Kitchen on a Budget

Good evening!

As a college student, I don’t have a big budget for kitchen tools and appliances. But I love cooking and baking and I hate not being able to make a recipe because I am missing an appliance.

I thought I’d share my kitchen essentials – I don’t own anything that cost more than 50$ and a recipe I can’t make is a rare thing ;).

This summer, I really wanted to make banana cold serve but didn’t have a food processor. But I couldn’t afford one.

The solution:

I found the Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus in sale for 35$.
I wasn’t sure it would be as useful as a regular food processor but it worked for everything I wanted to do with it:

• Banana soft serve
• Veggie burger patty
• Crushing candy cane
• Chopping

The only difference is that when making burger patties, I have to grind in two batches.

A blender is a necessity. Because living without smoothies is impossible. But good blenders don’t come cheap. A good quality blender is probably one of the first things I’ll buy when I can put 200-300$ on a kitchen appliance, but for now, I go for the cheap stuff.

The solution:

I bought the Hamilton Beach Single-Serve Blender for 10$ at Walmart when I was in dorm rooms and made myself smoothies every morning for breakfast. It is still the only blender I own and it does the trick. Of course, it is only useful if you make only one smoothie ;).
It can also be useful if you make smoothies on the go in the morning since it comes with a travel lid.

The first thing I bought was an electric kettle to make tea. I actually don’t like filter coffee and make coffee with this:

French press coffee is delicious and easy to make. And a french press comes cheap when you already have a kettle ;). I also bought this while I was living in dorms and it is the perfect way to make coffee when all you have is a bedroom!

I also like to make flavored lattes at home. Strong coffee can be used to make them but there is also a cheap way to make espresso at home, and this is also for the espresso shot lover:

A moka coffee maker makes delicious espresso in less than 5 minutes! I got mine as a gift but it can be found for 10$!

These days, you can find anything at…

Yes, the dollar store is where I found many kitchen essentials:

• Mixing bowls
• Glasses
• Spatulas, ladle, peeler, etc
• Gratin dishes
• Measuring spoons
• And more!

What are your kitchen essentials?
My other kitchen essentials are my immersion blender (ideal for smooth soups!) and my breakfast pan that I found at Walmart for 10$ (ultimate non-stick pan, perfect for french toast, eggs and much more).