One of the strongest frugal strategies out there is to cook most of your meals at home, but getting started down that path can be an expensive proposition. You need bowls, pots, pans, containers and other tools. Even worse, the selection at most big-box stores is limited, and the prices are high at most stores that cater to home cooks.
Good news: There’s a solution out there for many cost-conscious home chefs. It provides many of the tools a person needs to get started in a home kitchen and sells them at a low price with professional quality. It’s the restaurant supply store.
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Restaurant supply stores cater directly to other businesses. For those who shop at one, the retail experience is very bare bones, but the equipment you buy is usually well-made and offers a tremendous bargain for the dollar. A restaurant supply store is typically laid out like a small-scale warehouse club, except with smaller aisles. The items for sale are often laid out on wire racks. This isn’t your typical store experience, but it is a way to get some great basic gear for your kitchen at a low price.
There’s only one catch: Most restaurant supply stores only sell to businesses by requiring that you provide a business name and address in order to get a free store membership. Thus, in order to use one, you must be representing a business of some kind. This is easy to solve if you run your own business or you work for a small business and can work out an arrangement with the business owner, but it can be trickier if you work for a large corporation. Check with your local restaurant supply store to find out whether it only sells business-to-business.
[See: 50 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2019.]
Here are some of the best bargains for a beginning home chef that can be found at restaurant supply stores.
— Mixing bowls
— Kitchen towels
— Metal cooking spoons
— Aluminum sheet pans
— Cutting boards
— Stainless steel sauce pans
— Nonstick skillets
Read on for additional information on each product.
Mixing bowls. These kitchen staples are typically sold individually rather than as sets, meaning you can just pick out two or three that you need. They’re usually metal, which means they’ll stand up to a beating, and they’re often very inexpensive.
Kitchen towels. You’ll find this product sold in reasonably sized bulk packages. One will usually do for your home kitchen. While they’re very plain, they’re well-made and the price is great per towel.
Metal cooking spoons. This tool is wonderful to have around if you make a lot of soups and stews, and you’ll probably never find a better price on one than at a restaurant supply store.
Aluminum sheet pans. These are great tools to have if you often bake cookies, roast vegetables, make homemade marshmallows or whip up any number of recipes. Get ones that have a small lip, so the ingredients you cook don’t run off the edge.
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Cutting boards. The design found at restaurant supply stores might look pretty boring. They’re usually white, somewhat thick and big. But they will last almost forever, and you’ll appreciate the bigger footprint of restaurant supply cutting boards when doing a lot of chopping. They’re bigger and sturdier than most cutting boards, and the price is definitely right.
Stainless steel sauce pans. These can be found at a much lower price at a restaurant supply store than elsewhere. While aluminum sauce pans might be cheaper, they can degrade over time if you cook acidic foods such as pasta sauces. Get a stainless steel one and it’ll last forever.
Nonstick skillets. These cooking tools almost always end up failing within a few years in your home because the coating begins to peel, so there’s no need to invest a ton of money in one. Restaurant supply stores are a great source for low-cost nonstick skillets.
A final shopping tip: Some of the other items you find at a restaurant supply store are similar in cost to what you might find at a big-box store, but you’ll rarely find anything more expensive at a restaurant supply store. If you want to stock your kitchen, it’s a great one-stop shop for quality items at reasonable prices.
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Use Restaurant Supply Stores to Save Money in Your Home Kitchen originally appeared on usnews.com
