Setting up a "production" kitchen for you and your family (your "customers") makes sense.

As in every job, the right tools make a difference.  Think about your woodshop or sewing box.  It's sad but true but one of you will soon be excited by the prospect of a new rice cooker or another household gadget for Christmas.

Sharp, quality knives are important

"Dangerous" is the only word to describe working with dull knives.  Since the blade does not cut properly you are forced to apply additional pressure.  This can result in injury; be careful.  Other things to keep in mind when using knives in the kitchen:

• Give yourself some space. There is no problem asking someone to "get out of your way NOW.." when chopping or carving.  You don't want someone to accidentally brush your elbow while working.  Everyone's comfort zone is different; respect it.
• Always be cutting away from yourself or pressing down.  This may seem simplistic; but it really does work.  It's pretty hard to cut yourself if you are constantly repositioning the material so that you are cutting away from your hands or applying downward pressure to chop.
• Try using scissors  A good quality pair of heavy duty scissors can be very efficient for trimming vegetables and meat quickly and safely.
• Take your time  If you are in a hurry you will make mistakes; it's human nature.
• Don't drink and dice  Do your drinking with dinner, not while cooking

Don't have a dishwasher?   Stick to a bare minimum of plates, bowls and utensils.   Human nature at it's finest....Everyone hates doing dishes but you will do them only when you run out.  Extra plates and mugs only makes the inevitable harder.  If you are going to be making meals to take to work consider disposable containers; a bit more expensive but less work. 

Don't dry your dishes with a towel before putting them away.
I remember a friend (who happened to be a microbiologist...) watch with a bemused expression as I dried the dishes after dinner; before placing them in the cupboards.  He then explained how foolish it was to take perfectly clean dishes and then wipe them with a moistened towel; spreading bacteria everywhere.  After that I decided it was better to air-dry my dishes on a rack; placing them in the cupboard only when dry.  Thanks Allan....

Here are some of the things you will need in your kitchen for general food preparation:

• A covered roasting pan - for roasting meat and potatoes, etc..
  

• A strainer - metal or plastic
  

• Plastic cutting board
  

• Cutting Knives; at least 1 French, one long serrated and one paring knife 
  

• 2 or 3 liter juice jug - buy quality juice and dilute it - save 33% on juice, remember the importance of filtering your tap water.  
  

• Frying Pan (at least one)
  

• Large Covered Pot
  

• Medium Covered Pot
  

• Small Covered pot with pour spout
  

• Mixing utensils; plastic

• Grater - metal suggested

• Extra portion containers; double the amount of bowls to plates so you can portion and freeze your efforts.

• Plastic wrap.  Use lots of it.  Keep things fresh.  It's also good to see what's in the refrigerator; it creates menu ideas. What good is it to have that 1/2 chicken in the fridge if nobody can see that it's there?

Nice to have but not essential:  Hand mixer, Blender (if you are going to be making baby food or just like margaritas...) Rice Cooker, food processor, bread maker

A good dinner always includes a great dessert

It's easy to make cakes and cookies at home. It's much cheaper and you consume much less sugar, salt and transfats since you are using only basic ingredients.  

 

Here is a list of things you will need for baking:

• Muffin Tins - suggest at least 2; make a bunch of muffins and freeze one tray for later; the first tray does not usually last too long..

• Circular Cake Pans - at least 2; why not make a 2nd cake also?

• Pie Tins - at least 2; why not make a 2nd pie also?

• Wax Paper - suggested.  If you don't want your cakes to stick simply grease the pan and use a layer of wax paper.  Easy removal is guaranteed; although it may freak you out after about 25 minutes in the oven when you can smell the wax burning.... No worries; not a bad idea to cut off the excess.

• Baking Soda - very handy as a non-toxic cleaning agent also

• Baking Powder

• Salt

• Granulated White Sugar

• Brown Sugar

• Icing Sugar

• Cinnamon 

• Nutmeg

• Cornstarch

• Corn Syrup

• All purpose or Pastry Flour - It's up to you; the Pastry flour is finer and of course, more suited to cakes.

Oils and Shortening/Lard

Using the proper oil for the dish at hand is important.  Basic oils to have on hand would be:  

Vegetable, olive, canola, sunflower, corn oil, peanut oil for cooking and lard or shortening for baking. When baking cookies or pastries shortening is an acceptable substitute for butter, cheaper and easier to work with.  When doing any cooking with butter it is best to use "unsalted" and avoid any clarified butter or no-stick products as these would tend to include the dreaded "transfats" and while tasty; defeating the purpose of home cooking.

In most cases we use Canola Oil for general cooking duties; it's a bit more expensive than Vegetable oil but does not have such a heavy taste.  For an "Italian" taste use Olive oil.  For a "ChineseFood" taste; use peanut oil.  Real French fries and some pastries are fried in lard.  Fried Chicken tastes great in corn oil and if you want virtually no taste imparted by the oil use sunflower.

Optional Ingredients -  Think about the pastries that you really, really like; choose 3 and find a recipe and try and make them.  

Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter - suggest basic variety, not smooth; looking for less sugar added since is for baking purposes.
Nuts
Raisins
Coconut
Condensed Milk
Pie Fillings - Suggest pumpkin; hearty and not too expensive.
Puddings - cooked variety suggested - can be done in the microwave and much less creepy than "instant" ones.

 

If you are going to do a job properly you also require the right work clothes  In the kitchen that means comfortable shoes that you don't mind getting dirty and an apron.  I know it sounds odd, but wearing an apron while cooking is really quite practical.  In some cases while cooking you are dealing with things like grease and berry juice which can stain and damage your street clothes.  It is no surprise that most chefs prefer plain old white aprons.  One word: bleach.  

 

Real Chefs wear clogs

Favored by chefs for years since they are comfortable, high off the ground, stable when walking on greasy floors, easy to clean and last forever.

Everything else they wear; back of the house; is black and white checkered poly pants and a white tunic.  These items are really hard to stain, and even if you do it's hard to see.  Typical linen department will have 3 sizes available:  Little guy, burlap sac style medium, really fat guy.   This will be covered with your White Tunic.  This "overcoat" is used as a cover over your T-shirt and under your apron.  May be light or quite heavy depending on where you work in the kitchen.  Then there are always times to pull out that special apron or tunic for a laugh or the holiday season

 

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