A Minimalist’s Kitchen
When it comes to our kitchen supplies, we keep it simple.
A basic rule for our household is “own what you need and get rid of what you don’t.” I think I’ve mentioned this before, but being a minimalist doesn’t mean you can’t own nice things. When it comes to our kitchen, as with everything in our home, it’s important that it’s functional and beautiful. This week, we’re asking the question: What are the basic kitchen supplies that every home should have?
The following are the basic kitchen supplies my family owns or what we hope to own in the future:
A coffee maker: We like good coffee. So, we’re picky about the kind of coffee maker we own, and we own two: an Aeropress and a Fellow Duo. Honestly, we could only own the Aeropress and be happy, but the Fellow Duo makes more than one cup at a time. Along with these coffee makers we own a Stagg Kettle by Fellow and a Hario hand powered burr grinder. We’ll probably never own a drip coffee maker primarily because they’re inefficient, and we like making our coffee by hand.
A good blender: When we first got married, my husband and I bought a Ninja blender. Recently, we had to get rid of it because the container cracked. We’ll be replacing it with a Vitamix because even though its more expensive than the Ninja, its a better product and comes with a 10 year warranty.
Pots and pans: This is one part of our kitchen supplies that I hope to update at some point, but what we own functions well. We have one cast iron skillet, a small stainless steel skillet, a stainless steel quart size pot, and a gallon size pot. We also have a couple of baking sheets and a pizza stone, as well as a couple pieces of Pyrex bakeware. One day for our bus I’d like to replace all of this with just three pieces of Le Creuset cast-iron cookware: a skillet, a dutch oven, and a saucepan.
A Slow Cooker: In the last post, I mentioned the Wonderbag. We used to use a Crockpot quite a bit. I love slow cookers! They make dinner time so much easier. About a year ago, we decided to buy a Wonderbag for our bus because it’s basically a slow cooker that doesn’t use electricity. It’s one of the best purchases we’ve made in a while. I’ve thought about getting a Instant Pot, though, just because I’ve heard that they’re amazing.
Knives: We only have a few knives: a bread knife, a basic chef’s knife, and a paring knife. They’re all three nice knives. We may one day upgrade to even nicer knives, but we’ll probably only own a basic set of four or so.
Everything Else: We have a small set of plates, bowls, and cups like most people, but we have a small set—basically just what we need for our family. Because we’re moving into a small space, we’ll probably keep it small–maybe a set of 6 plates, bowls, cups, etc., or something like that. We also have some bamboo kitchen utensils, a ladle, a spatula, and a few other items. Once we move into the bus, we’ll probably get rid of some of these things, too.
I don’t mind cooking, but I wouldn’t call it my hobby. I’m not a baker, either. So, for some people, our kitchen setup (and our future kitchen setup) might be too minimal, but I’d suggest that if you’re interested in consolidating your kitchen supplies, take a month to evaluate what you actually use on a regular basis. Perhaps what you don’t use in that month should be given away.
What kitchen supplies could you not live without?
We’d love to hear from you!
