Equip Your Kitchen to Save Money on Food: Simple Tools for Easy Cooking and Budgeting

One of the worst kitchen purchases I ever made was a 3" utility knife I bought for $5. It looked like a good knife - it has a wooden handle, three fasteners through that handle, and a stainless steel blade. And at five bucks, you couldn't be the price.

Yes, I still have that knife. I still use it, in fact. There's just one problem: if I want to cut something as thick as a tomato, I have to sharpen the blade first. Two or three tomatoes, and I better have that knife-sharpener ready like it's on speed-dial. And don't even think about trying that knife on raw potatoes. Basically, my 3" utility knife is little more than a glorified steak knife - and by glorified, I mean that it's little better than a serrated butter knife.

If you're like me, you don't have the time or the money to waste on knives that don't cut. Sure, maybe you like cooking - it's kinda fun, sometimes. But you don't have time to do it every day. And there's no way you can set aside an hour on preparing dinner - that's just not gonna happen. You'd rather hit Chipotle or Boston Market if it's gonna come to that.

But then one look at your wallet - or maybe your credit card statement - reveals the ugly truth: it has come to that. Unable to stomach another midnight bowl of cereal and so tired of pizza that you'd rather vomit, you've been going out. Sure, it's nothing fancy - take-out, mostly, or McDonald's. But at $5-$10 a meal (or are we at $8-$15 a meal...plus the tip?) you're hemorrhaging cash like Lehman Brothers.

You tell yourself you'll change, but you haven't. And the thought of what lurks in your freezer is positively chilling. And though you feel shame, these experiences are perfectly natural. They affect pretty much everyone who's ever had to live in an apartment and cook after leaving home. But it is a real problem, one you struggle with every day. Because deep down, you're afraid of your kitchen.

Don't worry. This article will help you overcome that fear of the kitchen (and its money-saving potential) by using the only solution known to work for all problems: spending money.

A well-stocked kitchen doesn't really need that much, but you do need the basics. Our goal isn't to produce the finest French cuisine - instead, we're looking for a functional kitchen which allows you to make quick food that you'll enjoy eating. The items I've listed should help make cooking fun again (or at the very least, a little less painful).

Bear in mind that this is meant as a bare-bones list. We're not looking for fancy - we just want to get the job done so we can get back to homework, Netflix, and hording cash. To help keep things straight, here the areas to consider in planning your kitchen:

Staple Foods: These are the foods you should keep on hand because they're cheap, easy to cook, and never go bad. Rice, pastas, frozen pizzas, peanut butter - these simple, high-calorie foods can keep you going when you don't have time to go to the store, and they will help overcome the urge to splurge away your money on restaurant bills.

Cutting Implements: Yes, you need knives. A quality knife not only lasts for years, but it also allows you to save money by purchasing bulk items. Large fruits like cantaloupe, pineapple, and watermelon are much cheaper per-pound than berries, and you can save oodles of change purchasing whole vegetables rather than those pre-washed, pre-cut hor d'ouvres trays.

Storage Containers: Tupperware, Glad, and those throwaway things from Chinese take-out are your key to planning ahead. It is not fun having to plan and cook a new meal each day of the week - cooking two or three large meals on a Sunday afternoon can give you with a great financial and dietary start to the week ahead. Besides, we all know you can save real money by packing your lunch - and with the right storage container, your lunch can be way better than a bologna sandwich on Wonder Bread.

Heating Devices: Using a rice cooker, a non-stick pan, and a reliable microwave oven, you can cook almost anything very quickly. Add in a glass casserole pan, a crock-pot, and the timer from your iPhone, and you can roast up those succulent slow-cook meals that Grandma would make back in the day. Just put your food in the pot, turn on Netflix, and wait for your timer to say "it's dinner!"

Cleaning Implements: Sponges, brushes, soap, and a dishwasher - yep, you've gotta have some of these on hand. No, I don't like doing dishes, but they gotta get done. In fact, I hate doing dishes so much that I had to prepare a strategy guide to prevent infestations of vermin from taking mold baths in my sink. That's right - by making your dishes easier to clean, you can prevent rats and cockroaches from taking over your life. (Plague-infested vermin living on the wet crumbs of your sink are just so yesterday....)

Cookbooks: No, I don't read cookbooks for fun. And it's rare that I have the time (or inclination) to follow a recipe. But a good cookbook can inspire the kinds of cooking you like to eat. Whether it's fregola pasta in minestrone or spicy Italian sausage simmered in butter, you'll discover how to recreate the flavors that make you appreciate food to begin with. At the very least, the pictures and descriptions should make you hungry enough (and curious enough) to give it a shot. And most cookbooks give valuable pointers on how to select your foods, arrange your kitchen, and properly care for your cookware - skills that will save you time and money in the long-run.