Passover spending: kitchen

English: Pots, pans and rolling pins : a scene...

I just wrote about what is probably the biggest spending category for many families for Passover: food. But there are lots more to tackle!

  • kitchen things (bowls, dishes, baking rack, pans…almost everything has to be different)
  • New clothes for kids
  • New jewelry / clothes / scarves / etc. for wives (maybe husbands, too, but wives are a mitzva!)
  • nice paper goods or other things to pretty up your seder table
  • guests
  • miscellaneous: cleaning help, dry cleaning, child care, chol hamoed (the in-between days of the holiday) outings, sheital wash and set, etc.

Today we’ll tackle the “second” kitchen we need to feed our families on Passover. It is not actually a full second kitchen, but sometimes it can feel really close!

When I first got married, we bought a lot of our stuff from a local dollar store. Utensils, glasses, plates, wooden spoons, etc. I got a cheap set of mixing bowls for parve and another for dairy and a few pots for dairy and meat. And that was it.

Each year since then, we’ve replaced things as needed and added bigger pots as our family has grown. But I still have a lot of really cheap quality things I’m replacing as we go.

There are a few ways to make it more affordable:

  1. Don’t buy things you don’t need. There is no reason you’ll need a full set of dairy pots and pans if you mostly eat meat. Or need a pasta maker or parmesan cheese shaver if that’s not something you would really use. Extras are just more to unpack, pack up, and store – and maybe even not use! Don’t waste your money or space.
  2. Keep a list so you can shop year round. I have this on my Passover worksheet. Each year I look at what I have and what I need, and as I pack things up, I take note. Then, throughout the year, when I come across something at a good price, I can buy it. I add it to my dipping pile (for dipping in the mikva) and when it’s ready, I put it into my Passover area. It’s ready to pull out when Passover comes around again!
  3. Don’t break the bank! If you’re starting out, junk is better than breaking the bank. But junk doesn’t work as well, it’s not as pleasant to work with, and it’s going to need to be replaced. On the other end of the spectrum is expensive pieces. They are nice to work with and last – but they cost a lot more than they are worth. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot. It’s just one week out of the year, but it is a week with a LOT of cooking.

There are good deals to be had in the kitchen department, and if you do your shopping early, you can find a better deal than grabbing whatever fits the bill in the store you ran into right when you need it. You can find a lot of good deals online – Amazon especially has a wide selection.

Here are just a few examples I’ve seen recently that would be good to add to your Passover kitchen:

These parve mixing bowls for under $10 for the set

And my one big dairy bowl will be joined by my blue (formerly parve) mixing bowls. No more color confusion! (Woo hoo!)

We also have some cutting boards like these:

Not fantastic for year round use, but good for chopping for the week. I do have some good knives to go with these.

For $23 you can get a hand mixer – whipping egg whites and frothing yolks by hand is hard on the arms!

You still have the time to order things and get them in time. So check out your list and see what you need to order or find in stores. And keep a wishlist from this year for next year’s Passover so you can do even better for next year’s Passover shopping.

Permanent link to this article: https://organizedjewishhome.com/2013/03/04/passover-spending-kitchen/

2 comments

    • Ilana on March 5, 2013 at 2:51 pm

    IKEA has really cheap kitchen things which last. We got a set of pots for Pesach the first year we got married and still use them. Also we got their mixing bowls. You can also kasher silverware that you use during the year ( it’s free, you know what is fleishig and milchig, and it will not break like plastic utensils) but this year I decided to “splurge” and got a set each from IKEA.
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      • Amital on March 7, 2013 at 9:04 am
        Author

      Good point! Ikea is a good place for inexpensive kitchen things, but only if there is one nearby. I happen to have one less than a mile from my house, which is good for me!

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