, maybe once or twice a month. These are short lived so get a cheap one and throw it out when it chips. (7€)
1 cast iron pan - cheap, heavy, indestructable. I love it. Probably my second most used pan. Buy noname. (15€)
1 stainless steel pan (aluminium clad). My workhorse and what I grab for when I don't have a reason to choose another. You can do anything I do in it in the cast iron pan, but it's just easier to work with. (20€ used)
1 smaller carbon steel pan, recent addition so I can't say how much I use it yet. I like it though. (14€)
>Utensils
Cutting board (set of 3, only get the big one, let's say 7€ (15 for all 3)
Whisk (1€)
Knife (I like that formfactor, get a more normal one if you don't know yet what you like) (20€)
Paring knife (5€)
Ladle (5€)
Sieve (5€) - get one
Spider - optional but nice to have (5€)
Kitchen scissors that don't suck (5€)
Measuring cups or a digital scale (5€)
(Not pictured: Sharpening plate)

You can get the utensils much cheaper if you buy them either as a set or from a dollar store. Just avoid mystery plastics that will melt.
So if you're careful you can get there for around 100€, if you have 150-200€ you can even get good stuff that won't feel as restrictive.

Is it premium? No. Can I cook anything I want and do it well with this? Yes.

>>21535612
>Does it make a difference?
Nope.

>>21535612
As >>21535675 said, the cutting motion is different.
That being said, try to avoid thick or full bolsters. They make knives a pain in the ass to sharpen.
You can get chefs knives without thick bolsters too though, so that's not a reason to get a santoku.
You'll want either no bolster, or a half bolster that doesn't go all the way down.

I don't understand a lot of the posters in this thread. They are recommending mid to end-tier kitchen shit like cast iron pots and pans. That shit is archaic and time consuming, people invented new technologies to make our lives easier, leap frog a few centuries and go straight to the current age. Don't be a sucker that falls for the tyranny of the ancestors, traditional ways of doing things aren't always the best.

If you are poor then you should be prepping yourself for poor people food/cooking. A tight budget implies you are working a shit-tier job, needing hours of recovery after your dead end/entry level shift, therefore you will be time poor as well. Why go for shit you stick in an oven then? Will you even have 40 minutes or more to fuck around with that? I highly doubt it. I would be investing in tools you will be utilising heavily until you get your shit together. What are the cheapest foods that take no time to cook? How much cleaning up will you have to do? I'd be looking into maximising your time instead of what would be nice to have, or what you traditionally should have, in the kitchen.

How will you be cooking your rice, your noodles, your pasta, your beans? Probably best off with a pressure cooker. If you are poor then soups in a pressure cooker are a good option too. Any one pot recipe can be done in a pressure cooker, faster than on the stove top too. Plus will your rental have a decent kitchen? Will it be induction, will it be gas, will you be on an open fire pit? Literally doesn't matter if you just have a standalone appliance you just plug into the wall (or a solar panel + battery) socket, you can even cook on the ground like some Bantu tribesman if you want.

>>21537630
>Everyone else in this thread gives bad advice
>Instead buy a unitasker that can break fairly easily, isn't versatile at all, and has a built in heater that can break too
Fascinating.

>>21537635
> What kitchenware should I invest good money into
Provided OP isn't buying the cheapest option off Temu then a pressure cooker is gonna be a better option than all this other shit. These problems probably existed back in the 90's or early 00's but nowadays everyone has to compete with thermomixers and other quality, albeit meme, products.

Have a look at what all those minimalists use, look at what all those off grid families and van-lifers use. They're not fucking around with all these pots and pans and autistic knives. They maximise their space by maxing out their utility. Hell, you don't even need a kitchen knife, get a Swiss army knife, that will not only be able to slice your meat and veges up but will also give you the ability to open wine bottles and file your nails.

>>21537650
>Have a look at what all those minimalists use
Pots and pans
>look at what all those off grid families
Cast iron cookware
>van-lifers use
Lightweight aluminium nonstick cookware on a gas cooker

I think you're just really in a bubble where you think it's far more normal than it is to own or use a pressure cooker anon. It's a fairly niche object. For minimalism it's too much of a unitasker for off grid it's too situationally dependent and not rugged enough, for van-life it's too bulky.

>>21537767
Not the pressure cooker poster, but I think it is you who underestimates how common pressure cookers are. To call an instapot a niche object doesn't reflect American kitchens. I think ours got used oncenor twice weekly when we had a house

>>21535705
If you're going to wok a lot, get a wok. For everything else use a pan.

Will you just cook for yourself? Get a small pot. Your wallet will love you. You don't need a 2 litre pot to cook a coffee cup worth of rice, 2 carrots or 2 potatoes. You need less water, it boils faster and you reduce your energy bill. Use the 2l one (medium size) for soup or pasta. You don't want to eat the same soup for an entire week and have it crowd your fridge. You'll feel better and you'll throw away less food.

Get 1 stainless steel pan and 3 pots. 2 small ones and a medium size. If you're more social get a small, medium and big one. All 4 with heavy bottoms (they heat better, you cook better, feel better, you spend less money while cooking). Don't be afraid to pay a little more for Demeyere or WMF. There are other brands but I use these. They last for decades. I still use my mom's 50 yo ones and they're still in prime condition.

Get good knives. A chef's knife (don't buy it too small) and a paring knife. Zwilling, WMF and Global are good brands. A santoku knife is for chopping, not cutting. When you cut your knife never loses contact with the cutting board - it improves the flavour profile of onion, garlic and most herbs. The only one you can chop without losing flavour is parsley. Basil should always be torn between your fingers, never chopped or cut.

A potato peeler and a small serrated knife are handy if you're new to cooking. Victorinox makes decent ones and they're affordable.

A good cutting board in wood, one piece. Wash by hand, dry immediately, don't let it sit on a wet surface. Don't oil it. Simply sawdust it when it gets too dirty.

Invest in a good tabletop oven, it's like having another person help you cook, simmer, roast or keep things warm. Plenty brands, mine is from Philips.

A slowcooker is handy. A good mandolin if you like to eat a lot of raw veg.

>>21537781
>doesn't reflect American kitchens
I'll grant that I don't know how American kitchens are, and from my understanding americans often have more square feet per person than euros, so I'd assume unitaskers are more common there. But in europe they're not that common with some exceptions in eastern europe. Definitely not an essential kitchen item.
I've never seen one in a van for sure. In vans they usually have those "camping" nonstick lightweight pots and pans, and the off grid larpers use cast iron because it lasts forever and is le traditional. I know that at least in france, germany, italy, spain and switzerland it's more common that a kitchen doesn't have a pressure cooker than the reverse by a substantial margin.
But even if they were common, the question isn't "is this something you can buy" it's "should you buy this instead of a normal pot and pan - and I'm willing to argue the answer is no.

>>21537783
>WMF
I'd rather crush my balls with a rock thanks. I've only ever seen WMF as middle of the road quality for top of the line prices. They are expensive and nothing special. Certainly not suited for a budget buy.

it's tradition to steal your mum's soup ladle and slam a bottle of tequila out of it on the first night

>>21537767
>>Have a look at what all those minimalists use
>Pots and pans
I don't think we're thinking of the same people. I am thinking university students in dorm rooms and people in Hong Kong apartments, places where you cannot afford to have a bunch of bulky items.
>>look at what all those off grid families
>Cast iron cookware
Maybe the Amish, but I'm thinking modern people that aren't larping some tradlife bullshit. Actual offgrid families that use modern technology. To me, cast iron represents generational poverty where you are forced to inherit grandma's old pots and pans because you have no other choice, this leads to extreme inefficiencies with time as you have to go collect the wood for the stove, spend forever cleaning them and seasoning them and so on. So much extra effort.
>>van-lifers use
>Lightweight aluminium nonstick cookware on a gas cooker
>I think you're just really in a bubble where you think it's far more normal than it is to own or use a pressure cooker anon. It's a fairly niche object. For minimalism it's too much of a unitasker for off grid it's too situationally dependent and not rugged enough, for van-life it's too bulky.
I just don't understand what you mean by not rugged. They are literally made to be taken out of cupboards and put back in. I feel as though you've only had experience with old pressure cookers from decades ago which had all these problems, or maybe even the stove top ones that used to explode for no reason. But since the pandemic pretty much every household has adopted the electric pressure cooker. They are hardy devices now, safer than ever, meant to replace a good 80% or so of the kitchen. If you were to ask historians, "What was cooking like in the 2020's?" they are 100% going to say the mass adoption of pressure cookers (with a minor adoption of bread ovens)

>>21535409 (OP)
Ok Anon, ignore anything posted previously, the 2 things you can not scimp on are, your cast iron, and your knives.
For a starter chef, id recommend the Niwaki knife set (pic related), and your cast iron you should look out for a brand Smithy.
Get a cheap glass cutting board from Amazon, you should be good to go chef, bone apple teeth

>>21537839
>knife set
>glass cutting board

>>21537783
>>21537792
I appreciate you guys actually naming brands cause there's so much out there I don't know if I'm buying cheap chinese shit or not.
Though now I'm wary of WMF because of the second poster. I'll look into Demeyere then.

>>21538077
>Though now I'm wary of WMF because of the second poster.
I'm that second poster - don't get me wrong WMF isn't bad, it's just overpriced for what you're getting.

>>21536752
Seconding the immersion blender part. The food processor attachment they come with works fine and holds enough for most 1-2 person meals. I have a full-size Cuisinart processor but use the immersion 90% of the time since it's so much easier to deal with. Also, Costco tends to have really good deals on them, I got mine for $40ish there.

>>21537792

This dicktard didn’t even mention a 7” Victorinox Fibrox lmao my mao

>>21537781
I have never met anyone who owned a pressure cooker and half my coworkers weren't even aware of what it is when I bought one.

>>21535409 (OP)
Saving this useful thread from the datamining spammer

>>21539345
My aunt bought a pressure cooker and a recipe book a few years ago. Both have been used maybe twice

>>21539345
We've got three. Two electrics (we already owned one when the weird neighbour lady gifted us a second one) and one that goes on the hob. They get used near daily. I just used one today to pressure steam a bunch of cauliflower for mashing.

OP here, thanks for all the info so far folks.
I don't know if I should make a new thread for this or not, but if you know any good "starting recipes" that would be useful to someone who just moved out, please do share.