When Cheaper is Just Fine

[snowangel]

My Weber one-touch. I have no idea what we paid for it almost 20+ years ago (they are now going for $79.99 at Home Depot), but it is still going strong. A bit wobblier than in the past, but bang for the buck, one of the best purchases we ever made. And, yes, one can smoke a wonderful pork shoulder or rack of ribs on my good ol' Weber.

[Behemoth]

My Weber one-touch. I have no idea what we paid for it almost 20+ years ago (they are now going for $79.99 at Home Depot), but it is still going strong. A bit wobblier than in the past, but bang for the buck, one of the best purchases we ever made. And, yes, one can smoke a wonderful pork shoulder or rack of ribs on my good ol' Weber.

Amen to that.

I will take a moment and fondly remember the stove in my last apartment. It had to be from the 1930s, pre-safety issues, about a foot square footprint and you had to light the oven with a match "whoosh!". Damn, that thing could get hot. Our new place has a fancy schmancy stove with grill tops and stuff but it is nowhere near as fun to use. My fellow grad students ate very well those years...

[Wholemeal Crank]

Beloved chinese cleaver....spent an hour picking the one that felt "just right" from 40-50 others. Price about $12 but it is right up there on the list of things I would grab were the house burning down....after the cat, but before everything else.

Also once had a great $2.98 plastic-handled serrated knife, but my stupid roomate broke it slicing a frozen loaf of bread...haven't had one I liked as much until I was given a quite expensive one as a gift. Still miss the cheapie, though.

Small pyrex casseroles (pint size?), $2-3 or less at secondhand shops, great for keeping one-person servings out of reach of the cat.

Bamboo rice spoons, 79 cents, for stirring & serving.

$1.99 for four bamboo placemats that rolled up for easy storing, washed beautifully, and finally gave up the ghost after more than a decade of almost daily use because their thread finally rotted away. I've paid lots more for similar items in fancier stores but none have been quite so perfectly functional.

$8 cast iron chinese wok, after a few hours sanding/polishing/seasoning good for a lifetime of slick, nonstick stir frying not to mention deep frying.

[aroydee]

along these lines (i hope)..... I bought just too many cherries at the local farmers' market and it is time to start making clafouti(s), but I don't want to spend tons of money on "cherry stoners" -- Any ideas in SF or the East Bay?

Thanks!

[Les Salt]

Thinking back about the cheap pair of thongs, I mean tongs....do they ever come in singular, as in “tong”....my most indispensable item is a little bamboo version that I picked up in Chinatown for about 49 cents. I think of it as a life saver, or actually, my Dad trained me to think of it as such.

Dad was an electrical engineer and he used to have a fit whenever he’d see us kids fishing around in the toaster trying to dislodge a stuck piece of cinnamon toast from the jaws of the heating coils with a metal butter knife. This was usually after we had just tripped over the dog and spilled our water or juice or whatever all over our bare feet, the kitchen floor, and the dog.

“You want to turn into a human french fry? Use the wooden tongs!", he’d shout at us.

These days I’m still coming home late, tripping over large snoring objects on the floor, knocking over beer bottles and then trying to make toasted grill cheese sandwiches in the pop-up toaster -- sometimes even remembering to remove the plastic wrap from the cheese first. So I figure that bamboo tong thing has saved my life at least more than once.

I don't think the toaster is long for this world though.

[reesek]

for me, value = getting to spend time cooking rather than cleaning up or doing some of the prep. (i love the zen of mise en place...but not stoning cherries - $12 for a sturdy one was well worth my money)

my favorite cheapy is old aluminum pie tins - sometimes danish comes in them, sometimes i buy them empty - they cost almost nothing, but if i want to broil cheese on bread - i don't have to worry about cleaning the cheese off - i can just re-cycle them. they also last a while, can be put through the dishwasher and are a great size for baking, marinating or broiling fish.

[markf424]

my favorite cheapy is old aluminum pie tins - sometimes danish comes in them, sometimes i buy them empty - they cost almost nothing, but if i want to broil cheese on bread - i don't have to worry about cleaning the cheese off - i can just re-cycle them. they also last a while, can be put through the dishwasher and are a great size for baking, marinating or broiling fish.

Along these same lines - the "disposable" ziploc and glad containers. I'll reuse them numerous times, but when I finally reheat some tomato sauce in them and they get that ring, well - I can just toss 'em. Likewise if I want to give a dinner guest some leftovers - they don't have to return one of my better containers.

[astacy]

IKEA stuff I love:

set of 4 yellow melamine mixing bowls, purchased 1989

box grater, purchased 1989

stainless steel spoons, ladles, whisks

Other stuff that works great:

cheap folded metal tongs with locking clamp (?)

cheap expandable steamer

disposable Gladware, Ziploc bags, those shower-cap looking thingies to put over bowls and stuff (these are the best!)

what I haven't found yet:

a flexible spatula that can get hot without melting or splitting, and go in the dishwasher, preferably at a disposable price.

anyone?

[andiesenji]

what I haven't found yet:

a flexible spatula that can get hot without melting or splitting, and go in the dishwasher, preferably at a disposable price.

anyone?

I have a large one 2 1/2 x 4 in. Red silicone with a sturdy handle.

I got it at Linens 'N Things.

I use it for working carmelized sugar in a skillet.

I no longer have the label but I think it is safe to 500 degrees F.

[Smithy]

what I haven't found yet:

a flexible spatula that can get hot without melting or splitting, and go in the dishwasher, preferably at a disposable price.

anyone?

I don't know what your idea of a "disposable price" is, but the silicone spatulas seem to be pretty easy to find now - and they really are heatproof. I invested in one right after I was making caramel on the stove and realized that the white streaks beginning to form in it were from my mother's rubber spatula.

I have the 2-1/4 x 4" size andiesenji mentions, but I generally prefer the smaller sizes - something to do with leverage and my hand strength. One source for any of the sizes in question is the King Arthur Flour Baker's catalog. Search under "spatula" only, because "silicone" will come up blank. (It's in the description, though.) Prices range from roughly $6 to $11 (plus shipping) depending on size, or you can get all 3 sizes for $23.50. Here's the link, in case you're interested: King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog Online

Your local kitchenware store may have them too.

Edited to add: Crate 'n' Barrel is offering them in their "Best Buys" catalog.

Edited May 7, 2004 by Smithy (log)

[katzenjammy]

10" cast iron skillet from a yard sale (and thus pre-seasoned!) -- used every single day. Also cheapo light-weight non-stick fry pan from the grocery store, originally purchased for camping, now the sole egg-cooking pan in my kitchen.

Bar-mop/dish towels from Chinatown, $4-5 per dozen. Dropped my paper-towel usage to nearly zero.

An enormous stack of restaurant-quality napkins, still in the laundry shrinkwrap, purchased at a Salvation Army ten years ago for $2. Still in daily use, though beginning to show some wear (!).

Canning jars for storing rice and legumes, cheap at yard sales and thrift stores.

Little Pyrex custard dishes, perfect for holding prepped recipe ingredients (or your mise en place ) -- they're the right size, and you can easily see what they contain.

[Smithy]

Anything that lasts forever.

<snip>

Anything you inherit.

Amen to both sentiments. I have my beloved Revere disk stockpots and All-Clad saute pans that I acquired new, but my family cookware from 2 & 3 generations back may be even more precious. Some years back my parents were visiting and I was cooking something in the Wear-Ever pot set that I inherited from my grandmother. It's reactive aluminum so has its limitations, but otherwise quite versatile: 2 barely-nesting pots that mate to make a dutch oven, plus a lid and a steamer surface. Dad commented that his mother had gotten that set as a hostess gift for throwing a Wear-Ever house party on his 10th birthday...that means my treasured pot set is now some 74 years old and still cooking. Then there's the Revereware saucepot/double boiler set, insert and all (thread convergence here!) and the bombproof Ovenshire skillet/dutch oven combo with removable handle, both wedding presents to my parents 60 years ago. That venerable Ovenshire set did yeoman's duty in our camp box after Mom "upgraded" her cookware, then moved into my apartment when I flew the coop, then back into their camper, and now into my house. You just can't buy those memories, and the pots are as useful and versatile as ever.

Edited May 7, 2004 by Smithy (log)

[hungry_moose]

I love cheap kitchen crap as much as my high-end kitchen stuff too.

My favorite crap is the 2 cheap black plastic handled paring knives that I got for free at a Wal-Mart knife demo. That was our first visit to Wal-mart, and boy was it crazy! I reach for it more than my Global paring knife. It stayed sharp, despite years of abuse! I used to have a small paring knife from Subway, which I loved, but lost..:(

Re: Sponges

Do you love those yellow sponges sold at the kitchen shops? The kind that you buy dry and flat, but it pops up big when wet? I was wondering if those were any good. I buy my sponges at Costco and toss them every 2 weeks to prevent bacteria build up. Always looking for good sponges though.

[Atomic Lunch]

I used to work in a coffee, tea and gourmet shop in VA. We sold these little $4 paring knives from Solingen, some German company. It sits on my magnetic knife rack next to my Wusthof and is the first thing I reach for when I need to do some paring.

I also have a Calphalon stainless saute pan that I got for, like, $20 at Bloodbath and Beyond. I guess it's kind of a loss-leader, cos none of their other stuff is that cheap. I bought it because I'd never owned a pan that wasn't non-stick. Man, I use the hell out of that pan; it's heavy, sturdy, and it's a great size for a cook-for-one such as myself.

This is funny: one kitchen tool I use all the time has come free in every apartment I've rented as an adult. Of course I'm talking about the broiler rack. My culinary education is spotty as I learned most of what I know assisting at L'Academie de Cuisine's recreational program and working as a cook at a cafe. So I was already cooking professionally before I learned that that rack was removable, repositionable, and very handy. (I used to store stuff down there)

[bleudauvergne]

Over the years I went through enough paper towels to destroy a large forest, so I found an alternative: Recently Sam's Club has been selling packages of a few dozen rectangular white cotton terry towels of an appropriate weight for a bit less than $12 a package. So, on my kitchen 'island', I have a big stack, about 18" high, with each towel flat, not folded. So, when I need a towel, I just take the next one from the top of the stack. I use the towels to dry hands, dry pots and pans, wipe up spills, etc. For cleaning, a pass in the washing machine with cold water, chlorine bleach, and liquid detergent, a pass with hot water and liquid detergent, then the dryer, then stacking gives me a new supply. Curiously somehow even soy sauce washes out nicely.

Hi Project, I was just reading through this thread and came across your post of a couple of weeks ago. I indeed do exactly the same thing. I hang one or two near the stove when I'm in the kitchen, for wiping my hands on here and there, and always have a few floating around for spills and wipe ups. I find them much less expensive than paper towels, in fact we haven't spent a cent on paper towels in more than a year.

[bottomlesspit]

My expensive German cook's knife is now catching dust because I did what every Chinese cook in this town does - got my butt down to Chan Chi Kee Cutlery and bought one of their own brand knives for US$10. Ok, it looks like something from the last century (and the design probably is), and it's carbon steel, but it works great, holds a razor edge, and it's less than 1/10th the price of your Global. Newly arrived Western chefs in this town all wonder why the guys on the line in their kitchen are all using these weird cheap knives.... but they all eventually see the light, pack up their expensive knives and convert. And you pick up a little plastic handle paring Victorinox there for another $5 for fine work and you're all set. Good enough for the pros, good enough for me.

Kiwi brand knives (I think they're made in Thailand) for $2.99 - Use them for my cooking classes and all my upscale gadget-loving clients with their various expensive knives marvel at how they're razor sharp, super light and so easy to use.

Also agree about IKEA - their cheese grater, the one w/ the oval bowl and lid was the best $2.50 I ever spent.

Bamboo spoons and spatulas from the Asian grocery are super cheap, hold up very well and can be used for nonstick surfaces, obviating the need for plastic utensils (which tend to melt when you leave them sitting for a few seconds too long in a hot pot or pan ).

And yes, the indispensable kitchen thongs - available on clearance at Victoria's Secret in multiple colors and patterns for 5 bucks a piece or thereabouts. I won't cook in anything else.

[Stone]

Foil trays. My friend almost spent $150 on a roasting pan the one time she would ever make a turkey in her life. I handed her two $3 foil trays instead.

Edited May 14, 2004 by Stone (log)

[ninadora]

Kiwi brand knives (I think they're made in Thailand) for $2.99 - Use them for my cooking classes and all my upscale gadget-loving clients with their various expensive knives marvel at how they're razor sharp, super light and so easy to use.

I live in nyc, can I buy these razor sharp, super light and oh so easy to use knives?

I NEED KNIVES PEOPLE!

(and I'm broke, and I cut with the worst crap you've ever seen)

(my roomates from hong kong, i'm almost tempted to have him get his relatives to bring me the aforementioned carbon steel kives...)

any advice would be greatly appreciated (I'm err, at my wits end...).

ninad

[helenjp]

Lots of stuff that I could think of but top of the list is...

$3.00 heavy denim aprons from the hardware store. They last for years, they never look gungy or wrinkled, and the rope neck and waist ties can easily be adjusted to fit anybody in the family.

[Ms Neato]

I've got a flour sifter which would have cost all of a couple dollars from a supermarket..

..to replace a WMF one which wore out after a few months. (It was one with a squeezey handle and several layers of mesh; and the part which made the different mesh layers spin broke. The replacement sifter has no moving parts (: )

I'm also rather fond of my wok, which cost all of a couple dollars from an asian store.

[Mabelline]

If you do a lot of stuff in the oven and get tired of burns when you make contact with a place not covered by mitts or holders, towels, whatever, go to an industrial supply and buy a pair of welder's gloves. They are now way more available in the smaller hand sizes, they are cheap, and they WILL last forever, short of baking them in the oven. They are also superior as a fixture when smoking or barbequing. You can move hot stuff around--including your fire--without the precarious balance act.

[Mabelline]

I also forgot something that people using the small propane torches usually never think about. A welding supplier will have many varieties of 'tip cleaners' which are essential to keep your miniflame clear of carbon buildup. When you click and click and 'she just won't go', you need to clean it. These are very cheap, and a lot better than blowback from clogged tips. Totally serious here.

[bottomlesspit]

Kiwi brand knives (I think they're made in Thailand) for $2.99 - Use them for my cooking classes and all my upscale gadget-loving clients with their various expensive knives marvel at how they're razor sharp, super light and so easy to use.

I live in nyc, can I buy these razor sharp, super light and oh so easy to use knives?

I NEED KNIVES PEOPLE!

(and I'm broke, and I cut with the worst crap you've ever seen)

(my roomates from hong kong, i'm almost tempted to have him get his relatives to bring me the aforementioned carbon steel kives...)

any advice would be greatly appreciated (I'm err, at my wits end...).

ninad

Ninad,

Looked for a web resource for these but couldn't find one, which made me think...

If I shipped them to you, would anyone be interested in buying them from me for $8 or $9 + S&H? They're really quite handy. =)

If so, let me know and I'll check the store for stock.

[aidensnd2]

Mandolines are always fraught with risk!

The trick is to hold whatever you are slicing with the flat palm of your hand, makes it virtually impossible to cut yourself...

[ninadora]

Kiwi brand knives (I think they're made in Thailand) for $2.99 - Use them for my cooking classes and all my upscale gadget-loving clients with their various expensive knives marvel at how they're razor sharp, super light and so easy to use.

I live in nyc, can I buy these razor sharp, super light and oh so easy to use knives?

I NEED KNIVES PEOPLE!

(and I'm broke, and I cut with the worst crap you've ever seen)

(my roomates from hong kong, i'm almost tempted to have him get his relatives to bring me the aforementioned carbon steel kives...)

any advice would be greatly appreciated (I'm err, at my wits end...).

ninad

Ninad,

Looked for a web resource for these but couldn't find one, which made me think...

If I shipped them to you, would anyone be interested in buying them from me for $8 or $9 + S&H? They're really quite handy. =)

If so, let me know and I'll check the store for stock.

is it a chefs knife? I'd be interested, i really would.