13 Kitchen Gadgets You May Already Own

These simple alternatives can save a small fortune

Consumer culture tells us that a purchase exists for every want or need. But with a little creativity, we can often problem-solve using stuff we have on hand.

1. Clothes hanger or music stand as cookbook holder

The hanger works best for smaller cookbooks (and doors with handles). For larger books, use a music stand if you have one because you’re a maestro in the kitchen. Save $25!

2. Wine bottle as rolling pin

A wine bottle works just as well and cleans up easily. Choose a smooth bottle without embossings that would mark up your dough. Then again, embossing might make a nice pattern. Save $20!

3. Rolling pin—or wine bottle!—and knife as pasta maker

Make your dough, roll it out very thinly, dust with flour, then loosely roll the dough up into a log and slice off the noodles. Save $75! (Click here for my homemade pasta recipe. Click here for a vegan pumpkin version.)

4. Colander as vegetable steamer or potato ricer

Place a colander on top of a pot of shallow boiling water for a makeshift vegetable steamer. For very smooth mashed potatoes, push boiled potatoes through a colander with a wooden spoon for a makeshift ricer. Save $23 to $37.

5. Bowl over pot as double boiler

Choose a heat-resistant metal or glass bowl just a little bit bigger than the pot you’ll place it on top of. Boil an inch or two of water in the pot and place the bowl on top. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not come into contact with the surface of the water. In the bowl, melt some chocolate, make a custard or prepare something else that requires gentle heating. Save $70!

6. Cloth produce bag as salad spinner

Place prepped and washed greens in a cloth produce bag, head outside and spin your arm around above your head like a human centrifuge. The force will pull the water away from the greens quickly. The slightly damp bag of greens keeps for about a week. Save $31! (Go here for more on storing produce without plastic.)

7. Damp dishtowel as slip-proof bottom

If you’re emulsifying a sauce, for example, you need both hands: one to drizzle in oil and the other to whisk. Stainless steel bowls with rubbery (plastic) bases stay put on the counter but you get the same effect with a kitchen towel and a standard bowl. Wet the towel, wring it out and twist it into a ring smaller than the bottom of your bowl. Place your bowl in the nest and whisk away. Save $63!

A damp dishcloth under a cutting board prevents it from sliding around the counter while you chop.

8. Towel-lined bowl as banneton basket

I really do love my banneton baskets but a bowl and thin towel will do to proof my dough. Line a bowl with a thin towel, dust it with generous amounts of flour and then place the formed dough on the towel, folding it over on top of the dough. Save $40!

9. Razor blade and stir stick as homemade bread lame

Scoring bread with a razor blade allows the dough to rise more. The lames I looked at years ago consisted of a plastic handle with a fixed razor blade. Once the blade dulled, you tossed the entire thing. So I—carefully!—made my own lame with a wooden stir stick and razor blade. Save $30!

10. Spoon as ginger peeler

Ginger doesn’t usually need to be peeled but when you do peel it, scrape the skin off with a spoon. Unlike a vegetable peeler that removes half the ginger along with the skin, the side of a spoon removes the skin only. (You’ll probably still want a vegetable peeler. So you save nothing on the tool but get more ginger for your money—if you peel it.)

11. Fork as juicer

Stab the cut half a lemon with a fork and continually twist it around to juice the lemon into a bowl or directly into your dish. Save $18!

12. Baking sheet as serving tray

Transform a trashed baking sheet into a shabby chic serving tray by, well, serving food on it. Save $30!

13. Pot as yogurt maker

To make yogurt, in a pot, heat up milk to 180ºF. After it begins to bubble slightly around the edges, remove from the heat immediately to avoid scalding the milk. Let the milk cool to 110ºF, add yogurt from a previous batch and let the mixture sit overnight until it transforms into fresh yogurt.

I had been using a stainless steel pot, which worked well, but a few years ago, upgraded to one of the three Le Creuset pots my neighbor gave me (he didn’t want them!). It retains heat so well. A pilot light in an oven also keeps the culture warm. Or a heating pad. Or any other warm place in your home. (Click here for the instructions to make yogurt.) Save $50!

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Upcoming workshops

• Wednesday, November 2nd: Sauerkraut, the Gateway Ferment, 4pm PT/7pm ET

• Saturday, November 12th: Free Sourdough Starter Workshop, 9am PT/12pm ET

• Thursday, December 1st: Don’t Ditch Your Discard! Make Sourdough Pizza and Tortillas, 4pm PT/7pm ET

Go here for more information on these workshops.