Tools of the Trade

[amadi]

A comment axelrod made in an earlier post struck a note with me: rice cookers are awesome because you put ingredients in, can go back to bed and wake up to hot food waiting for you.

For the same reason, I love my slow cooker. I appreciate something that lets me make even complex meals with no tending, just prep and go.

I've also been recently reminded that a good knife makes prep work so much easier. (I now really grok why chefs will use anyone's pans, pots and appliances but carry their own knives with them.) With arthritic hands, I am far more capable of doing cutting/chopping prep work with a good knife that fits my hand and has a good sharp edge on it than I was with a drawer full of mediocre knives.

Our focus thus far has largely been on recipes, but I'm curious what tools, appliances and "hardware" are important parts of your kitchen arsenal?

Comments

[axelrod]

Oh, and I think kitchen layout is important. Ideally, you want the sink, fridge, and work-space to form a triangle. This is helpful for anyone, but esp if you really need to minimize the amount of time you spend on your feet.

Of course, being able to do this depends on what sort of space you have to work with, and how much money, effort, etc. you can put into reorganizing your kitchen space.

Not having too many things in your kitchen is good, too - easier to put things away and gets things out without having to make sure other things fall out, that sort of thing. Generally, it's just less overwhelming to have fewer things.

[jumpuphigh]

Not having too many things in your kitchen is good, too

Definitely. I keep tossing stuff in my charity bags and it makes my life so much easier.

[axelrod]

I mean, good general rule, but this way ppl with various disabilities are less likely to have heavy piles of things to lift in order to get out the thing underneath and fewer things makes it all less cognitively overwhelming and when you move there's fewer things to move and so on.

Also, people with various disabilities tend to have lower incomes, so cultivating the skill to know what is essential and what isn't is also useful. I am, as we speak, beginning a process of sifting through my not-extensive possessions and part of that is so my ADD brain isn't overwhelmed by stuff - since I don't expect to live in anything besides small rented apartments for years to come.