Take Inventory

Once you have an idea of which appliances, pots, pans, and utensils are essential in your kitchen, the next step is to take inventory. Not only do you need to see what you have, but you should also assess the condition it is in.

This step may seem unnecessary at first glance. However, if you take inventory you will potentially save money. This is because a lot of people waste energy purchasing things they may already have. People buy things and then forget about them almost constantly. After going through your things you may realize you don’t need as much as you thought. This means that you will save money. Here are some tips:

• Make a list of exactly what you have.
• Compare that to your list to determine what you need.
• Also determine if any of your items are old and need to be replaced.

If you do those three things, it will give you an idea of exactly what you need to buy.

Make Calculated Purchases

When people go out to buy kitchen equipment, they often find themselves at the store in a state of confusion. Even something that seems so simple as buying a saucepan can get complicated quickly. You have a choice as to what material the pan is made of, the grip, the size, and the brand.

Most people make their purchases based on certain criteria, such as price. Or, they’ll talk to the sales staff and make a decision based on their recommendation. While these methods certainly represent great reasons to buy something, it does not reveal the true picture.

The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in the house. And in a lot of households, the kitchen and the various appliances and cooking supplies are used multiple times a day. This means that if you purchase the wrong equipment, or things that are not built to last, then you could end up replacing it within just a few months. That is why buying the least expensive kitchen equipment in the market is not always a good idea. You end up spending more in the long run because you need to replace it often.

So, as you shop for kitchen items, remember that the least expensive product may not suit your needs. You need to be able to make calculated purchases and find a balance between reasonably priced items and those that are built to last.

Gather Information

An easy way to help you make calculated purchases is to gather product information. There are several ways you can do this.

• Gather information and product specs from the manufacture. Visit their website or look on the box.
• Ask others what their favorite kitchen appliances and utensils are. Talk with your friends and family members and you can also find the information online.
• Read product reviews. You can find them online and in consumer magazines. There are a lot of people out there who take the time to review the various kitchen tools and appliances and share their findings with others. 
• Attend product demonstrations and test out the products on your own. That way, you can see first hand how a product functions. 
• Which products do professional chefs use? They are committed to finding equipment that will last. This is information will be important for those items that you use often.

Once you find the information, you can make educated decisions about what you would like to buy. This step may not seem as if it is directly related to making money. However, if you make calculated purchases and gather as much information as you can, you will not waste money by purchasing things that are unnecessary.

Plus, if you go to a store and already have knowledge about what you want to buy, this will help you converse with the sales staff in an educated manner. If you are torn between several products, they can actually help you make a decision. If you were to arrive at the store without knowing what to buy, the chances of you ending up with something you don’t like or don’t need is an easy way to waste money.

It would be hard to find someone who at one time or another did not fall prey to the latest trends in kitchen equipment. A special blender to create smoothies. A gadget to help you chop vegetables. A knife set whose manufacturers claim can saw through metal. We all have at least one “wonder gadget” collecting dust in our kitchens.

The truth is, these gadgets seldom live up to their claims. The commercials, while not overtly deceiving us, somehow manage to make the product look and seem a little better than it is. So we buy it and in the end we waste our money.

If we embrace the latest trends in cooking gadgets whenever we see something that we think will make our lives easier, we end up spending more money than we need to. This is not a cost effective way to stock our kitchens with helpful and useful tools.

Your best bet is to stock your kitchen with tools and appliances that are time tested. Your goal is to spend your money on the basics. You will learn that a high quality chef’s knife, for example, is one of the most versatile tools in the kitchen. The smoothie blender, on the other hand, will likely collect dust.

However, that does not mean that you should not purchase a kitchen tool that you fell will make your life easier. There is a time and a place to purchase these items. But you run the danger of making a bad decision and wasting your money. So, it is a good idea to only buy these items if you already have a well stocked kitchen. The error is when people think they are going to replace the need for a high quality knife because they purchased the latest shopping gadget.

If you look at the kitchens of top chefs, you will likely only see the basic tools and equipment that have been time-tested and are incredibly durable. This is something that you should consider as you feel yourself being swayed by the hype.

Your goal is to save money. A good way to do that is to steer clear of the latest trends and purchase only those things that are absolutely necessary. And, if you spend all of your money on gadgets, you will not have enough left in your budget to purchase durable things that are higher quality which will actually help you save money in the long run.