How not to get mad in the kitchen: 10 indispensable things for cooking
Most people agree that cooking - it is economical, tasty and useful, but at the same time they are not at all ready to spend their time on drawing up the menu, going to the store and “standing above the pan”. Most often, the process is slowed down by poor preparation: the lack of menus, blanks, necessary ingredients, and absolute lostness in terms of time management. But these problems are easily fixed with a few simple recommendations and familiar objects that people often forget about. We talk about the minimum set of kitchen utensils that will help to get pleasure from cooking even for beginners (reminding about the importance of high-quality dishes is a bit awkward, but we will definitely return to this topic).
cookbook
For example, the Department of Nutrition, Jamie Oliver with a separate section of dishes that can be cooked in 20 minutes. It can be flipped at breakfast, before going to the supermarket and just when you have nothing to do - it seems meaningless at first glance, but actually leaves in your head a list of things that you have long wanted to try, and a sample list of ingredients for cooking. That is how sweet potatoes and chorizo soups, rosemary pasta, which is cooked in the microwave for 15 minutes and changes lives, and other cool things, will sneak into your life. Believe me, the authors of such books do not receive money only for their beautiful eyes (although Jamie, of course, could). Write out the recipes in a notebook, take pictures of the pages with the dishes you like and flick through them before going to the supermarket - the sample menu of your breakfasts and dinners for a week hasn't stopped anyone yet.
from left to right: Supermarket Kitchen, Pasta. Great Cookbook, Ministry of Nutrition
Recipe Notebook
A book with recipes is, of course, very cool, but there’s no need to listen to one author religiously, the world is full of beauty. Write out notebook recipes from Pinterest, copy a couple of recipes from mother's (or grandmother's) storekeepers and keep a record of what you cooked, ate and how much you spent on buying ingredients - this notebook will help you quickly navigate in your own kitchen, in your own wallet and will always be to give inspiration, which is so important when turning on the plate. Of course, you can always use the application, but washing the iPhone from olive oil is not very pleasant, and the paper can endure everything. Well, and it's just very nice and nice.
From left to right: Moleskine, Beth Bee Books, My Favorite Recipes
Food Storage Containers
A tightly clogged freezer is the best gift you can make your future: a cold a week before your salary, tired after a hard day. Put in special boxes (most containers can be frozen and even reheated) fresh vegetables, meat, spill broths and put berries, carefully brought by grandmother from the garden in the amount of a couple of tons. Having such a supply, you no longer want to run at McDonald’s at midnight, because it’s dark in the eyes of hunger, but you don’t have the strength to cook - just warm up your frozen foods and eat soup or a toasted piece of chicken. In the same sudochek, you can fold an uneaten piece of meat or vegetables that you have already cut but not eaten - so the refrigerator does not stink of food, and you will have ingredients for a sandwich for breakfast. It is time to admit that mom was right and sudochu is cool (and a normal lunch does not necessarily take an hour)! And of course, transparent containers are perfect for sorting and storing groceries. They are of different shapes and sizes, so if desired, and with a strong burden of unification, spaghetti, different types of cereals, and sugar can be scattered over them. By the way, for sugar and salt, we recommend purchasing at least minimally different containers, and then family stories about sweet borsch and salty juice will never die.
from left to right: H & M, IKEA, IKEA
Desktop trash can
An unobvious kitchen accessory that can still save you a ton of time. In the average Russian kitchen, the trash can is usually carefully hidden in the lockers, behind the doors - in general, in the most secluded and hard-to-reach places. Put on the table a small garbage can into which you can dump cleaning and other food waste that often occurs during cooking - and now you don’t have to waste time opening the cabinets and touching their handles with dirty hands. In addition, by collecting food waste in a separate package, you are one step closer to garbage sorting and responsible consumption - a wonderful bonus, isn't it?
from left to right: IKEA, Spirella, Brabantia
Measuring spoons
How many times in tears did the author of this text arrange an emergency braking of the cooking process, because everything was incorrectly calculated, I didn’t even want to mention. What has changed my life and will surely change yours is measuring spoons. They usually come in standard-recipe volumes, make it possible to measure glasses of flour, "salt at the tip of a knife" and "one third of a teaspoon" in a split second, and also reduce the amount of dirty dishes - no more glasses smeared with flour, and spoons smeared with honey in your life will not be. Pro tip: buy two sets of measuring spoons at once - for dry and liquid substances, and also to have an insurance small spoon for 3 grams - for some reason they are lost without end and edge.
from left to right: MAPLE, Measuring cup, Regent Inox
Scissors
Strong kitchen scissors change life as much as your first successful cookie or perfectly cooked steak. Using scissors, you can gently open the package of cereals, cut off chicken legs and cope with one of the most vile and dirty tasks - cut the greens, not smearing with dill or parsley pieces from head to toe. If you do not have the opportunity to spend money on professional scissors, then it is worth investing at least in a separate pair of simple ones, the main thing is that they have wide and comfortable handles and a good blade - remember that you will need to grab them with slippery hands and in a hurry.
from left to right: Global, Tescoma, JJA
A set of knives for fruits, vegetables and herbs
Little is motivated to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as much as freshly cut fruits and vegetables. We come to the aid of a real ambassador of a healthy lifestyle - a set for cutting these most fresh fruits and vegetables. Compact blades fold into a flask, speed up the process of collecting snacks in your office and / or a child in school for a couple of minutes and just look very good. I have never eaten so many apples with such pleasure as after purchasing a blade for apples, which cuts a heart out of it and leaves you with six perfect slices. Especially love and tenderness such a set causes on the eve of the New Year and thoughts about cutting about three tons of vegetables for Russian salad. No thanks.
from left to right: Handy, Microplane, Presto
Towels
First, it's just beautiful. White or printed, waffle or terry, large or tiny - all this does not matter, it is only important that you have several towels in your kitchen. You can quickly wipe the meat with a towel (paper towels stick to it nasty, and you can finally think about nature), grab a hot pan and wipe spilled milk (it is advisable not to make all of the above movements with one towel, but your kitchen is your business). This is one of the most active participants in the workflow in my kitchen: I distill the cat from the defrosting chicken with a towel, wipe my hands after washing the dishes, and wrap pans with porridge so that they do not cool so quickly. In addition to the indisputable importance of owning towels, it is worth noting that they are now released with terribly pretty prints - it is impossible to resist.
from left to right: IKEA, Michel Design Works, H & M
Knife sharpener
The obvious idea is that your work tools must be in perfect condition, otherwise you will spend twice as much time on even the simplest tasks. Since the knife is one of the most important tools in the kitchen, it should always be perfectly sharpened, and here the grinding stone is useful. The sharpening process is worth practicing with the help of video-tutorials and at the same time take great care, but then any vegetables will be cut in seconds, knives will last much longer, and you can become a thunderstorm area - a person who knows how to handle knives, inspires respect.
from left to right: Suehiro, Taidea, Jaws
Timer
Of course, we all have smartphones with a timer function. But in the kitchen, it is desirable to rid yourself of external stimuli, and smartphones, it seems, are only these external stimuli and are rich. With a timer, the feeling of time in the kitchen will finally take shape in some tangible thing and help control the process. Evaluate the sweetness of life, in which there is no concept of "readiness" and measures "by eye", and become a new person: bake the perfect cake, fry the perfect steak and arrange brunch at home with the perfect poached eggs. It will be especially pleasant to start this new stage of your life with a timer in the form of R2D2.
from left to right: Bingone, ThinkGeek, Kikkerland
