🍳kitchen stuff worth owning when it's just you

3 years of cooking for one. this is what actually gets used vs what's shoved in the back of a cabinet

8-inch nonstick skillet

the one pan I use almost daily, a 12-inch is a waste of stovetop for one egg or one chicken breast

1.5 cup rice cooker

$ per serving beats instant rice once you own this. bought an 8-cup one first, gave it away, way too much rice every time

one good chef's knife instead of a block

immersion blender

soup for one in the same pot you cooked it in, no blender jar to wash

small 2-quart saucepan

toaster oven

reheats a single portion without turning on the big oven for 20 min of preheat. also just replaces the microwave for most things honestly

silicone freezer trays for portioning sauces and stock

a set of glass containers, not the cheap plastic ones

cheap ones stain and warp within a year, glass ones I bought in year one are still fine

you do not need a stand mixer if you cook for one and don't bake much

took me two years to admit this one, it sat unused for 14 months before I sold it

Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.

Related lists