Anyone travel with kitchen utensils? lol. I know it sounds ridiculous but I stay in each spot for 6 months, get a local apartment and eat as healthy as possible so cooking is important.
What I have been doing is just buying what’s missing each time, usually around $200-300. Blender, spatula, knife sharpener, non aluminum fry pan, food storage containers, 2 large plastic cups for my smoothies (I make 2 days at a time), stuff like that.
But I also make my own desserts, to avoid white processed sugar and feed my addiction, and this gets a little more complicated. Today I bought 2 metal bowls, measuring spoons/cups and I want to buy a food scale and an oven thermostat. 😁
I usually donate the stuff to friends or the apartment owner when I leave.
But lately I have been thinking out might be easier/better to just bring another bag with me like a rolling suitcase and pack a small but complete kitchen so I don’t have to buy every time. I think an extra bag was $35 each way.
It’s an enormous amount of time finding all these things in a new place as well, although it helps me figure where to get supplies quickly.
Any other people out there living similar and encountering the same struggle?
I'm freaked out by Teflon and plastic so yeah I hear ya. I've carried high quality items in the past and supplemented with cheap stuff when I arrive. Typically in my suitcase you'd find a stainless frying pan, a good, sharp chef's knife, an immersion blender and small food processor attachment, a stainless french press, a small stainless cookie flipper/spatula, a water filter, and a spice kit, plus whatever else I have space for. Most of that stuff packs pretty easily with clothes around it, but obvs you can't do it in a carry on. Rubber spatulas, stainless pots and pans, a good coffee mug/plate/bowl, etc. are usually easy to pick up at a thrift shop in wealthier countries or the open market in less wealthy ones, so I just bring the things with me that would be expensive or difficult to replace. Almost no airbnb has stainless fry pans, though, and they almost always have plastic utensils, Nespresso/pod coffee makers, and other things I'd just rather avoid.