Cookie sheets and cutting boards; Or the Things I Let Go To Pot

by Jonniker

I don't know what it is about my kitchen gear that I don't think I DESERVE to buy nice or even, in some cases, functional things. If my pants were falling off of my body, I would . . . buy new pants. When I run out of make-up, I buy new make-up.

So why is it that when my cutting boards are so sliced and beaten up that they're probably hotbeds of ambient e coli and salmonella, do I think I don't need to replace them? You guys, I have a cookie sheet that is literally black with what I jokingly call "seasoning," as though it is a precious cast iron skillet. It isn't. It's a $4 cookie sheet that I am too stubborn to replace, even though I can't even properly clean it anymore, because who knows if that's dirt or just burnt-on CRAP? 

See also: vegetable peelers. My dad visited recently and almost removed the tip of his finger with my sub-par vegetable peeler. "Do you use this thing?" he asked accusingly, leading me to confess that no, I actually didn't, and had been peeling veggies with a butcher knife instead, so far gone was my $5 peeler. 

I replaced it recently and SURPRISE YOU GUYS. I can peel carrots in half the time, without fear of removing my knuckles in the process. 

I have a $20 olive oil dispenser that I consider . . . indispensible (see what I did there?), but when it comes to basics, I just let my stuff go to pot. And this is stuff I use EVERY DAY. Every day! 

So you know what I'm doing this week, y'all? I'm buying myself some basics. Nothing fancy, just basic things that no longer harbor disease and bacteria. It's the little things, I guess. Like this:

Good Cook Non-Stick Cookie Sheets, $17. 

I can afford $17, especially since I make the expenditure once every 20 years. 

For God's sake, I can get a set of three wooden cutting boards for $15. 

There. I have solved my problems for around $30. THIRTY DOLLARS. With that price, I can even afford to buy a SILICONE cutting board set for meats n' stuff.

 

(Obvious PSA: Wood cutting boards are less sanitary because of the grain, so don't go slicing raw meat on them, ya hear? Otherwise my salmonella nightmare could be your reality.)

{Photo credit: All photos from Amazon.com}

Comments

[HereWeGoAJen]

I just got some really nice cookie sheets at Sams Club, after my father-in-law ruined two of mine. Wait, I obviously have the same problem as you, since I just realized that I "just" bought them, in December 2010. I still consider them BRAND NEW.

[H]

Twenty years after I was married, I gave my cookie sheets and pot holders (which I'd received as wedding gifts) as white elephant gifts for a neighborhood Christmas party. Not only were they the hit of the party, my friends were dying with laughter when they found out I'd been using them right up until I wrapped them up for the party. I had been lining the sheets with foil or parchment when I used them. The pot holders were stained, burned (?) and frayed - oh, and ugly.

[Erica]

I like the segregated silicon cutting board approach, but now I don't think I can buy that brand because the fact that they put PLANTS on the MEAT BOARD for the publicity shot has tarnished it for me.

[Elizabeth]

That's actually not true about the wood cutting boards, fyi!
http://lifehacker.com/5847591/10-stubborn-food-myths-that-just-wont-die

[Sarah Anne]

I'm the SAME WAY with cutting boards. My husband ends up throwing them out,bless him. I have no idea what my issue is, but I have plastic boards that are melted, half sliced and stained to high hell...but I use them. Everyday.

Once, one melted as it got too close to the burner (chaotic kitchen perhaps?) and instead of tossing it? I cut the end off to make it even, and said "Oh, this little scrap would make a handy little board for..." and my husband grabbed it, and threw it away. :P