Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
How many sets of dishware do you have in your kitchen?
1 3 (15%)
2 9 (45%)
3 or more 7 (35%)
Don't keep kosher, don't care 0 (0%)
Disposables only 1 (5%)
Total Votes: 20
Kosher technicalities: how many sets of kitchen utensils do you have?
Topic Started: Apr 17 2009, 10:56 AM (1,361 Views)
LittleL
baby
[ * ]
Hi all.

I've been thinking about a kosher question for a while. My parents don't keep kosher and didn't teach me much, but I intend to do so once I leave the nest after this summer. :yum So I've been thinking a lot and taking notes of what kinds of pans and utensils I actually like to use and what for, trying to make a guess of what I'll need. I guess we all have some funny cooking-thingies just lying around there without being used, I'll try not to buy any of those. ;)


My question for you is: How many sets of utensils/dishware/pots&pans do you actually have?

I realize there's a minimum of one set for miklig and one for fleischig so 2 seems to be very common. But I have come to wonder: isn't it easier to have one parve too? I mean, if you make something parve in a milkig pan it really isn't parve is it? So if you have to have multiple sets anyway, one could as well be parve.

How do you do this? And how do you keep them apart. Colour coding? DIfferent designs? I'd love to hear a bit about your system!

Love, yaya

Lin
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lilac7
Member Avatar
queen
[ *  *  *  * ]
i would love to hear about this too!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
U Tarzan Me Jane
Member Avatar
Rebbetzin
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I have two sets, and a few pieces that are pareve (my food processor)

If I want something to use with both milk and meat I'll cook in a disposable pan, using plastic utensils if necessary.

It is possible for something to be totally pareve while cooked in a meat or dairy pan, but there are specific circumstances. In most cases, cooking something in a clean pan whether it is meat or dairy, the food will be pareve, but should not be eaten with food that is dairy if it was cooked in a meat pot, or meat ood if it was cooked in a dairy pot. But, you would not need to wait between foods as you would after eating food that is meat or dairy.

Practical example, I cook macaroni in a clean meat pot. I can eat the macaroni, but not with cheese or a glass of milk. But after i finish the macaroni, I wash my mouth out with a drink and can eat as much cheese as I please. There is no need to wait 6 hours, as I would have to do if I ate chicken or meat.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lilac7
Member Avatar
queen
[ *  *  *  * ]
So that means you have to know in advance how you'll be eating the food? It seems hard
For example if I make macaronni, I might eat them with cheese, but next day eat them with a piece of meat
Or if I make salad (parve) I can serve it with dinner that has meat, but next day might eat it with dairy food
So basically you have to either cook parve food in parve dishes or know in advance how you will use it?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
LittleL
baby
[ * ]
Disposables, what a great idea! :)

Your macaroni example was very good. :hi5 Still, that's why I consider maybe having one parve set for that pasta? Especially if you want to put sth in the freezer or get some leftovers for the next day which maybe you'd like to combine in a different way.

Seems I've still got a lot to learn. :huh
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
lilac7
Member Avatar
queen
[ *  *  *  * ]
what about dishwasher - do you have to wash parve dishes by hand because they can't go with either meat or dairy in the same dishwasher?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
LittleL
baby
[ * ]
Lilac, seems you and I think the same way about this, I love making huuuuge batches of potato soup for example, fill up the freezer and then when I eat it some time later I'll add some grated cheese one day, another day some chicken and so on. So I'm almost decided on 3 sets...

Any more wisdom from you lovely ladies here? :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Reverse Karma
aishes chayil
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
You need to know what you're cooking. I didn't go out and buy 6 of anything(meat, dairy, pareve; meat pasover, dairy pasover, pareve passover.)

I don't want anylthing the same for meat and dairy, anyway, as I don't want to mix them up. For example, I get metal spatulas for meat, plain black plastic for pareve, whereas I buy the brightest colors I can find for dairy.

did that help at all ?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
LittleL
baby
[ * ]
I didn't even know about the particular passover thing... :dontknow

Good thing I wont have my own kitchen yet for a while... :ha
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
zuncompany
Member Avatar
Administrator
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
So I had to say 1 cause honestly, we keep our kitchen meat completely. My daughter is ana. to dairy so dairy is a treat in our house. Every once in a while we get dairy pizza from the pizza shop and eat it on disposables or cold cheese cut with plastics on plastic plates.

Honestly now though if I make a pot of noodles they are gone before I could consider using them for more than one thing. LOL If I really want cheese though I might fake myself by using pareve cheese and melt it on the noodles. Not everyone likes it but I have found ways in which I can eat it. For my kids its a no biggie cause the little one has never had real cheese and the boys have always called it pareve cheese or girl cheese (cause of this sister) and don't think of it tasting like dairy cheese but rather having its own taste.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
npl
Bala Buste
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I have 2 full sets (not counting Pesach) - 1 dairy, 1 meat. I also recently was given a set of dishes for shabbos (just the dishes). I have a few things for Parev - baking stuff, a pot for making boiled eggs, stuff for putting out party food, like bowls and plates, and a sharp knife and cutting board. I bought a really cheap set of pots from IKEA (the 3 for $12 set) for Pesach milchigs, but I didn't use them, so I'll keep them for parev, too, so I can cook dried beans, etc and melt chocolate for desserts.
I have different things for dairy and meat, though, because of what I make for each, and most of what I have I bought bit-by-bit, as I found that I really needed it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Estie
Member Avatar
aishes chayil
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
I have 3 sets of pots for weekday and a little less than that for Passover

That is I have a full meat set for both weekday and passover
I have several parve pots and lots of pyrex etc for both
milk I have the least - a set of pots for weekday but for passover I only have a 9 inch or so frying pan for cheese omelettes and that is it.

but I don't have a full set of parve flatware, just cooking basics like a ladle, a few mixing spoons and spatulas.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
JRKmommy
Member Avatar
Bala Buste
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Dishes:

1 nice set of china (got from my late grandmother) for meat
1 cheap set of dishes for dairy
If you don't have much room, use disposable for Pesach. However, last year we bought cheap set of dishes in different colours for meat and milk for Pesach.

Cutlery: Separate meat and milk sets, all metal. I kasher each set for Pesach. Make the patterns very different - for example, plain for one, more pattern for the other.

Pots: Found deals on 2 separate sets of all-metal - for meat, the set has copper bottoms so I can tell them apart. All metal = can be kashered for Pesach. I also bought a HUGE soup pot (around 25 quarts), all metal, which I use for Pesach because I host the family Seders. No need to duplicate for dairy, because I just use it to make chicken stock.

Pans: You can get nice big non-stick saute pans/woks in colors - red for meat, blue for dairy. For Pesach, I got a meat and a milk fry pan. For baking dishes, I used disposable foil for Pesach.
If you bake, silicone stuff is great, and it also comes in red and blue.

Cooking utensils: I use nylon ones with pink handles for meat, blue for dairy. I got cheaper sets in blue and red for Pesach last year.

Small appliances: Kettles and urns, rice cooker and food chopper are parev. Blender is dairy, immersion blender is meat. Crock pots are meat.

I found some great back-to-school color-coded stuff in Sept., aimed at college kids but very handy for kosher kitchens on a budget.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marion
Member Avatar
aishes chayil
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
I have a full set for dairy, a full set for meat. I have a few pots and lots of utensils, and even more cake tins that are pareve, but no pareve dishes or flatware. For Pesach I have meat, dairy, and my mixing bowls are pareve. I don't believe in disposables, unless I'm taking something to someone else's home and don't want to have to worry about getting something back. I only bake pareve because I never know what I'm serving it with (Shavuot cheesecake is the exception, and I have a single dairy baking dish for that, and mix by hand). Pasta I make "meat" or dairy, but I mix everything in together so I know if I was planning on meat sauce or cheese & tuna.

In terms of cost, we were given 3 sets of pots, and several individual pots, when we got married. (I think the Sears' home sale was the week after we announced our engagement. And I already owned one set from my single days.) We registered for dishes & cutlery, and people contributed to our registry. We still don't really have fleishig dishes for Pesach, but we have enough for 4 adults and 2 kid-friendly plates. Hopefully we'll find dishes we like between now and next Pesach.
Edited by Marion, Apr 18 2009, 12:25 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bas Melech
Member Avatar
queen
[ *  *  *  * ]
I chose both 2 sets and disposables only because although I have two sets of dishes (not counting the Shabbos dishes) we rarely actually use them for meals, rather we use the disposables. I have two sets of pots and other utensils/cutlery etc. My husband dislikes using disposables, so he's the one who uses the dishes more than anyone else.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · In the Kitchen · Next Topic »
Add Reply