Reddit reviews Proctor Silex Electric Tea Kettle, Water Boiler & Heater, 1L, Auto-Shutoff & Boil-Dry Protection, White (K2070Y)

I'd go for an Aeropress, a decent hand grinder and an electric kettle. You will have far superior coffee, you can use the kettle to make all sorts of food (boxed mac and cheese, ramen noodles, cous cous, etc.), you will save some money and you will be able to explore all sorts of amazing freshly roasted beans.

buy a steamer since it shouldn't break ANY school dorm rules at all, (and maybe an electric kettle like this for things like tea or whatever.)

Then, just every few days, pick up healthy meals at a cheaper place, say Aldi. (Aldi has frequently been cheaper than Walmart or Costco per oz. Just figure out when they get their shipments, though, because produce is only good there like twice a week) and just steam your meals. Buy some spices to make it yummy, and if you get the electric kettle you can heat water or milk to makes sauces.

The only thing that is difficult to do with a steamer is red meat. Usually to cook meat via steam you need a pressure cooker. That said, though, if you cut it into small pieces it can work. That would take some messing around with. I'm assuming your dorm has a microwave somewhere too and maybe a community toaster?

You can make lots of things in the steamer, including some not-quite-so-healthy foods like many of the Asian style of appetizer (dumpling, pork bun, etc).

There's a chance you could get a mini fridge with a larger freezer portion, but unfortunately until that happens with my method you'd have to buy in small portions and go shopping once every 4 days or so too keep the food guaranteed fresh.

In Indian colleges, students aren't allowed heaters etc. and the food almost always sucks.
So we hide electric kettles and use it to boil maggi noodles.
That has become the staple diet of all college students.

It's been 3 hours, so I assume you've gotten your coffee fix for today.

For tomorrow, get yourself a French Press and an Electric Kettle. The two together will run you about the same as a medium-quality drip coffee maker. Chances are you can even get them locally at a Walmart / Target for cheap.

• Put water in electric kettle
  
• Turn on electric kettle
  
• Put coffee grounds in French press
  
• When water boils, put water in French press
  
• Set a timer for 4 minutes (I use my microwave's built-in timer)
  
• After 4 minutes, push down the top of the French press
  
• Pour coffee into cup, add cream/sugar/Irish whiskey if applicable
  
• Enjoy

There are also much, much cheaper electric kettles. Here's one for 15 dollars. It doesn't have all the various temperature options that the one greentea1985 linked to has, but it boils water.

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Maruchan Instant Lunch isn't a bad meal either, you can get them for 49 cents from Wal-Mart and other discount stores, they are super easy to make with an electric kettle and if you like hot tea you have a quick and easy meal right there.

One of these and one of these and a tin of tea.

You can get an electric kettle for under $20. I am Canadian, we have the same voltage as you, I have an electric kettle that is nice and speedy. To make it as fast as possible, use just enough water as you need rather than filling the whole kettle.

edit: Oops, sorry, I didn't read below where you've already been suggested the same Proctor-Silex on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-K2070Y-Electric-Kettle/dp/B00023XCWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368723305&sr=8-1&keywords=kettle is about $14

If I were you, I'd invest in something like this. I found one for cheap at a thrift store. Or can't you have one of these in your dorm either?

It will be Autumn soon, and I'll be drinking a lot of hot tea. This electric kettle is $14.99 with free shipping and would be AMAZING for all of my tea making. :D

Home Sweet Home is where I wish I could stay today, but I have stuff to do and work to attend. :/

I don't need double talk, I need a phone charger.

And I nominate /u/IguanaGrrl because I think she could use some cheering up in the form of an electric kettle

Thanks for the contest! :D

These are not stupid questions! I grew up with poor quality tea bags, when we had them at all, and now I drink almost exclusively loose-leaf tea. We didn't have a kettle or teapot in the house and now I can't live without them. So I had to learn this stuff, too.


> Can anyone recommend what type/brand of equipment to get and where to get it or is it all just based on personal style and preference?

It is based on personal style and preference as far as teapots and kettles go. Basically you have two types of kettles: one that is stovetop, that you place directly on the burner, and an electric kettle, which is very convenient and fast. Something like This would be just fine. As for teapots, have fun shopping around. I found mine at a thrift store for $2.50. You don't have to have the fanciest of teapots; if you like it and it's functional, buy it!


Never use a teapot as a kettle, even if it is cast iron. There is too much risk of breaking the teapot and hurting yourself. A teapot should only be used to steep tea and serve tea. Kettles should only be used to boil water, and use new water every time.

> Strainer question

You can buy strainers that fit one cup or a pot. Sometimes one strainer can work for both. You may also be able to find disposable tea bags to put your loose leaf in; I am guilty of using these sometimes, though it is bad for the environment and I've also heard there's some risk of chemicals you don't really want to ingest seeping into the tea. Not sure how true that is. Another person linked examples so I'll let you read that one.

> How do you determine how much tea do you put in the pot? Is there a specific amount or is this just something that just my a preference based on tea strength?

Another person here made a pretty good table of amounts/steep times, but when I started making loose leaf tea, I didn't know anything about how much to use. I just experimented, and now I just eyeball it. It does depend on personal preferences; I like very strong teas, so I might use more than some people here, or steep for longer.



I hope that helps. What kind of tea do you like so far? I could give you some recommendations and tell you my favorite places to buy. I always recommend trying a tea without sugar and milk first, too. Some people might hate me for this but I think most people put too much sugar in their tea and it ruins the flavor (I don't take any sugar at all, myself).

I don't recommend buying tea from Teavana, if you have them in the area. While the tea itself isn't bad (in fact, one of the best black teas I ever tried came from them on their 75% off sale), their sales tactics and prices ARE bad. You can get tea just as good or better for a lot less. I can't help but want some of their teapots, though.

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This kettle would be cool dorms suck!
or well anything!

I have an electric kettle. Greatest thing ever. It might not boil as quickly as it does in Europe, but a couple liters of water will still boil faster than on the burner.

For those who are mildly confused about what an electric kettle is referring to:

If you have the money to fork out, this one is great.

Budget Kettle.

If you don't have one, you need an electric kettle! It is so much more convenient to make tea/coffee with it!

this one for home and this one lives at work. Both work fine.

Really I'd recommend getting a filter like this one and an electric kettle. They have some cheap ones (like ~$15) that you should be able to use in your dorm room. Just put water in and hit the button, it shuts off when it's done. There are more expensive ones that allow you to set the temperature which is nice for some of the more delicate green and white teas but in a dorm setting, I'd just go for something like this.

As for tea, I highly recommend anything from adagio. They also have some kettles but they are Stainless Steel and more expensive. They are also the makers of the IngenuiTea which you can get from them or elsewhere. My coworker has one and it's nice. I prefer the strainer I originally linked to because I can just store it in my mug and it doesn't take up that much space.

Been using this one for... 7 years (went into my order history to find it).

It works great, no problems, still looks the same inside and out as the day I bought it. Never had any issues with weird smells.

Proctor-Silex K2070Y Electric Kettle, 1 Liter Cordless Water Boiler, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00023XCWS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DD86Ab0NHFGNE

Very exciting! I suggest getting your own electric tea kettle. Tea is so good for you and being able to have hot, fresh tea at your whim might be good for stress. Plus steeping a cut of herbal tea will make your office smell good.

From my $10 or Less list: bobbins!

Get rid of the microwave and get an electric kettle that makes boiling water in seconds to heat up your cups of tea. To reheat food, use the stove top--using your hands and taking a few moments to get in touch with your food may prove to be more satisfying than pressing buttons.

For coffee--make single servings. Each cup will be fresh and since you have the electric kettle you will have boiled water right there in seconds.

As for the toaster and dish drainer--I have no suggestions.

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I'd love this

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Back in the day when I was in college we used a hot pot to make our Ramen's. I guess they call it an electric kettle. But we managed not to burn things down with it :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-K2070Y-Electric-Kettle/dp/B00023XCWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375905666&sr=8-1&keywords=hot+pot

There are definitely cheaper ones:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00023XCWS/

And even cheaper is an immersion heater for a single cup:

http://www.amazon.com/NORPRO-559-Immersion-Warming-Liquids/dp/B000I8VE68/

What really makes it worth it, though, is the time saved.

Well, there are always these options:
this or this

The only problem is the lack of temperature control, it's basically hit boil and it stops. If you care about temperature control, then I recommend buying an instant thermometer(I recommend this one because it will beep when it reaches the desired temperature, make sure to set it to like 180 if you want 185) along with those kettles.

So if you purchase the the cheapest electric kettle and the thermometer, then you don't even break $30.

Alternatively you can always buy a normal kettle and microwave the water but control management would be more difficult.

Electric Kettle Mine broke. Aaaand I haven't had tea in a while as a result. I don't know how much shipping is as all it shows is Prime for me. But used seems to have cheap options...Thanks for the contest!

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Wishlisting!

there are some cookbooks on amazon for frugal student cooking
used copies plus shipping is about $5. and some have great reviews.

Obviously there some awesome websites for recipes http://studentrecipes.com/ http://www.budgetbytes.com/


What i found useful were recipes you could make from raw ingredients you could get easily cheaply and store well. this is why pasta, rice and noodles are popular. the base is always handy and all you have to do is add dressings. Cans of beans and nuts are also great ways to add a protein to your meal without having to worry about it going bad before you eat it.

Find about 12 recipes you like and can make easily and then just rotate them. That's enough to keep you from being bored, save MEAT centered recipes for once a week, such as in a crockpot and the rest of the week eat meat free. Because meat is the most expensive ingredient and the easiest to screw up and let it go bad before you remember to cook it. Essentially you buy the meat on the same day you cook it and the leftovers go in the fridge and have to be eaten before the next time you cook meat, so the leftover won't go blue and fuzzy.



Indeed a crockpot is essentia Proctor 1.5 slow cooker $13 but i'd get the biggest one you can afford. ...actually when i moved in this apartment i had no serious money and no stove. I started off with all the inexpensive items from Proctor Silex - usually sold in walgreens, cvs, and other cheap appliance stores... Proctor 1 liter electric kettle $14 Proctor Toaster Oven $22 Proctor Hot Plate $14 which does have a draw back for boiling large pots of anyting, it's really a more egg frying/ grilled cheesy thing. Black and Decker has a 3 cup rice cooker for $12

It is easy for your dorm room to get unkempt if you start cooking in it for real, so a dedicated foot locker perhaps upright with shelves banged in. Put everything away clean when you don't use it. Put a dishpan in the locker, 1st thing you take out put your dirty items in it as you cook and eat, then take it to the bathroom and wash everything and then bring it all back and put it in the footlocker and then put everything in on top.

One of my favorite books was Cooking in a Bedsitter by Whitehorn..an English cookery book, but the ideas worked. A bedsitter is a dorm room with no running water, no fridge and nothing but a gas ring/hot plate to cook on. So basically you have to really think out what you are going to make and plan ahead. My solution was to cook small amounts very often so i didn't have to store a lot of food or leftovers.