Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
angela12345_gw

What Tools are need for cooking Gourmet Meals - - at beach rental

angela12345
11 years ago

We own a vacation rental home at the beach that people rent for one week stays. Our rental company is going to start rating the houses from one star to five stars. To get the five star rating, one of the criteria is that the house have "tools for cooking gourmet meals".

My question to you all is ... at a minimum, what tools would you EXPECT to find in a house advertised as having tools for cooking gourmet meals ? We already have a very well stocked kitchen, much more than most of the other beach houses. But I want to make sure I am not overlooking anything.

We are very simple cooks and usually eat things fairly plain ... meat (baked fish, meat on grill, rotisserie chicken), with a vegetable or two usually from the freezer, and a carb of some sort (pasta, rice, potato). I wouldn't even begin to know what was considered "tools for cooking gourmet meals"!! I'm not talking about every possible little gadget that you may use once a year. Just a list of the necessary items to include ?

This is the main cookware set that we have, although we also have a few other pieces as well, primarily larger stock pots for crab boils etc. It's not the top of the line expensive cookware, but things get stolen from the house sometimes. We wanted nice cookware but not toooo nice, LOL. It is nicer than what is in the other houses that we have seen, although granted we haven't seen very many of them. http://www.samsclub.com/prod3320144.ip

We also have a few nonstick pieces that have a lifetime warranty and are metal utensil safe http://shop.farberwarecookware.com/farberware-millennium-cookware.html

Comments (4)

  • anoriginal
    11 years ago

    Don't know that I'd want to advertise having tools for "gourmet" meals... maybe more like well equiped kitchen?

    At a beach place... a BIG pot should be way up on list... multi-tasker for pasta, crabs, lobsters, clams, mussels.

    WOuld want a few SHARP knives! Pots/pans... a few sauce pans & skillets. Some big bowls for mixing, serving, salads.

    My sister has a place in WV mountains that she rents out as much as possible. She has a lot of thing that most would not expect in a vacation place... like blander, food proccessor, hand (not stand) mixer... and a bunch of other stuff that came from our dad's house. Says she buy decent (but inexpensive) non-stick skillets several times a year... renters tend to "drive them like it's not theirs"!?

    Has a gas grill on deck. One bunch of renters called main office to complain that it didn't work... ended up they didn't turn gas ON!! Another ground couldn't get the lava rocks in GAS grill to burn... so tossed them over side of deck and burned WOOD instead... on the GAS!

    Thinking some kinda roasting pan would be nice. Whenever I went on ski vacations with friends, we'd cook a few BIG meals... like a whole turkey, ham, big meatloaf. They'd be a full meal and then we'd just pick at them till gone.

    Maybe some basic herbs/spices? Definitely S&P... maybe iin those grinder thingies.

    Decent cork screw and can opener. Assortment of metal and wood/silicone tools. GRILL tools... BIG fork, spatula, tongs, wire brush.

    Whenever something goes missing, she assumes renters destroyed it?? As long as nothing major... oh, well!

  • lindac
    11 years ago

    Neither my parents nor my DH and I ever have owned a vacation home....so we have always rented. I used to pack a big soup pot and my cuisinart to snow country...I have made cookies and bread on the bottom of an 9 by 12 aluminum cake pan, made pies in a cast iron fry pan and rolled the crust with a whiskey bottle, and boiled lobster in an enamel roaster.
    But it's lovely when there is a blender a good food processor with grating and slicing discs, a big pot for soup or crabs, a non stick fry pan that's not worn out, a whisk and a ladle, measuring cups and several mixing bowls. As for sharp knives....I wouldn't expect it....but a sharpener would be nice.
    And a decent can opener, garlic press and vegetable peeler.
    And....of course an oven that is accurate, cook top with all burners working, refrigerator with working ice machine and freezing compartment large enough for some vegetables and a couple of cartons of ice cream.

    By "cooking gourmet meals at the beach" I believe they really mean just "cooking"....as opposed to buying frozen stuff and just cooking that....facilities for cooking a turkey dinner....or a big pot of French onion soup, or a couple of baguettes, breakfast muffins instead of cellophane wrapped donuts.

  • ghoghunter
    11 years ago

    I agree with everything so far but would ike to add to it. We rent at the beach and we love to cook. It is really important to have some decent serving ware as well as the cooking ware..like bowls big enought to serve in..When you make a big spaghetti dinner you need large bowls plus a large bowl for salad. Also cheap wine glasses are nice for having wine with your dinner. Our beach house was well stocked with nice cook ware and they even had decent cookie sheets! Also some big 9 by 13 baking pans for when you want to make a casserole...we wanted to make blueberry muffins but had no muffin pans but there was a 9 by 9 glass baker so we used that instead! There was two smallish cutting boards so that was good too. We think cooking is part of the fun on the vacation!
    Joann

  • westsider40
    11 years ago

    What everyone said and
    large metal trays to transport grilled food back to the eating area. A few sets of tongs, graters, acrylic drinkware, cheap straw baskets, stack of misc cloth napkins to line baskets and sundry uses, ice bucket,-serveware as noted by Joann, --- strainer, colanders, a few disposable alumin. ovenware( a buck or less). Griddle for pancakes, pitchers for drinks, several plastic dishwasher safe cutting boards. Wood cutting boards will get trashed and may feel less than sanitized. Raid the dollar store!

    I would do whatever you can to make ongoing cleaning easy-which will help to keep your stuff cleaner. Grill brushes, foils, disposables