...is a bit complicated, but doable. The room comes with the basics: a full-size stovetop/oven, toaster, microwave, coffeemaker, and the bare minimum of kitchen accoutrements (4 plates; 4 glasses; 4 mugs; a colander; a cutting board; and so on). The trick was figuring out what to bring from my own kitchen, in order to make the thing full-service.
So here's what I brought:
1 big skillet
1 4.5 qt copper-core dutch oven
1 13.25 qt Le Creuset dutch oven
1 pizza stone
1 big cookie sheet
1 large casserole dish
1 large Crockpot
1 food processor, with attachments
my recipes
Joy of Cooking
all my knives, plus sharpener
pepper grinder
Utensils: 1 flat whisk, 1 rubber spatula, 1 pair tongs, a couple of measuring cups and spoons, 1 cooking thermometer, 1 vegetable peeler, 1 ladle, 1 microplaner (used for zesting), 1 bottle opener, 1 wine corkscrew, 1 egg separater (the hotel provided 1 spatula, 1 serving spoon and 1 slotted serving spoon, plus can opener)
So far that's served all my cooking needs. I really miss my wooden spoons, bench knife/scraper thingey, and my pizza wheel cutter thingey, but I can work around their absence. I had to run out to the dollar store and buy a very large plastic mixing bowl, since the hotel's one provided mixing bowl is pretty small. I can use the dutch ovens as both cooking tool and mixing bowl. I also brought some tupperware, and supplemented that with Gladware when we arrived.
So, the lesson here is that you can throw together a fully functional kitchen with just the above. (The hotel provided a couple of smaller pots and pans, but they're so crappy I'm trying not to use them.) The "specialty" stuff (pie pans, loaf pans, etc.) is all in storage, so I just won't make any cakes or pies or whatever in the meantime. Though I may need a pie pan anyway, so I can make quiches and tarts and things.
Next up: a hotel room pantry.
Wow your hotel room came equipped! We've lived in motels for weeks at a time and I've learned EXACTLY what I need and don't need. All of the places I've stayed don't have ovens, sadly.
ReplyDeleteMy super pared down bare-minimum list:
Crockpot, rice cooker (for baking/cooking w/o an oven or hotplate)
Can opener, knife, cutting board
Wooden spoons (use for stirring and for serving)
Measuring cup (at LEAST a 2 cup pyrex), spoons
I didn't have one at the time - but if we had to live in a hotel room again I'd definitely bring my immersion blender, too.
I can remember washing the crockpot in the bathtub! And my pantry was kept in Rubbermaid totes. One place we lived in for about a month only offered a teensy little beer/dorm fridge. I had 3 toddlers, so I'd mix up exactly 1 quart of powdered milk for them - that's all that would ift in it!