Kitchen equipment – A penny pinched

Category : Kitchen equipment

March 2011: How did we do?

April 3rd 2011 Posted at Budget, Kitchen equipment, Pinching penies
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This month’s groceries, personal care items, and cleaning supplies cost a grand total of $233.52, which is $91.48 under my monthly budget of $325. It was a 5-week month, so perhaps that accounts for the slightly higher spending, but it will all even out in the end. I’m not very good about tracking my savings, but the numbers I did write down total up to $139.25. This number would be quite a bit higher if I were a bit more diligent in recording the savings shown on every receipt, and also if I bothered to figure out just how much I’m saving on the items I buy at Costco.

I wish I could say all this extra cash went straight into the savings account, but where’s the fun in that? I treated myself to a few kitchen toys that set me back around $200. I snagged a shiny new All-Clad 12-Inch Fry Pan on eBay. Then I started obsessing about Le Creuset. Unfortunately, I understand that the Le Creuset outlet store in Kansas City closed a while back, and the eBay deals weren’t all that hot. I finally realized how ridiculous I was and settled for a much more budget-friendly Lodge 6-Quart Dutch Oven in emerald green. Of course, I needed the Le Creuset Stainless Steel Knob if I wanted to bake bread in it. At this point, what’s a couple more things, right? A T-Fal Professional Total Nonstick 12-1/2-Inch Fry Pan and a Lodge Logic 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet rounded out my order. The total damage was $200.12, which was then slightly reduced by an Amazon gift card from Opinion Outpost and by last week’s eBay Groupon. Whew!

Now you may be wondering how I can write about All-Clad and Le Creuset on a blog titled “A penny pinched.” It seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? I personally believe in pinching pennies wherever I can so that I can spend on the things that really matter to me. Donate, save, yes, bot don’t live like a miser. Treat yourself once in a while.

Knives: set or stock?

May 20th 2010 Posted at Kitchen equipment, Pinching penies
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I struggled with the decision to post this, wondering if it fits the bill as a penny pinching article. In the end I decided that this is a place where I share how I saved money, whether it’s pennies or more.

I have had knife envy since over two years ago, after reading about The Pioneer Woman‘s favorite knife. At the time I was still stuck in the Caribbean and I was daydreaming about all the great things I would do and buy once I returned to the States.

Well, I’ve been back for a while now and I thought it was about time to stop daydreaming and start acting. I bought some knives not too long ago and I researched the hell out of this topic before making my purchase. Time and time again I read that the best thing you can do is purchase knives individually after considering what your needs are. Granted, two-three knives tended to be almost unanimously recommended, but the bottom line was that you should always pick knives that YOU need and that going with a set was often overkill.

I won’t bore you with my thought process while deciding on German versus Japanese and while selecting the specific knives I wanted. I went with Wusthof Classic and I decided on three basic knives: 8″ chef’s knife, bread knife, and paring knife. I know what you’ll say. Not exactly an example of frugality. Maybe not at first glance, but having decided on these particular knives after extensive research, I concluded that it wouldn’t make much financial sense to buy cheaper knives at first only to end up replacing them with what I really wanted later.

So off I went to price the knives I had chosen. What did I find? There were good deals to be had on sets, no doubt about that. Knife sets traditionally come with several knives you will probably rarely use, but there were some sets that came awfully close to what I needed. I almost fell victim to the marketing ploys (“But you get steak knives with this set!”), but I was strong. In the end, however, the individual knives were much more affordable, especially when purchased on eBay.

Here’s what I got:

knife block with steel and shears – $25.90
chef’s knife and paring knife – $87.45
bread knife – $34.79
knife sharpener – $16.45
Total: $164.59

The cheapest set I could have purchased and that had all the knives I wanted was $249.95. I managed to save quite a bit of money by doing my homework. Was it a frugal purchase? No, but I would say it qualifies me as a penny pincher.