Subsistence cooking equipment

ceridwen

I've been tasked with making a Dead Basics list of cooking equipment for Weezl's subsistence living thread (ie a family of 4 eating for a month for £100) and we feel that our mythical "family" of Bob and Shirley and their two teenagers wouldnt have much in the way of cooking equipment either.

So - I'm working out a list of what I feel are THE basic items Bob and Shirley couldnt manage without in their kitchen (no rice steamers or souffle dishes then...:(:)). Also looking to see what substitutes there are that Bob and Shirley can use for this purpose.

I've already picked up the following substitutions ideas over the months of reading O.S. - so are there any I have missed please?:D

- Rolling pin = wine bottle
- Mini size cakebaking tins = small food tins (eg mini size baked bean tins)
- Baking trays = the lid of those metal tins that sweet or biscuit "collections" come in
- Cake tins = the main part of those metal tins that sweet or biscuit "collections" come in
- Freezer containers = plastic "milkbottles", margarine containers
- Storage containers = glass jars that some foods are bought in

I think I've about covered it - but would be glad to hear of any other substitutes people use please:D

In particular - it would be useful to know if anyone has devised a substitute item for:
- mixing bowls
- measuring jugs
- kitchen scales
- casserole dishes
- chopping boards

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

In particular - it would be useful to know if anyone has devised a substitute item for:
- mixing bowls
- measuring jugs
- kitchen scales
- casserole dishes
- chopping boards

You can use cups instead of measuring jug How accurate do you need to measure? Do you need to calibrate your "cup"?

As a student, a friend mixed a cake in a washing up bowl :T

You can get an offcut of wood for a chopping board from a local hardware shop for pennies (DH bought a pice about the suze you'd need for 10p recently).

I have a le Creuset saucepan with an integral cast iron handle. That will go in the oven, but I'm assuming your family won;t have one of them

Have you actually tried rolling pastry with a wine bottle - never works for me

Penny. x

ceridwen

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

You can use cups instead of measuring jug How accurate do you need to measure? Do you need to calibrate your "cup"?

As a student, a friend mixed a cake in a washing up bowl :T

You can get an offcut of wood for a chopping board from a local hardware shop for pennies (DH bought a pice about the suze you'd need for 10p recently).

I have a le Creuset saucepan with an integral cast iron handle. That will go in the oven, but I'm assuming your family won;t have one of them

Have you actually tried rolling pastry with a wine bottle - never works for me

Penny. x

I wondered about the American system of cup measurements - but am not sure our recipes would "translate" into that very well and, as you point out, there are many different sizes of cups/mugs around. With Weezl working out quantities in recipes so precisely - I dont really see how this would be possible.

I recall - from school cookery lessons - the way we were told to cut a pack of butter into 8 pieces - and each piece would be 1oz. With metric measurements we no longer have that quick and easy measurement for fats.

I've instantly rejected the idea of putting a set of measuring spoons onto the equipment list - as I feel the size of teaspoons/dessertspoons/tablespoons is pretty standard.

Washing-up bowl as mixing bowl. :T Thats a good point - I'd forgotten that I've done that once or twice in extremis. So - thats certainly a possible substitute to add to the list.

The offcut of wood as a chopping board is an idea worth pursuing too.

I gather one or two people have used winebottles as rolling pins - cant say I've actually tried that one myself. I very very rarely make pastry - and have a rolling pin anyway. Hmmm......so what was your experience with that winebottle? Have you any other ideas for rolling pin substitutes? (A subsistence diet does seem to include pastry items quite frequently...).

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

Have you any other ideas for rolling pin substitutes? (A subsistence diet does seem to include pastry items quite frequently...).

When I make, for instance, a chicken pie, I find that I can push the pastry into shape without the need for a pin It's not professional, bit sometimes I just love that rustic look :rotfl:

IME, a wine bottle is simply too short to be useful.

ceridwen

One other idea I am tossing up is that I have been thinking further on Weezl's feeling that its reasonable to expect Bob and Shirley to buy a couple of breadbaking tins as an "investment for the future". I have checked it out and see that there are indeed bread baking tins in the discount stores - so its possible to get them for 99p/£1 each:T

I am wondering whether its reasonable to think of a "one-off kitchen spend" for Bob and Shirley of, say, £20 and thinking I might pop into a discount store and see just how well Bob and Shirley could equip themselves with that one-off £20 (ie a Christmas/birthday present to one of them from a relative OR a bit of overtime at work worth).

I would think they could go a long way with just that amount - and hopefully could get a Basics kettle and toaster and a reasonable amount of cookware from a discount shop for that....:think:

ubamother

saucepans can double up as mixing bowls at a pinch. if your saucepans are all metal without long handles they'll go in the oven.

My husband thinks the worktop doubles as a chopping board (it doesn't, it really doesn't!)

fav77

ceridwen wrote: »

I gather one or two people have used winebottles as rolling pins - cant say I've actually tried that one myself. I very very rarely make pastry - and have a rolling pin anyway. Hmmm......so what was your experience with that winebottle? Have you any other ideas for rolling pin substitutes? (A subsistence diet does seem to include pastry items quite frequently...).

Great thread thanks

I often use the cardboard tube from clingfilm/foil for rolling out pastry and dough!

lynzpower

I often use a spare pan as a mixing bowl- usually if the real mixing bowls are not clean

Personally I wouldn't use a tin lid off a tin of sweets instead of a baking tray.

I have a cake tin ( deep) that I have been using as a prop for the grill tray ( ie under the grill) as my grill trays don't fit in my grill tray slots if you know what I mean. All the paint has burnt and continues to flake off on to the base of the oven. I would not be cooking on this surface.

Would they really be short a a baking sheet? In fact I know people are as when I was a SW my clients never had any kitchen equipment. However, they did choose to spend money on other things to be fair. Freegle is littered with people giving away old kitchen stuff, indeed jumble sales are sometimes a trove of 70s pryrexes etc for pence. Baking sheets in Wilkos are 79p.

In my experience the things that my clients used to have were:
tin opener
2 saucepans
chopping board
knife
mugs
microwave
cutlery.
few plates

They never had
peeler ( small knife does this but creates more waste sometimes If you are not skilled with the knife)
measuring spoons ( I tried to live without them and a lot of recipes went wrong- ie teaspoon/ tablespoon)
sieve/ colander ( unless you made your own??)
masher- I guess other things will do this.
whisk - (I cant think of anything that can replace this)
knife sharpener ( can you use a brick for this?)
mixing bowls ( large pans would do but
cake tins

I use empty water bottles and pop bottles to store stock and soup in in the freezer, I did this when we ran out of tupper-wares once.

Agree pastry with the wine bottle has never worked for me either.

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

I would think they could go a long way with just that amount - and hopefully could get a Basics kettle and toaster and a reasonable amount of cookware from a discount shop for that....:think:

Do you need a toaster if you have a grill

lynzpower

I would think they could go a long way with just that amount - and hopefully could get a Basics kettle and toaster and a reasonable amount of cookware from a discount shop for that....

Toaster just isnt essential if they have a grill.

Most of my kitchen cupbaord has bene kitted out from 99p stores including
large mixing bowl
tupperwares
chopping boards
sillicone bakeware
casserole dishes ( pyrex style)

4 mugs are £1 and 4 glasses a £1. There are cutlery sets for £1. There ard small saucepans in at the mo. Chip frying baskets.

I think 20.00 would do a starter kit no problem IMO.

ceridwen

fav77 wrote: »

Great thread thanks

I often use the cardboard tube from clingfilm/foil for rolling out pastry and dough!

Sounds like the correct sort of size. Just wondering whether the pastry/dough would cling a bit to it? Is this your experience? Presume you would only use one of these once?