Cooking starter kits
If you were to set up someone with a brand new kitchen, what are the components that you would suggest to them for getting that 80% of functionality for 20% of the investment (Pareto Principle)? These are especially things that I would consider to be worth a healthy investment as a buy-once-have-it-forever situation. Some things that come to mind:
A cast-iron pan: high skillcap and can cook almost any type of food
Stainless Steel Stock Pot: cooks most things stovetop that the pan can't handle
Chef's Knife: A good quality, sharp knife makes all the difference in the kitchen
Mason Jars: Preserve food, bring them to bulk stores, drink water out of them... top-tier utility
Things that are on the fence in my mind:
desktop blender/immersion blender/food processor: I love all of these appliances, but how important are they? A food processor is maybe the highest utility & makes meal prep way easier. Also unlocks recipes like hummus and salsa.
a large cutting board: small cutting boards suck, but how high of a priority is upgrading it?
Let's have a discussion where you state your case for an individual appliance/tool (or argue one of these suggestions) and see what other people have to say!
Seeing that this is taking off a bit, I'm going to try compiling some of the response data here:
Level 0 - Starter Kit
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Stainless Steel Pan (+3)
-
Aluminum Stock Pot (+3)
-
Vegetable Peeler (+3)
-
Plastic Cutting Board (+3)
-
Spoons / Spatulas / Ladles (+3)
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Chef's Knife (+2)
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Paring Knife (+2)
-
Serrated Knife (+1)
Level 1 - Booster Pack
- Weighing Scale (+4)
- Baking Trays (+2)
Level 1a - Cooking I
- Immersion Blender (+2)
- Box Grater (+2)
- Dutch Oven (+1)
Level 1b - Baking I
- 2L jug (+1)
- Measuring Cup (+2)
- Pain De Mie Tin (+2)
- Wire Rack (+1)
Level 2 - Intermediate
- Instant Read Thermometer (+1)
Level 2a - Cooking II
- Food Processor (+1)
Level 2b - Baking II
- Immersion Whisk (+2)
Level 3 - Advanced
- Cast Iron Pan
- Mason Jars
- Air Fryer
The cast iron pan is not a starter kit in my opinion.
You need to be quite skilled to use it, and it is not suitable for a range of food.
Casting that aside, I'd opt for a non-stick pan.
To build on your list:
High Quality Wooden Cutting Board
A large, high-quality wooden cutting board can be a game-changer in the kitchen. Not only does it provide more surface area for prep work (great for large meals), but it also is more durable and easier on your knives than plastic cutting boards. When properly maintained (oiled and cleaned), a good wooden cutting board can last a while.
Dutch Oven
If there's room in the budget, a good enamel-coated cast iron Dutch oven can handle anything from stews and soups to bread baking and even deep frying. It can be used on the stovetop and in the oven, and it's another item that, with proper care, can last
Instant Read Thermometer
This can be a game-changer for cooking meats, baking bread, or even making homemade candy. It takes the guesswork out of knowing when your food is cooked to the right temperature. A good quality one can last a long time and be used for a variety of foods.
Microplane Grater
This might seem like a less crucial tool, but it's incredibly useful. It's perfect for zesting citrus, grating hard cheeses, and even mincing things like garlic and ginger.
In terms of your on-the-fence items, my thoughts are:
The size of the cutting board does matter a lot in terms of comfort and efficiency when prepping meals. If it's within your budget, upgrade to a larger size, especially if you find yourself regularly cooking meals.
As for the blender/food processor, consider what you cook most often. If you frequently make dishes that require lots of chopping, shredding, or pureeing, a food processor could be a valuable investment. If you're more into smoothies, soups, and sauces, an immersion blender might be your best bet.
Also don't forget to throw in some cheap, small knives used for peeling, slicing.
And some wooden spoons? Ladles, etc?
edits:
LOADS more added after the initial ideas.
A dutch oven should definitely be high on the list. Ours gets used pretty plentifully. Something like a Lodge should suffice rather well without the price pain of a Le Creuset. An enameled braiser also works really well for us. It ends up another frying pan or overflow from our dutch oven if I'm cooking in bulk. It also works well as a... braiser.
What's cast iron not good for? I've been cooking for a few decades now, and CI has been what I've been using for more than half that time.
Acidic food, e.g. Simmering tomato sauce for half a day straight
Dishes where you need to quickly vary heat control, since cast iron just acts like a big thermal mass. Stir fries come to mind but I'm sure there's way better examples.
Eggs, maybe
I can see tomato sauce simmer but I cook pasta in my CI all the time, just don't do half a day...I mean who the hell is doing that long lol
They make CI woks if that counts, but stir fry does work in CI you just gotta be good.
Eggs???? Them fightin words
They make cast iron woks, but you'll pretty much never see anyone who seriously stir fries use one. Any cookbook on stir-frying will steer you away from it because it's not well-suited to the task -- cast iron is great at a lot of things, but it's not really designed to be good for stir fries. You can stir fry in one, but you can stir fry in a nonstick pan. It's just that both are not ideal and the pan might hold you back in certain ways.
If you want to get a wok, get a carbon steel one. It's not more expensive than cast iron generally, and you season it similarly so if you're used to cast iron. It's way thinner and lighter, so it lends itself better to varying heat quickly which is super helpful for stir-frying. And as someone with noodle arms I personally find it easier to handle a huge wok due to how thin and light it is; a similarly sized cast iron wok would be SUPER unwieldy imo.
If we're talking beginners, and spending less but achieving the same, I'd swap cast iron for non-stick aluminium with a steel core frying pan (eg, one of the better Tefal pans), and I'd swap the stainless steel stock pot for an aluminium stock pot. Both of these will be easier for a beginner to use. They can move onto cast iron when they're ready. One reason teflon pans don't last is that people put them in the dishwasher, so tell this person that all this pan needs is a quick rinse and wipe under a warm tap.
I'd agree about a good chefs knife, if you mean something like the Victorinox or a brand like dexter russel or mercer. 8" or 10" depending on hand size. I'd add a paring knife (because the Victorinox paring knives cost like £5). They need a honing steel too.
Plastic chopping boards help with food safety. Wooden chopping boards help with feeling good in the kitchen and a bit of mis en place. Either way, the board also needs a mat to stop it slipping.
IMO giving mason jars to beginners is going to cause harm. Jamming and canning is not easy, there are very many ways to get it wrong. Lots of YouTube / TikTok / Instagram content about pickling, preserving, fermenting, etc could kill people if followed. If the person you're giving these to is not an idiot you should also point them to this so they can learn the right way to do it: https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html#gsc.tab=0
Stick blenders are great! Good stick blenders come with tiny chopping pots. They're a reasonable price, and they open up all kinds of soup cooking.
I'd recommend a good peeler. Kuhn Rikon make amazing peelers! Really sharp, they stay sharp, they're cheap, they're light which is great if you're peeling a load of stuff.
Weighing scales are great.
Stainless steel bowls (maybe three in different sizes) are good. They're very cheap. They're light. They can get beaten up. They really help in meal prep.
Baking trays / sheet pans are good - at least one that fits the oven. Maybe a wire mesh rack too.
Small items:
Pepper mills; lots of teaspoons (for tasting); some tiny bowls (in the UK you can currently by 3 for a pound from Poundland) - tiny bowls are good for mis en place (which is a good habit for beginners to get into just until they've got a bit more understanding of reading and following a recipe and cooking in a sensible order); lots of cloths for cleaning up as you go; lots of tea towels for holding hot things or cleaning as you go. Wooden spoons and spatulas, or a silicone spatula.
Finally, a notebook to make sure they take notes about recipes and what works or does not work and what they'll do different next time.
Respectfully, I would do the opposite. No cast iron, just get a decent stainless steel pan. When I first started learning about cooking, learning about fond was really eyeopening to me. In my opinion, cast iron is super fussy and confusing, non-stick has a lot of rules as well (for good reason). Stainless steel is much more resilient. Food sticking is good!!!
I have no idea why everyone needs a mat under the boards... I never use any?
The peeler is an AWESOME addition.
A scale!! yes!!
I'd add a measurement cup, too. Get a big one, up to 1.5liters.
I usually just put a kitchen clothe underneath my chopping board, but if the board doesn't already have rubber feet or something, then it can have a tendency to move about while you're chopping stuff.
Mats stop slipping. Slippy boards and sharp knives are pretty scary!
For some people it's not a problem because they have heavy boards that are on a surface that doesn't slip. So, most but not all people need mats.
I use plastic boards on a metal surface…
My wife insists on using mats, I don’t.
shrug
I took a knife skills class and the instructor suggested a wet kitchen towel under the cutting board to prevent slipping. A mat seems more like a nice to have gadget than necessity.
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet, so I’ll add a Rice Cooker to the list.
You can find them at all price points(~$30 for a cheap one), but they make rice a set-it-and-forget-it, rather than having to monitor a pot on the stove. I’ve also found it easier to clean than a stove pot used to cook rice.
While I don’t cook rice every night, I do have it with a meal probably 2-3 times a week, and the rice cooker makes it a lot more convenient.
A few points about rice cookers.
They're best for basic rice. If you want to add aromatics or toast the rice to make a meal that stands on its own, I prefer a pan.
Non-stick bowls need to be hand washed. Stainless steel bowls are dishwasher safe, but they need to be stirred to prevent sticking which kinda defeats the point. Ceramic bowls are coming into the market which sound like the best of both worlds, but I haven't personally tried them.
Follow the water-rice ratios listed in the rice cooker instructions. Bags of rice suggest way too much water.
I strongly recommend spending the extra dosh on a good rice cooker (I think right now they start at about $150) if you are going to buy one at all. The end results are notably improved.
Oh, I do want a Zojirushi, but I’ve been rocking the cheap one I got for about 4 years now and it’s still working fine.
I think if I was making rice more frequently I’d get a nicer one, but probably the next time I move regardless.
For bread/pastry baking specifically:
A mixing bowl set with lids - Bigger bowls are nicer for larger batches, but smaller bowls work nicely for things like keeping pizza dough balls in the fridge for long ferments
Plastic and metal bench scraper - A flexible plastic one for scraping down the sides of bowls, a metal one for scraping counter tops as you knead/clean, and portioning dough. You can get away with just plastic, and they're cheaper.
Weighing scales - one item that will give you much more consistent results vs buying sets of cups, spoon measures, et c
A baking tray - For any breads or pastries that you won't be cooking in a tin. If you invest in a set of two heavy duty ones, you can one use similarly to a baking steel, and the other upside down works as a peel for launching bread/pizza.
A pain de mie tin with lid - With the lid you can make pain de mie, but you can also leave the lid off for other sandwich loaf styles.
Rolling pin - For rolling out flatbreads, rolling out dough for shaping, rolling out pastry. I prefer french tapered for flatbreads/getting a specific shape, and a regular rolling pin for getting the right thickness for things like pastry.
Apart from breads/pastries that require specific baking tins you can make near enough every bread/pastry with those items
Nice to haves:
Instant read thermometer - Good for measuring the temp of liquids you're going to use, for finding room temp, for finding the temp of your dough, checking whether bread is cooked.
Any specific baking tins you might want to use - This might be things like pie tins, shorter loaf pans, cupcake trays (good for things like individual pastries, like kouignn-amann, or pinwheels)
Jewelry scales - For measuring things yeast/salt for smaller batches, or small amounts of yeast for long ferments
A long metal ruler - Really great when trying to roll something out to a certain size, cutting things down to specific shapes, checking the size flatbreads are rolled out to, et c.
Pastry cutter - If you're doing a lot of pie crust, short crust, rough puff, et c.
2 Litre Jug - Good for pouring out large batches of batters, pouring water, but also good for proofing dough in them. You can also measure the top of the dough to figure out when it's doubled in volume from bulk fermenting.
Silicone baking mats - As an alternative for parchment paper. Buy a set for your baking trays, cut them down to size, never buy parchment again.
I would also consider how much baking you think they will do and if they need anything for that.
Looking at the updated list, I’d put the scale on the very first level.
A lot of recipes use weights.
Also:
If money is an issue, the cheap IKEA pots, pans, spoons and such stuff (not knives or such) holds up very well.
A lot of the first things I bought myself for cooking were Ikeas 365 range and they're still holding up solid. Ikea is really good for cheap plates/bowls/cups too!
that’s true.
Just wanted to point it out, as the quality came as a surprise to me.
Great list so far, but here's a few additions based off my personal experience home cooking.
Box Grater: I honestly use this more than I expect and it offers me so much creativity in the kitchen. Can easily grate up veggies for fritters or stuffing something. Shred up fresh cheese instead of buying preshredded with added fillers for anti-clumping. Zest up citrus for marinades or baked goods. I've even some use cases for using it in making spatzle.
Peeler: Essential for peeling any vegetables like potatoes and carrots, but can also shave cheese. I used to do the spoon method and still do for ginger after needing stitches once, but a peeler makes quick work of larger produce.
Anti-Cut/Stab Gloves: Peelers are more dangerous than you expect and I learned my lesson after an ER trip for stitches. You can get some relatively cheap ones on Amazon that are fabric based. They won't save you from a horror film type attack, but they will save a hospital trip for run of the mill slips.
Mixing Bowls: Helps with prep overall and offers a big bowl to season/oil/marinate/blend. I use mine for everything like tossing salads, making cookie dough, marinating meat, and so much more.
Hand Mixer: A cheaper investment for baking vs a stand mixer. This opens the door for so many desserts without the steep price of entry a larger mixer entails. I have both and a hand mixer is more convenient for simple breads and cookies.
Mixes Wooden and Plastic Spoons, Spatulas, and Other Cooking Utensils: Perfect for not scratching up your pots and pans and are just overall versatile.
Sheet Pans: Having one large and small will cover most needs from roasting to baking. I recommend investing in some thicker ones so they don't warp and they'll last much longer.
Wire Rack: Helps with cookie and other baked good cooling. I also use mine to help with roasting meats in the oven as it gives a space for grease to drip down to.
Air Fryer: I get these things are somewhat contested, but I use mine so much and it's my favorite way of cooking asparagus! It's quicker in preheating than an oven and saves me having to use an oven if it's not truly necessary. I recommend looking into Pro Home Cooms multiple videos on YouTube to help convince you; he offers so many realistic uses for them for delicious food.
So many people are saying that you should buy nonstick cookware but I would disagree wholeheartedly, especially if it’s a newbie. Teflon coatings are quite literally toxic if you scrape them or overheat them, and a novice cook is likely to do just that! Not only that, but they have short lifespans and should be disposed of on the first sign of scrapes and chipping.
Instead I would actually recommend getting a 11-12” “French style” pan - one with sweeping sides that make it easy to flip. They are versatile enough to replace frying pans and sauce pans (so long as we are talking smaller quantities of sauce). Yes they need a bit of learning for how to maintain them, but it’s a short process and they are actually pretty forgiving if you fail.
That pan also needs a glass lid! For some reason modern home chefs seem to have forgotten how much faster things cook when covered.
IMHO beginner cooks are unlikely to make stocks or soups in large quantity, so instead of a stock pot I would recommend either downgrading to an oversized saucepan or to upgrade to something like an Instant Pot which can do pressure cooking and make stocks/soups much faster.
One thing missing in all of these is cooking utensils. I recommend a nylon spatula and spoon, and possibly a wooden spoon as well. One would also need mixing bowls, measuring spoons, measuring cups, and potentially a scale (mainly if you are following a European baking recipe)
I don’t think you need a blender to start. Where I am blended foods aren’t too incredibly popular. I would say it’s a “buy as needed” option. Just buy a good one because cheap ones might as well be called cutting mixers. Treat them like an investment.
Instant read thermometer! You shouldn’t be cooking meat without one!
This is a full list of everything I plan to own ~5 years after moving into an apartment with a bigger kitchen.
I value dishwasher safe cookware more than most people, so I focused on materials like aluminum and silicone over wood and cast iron.
Large items:
Pans:
Fully clad stainless steel is more expensive, but heats more evenly
Bakeware:
Utensils:
Storage:
Measuring:
Cabinet:
It’s not a necessity, but the new instant pot pro model is worth the extra price IMHO. The inner pot is way better: it has insulated handles and a thick base that works with inductive stovetops; it’s actually designed to be useful when used outside of the appliance as well. It also has a few other bonuses like preset buttons, an improved steam valve, and better drainage, as well as an optional accessory that helps natural release faster (which i honestly never used and don’t particularly recommend). The extra price is worth it just for the handles on the inner pot IMHO.
This feels like a bit of a cheap response, but the YouTube channel "Sorted" just did a video where they gave their chefs 100GBP to purchase kitchen basics. Good explanations of what they bought and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SQByKmh-7U
A few tips, aside from what things to buy, is which and where to buy them. Often you can purchase very high quality items for great prices from a restaurant supply house, if you have one near you. Also All-Clad, makers of some of the finest cookware, often have factory scratch and dent sales. All of my All-Clad cookware came from these. For knives, you can easily spend hundreds of a nice chef's knife. You can also buy a Victorinox chef's knife that is 95% as good, for $30 on Amazon.
Also some items, like Teflon non-stick pans or veggie peelers will degrade over time, and will need to be replaced. No point spending big bucks here.
Assuming you mean like a completely new kitchen, like for a student or young adult, I'd go for simple but durable. I'd steer clear of non-stick pans, not only for health reasons, but also because new cooks almost always scratch the surface.
My list:
Nice to have:
Appliance wise, a toaster is nice and a water cooker makes everything a lot faster because you can pre-boil water. Everything else isn't essential IMO and if it's a small kitchen, takes up too much space.
I bought everything in stainless steel as a student, mostly used or at TK Maxx. Was usually barely more expensive than plastic and I still use it daily 10 years later.
There's no credible health concern from using non-stick pans in the home, unless you set fire to the pans and then breath the smoke.
I think Teflon is pretty messed up as a substance.
Having worked with Teflon in the lab, I'd rather not risk it, especially as it's entirely unnecessary. Stainless steel is ideal in the kitchen.
To be quite clear, the impact of polytetrafluorethylene on human health is unclear - that doesn't mean there is no credible concern. There is a growing body of work, however, that suggests that PFOA and PFAS affect reproductive organs, not to mention that the compounds have been found in our blood. The fluorinated compounds appear at a temperature of approx. 200 °C, I don't need to set fire to the pan to manage that. An empty pan sitting on the stove for 5 minutes could reach that, even faster on induction stove tops. A good measure is the smoking point of oil - typically 200 - 270°C.
Very cheap 3D printers use a hot end which has the inside of the hot end lined with a PTFE (Teflon) tube which helps lubricate the filament on the path down to the nozzle. This means that the PTFE is heated to whatever temperature that you need the print head to be, and limits you to lower temp materials like PLA and PETG, which melt at around 150-180 degrees (off the top of my head - it tends to vary as well).
The problem with this is that even printing exclusively with these lower temperatures, over time that PTFE tube will start to gum up. This is a problem because that gumming up is actually a sign that the PTFE is deteriorating - which means that it is losing those dangerous chemicals.
So my logic is that if we can’t trust pure PTFE on machines, why on earth would we trust PTFE with the food we consume?
Like others here, i disagree that a Cast Iron pan for beginners, and i don't believe it's a kitchen requirement. If you are worrying just about cooking for yourself, my essentials list is this:
9" stainless steel saucepan, preferably with a lid. You want stainless because you can cook just about anything in it, and it develops fond for flavor well.
6" or 9" non-stick pan. This would be for eggs, and other things you don't want to brown when you cook.
Stock pot. You already mentioned it, and it's definitely worth it.
6" or 8" chef's knife. Whatever fits your hand size best. I spent $100 on mine, and keeping it in good condition is easy.
3" paring knife. For handheld peeling and cutting.
Non-slip cutting board. The bigger the better.
Immersion blender. You mentioned being on the fence about g a blender/food processor. I would start with an immersion blender, most also come with a whisk attachment. You can use the immersion blender right in your stainless steel pans to smooth sauces.
On the topic of mason jars and preservation. I would recommend finding some accredited research on the subject of fermentation and pasteurization before attempting at home. I would recommend "The Art of Fermentation" as a starting point.
Non-stick pans can brown things perfectly well. What they don't do is leave that brown in the pan as fond.
I think a good pair of plastic kitchen tongs (I like Cuisinart's) are essential from the very beginning. They're genuinely so much better than a spatula for using for large pieces, and can be used to stir as well, which means you'll use a wood spoon (which is more difficult to clean) less often.