Setting up: the essentials

I’m very thankful that my generous employer honoured my request for a full kitchen in my temporary accommodation, as I don’t think I could survive two months with a studio kitchen. It is always my experience that serviced apartments supply the bare minimum, so I was prepared to pick up a few “extras” to see me through. I’ve been careful to stick to the basics, and to try to purchase items which I will continue to use – rather than just double up on things I already have at home. (The contents of my kitchen will be shipped in mid-October, so there’s no point in duplication.) That said, I’ve also been conscious that “temporary” means up to three months. I don’t really do “camping”, so will need to set a few things up!

My serviced apartment comes with:

• A full set of plates, cutlery, and glassware
• Three saucepans (various sizes)
• One scratched and slightly rusty “non-stick” frypan
• One chopping board
• Three serrated “sharp” knives (various sizes)
• Basic utensils (wooden spoon, vegetable peeler, etc)
• Sachets of instant coffee, sugar, and UHT milk

I’ve slowly added to this.

Week one:

• One 26cm Tefal frypan (deep enough to double as a wok when cooking for one)
• One sharp knife (nothing fancy, just a Wiltshire brand ‘Santoku’ blade, with a good fine edge)
• Plastic wrap

Week two:

• Chopping boards (one is not enough, I like to keep raw meat and veges separate)
• Bag clips (for frozen veges, and keeping ants out of the sugar)
• Measuring cups (they were on sale. Probably not essential, but very handy)
• Latex gloves (for handling raw meat – easier than the full scrub-under-fingernails routine)
• Zip-lock bags for the freezer

Utensils. Back of drawer: standard-issue. Front of drawer: my ‘extras’.



Pretty chopping boards. The little red one is not essential, but I couldn’t resist – it has tiny little suckers on the bottom to stop it slipping (the other side is flat), and it was the last one, on sale.



My frypan. I also picked up a couple of face-cloths, which I use as hand-towels in the kitchen (I never use the tea towel to dry my hands, it’s unhygienic. I use these instead, and throw them in the wash every couple of days)