When Cheaper is Just Fine

[Fat Guy]

As there are so many kitchen-equipment geeks here on eG, I thought it might make sense to step back a bit and discuss the issue of when-cheaper-is-just-fine.

What in your kitchen is really cheap, yet wouldn't benefit much from being 10 times as expensive? Paring knives, wooden spoons, coffee maker . . . name it.

[browniebaker]

From Wal-Mart, a pair (one smaller, one larger) of clear silicone heatproof spatulas with detachable wood handles. Have lasted me two years thus far. And I even machine-wash them, handles and all. The best $2.50 ever spent.

Wooden spoons and Chinese bamboo spatulas are some other cheapos that have endured in my kitchen.

Pyrex or Anchor-Hocking glass baking pans (especially pie plates) can't be beat for price, performance, and versatility. I prefer the Anchor-Hocking pie plates to the Pyrex because the rim of the Anchor-Hocking is as wide as that of the Pyrex, but the Anchor-Hocking's rim is more level so that the crust dough does not slide downward so much toward the center during baking. The Pyrex's rim is more slanted toward the center, and dough tends to slide down more.

[Varmint]

Let's see . . . my coffee maker was a free one from Gevalia, as we don't drink much.

Half of my cookware is very cheap, as Mrs. Varmint uses it to cook for the kids. She doesn't want to work with the heavier stuff. In particular, we have a couple of cheap pots that we use to boil water for pasta or for steaming vegetables. Plus, we use a couple of cheap commercial non-stick skillets that we got from the local restaurant supply store.

My whisks are very cheap. I don't have, nor need, a great rolling pin.

I don't have any silver -- we use stainless flatware for all our meals, and it's quite fine.

I have a crappy old Donvier ice cream maker, but I'm starting to think that it might be best to upgrade.

Oh, and we just use and re-use the take out chopsticks from the crappy Chinese restaurants we visit.

[vengroff]

Anything I tool or gadget I can find at a restaurant supply store, as opposed to William's Pottery Barrel, usually falls in the cheaper category, even though the durability is better. Stainless steel bowls, mixing spoons, corkscrews, brass and bamboo spiders, cooling racks, splatter guards and everyday glassware are some of the items I have in that category.

[Malawry]

The All-Time Best Cheap Gadget: Has to be the little U-shaped peelers that are plastic and cost $3.50 or so at Sur La Table. They peel easily, make beautiful parm-regg shavings, they're lightweight. I have one that's a cool purple color in my gadget drawer plus a white one in my knife kit. I also have a Good Grips U-shaped peeler that cost me $8 or so but it's harder to clean and not nearly as sharp, even though it is easy to hold.

I have a cheap-ass sieve and no chinois or china cap. I don't make a lot of sauces but I have strained lots of stuff through my sieve with good results. Last time I visited the folks I used a similar sieve plus a coffee filter to strain turkey cooking liquid that Mom then turned into a gravy.

[fresco]

For rock bottom prices, it's impossible to beat stuff purchased at Chinese kitchen supply stores--cleaver, spiders, bamboo steamers, chopsticks. The quality is acceptable, but not great.

[sandra]

All my wooden spoons and spatulas, use them for almost everything - dirt cheap...

cheapie serrated knives for quick jobs or steaks that can go in the dishwasher - I hate washing the good knives by hand almost as much as I hate making ice cubes (I know irrational)

box grater, I found one at Ikea that is sharper than any other brand

aluminum pot for pasta, water boils much quicker and not heavy at all

plastic mandoline-type slicer that goes in the dishwasher, again, when you don't want to assemble the big one and wash by hand...

metal mugs, for lack of a name, they are like giant mugs anywhere between 5-8 inches tall and narrow and wide, they go on the stove to melt butter, warm small sauces, water, watever - have had them since Mexico and I think they cost a few pennies each...

[tommy]

i've get some cheap tongs that work just fine for everything from pasta to on the grill. they're a perfect, and couldn't have cost more than a few bucks. in fact, if they ever break (and they're about 6 years old), i'll have no idea where to pick up such crap again.

Edited July 10, 2003 by tommy (log)

[elyse]

Everything I have is cheap. Everything I have works well.

[Varmint]

i've get some cheap thongs that work just fine for everything from pasta to on the grill.

You can get one from eGullet, of course:

I'm not sure how it'll work will with the pasta, however.

[tommy]

i've get some cheap thongs that work just fine for everything from pasta to on the grill.

You can get one from eGullet, of course:

I'm not sure how it'll work will with the pasta, however.

ha! oh man, i was totally thinking to myself "don't type 'thongs', don't type 'thongs'". and so it went.

Edited July 10, 2003 by tommy (log)

[elyse]

I was thinking the footwear ones. I don't know which I'd prefer.

[Richard Kilgore]

Lodge cast iron skillets and dutch ovens (and now even better with pre-seaoning for a buck or two more), hard wood spoons and spatula (Wal-Mart), steel wok, and cheap peeler (kept sharp with Spyderco sharpener ceramic rod).

[MatthewB]

This is a great thread.

Might it be possible to eventually summarize it into "Kitchen Equipment: The Essentials Done Inexpensively"?

I'm thinking of a bulleted "consensus" list, etc.

Note: To be a bit pedantic, in my view, cheap = inferior quality; inexpensive = good (or better) quality at prices lower than the competition.

[Busboy]

Picked up a tamis -- a drum sieve -- from a kitchen supply store in Pensacola Florida. Appears to be made of bamboo and window screen. Works great, and a finer screen than the $200 one that I found in a cooking gadgets store.

Now I can cook just like Keller

[mamster]

Stockpots. You could pay over $300 for a big All-Clad stockpot, or even more for a Rosle, if you were nuts.

[cdh]

Agreed on the big pot sentiment. I picked up a 20 quart Tramontina pot from Walmart for $35 when I needed a new brewing kettle... disc bottom keeps the bottom from developing hot spots that would otherwise carmelize the beer... and now I can certainly cook enough pasta if 20 people suddenly decide to descend on my house some weekend...

[maggiethecat]

The All-Time Best Cheap Gadget: Has to be the little U-shaped peelers that are plastic and cost $3.50 or so at Sur La Table.

I agree. I pick up a few at the Great Glebe Emporium when I visit the folks in Ottawa; the same price, or cheaper, and in Canadian dollars.

But the winner for cheapness, durablity and performance (discussed exhaustively at eGullet) is still (drumroll):

Cast iron cookware.

[coolranch]

ditto on the cast iron

I love my plastic grater/slicer combo I picked up at the Asian market for $3.99---works like a champ, and so much easier to clean than the big, expensive metal mandolines.

I have an IKEA grater, too. It attaches to the top of a small, oval shaped bowl--perfect for grating parmesan--goes right in the bowl--which also has a Tupperware-type top.

[Jim Dixon]

used cast iron skillets, $1-5, for cooking almost anything

plastic pot scraper about the size of a match book, 25 cents

box grater (w/straight sides, very iumportant) from restaurant supply, about $5, and, based on my years of experience with this grater, better and easier to use than a microplane

various wooden bowls, 6-18 inch, Judith gets at garages sales, $1-3, used for eating, serving, fruit storage, etc

dough scraper, about $5, used daily for picking up diced stuff, cleaning last bits off cutting board, but rarely for scraping dough

Jim

[EGQuan]

Hey, this is more about service than cooking, but anybody know what those crumb scraper thingies used at "finer restaurants" are called? I can't think of anything better to get crumbs off a tablecloth when I have dinner guests, but I don't want to walk into a restaurant supply store and say, "can I have a crumb scraper thingy?"

Help!

[tommy]

Hey, this is more about service than cooking, but anybody know what those crumb scraper thingies used at "finer restaurants" are called?  I can't think of anything better to get crumbs off a tablecloth when I have dinner guests, but I don't want to walk into a restaurant supply store and say, "can I have a crumb scraper thingy?"

Help!

mario batali calls them "spoons" at Babbo, much to everyone's chagrin.

i believe they're actually called "crumb scrapers" though.

[KateW]

I think they're called crumb sweepers. I did a google search for that and seemed to come up with the thing you're talking about.

[EGQuan]

Thanks Kate and Tommy - I guess I'll go with my gut instinct and just drop the "thingy" part.

[Foam Pants]

MY grandpa is an "antique" dealer. This means he goes to country auctions and buys total crap. He is a great source for kitchen stuff, though. I have purchased old pyrex by the trunkful, pie plates, glasses, silverware, potato mashers, mixing bowls, butter molds, on and on and on. He usually gives it to me for free so he can make room for boxes of headless GI Joe dolls and crying kittens on velvet. Some of the best items I get are linens. Really cool tableclothes from the 40's and dishtowels with sassy dancing oranges embroidered on them. The most useful item I ever got is an ancient glass batter bowl. Wonderful heft, comfortable handle, and an elegant pour. For free, baby.