WineLife365

It’s tough enough trying to make a great meal with nearly no food in the house, but your problems will only get worse if you don’t have a few great kitchen tools to save the day.

Here is a list of a few kitchen life savers that I personally like to use often:

1.)    10” and 12” All-Clad sauté pans. These babies are pure stainless steel. They’re the heaviest frying pans that I’ve ever used. They are like picking up a set of dumbbells…so if you don’t get to the gym on a regular basis, you can stand in the kitchen and do some arm exercises. They heat up in seconds and cook unbelievably.  Additionally, they are basically indestructible – I just absolutely love to see if I can get the oil in the bottom of the pan to be just about the same temperature as hell before I actually put anything in there to cook.  And I can tell you, while most other pans would have had a hole burn right through, the All Clad has no hole, so based on my very bad habit, I would suggest that these pans are approved by the Devil himself.  I “read” (obsessively researched and shared every last finding with my wife until she told me to shut it, handed me the credit card and told me to just go make the purchase…somewhere far away) about All-Clad and how great their cookware is. I have to tell you, once you’ve used All-Clad it’s hard to cook with another brand. All-Clad makes incredible cookware but it sure ain’t cheap. However, their cookware does carry a lifetime guarantee. Look at it as an investment for thousands of great meals at home. Another idea is to let your family and friends know that you love cooking with All-Clad. My mother-in-law has purchased several pieces of All-Clad for me over the years.

2.)    Cuisinart GR4 Indoor Grill. I love to grill. I’m that guy who grills in a –15-degree below hailstorm. Lies, total lies, I USED to be that guy in my younger days – now if the temperature is below 70 or if there’s a chance of rain in 2 days, I’m cooking inside.  Given these limitations of my older age, I desperately wanted a way to relive my younger, wilder barbequing days and I thought that it was ridiculous to limit great BBQ cooking to only one season. I told my wife that I wanted an indoor grill. She said “No, I refuse to buy anything until you obsessively research it.”.  I did a ton of research and narrowed my contenders down to the Cuisinart GR4 Indoor Grill and the George Foreman G5 Indoor Grill. The Cuisinart Indoor Grill offered a little more and the consumer reviews were more positive towards the Cuisinart. Plus let’s be honest, if a guy gives the same name to every member of his family, do you really want to buy his product?  Additionally, I’ve used several different types of Cuisinart kitchen tools. They’ve all been terrific.

3.)    A great 4-1/2 to 6.5 quart Soup Pot/Sauce Pan. With a pot this size, you can cook a full meal in it. As I’ve done hundreds of times with mine.  I even threw in the kitchen sink one time when we had the “REALLY” Poor Man’s Dinner. Some brands to consider are All-Clad, Anolon, Calphalon, Circulon and Le Creuset.

4.)    Stainless Steel Kitchen Tools Set. Don’t even waste your time or money on those plastic ones. I can’t tell you how many plastic spatulas that I’ve gone through – need I remind you of my propensity to make my oil as hot as hell (literally)?  If your family is anything like mine and they just don’t really like chewing on bits of plastic spatula in their Poor Man’s Dinner, then do right by them and get the stainless steel tools. Like the pans above, you’ll use and have these puppies forever. Again, All-Clad is a favorite. But, I’ve seen a nice set by Chef Jamie Oliver that is very affordable.

Checkout DealCatcher.com or KevinKahn.com to see if they offer any coupons for these items before buying.