Equipment

Here in the Lifestyles of the Poor as Fuck kitchen, there are some staples that we advocate for you to have to make your life not only easier, but also more efficient (and sometimes less clean up!)  If you click back to the kitchen page (click here bitches), then you'll find not only some of the equipment that we advocate for, but also how much of it you should have. 

Here are our top 10 pieces of kitchen equipment that we feel are must-haves for a poor as fuck kitchen:

1. Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker (from Aldi or Family Dollar, or wherever you can find one for cheap).  Every year in August, they come out with a new pressure cooker for around $30.  They have one this week as of the time of this writing and I'll be buying another one, because I am so afraid if mine breaks, I won't be able to afford to get a new one.  How do you break a pressure cooker, you ask?  By dropping the inside pot and denting it.  Or, as I did last time, dropping the entire thing on the floor and denting the whole thing LMAO  OOPS!  Sure, you can buy new pots, but not for Aldi pressure cookers.  At least not as far as I know.  But it's so easy to dent them (esp. if you're clumsy like me), so I'll be shelling out $30 tomorrow to get a backup.  So anyways, these pots are the BOMB DIGGITY!  I use them to make rice (in half the time of a rice cooker), as a slow cooker, to make hard-boiled eggs (the 5-5-5 method works well), chili, pulled pork, and pretty much anything.  Just go to Pinterest and search Instant Pot and you'll find endless recipes!  It replaces SO much in your kitchen, which makes it a STAPLE for any minimalist-ish kitchen. 
2. Cutting Board (as big as you can get).  I store mine under my sink, and the pull it out over my sink to cut my veggies and the such.  I literally have probably around a foot and a half (at most) counter space in my kitchen, so this board doubles as more counter space when placed over my sink.  When you lack something, you gotta make purchases that solve more than one problem at a time.  Here's mine: Bamboo Cutting Board XL (not an affiliate link). 
3. Toaster.  A four-slot toaster is too big for pretty much any kitchen.  If your kitchen is small, as long as you have four or less people, a two-slot will work just fine.  If your kitchen is huge, still consider saving space with a two-slot.  Yes, you're saving time with a four, but it's really not that long of a wait to use a smaller one.  If you have more than four people in your house, then yes, the time-saving difference is a LOT bigger, and a four is worth the space it takes up.  I made the mistake in the past of always getting what seemed like the easiest, over what actually fit in my kitchen.  I then wondered why my kitchen was always overflowing with crap LOL! (UPDATE: I lied.  Now that we have five people in our household, I NEED a four-slot toaster, so I'm buying one ASAP LOL). (UPDATE UPDATE: I have a four-slot toaster and guess what???  I only use two!!!  Turns out, I was right to begin with!!)
   
4. Microwave.  Get the smallest size you can that will work for your family.  In 2018 we became homeless and lost practically everything we owned.  So when we found our apartment and had to build our lives back up (literally one thing at a time), we could only afford a $15 microwave from the Goodwill.  The wattage is so weak, it's not even listed on packages of food for cooking times! LOL  YET, here we are, a year later, still using it.  It works for us.  You think you may need something expensive and amazing, but in reality, you honestly could get used to using something a lot cheaper, smaller, and lower in strength.  This goes for everything in your house.  Unless it's saving you a shit ton of money on your electricity or gas bills, you probably do not need the latest and the greatest.  See where in your life you could make due with something lesser.  I guarantee you'll be surprised.  This not only saves you money, but also space.
5. Pizza Pan.  Get the biggest you can.  This sounds crazy if you have a small kitchen, but you only need one, and this will also work as a cookie sheet/baking sheet when needed.  It also works as extra counter space when placed over the sink when cooking.  Here is mine: 18 Inch Pizza Pan (not an affiliate link)
6. Breadmaker (if you like to make bread).  I always buy these used (explains why they always break quickly though LOL).  Bread is fairly inexpensive to buy, so this is a really an added expense and added space for your kitchen.  But if you have somewhere to store it when not using it (like I put mine on top of my fridge), then it's not so bad.  I like using mine to make lo-so bread, or flavored bread.  
7. Can Opener.  Electric can openers take up oodles of space and they seem to kind of suck.  I have bought so many of these, and not one has had lasting power.  They always drop my cans and just plain don't work right after a few uses.  Then I found an $8 handheld can opener at Old Time Pottery and my life has been changed forever!  In the past, I would never pay more than a couple bux for a can opener, and I always thought handheld openers were awful!  But then I "splurged" (a splurge for a poor person LOL) and got this one and WOW!  I'll never go back to electric!  Nor will I go back to the dollar ones!  Sidenote: When I complained about the Dollar Tree can opener in a Dollar Tree group on Facebook, about how awful it was, I got flack from members who laughed at me for doing so.  They said "It's $1, just buy a new one!"  They didn't understand the plight of a family who literally didn't even have a dollar to spare to get a new one.  For us, coming off of homelessness, we had to scrimp and save our quarters to get every little thing we needed, and thought that the $1 opener was a good deal.  It was not, and I had to end up buying four or more to get them to work right in the months after.  Lesson learned: sometimes $1 isn't worth the $1 if it's not going to work right.  So if you can save your dollars and get something close to $10, you'll be so much better off in the long run, and it will last for years on end, unlike the $1 ones.   This goes for most things, as well.
8. Kitchen Knives.  You only need two: a slicer, and a serrated one.  Nobody needs an entire set of knives (believe me, I used to have a really, really nice set, too).  They take up space and aren't used as much as you think you'd use them.  And you have more to wash if you use a bunch of them to create a meal. When you downsize, you find that you do not need anything more than two.  Mine are slightly expensive, but I luckily found them at Goodwill for $1 each (thank you to whoever donated them!).  They are the Ronco Six Star Showtime Filet Knife #3 and the Saw Knife #6.  If you can find knives similar to these, they work for EVERYTHING! (you may be able to find these exact ones on eBay).  The filet knife I use to chop everything from veggies to sweet potatoes.  The saw knife works for bread and tomatoes.  They are seriously amazing!  And I have no need to buy another knife (other than tiny paring knives that I almost never ever use).  And by only having two, I am saving a great amount of space, too.
9. A High Powered Blender.  A high-powered blender can almost replace your food processor (not for slicing, but you can get a mandolin for that, if you're careful with your fingers).  Look for these at resale shops (like Goodwill), garage sales, Facebook marketplace, Letgo, etc.  Or ask someone to buy you one for Christmas! (which is how I got mine).  I have a Ninja blending system, which includes two blending cups (though I lost the blade for those when we became homeless).  But my blender will crush ice (without breaking) and can even (mostly) grind coffee beans (though not finely, but it works for me!).  It works for making soups, smoothies, coffee drinks.  Though the other day I tried to make homemade tahini and it did NOT work, like at all, for that.  So while I do love my blender (which is over 5 years old), I may still need a food processor, but then again, I'll just buy tahini (for making hummus) and save myself the space the and the work LOL  I'll try hummus in it, and if it doesn't work, then I'll break down and get a processor, but if it works, then my blender wins again!  I just googled it and this bad boy comes with the processor (which is the same price mine was WITHOUT it! Arrggh!).  But that price, yo, like I said: get it used, with your income tax, as a gift, or something similar.  We're po' yo!  We can't afford $160 blenders!
10. A radio.  I find cooking monotonous without some tunes.  I love to cook (as you can tell) but I also love to dance!  KITCHEN DANCE™ that is!  Save on your data and just throw on the radio instead of Spotify or Pandora (though both rock).  Spice up your cooking life with some jazz, pop, rap, country, or whatever you like to listen to!  Just like grandpappy used to say "A kitchen without a radio, is like a heart without a soul!!"  I know that makes no sense, but grandpappy had Alzheimer's and usually said all sorts of strange things.  Though this one sort of makes sense.  So please, embroider this quote onto a wall hanging and hang it in the heart of your home and remember grandpappy as he once was whenever you read it: a man who liked to wear his pants inside out and then flash the nurses in the hospital by lifting up his gown at them.  Oh grandpappy...25 years after your death and you're still warming the hearts of millions (are millions even reading this?? let's pretend they are!)! 

So that's my 10 kitchen equipment staples.  After our excursions in 2018 into complete poverty and whatnot, I've pared down to the essentials.  I've found what worked and what didn't, and realized I didn't need as much as I once thought.  My family is thriving on less.  Who knew that would happen??  Sometimes it takes something crazy and drastic to show you what really matters and lets you know just what you can get by with.  

What are your necessities in the kitch?  What can you not live without and why?  Let me know below!