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Knife. You maybe don’t need the ultra deluxe Japanese kitchen knives from the future. But a set of good, sharp knives will be a godsend if you plan to cook a lot.
Hiking gear. Especially the boots have to be of good quality. But breathable clothing (including socks) will also make a big difference when you go on a long trip.
Might be a no-brainer for some, but: meat. If you plan to make some steak, choosing a properly marbled piece of meat is as important as how you cook it. Will be exorbitantly more expensive than the discount meat, tho. But trust me, it will be worth it.
As a knife guy, choose the right knife. A lot of knives now are looking to sell on glitz and glamour whilst being fairly mediocre and criminally overpriced (see Dalstrong).
A lot of knives are overbuilt too. To give the impression of sturdyness, they are made far too thick, or have excessively large bolsters that just bog it down. You don’t use a machete for daily prep, you want something thin that won’t get wedged in the cut. Fun fact, in Japan a light knife is a sign of quality, it means it’s very thin, which is difficult to forge and requires a master.
The best knives for ordinary people I think are Victorianox fibrox and Tojiro DP series knives. The Victorianox has decent steel but is importantly very thin and sharp, with a comfortable handle. The Tojiro is more expensive but has better steel that will remain sharp much longer. Of course it is also thin and sharp.
On the topic of knives, it’s more important to have a way to keep them sharp. No knife will stay sharp for long with consistent use.
Absolutely true. Keep them sharp AND clean.
And cheap knives will cause lots of frustration when you try to get and keep them sharp.
Personally, I try not to cheap out on anything I want to last. You don’t have to buy the most expensive, but don’t buy the cheapest either. Something in the middle usually does good.
I’ve done well buying second hand too. I recently found a bread machine for 3$ at goodwill. Works perfectly. But I also figured if I decided not to use it anymore or it was crap, then I lost 3$
I’ve heard this line of thinking is how they get you. Example I heard was something like there’s a $10, $20, and $40 toaster at Walmart. The $10 and $20 one are functionally the same, but you don’t know that and don’t want to go with the cheapest one so you pick that.
Don’t know how true it is, but thought it’s interesting and started thinking about it when I’m buying stuff
Yeah I’ve heard that too. I’ve seen it a few times as well.
Other people have said better things, but I’ve found flour to be important in baking. Generic store brands can work mostly, but for more precise and nicer baking I’ve got to go with King Arthur flour
Hey King Arthur flour, sponsor me please, I need it to keep buying all this flour!
King Arthur flour
How does this specific thing keep popping up in every corner of the internet I ever go to?? Is it that good?
Any high quality brand will probably do you well. King Arthur is what I can get easily and have used it for decades. Also it’s employee owned, last I knew, which makes me feel a smidge better.
Also their online recipes are pretty nice, and they answer questions!
Great flour, consistent every time, no filler or weird blends like others might have, great recipes, employee owned, etc.
They also have gluten-free flours (both measure for measure and straight up) and good recipes for them. I’m not gluten free but I have a friend that is and the chocolate cake I made them with their flour and recipe was one of the best gluten free cakes there ever had (it’s better than some gluten cakes I’ve had tbh)
It really is better than most. This a company I actually think sort of cares. Their recipes for bread products are also spot on, at least the ones I’ve tried.
Their recipe for Cornish pasties has done me well, although my filling is always “things I have on hand”!
Not really exeptional except it is commercial grade. It’s not the random stuff you get from the local brand. The local brand is whatever. Sometimes it’s really good, other times it’s pretty poor.
The most common difference is in a test called “falling number”. Falling number is a fast easy way to figure out if an enzyme that degrades starch has been activated (alpha-amylase). Intact starch in flour creates a matrix in solution and thickens it. When alpha-amylase is activated it degrades the starch and makes it thinner.
For baking you want a thicker dough that holds together. It’s how you get light and fluffy breads. The thicker dough traps CO2 produced by yeast or an acid/base reaction better.
The falling number method is uncomplicated, but requires an apparatus which follows the international standards.
Their bakers hotline is extremely awesome
Dental care.
water filters, go whole house if able but get decent filters for kitchen and bathroom faucets, including the shower. You don’t want to breath city water steam, or soak in it. imo it’ll help improve your quality of life and be kinder to your skin. Many last for a good while so it’s not really that costly.
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Poop knife
Well, yeah, don’t get the plastic one and keep reusing it when a metal one is sturdier.
This is a niche one but quality sharpening stones. A complete blindspot for sharpeners in the western hemisphere.
People assume that the edge is great if it’s sharp. There are even people that will sharpen on a brick, strop on green goop, shave hair, and claim you don’t need fancy sharpening stones.
Truth is, the sharpening stone dictates edge retention as much as the blade’s quality can. Can you get hair shaving sharp on a brick? Yes. Will it stay sharp? No.
This is why the Japanese go crazy for special and expensive stones. The quality of stones are so important that in medieval times, the best stone quarries were classified military secrets.
I recently attended a seminar and the speaker spoke how the 30,000 grit stones DOUBLED his edge retention over his 16,000 grit stone.
What you use to sharpen MATTERS, and that’s why they get so damn expensive.
Ceramic glass stones are amazing. They’re relatively quiet, super fast, and they don’t dish easily.
I have never heard of stones this High. Japanese rates to 8000 grit at highest. Explain?
6-8k stones are the most common as they are the best value. You get a decent edge, and the stones are usually around 40$ for a decent one. Right now its unknown the highest grit possible, primarily because with higher and higher grit, manufacturing becomes exponentially more expensive.
Grit is sorted through filters, the finer the filters the faster they clog, and the finer the grit, the more likely they are to float away, or do not have the inertia required to pass it.
There are 2 ways a blade dulls.
Abrasion: abrasive particles in the material rounds the edge of the blade by scraping off microscopic bits of steel.
Microscopic chipping: In this case the steel fracture and pieces break off the edge, revealing a duller edge.
Scratches act as weak points for the latter. Scratches form a sawtooth like shape. People say these “micro-serations” aid in cutting and are even desirable, but I would disagree. The peaks of the teeth break off more easily and the deep grooves provide further weak points. They will dull rather quickly.
Very hard steels (also depends on the type, and the knife, and best treatment, and edge geometry ) will dull significantly from microchipping. If the edge is as robust as possible, it will remain much sharper. The finer the surface, the more robust the edge is.
It gets wayyy more complicated considering edge geometry (just a 1 degree difference can stabilize a chippy edge), natural stones and how they are completely different, glossy vs cloudy finishes (cloudy is better), slurry, omnidirectional scratches patterns, etc.
A well made coat and a pair of boots.
Ice cream.
Toilet paper.
Get the good stuff or don’t get it at all.
Or upgrade to a bidet if you can afford one for as little as $30.
Good quality, comfortable shoes.
I see a lot of specific examples, but here is a good engineering guideline: do not skimp on physical interfaces. **Anywhere energy is changing form or if it touches your body, don’t skimp on those. **
For example
- tires
- bicycle saddle
- heaters/furnaces
- electrical inverters
- keyboard
- mouse
- engines
- shoes
- eyewear
- clothes (buy used if necessary, but always buy quality clothing)
Quality usually means more money, but sometimes one is able to find a high quality and low-cost version. In my experience though, trying to find the cheap version that works well means trying so many permutations; it would have been more economical to just get the more costly version in the first place.
More expensive doesn’t always equal better, especially for things like keyboards, clothes or eyewear, where branding is huge and inflates prices more than quality.
I wanna say get good gear for your hobbies, but most of us probably don’t need convincing to spend on what we love. I resisted buying a good set of gear for my main hobby for nearly two years, and I wish I’d done it sooner.
There was a post earlier asking for slurs for beginners in a hobby that buy the top of the line stuff for the hobby. Don’t cheap out on starter gear, but don’t go for top of the line right out of the gate either
That’s a valid point too. I feel less bad now lol
Gonna start with a few of the usual suspects:
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Anything that keeps your feet off the ground (buy good shoes)
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Anything that touches your privates (don’t buy cheap condoms yall)
Condoms are for pussies.
diaphragms are for pussies
Condoms are for dicks*
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There’s the adage, “spend your money where you spend your time.”
If you’re going to spend a lot of time in front of a TV, get a nice one. Cook a lot? Get the good knives and pans. Don’t read much? Don’t buy an e-reader or book subscription service. Not big into DIY? Get cheap drill/driver for the rare times you need it.
There’s plenty of exceptions but it’s a nice general rule.
Even if you are into DIY: Buy cheaper once, if something breaks buy something more expensive.
Or better yet, buy second-hand.
I see this a lot and take some issue with it the wording of it. I think a lot of people say this thinkkng of something like Ryobi or Harbor Freight as the “cheap” guys, when in reality the price scaling of tools puts those makes pretty squarely in the mid to high-end bracket.
In reality, there are some cheap tools that are downright unsafe for use that some people might see after reading that comment and decide to get.
ETA: If it’s sharp, spins, or runs on electricity, get it from a physical store or highly reputable online vendor and make sure it has a warranty
I dunno, I’ve had good luck with Aldi and Lidl “Center Isle” power tool purchases. Thats Workzone and Parkside tools, a far cry from mid to high-end. If I use something enough that it merits a replacement, I buy the Makita version
Those are still from a reputable store. I think the really cheap ones are the Chinese ones that don’t even have a brand name. Slightly above that are the Chinese made ones with a nonsense word for the brand name.
right yeah
Project Farm on YouTube often rates Ryobi, Husky, and Harbor Freight brands as being pretty good.
