Useful Items for your Kitchen

I'm sure this list will eventually be quite long. So maybe I'll start with kitchen items and move on from there.

Cheesecloth. This is used for all kinds of things. Do not buy cheap cheesecloth as it will not survive the first wash. You can use muslin or cheap pillow case fabric as a substitute sometimes, but not always. I've had good luck with cheesecloth from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Thermometers. Have several. You can't make these yourself and I had two die on me on the same day a couple weeks ago.

Large Stainless Stockpot. Myriad uses.

Large Double Boiler. One can be rigged out of other pans, but having a real one is much more useful.

Food Dehydrators. Look around, you can find deals sometimes on used ones, but they're invaluable for preserving everything from mushrooms to herbs to jerky to fruit rollups. You can also use your oven, or even window screens outside on a hot dry day, but why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. One of these days I'm going to try to the window screens, though.

Hand Can Opener. You'd think this would be an obvious item that everyone has, but especially as the easy open cans become more common, these are less so. But have a power outage and need one and you won't make that mistake twice. Buy a good one..actually, buy two.

Jar Tongs. You need these, trust me.

Magnet on a Stick: I'm living proof you don't need one of these but I sure wish I had one to get canning lids out of the pan I steralize them in. . :)

Funnels. Get a few sizes, they're very handy.

Glass Jars: Canning jars, obviously, but others are handy and much less common than they used to be. Be cautious with the spagetti sauce jars disguised as canning jars as most won't hold up to canning, but they can be used to store jelly, or dehydrated items, or yogurt.

Wire whip and Egg beater. Much fun to get the kids to beat eggs this way and can be used in place of a hand mixer if necessary.

Herb Chopping Knife. This thing is amazing. I bought mine at Meijer on clearance and if you think a knife is an acceptable substitute, you're wrong.

Morter and Pestal. Great for crushing herbs, but other items can be substituted.