What ten or so basic tools do you need to cook (utensils, pots, dishwashing
equipment) under minimal circumstances such as camping or traveling or living
in a house where the kitchen is being remodeled?  I am already assuming a
source of water (lake, stream, neighbor's outdoor faucet, etc.) and a source
of heat (camping stove, hotplate...) and soap or detergent, and a place to
dump the dirty water.  

10 responses total.

We are cooking at the building site, where there is electricity and a stove.
Not too long ago it was a hotplate.  Water from the neighbor's faucet.  The
minimum for our style of cooking tends to require:
1.  a small pot for oatmeal
2.  a pressure cooker for rice or other grain, and a second one for beans is
nice but not essential
3.  a large frying pan for vegetables, which also worked for bread.
(Covers for all of these)
4.  a bowl for each of us, ditto spoon, fork for cooking
5.  cutting board and sharp knife
(I am up to 14 including covers already).
6.  a Chinese spatula sort of thing, triangular and curved, for turning,
stirring, and serving food
7.  nice but not necessary:  dishpan (you can pour water into the cleanest
bowl or pot first, rub it around with your fingers, then on to the next
dirtiest, etc.), sponge, plastic scrubber, old dishtowel.

We have gone camping with a much sparser arsenal.  One camping trip it was
a camp stove and a wok and a small pressure cooker.   We cooked over wood
fires for a month once and everything smelled hickory smoked.  JIm used to
climb trees and knock down dead limbs.

8.  also handy are a couple of tofu containers (2 cup plastic) for mixing
things, holding washed lettuce, etc., and a colander

Knives, cutting board, big pot, colander, sauce pan,
frying pan, cheese grater, wire whisk, wooden spoon,
flipper, spatula, stainless steel bowls of various 
sizes, covers for bowls, ladle, corkscrew, bottle 
opener, can opener, peeler, baking pans, aluminum 
foil, this isn't very helpful, is it?, coffee pot, 
tea pot, tea ball, half-gallon covered pitcher, 
Brita water filter carafe, I just like the sounds of
these words, baking pan, baking sheet.

That's if you want to carry civilization around with
you.  On camping trips, we've made do with a Coleman
stove and one of those camp-out kits with nested
pots and pans, and a few utensils.  Do NOT, under any
circumstances, forget the can opener and the corkscrew.

We never use can openers or corkscrews on our garden produce or frozen
vegetables or anything we would take camping.  I have found those camping kits
inappropriate for the way we cook, the pots are all too small.

It's true, the "big" pot would barely pass muster as a
large sauce pan in our kitchen.  You can boil 4 or 5 ears
of corn in it, which is not bad, and you can certainly make
a lot of soup.  Depends how many you need to cook for,
I guess.

The can opener is for tomato paste, the corkscrew is for 
wine.  I love to eat and drink "all'aperta."

   frying pan, sauce pan, coffee pot, sharp knife, plate, bowl, cup,
spoon, spatula, dishcloth, potholder (fork optional).

Let's see...

some way of obtaining or building bread
a large saucepan for pasta
a bowl for cereal and pasta and such
Knife, fork, spoon
stove
microwave
tea maker (coffee press thingy)
coffee mug

I can do a lot with the above.  But add a crockpot for cooking up lentils or
beans, a rice cooker, etc. for other things.  Oh, and measuring utensils, the
occasional skillet, a big pot to bake granola in, and we get complicated from
there.  Still, I only have a tiny little food chopper which gets used rarely
(no Cuisinart), and a lot of things I don't use very often at all.

spork, pot, frying pan, knife (swiss army will work in a pinch), 
dishcloth

On a road trip this summer, we cooked with that sort of setup.  It worked,
but it wasn't wonderful, and I certainly wouldn't reccomend it for a
fully-equipped home kitchen.  There are some things you couldn't cook with
just those.  And if nothing else, doing all your chopping with a swiss army
knife will drive you slowly insane.

But if you're gonna be that minimalist, you don't even need any of
those....you just need a fire and a big stick :)

I have not found any way to cook rice with a stick over a fire.  Potatoes,
maybe.  Beans?

Okay, you do have a point.

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