Take too many pots and pans, useless cooking gadgets, no counter space and bake for one year. This mess serves six.
One of the most daunting prospects of striking out on your own and getting your own apartment (be it with friends or solo) is putting together a kitchen, but a big space with lots of fancy equipment isn’t necessary.
Most apartments are small – typically with very small kitchens. In my experience, spacious apartment kitchens do exist, but they are usually in old apartments, so one can have a big outdated kitchen or a small modern one. Pick your poison.
If you’re really short on counter space, you can take drastic measures and ditch the microwave. I don’t own a microwave and, amazingly, I don’t even want one – life without a microwave is much, much better.
Now, I’m no Luddite anti-microwave zealot. I cook in the microwave at work, or wherever one is available. For my entire life my parents had a big convection microwave, and there was nothing I loved more than cooking, re-heating and thawing in it. If you had asked me at age 18 if I could live without a microwave in my home, I too would have grown wide-eyed with panic at the thought.
Then something changed. When I moved from my first apartment to a new one, my roommate’s microwave didn’t come with me. There was no money to buy a new one and no space in my new studio kitchen to hold one.
It was then, I’d like to say, that I learned how to boil water – literally. It was as though someone took away the crutches and I realized I didn’t even need them.
I found myself eating better because I was cooking better food, not microwaving frozen garbage.
Now I know there’s a standard set of defenses that people fall back on when they worry about not being able to nuke their food. Actual experience shows these concerns to be perfectly unfounded.
1) “I won’t be able to warm up leftovers.”
True, you may not be able to reheat 15 pounds of leftover turkey in 3 minutes, but most of the things people reheat taste better using more old-fashioned techniques. Cold pizza re-warmed in a covered non-stick frying pan for 5 minutes regains a crunchy crust and molten cheese without the rubbery texture of microwaving.
Pasta can be re-heated with a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. It works, trust me.
2) “I like being able to warm up a single cup of water or an old cup of coffee.”
Never, ever microwave an old cup of coffee: It tastes terrible. As for warm water, a kettle (either electric or stovetop) will boil a cup’s worth in two minutes.
3) “I won’t be able to make EasyMac.”
I rest my case. Are you really that busy that you couldn’t devote the 10 minutes to making regular macaroni and cheese from a box? What could be more important than what you put into your body? I don’t buy this excuse.
Yes, there are busy days when we all have the need to make something that requires no effort. This is why man invented frozen pizza and pot stickers.
There are a few basic essentials that every kitchen should have. These tools are going to make it possible to cook pretty much anything:
? An adjustable steaming basket: This looks like a spaceship, but makes broccoli a snap.
? A set of sturdy mixing bowls: Three nesting bowls take up little space and can be used for mixing cake or serving a bowl of salad.
? Measuring cup: An excellent multi-tasker.
? The holy trinity of utensils: One silicone scraper (bend the rubbery paddle to see if it’s pure silicone, whitening at the bend is a telltale sign of cheapness), one spatula with slots and one basic whisk (avoid specialty whisks).
? Cutting board: Size doesn’t matter, material does. Get one plastic for meat and one wood for vegetables.
? A strainer: Some people call it a “colander,” which is pretentious, but this is still an important tool.
? A can opener: It won’t be missed until the day when it’s missing.
? 2-, 4- and 8-quart saucepans: You will use these more than might seem possible. When in doubt, ditch the 2-quart pot.
? One medium-sized non-stick frying pan: Teflon is your friend.
? Cookie sheet: Even if baking cookies isn’t on the menu this will come in handy for pizza.
? Dishtowels: There will never be too many.
This article was originally published on June 8.