Kitchen stuff, opinions wanted!

[Serendipity]

I'm doing another purge of my kitchen items. Going from two 9x13's to one, getting rid of a set of 4 baking dishes and lids I never use, a giant metal bowl I only use for pizza dough but that I can use my other bowls for, salad spinner, butter dish, flour sifter, brownie pan, and some odds and ends utensils. Trying to get down to the real bare minimums.

I got stuck deciding between my crockpot and my grandmother's old 12 qt steel pot with lid. Frankly, I rarely use either but in the last six months I have used the crockpot to make beans probably 4 times, and the steel pot to make chili once. I have grand visions of using one or the other to prepare big batches of things to freeze, but it's just not realistically how I cook. Although, once I get things pared down more, maybe I would? Thoughts?

I'm also getting rid of my 8 cookbooks. I have a file folder of printed out recipes I'm trying to decide if I should put them in a binder of recycle them and try to just use them off the computer now that I have a laptop again. I'd love to hear peoples recipe solutions. 

Thanks!

[Serendipity]

oops! this was supposed to be in the de-clutter forum, sorry, i'm a bit rusty! ;-)

[Arduinna]

I think it really depends on how you cook. I would never want to give up my 12 qt stockpot. But I make my own stock and can it and I use the pot for everything for everything from cooking pasta to crawfish boils to chili. As for the crock pot, I could make due without it if I had to but I have 3 of them and  enjoy the piece of mind of not worrying about something on the stove while being able to have stuff cooking while I'm not home or sleeping. So I'd keep both items. But then I also have over 100 cookbook so I'm guessing we aren't on the same page here LOL

[zebra15]

I agree with the PP, it all depends on how you cook.  I can go months and never touch a 9x13 and then find in a matter of days 1 is at the sitters with a cake, 1 is in use at home with a cake/brownies and I need a 3rd that I dont have so I will be trying to patch together 8x8's and stuff to bake what I need.  So I've learned not to pare down too much or I find myself scrambling at certain times of the year.

I good thing to do is look at your holiday baking, party cooking, things like that and see what you need on those 'high volume' days.  Most times I only need one spatula but at party time I really do need all 4 of them ya know?

[Arduinna]

Excellent point about holiday baking, that is partly how I ended up with 3 crockpots lol

[Ramzubo]

If you're not sure about the crock pot or stockpot you can put them on a list to reevaluate in 6 months or whatever. I'm a minimalist but I like to be sure before getting rid of something rather than waste money buying again.

As for recipes, I did a purge of all the cookbooks a year ago. I went through each book, picked out our favorites and typed them up. I had so many books with recipes I would realistically never make that it made it difficult to find ones I would. It was a pain to type them up but totally worth it. Now I have a large binder of recipes separated into categories so its quick and easy to find a recipe.I do planned cooking so I just look up the sale at my grocery then flip through my categories to plan my meals for the week. We eat a more varied diet now and save money on groceries.   After the initial work its easy to keep up, whenever I see a new recipe I just type it up (I get most online anyways now days) and add it to the book. If I find a better recipe just tear out the page and the binder is updated.

[Drummer's Wife]

I'd want to keep both the crock and stock pots - but we use them pretty often.  The cookbooks could go, b/c most recipes I use come from online. 

[Katico]

I agree - consider your holiday or extreme cooking situations.  You may not need something every day, but if you need it once a year and have to go buy another one...kind of defeats the purpose.  Unless you have someone you can borrow from when needed?

Also, a large pot can be useful for lots of strange circumstances, when you need to soak stains, boil diapers, carry veg in from the garden - think of it as a vessel with a large capacity, and if you don't have anything else in your home of a similar size (and clean enough for some tasks), consider keeping it!

Cookbooks and recipes:  I get most of my recipes to try from cooking blogs and I also pick up Everyday Food each month.  Online:  I keep a bookmarked file of things to try.  EF: I rip out the recipes I would like to try and recycle the rest.  Once a recipe has been tried and enjoyed enough to make again, I have a notebook I write them in.  That keeps everything in one place.  I  sometimes check out a cookbook from the library, try things while I have it and write them in the notebook if they pass.  

I also have a card file of recipes from family members but I find they tend to get misplaced, so they are getting put in the notebook too!  

The only thing is that the notebook isn't organized in any way, I write things in as I make them.  A small binder with page protectors and dividers might have been what I did if I had thought that through!