So after the housewarming, wedding, or whatever party where you generally get your "first kitchen essential" items, here are some more kitchen essentials to have when you round up some cash after you have lived in your new home/apartment.
This list are items that are extremely nice to have but aren't particularly a necessity if you are on a tight budget in the beginning. They are items that you may just use occasionally (not majority of time) and there are ways to go around doing what you need to do without them compared to the first kitchen essentials list.
So here is the top 10 list of secondary kitchen essentials that I found useful:
1. Vegetable Peelers. Some people consider this as a "first essential" but if you are on a tight budget, you can use a knife to peel anything which is listed in the first essential list. Knifes are a pain in the ass to peel with (I would know since I peeled every veggie, especially potatoes, for 2 years while I lived in Ukraine and it sucked. A lot.) but you don't have to spend the money on peelers until after you have settled into your new place.
2. Crock Pot or Instapot. If you work a lot and don't have much time to cook, these machines are amazing, especially a crock pot. I haven't had much experience yet with an Instapot but I've had quite a bit with a crock pot. Especially if you are a soup person like myself and like having a homecooked meal ready when you get home from work, a crock pot is awesome. I was debating on putting this on the first essential list since I use it so much.
3. Juicer. You'd be surprised how many recipes require lemon or other fruit juices. I have used my juicer quite a bit since I like fresh juice. May not necessarily be a requirement for you though. Check out our pottery juicers for an idea if you'd use one or not: https://www.thehandycupboard.com/collections/handmade-cookware/products/green-ceramic-citrus-juicer
4. Colanders/Strainers. Like veggie peelers, these are extremely nice, but you can live without for a while since you can hold the pot and lid while draining something. Or you can just wash produce with your hands. A pain in the ass without one, but you can still cook and bake anything.
5. Four Sided Metal Grater. You can get cheaper one sided ones, but I love the 4 sided one so you get different sizes of grates. I use the smaller grate to "mince" garlic and the bigger one for shredded veggies.
6. Microwave. Most foods you can heat by stove or oven but the microwave makes the process much more pain free and less time consuming so it's not an essential if you have no money, but is one if you can afford it (or if it doesn't already come with the apartment/house. My apartment didn't have one).
7. Blender or food processor. This one solely depends on how you cook and bake to be considered an essential. I didn't use my blender until I had a baby and pureed foods for him. If you love smoothies, get one. For some people this may even be considered a first essential.
8. Toaster. Might be on your first list if you are a huge bread/bagel lover and like toasted bread. You can usually toast with your oven though which is why it's on my second list.
9. Bottle Opener. Honestly, this is mostly used for beer (I love beer bread) so it's not used too often but is necessary.
10. Dish Drying Rack. As much as I don't like cleaning, not every single thing in your kitchen will be dishwasher safe. This is on the second list since you can just dry after washing something then put it up. This helps the process of washing so you don't have to dry yourself.
Like the first essentials list, this is all subjective and depends on your cooking/baking style. Some items on here may be on your first list and vise versa or there's some items that you use all the time that's considered essential to you that I don't have listed. Anytime I have gone kitchen shopping and saw an item, I asked myself the following questions:
- How often will I use this?
- How much time will I save cooking/baking with this?
- How many hours would I have to work in order to pay for this and if those amount of hours are worth it?
If you answer often, a lot, and yes to those questions, get it. It will be worth it. I also use those questions anytime I try to buy useful kitchen gifts for someone if it would be worth it for them or not.
I hope this and the first kitchen essentials list were helpful in your kitchen shopping endeavors!
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