Category Archives: Pots and Pans

1. DO – Learn to cook, even if it is just the basics like lasagne, casseroles, and soups. You will save masses of cash and be healthier for it.
DON’T – Attempt to survive on a diet of pizza, chips, Indian, Chinese and kebabs. It is not good for your wallet or your well being.
Recommendations – Get a recipe book, or have a look at our Pots and Pans Recipes page.

2. DO – Buy at least a couple of decent saucepans. They last longer and are easier to cook with than budget pans – try cooking and then cleaning rice off a cheap saucepan and you will understand this entirely. Stainless steel pans are great, as even if people use metal utensils on them (which they will), your pans will survive.
DON’T – allow a flatmate to use saucepans as a drum kit. It may not hurt your pans, but it never sounds as good as he thinks it does.
Recommendations – See our Stellar 1000 and Judge Vista pages for great value pan sets.

3. DO – Buy at least one decent quality sharp knife. A blunt knife will slip and you are far more likely to cut yourself. Unless your house is organised, it will then take you twenty minutes to find a bandage. When purchasing your knife, please don’t be offended if the staff request to see ID. You must be 18 to purchase a knife, and many stores operate a think 21 policy.
DON’T – Allow any of your flatmates to use your knives for the following; to have an impromptu swordfight, open a tin of any kind, open a coconut.
Recommendations – We have a good range of James Martin Knives, and some novel designs from Voodoo Knives.

4. DO – Buy a wok. It is an extremely versatile piece of cookware, and will allow you to not only cook stir fries (which are economic and healthy), but is also good for frying, steaming and making sauces.
DON’T – leave your wok in the garden to be cleaned by the rain, as this will cause it to rust.
Recommendations – See our Ken Hom Woks, designed with input from the master of oriental cooking.

5. DO – Buy more than one piece of cutlery and tableware. Within ten minutes of being in your flat, you will have ‘lost’ something. Do buy knives, as well as forks and spoons, as you will host more impromptu dinner parties than you realise.
DON’T – buy cheap, thin cutlery, you will bend all of your spoons on your first tub of Ben and Jerry’s.
Recommendations – We have great offers on Monogram Cutlery and Stellar Cutlery sets.

6. DO – Learn to bake. There is no better way to make friends with you neighbours than with muffins and bread. This will serve you well when your house parties run late.
DON’T – allow your flatmates to combine every unwanted foodstuff in your kitchen, to make a ‘cake mix’. The results are not pretty and definitely not edible.
Recommendations – Raymond Blanc Bakeware and Master Class Bakeware are our best selling ranges of baking equipment.

AND FINALLY – do wash all your kitchen ware thoroughly after each use, it will last you far longer, and you won’t have to buy it all again the next year. Remember, it’s food you’re trying to create, not new life forms!

Based loosely on the life of a St Andrews graduate