Induction cooker.

dcarch

One of first things I'd ask would be... does your son COOK?? "Cook"... like pop something frozen in microwave (NUTTIN' wrong with that) or from scratch.

I would start shopping by going to any thrift shops in area... and yard sales. I would go with a CLEAN working small appliance for CHEAP. Unless in very FROO FROO area, $100 would buy a LOT of kitchen stuff. If odds are good that a non-stick pan would be DESTROYED in no time... I'd go with CHEAP (disposable) pans.

Is there a microwave? If not, he should get one, as it will be great for making tea, heating coffee/leftovers.

I agree that a portable induction burner is a good idea - get the most powerful one you can that works on 120 volts. To go with it, I recommend a compatible pressure cooker. I have a Fagor and like it a lot. It came with a four quart and a six quart pan, but only one lid. It is great for cooking beans, rice, potatoes, etc, but not so great at reheating, unless you leave the lid off and stir - otherwise things stick and/or burn.

Thanks for the feedback. My husband says he has seen TV sales for induction burners 2 for $75 - I'll start looking around. Yes, my son does cook real food from scratch. He has some food allergies, and I am into eating healthy, so we don't have any frozen microwaveable stuff. He is very careful with things, so he would not bang up/destroy anything. He doesn't want a microwave - he would boil water for tea in a pot. I mostly use mine for a quick defrost of things - we can always get him a small cheap one if he changes his mind. We are clueless about pressure cookers! Will look into it, thanks.

If you're getting him an induction hotplate, get a good one, like a Max Burton. Some of those TV specials aren't really any good.

Rather than two burners, perhaps he'd like one burner and a rice cooker. He can make all kinds of things in a rice cooker, including hot cereal. I'm thinking about convenience here.

There's also something called a multi-cooker that works as a slow cooker, oven-ish thing and pressure cooker, that's kind of designed for this kind of use.

If he makes a lot of hot drinks and instant ramen, an electric teakettle is an excellent choice. It's not that he can't boil water on the induction, but it's just as fast and is quite inexpensive.

For utensils, he'll need a long knife like a chef's knife or santoku and a paring knife. A serrated utility knife would also be useful. Cutting board -- wood is naturally antimicrobial and a better choice if it's not going in a dishwasher than plastic. A big cooking spoon, slotted spoon or skimmer, scraper, spatula. Measuring cups and spoons. Can opener. Maybe a ladle.

Pans: a 2 qt. saucepan and a 9" frying pan should cover most things. A one quart pot could be helpful for single portions if there isn't a rice cooker or multicooker or similar. A kettle if no electric kettle. A pan set for the toaster oven, depending on what it comes with. A sheet pan, broiler pan, and baking sheet should cover all bases. Maybe a pizza crisper, but the top of the broiler pan might do.

Cleaning supplies: Dish scrubbers (I love the corn curlies and plant based scrub sponges), recepticle to put wet sponges and scrubbers in, something to clean the counters and appliances with, something to clean the hard floors with. Bucket and scrub brush. A good all purpose dish soap can be used on dishes as well as for cleaning. Glass and surface cleaner. Rags.

It's a shame your son has to live alone, but at least all the messes will be his own! I think you're wise to keep him on a meal plan. It's more social, and can be cost effective if he eats like a lot of boys that age, besides the obvious convenience.

"--My husband says he has seen TV sales for induction burners 2 for $75 ----"

I am not sure which TV sales. There was one that cost a lot more after you add the shipping handling and the burners soon broke.

dcarch

Thank you very much. We did get him a large wood cutting board at Ikea, and I have a spare small one as well that I will send him with. Thanks for the induction info - we will look for a good one. I've heard of a multi-cooker - I'll check those out. He doesn't do instant Ramen or a lot of hot drinks, but he may have occasional tea or hot chocolate (he is not a coffee drinker). Thanks for the other suggestions - I'll put them on the list! The other reason I'm asking now is some kind women in our Women's Fellowship group want to get him something, as he is always so helpful at church, and always cooks/bakes things for church suppers, and sometimes for our fellowship group (he made the bread pudding recipe from here last Saturday!) I thought if I had a good list, I could give them a few ideas, thinking it would be nice if they could give him something that would last a long time that he would remember was from them - like a wooden spoon, etc. They would get him a toaster oven, I just want to keep the cost ideas low.

A glass pitcher with a lid is good for iced tea or lemonade.

I would insist he have a microwave over an electric fry pan...he can poach fish, fry an egg, fry bacon, cook vegetables and get as tart of a baked potato to finish in the toaster oven. He can make hot cereal and even muffins and the like in a microwave.
If you do get him an induction burner, then I would go with non stick cookware. If he cooks he knows how to treat non stick ware.

We weren't allowed a hot plate in our dorm. You could use the community area with that sort of equipment.

Since he likes to bake cookies, some extra sheets for the toaster oven so he can make a batch to take to a party would be a good idea. Also mixing bowls and maybe a rotary egg beater, or even a hand held mixer. Definitely a whisk.

If you are getting an induction hotplate make sure the cookware is compatible. That was an expensive learning curve for me.

Get him a microwave anyway. He'll use it.

Thanks for the additional feedback - I just saw a Nuwave 2 induction burner at BJ's for $69.99 - guessing that is a cheapo one not to be trusted? rob333, these are real apartments the college purchased at some point and took out the ranges. He can have a hot plate - just nothing "open coil."

I'm a big fan of the electric multicookers that function as rice cooker, slow cooker, pressure cooker. My daughter had one in her dorm and it was great. Here is a thread

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2369589/what-do-we-think-about-multi-cookers

Thanks - I've been in the camp that is afraid of pressure cookers, but that Instant Pot looks pretty good - I'll talk to my son about it! Your daughter did end up getting a lot of use out of it?

I have the Philips multi-cooker and it works very well. The non-stick interior is ceramic. It cooks and re-heats very well. Great for rice dishes like biryanis, it's very deep so when you brown meat you don't get oil splashing everywhere. It doesn't dry out the food.

It's not a pressure cooker.

Moulinex do a thing called a cookeo or something like that which works with recipes on a USB key - I think it cooks almost automatically but is a much more expensive affair.

Best of luck for his new life adventure.

If open coils are out, I guess open flames are out too. I was thinking a Coleman camp stove. <lol>

For the miscellaneous stuff, I'd be looking at yard sales and thrift shops. Who cares if the plates match and anything stainless steel (flatware, pots, bowls) is pretty much indestructible and can almost always be cleaned with a little elbow grease.

I might suggest not trying to buy everything at once. Get enough to get him started and from there figure out what he really needs.

It can be fun (and cheap) to make a solar cooker. You can bake bread, make cookies in a solar cooker.

dcarch

Thanks all - a solar cooker has to be used outside with access to the sun, right? He doesn't have a deck or anything like that.

You've been given such great advice! I will be following this as my son will be living off campus with five other guys this year, and they think they'd just like to cook -- NO MEAL PLANS AND NO DISHWASHER (another hive erupts) We basically have bought/supplied our two kids with plllog's list over the years:) Also a mixing bowl/colander set. Also a garlic press. Also a mishmash of dishes:)

Breville is a great purchase. We have one. It died after a few months/Great return policy -- they sent us a new one within a week/perfect for two years. Daughter just moved to Boston, and it was the first appliance she/boyfriend bought AFTER the microwave. She doesn't enjoy cooking as much as my son, but she considered it essential. She'll microwave potatoes, then finish baking in Breville, etc. As an aside, her boyfriend used a rice cooker and lived on beans and rice for a year:)

I actually bought the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 with the idea of using it over the summer with my son (accomplished in the kitchen) to see if this would be feasible for him next year. I really, really, really like it (stainless steel insert) -- it's made the best rice ever, hard boiled eggs, chicken enchiladas, beef stroganoff with a small prep investment and MINIMAL monitoring (best part). That said, there has been a serious learning curve for me as I've never pressure cooked and with this model, the instructions/recipe manual are sorely lacking for a newbie (ie took me a while to understand that it didn't reach 15 psi and most recipes are written for that pressure, and yes I have gotten zapped with a bit of steam). Thus, the long learning curve. Could I see a responsible young man savvy in the kitchen using it with instruction? Definitely. Has it happened with my son? Nope. We're having a reality check about the day-to-day responsibility of feeding oneself, underscoring that cooking can be a fun event, but also a lot of work (cost/benefit); additionally thinking about the unique opportunities presented
at college (ie dynamic speakers, jazz concerts, fly-fishing club) may trump
dicing onions:) Plus, you know, that whole maintaining a good GPA
thing.

Next one up is the dry run of planning, shopping and cooking for himself for a week (hopefully underscoring his need for MEAL PLAN).

I can tell that your son is in good hands. I'll be keeping tabs on this thread -- Good luck!

Cathy in SWPA

As an aside, this pressure cooker enchilada recipe gets the five star rating from my crew: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pressure-cooker-fast-and-easy-chicken-enchiladas-food-lab-recipe.html

My granddaughter had a full size kitchen in her dorm room. I called it more of an apartment. Their were 4 girls in the apartment. Each girl was required to bring several items to outfit the kitchen area. Our gd was a great cook and even though she had the meal plan she did use the kitchen. I would take a george forman grill system for cooking in addition to a toaster oven. I loved the idea of an electric skillet as you can also bake in those too. I hope he enjoys having the dorm room to himself.

Ditto for the induction hot plate, and an induction-compatible pressure cooker. The pressure cooker pot can be used as a regular pot as well (i.e., not pressurized)--one pot can be used for more than one function. Fagor pc's are not expensive, but they work well and are induction capable.

You can search this forum for ideas about induction hot plates, but here are some basic concepts: the most powerful one that can be run on a 110v socket is 1800 watts. They cost no more than lesser powered units, so it might make sense to get the most oomph. The versatility of the unit is determined by how many power levels there are; more is better. Some cheapos have only 5 or 6 levels, while some have 15 or so. I've never used Avantco, but they have a couple of models available at Webrestaurantstore, one of which is around $65. Make sure the induction plate has a shutoff timer (most do)--that way you can set the timer for whatever time the dish calls for, and it will shut off when that time is reached, so the dish won't overcook. (College men have a reputation for being distracted on occasion.)

I have a Duxtop Induction Burner, which is only $60 at Amazon now and have been using it for what seems like two years now, although I do lose track of time. I use it almost exclusively with my Fagor 2-pot pressure cooker, and those pans can also be used without the top for regular cooking. I love that I can cook beans in about 15 minutes - the first 7 minutes are to build up the pressure, and the last 7-8 are for cooking the beans. I first get the burner going at full speed (460 degrees) until the pressure indicator pops up (generally 6-7 minutes), and then I turn the temp down to 250 degrees for the last 7-8 minutes, and the burners turns itself off at that time. I do have to let it rest undisturbed until the pressure has subsided before opening the lid, but it is a fairly mindless way to cook beans, and the burner has to be adjusted only once and can then be forgotten. It is a huge convenience to have the burner turn itself off. I use the same method for cooking rice, and I generally include a lot of other ingredients when cooking rice, such as vegetables and chicken. Last night I made rice in it with mushroom broth, dried (rehydrated Porcini mushrooms), white mushrooms, and herbs from the garden - sweet basil, thyme, and another type of basil that looks like Thai basil. I spent so much time stripping leaves off of the thyme that I forgot to add onion and garlic, but I had so many fresh herbs in it that I didn't notice until much later, and Kevin never noticed. I generally do add onion and garlic, however.

This is the pressure cooker I bought to go with it. I got it on sale for about half that price, but that was a special deal. I've been very happy with that as well, but it has not convinced me to go all induction, as I generally prefer cooking with gas.

Re the Meal Plan for hungry boys, which Cathy is trying to convince her son to accept, it has several advantages (I've agonized over pronouns and decided to use the indefinite "you"):

1. Girls. Coming into a meal with no particular crowd to sit with is a great time to ask that pretty girl if you can sit with her and her girlfriends.

2 Money: If you have a meal plan you don't have to pack a lunch or snacks or carry cash or charge it to your student account or go back to your room. If you have more meal credit than you can use, you should be able to use it for fruit, yoghurt, snacks, etc., that you can take back to your room as "groceries". They might be higher priced at the campus store, but you won't waste the meal credits that way.

3. Hunger: Late adolescent male growth spurts are a reality. Hunger can outstrip your food budget and patience for cooking. Poptarts, ramen and hot pockets are not "food". At many colleges, where you just swipe your card to enter rather than "paying" for a meal, you can eat whatever you want while you're in the dining room, but only take a single piece of fruit or ice cream cone out. You can take your books into the dining hall at the beginning of a meal service, eat your meal and study while it's still quiet, hang out with some friends at their table during the busy middle, and get another meal before closing (most of the boys I've known who lived off campus bought meal plans and did that. Some even planned their classes so they wouldn't overlap meal periods and interfere with the double up).

1. Distraction: Making oatmeal is no biggie if you've got something that heats up. Making a filling and nutritious dinner takes time, thought, shopping, prep, cooking, eating, storage and cleanup.
2. Girls: Nowadays a lot of girls don't learn how to cook when they're young. They're no better cooks than boys. A meal plan for shoveling in food, frees up serious cooking time for impressing girls. Invite them over just for food, and have them bring friends and you'll have lots of friends who are girls. It's much easier to find girlfriends from amongst a large group of friends who are girls than from random encounters on campus.

(P.S., the otherly inclined should just substitute "boys" for "girls" in the above list and it will still apply.)

P.S., The weird indentations are the Houzz ordered list editor having its own odd way with things...

Second question: Not sure whether to give him our good size Oster toaster oven from Costco that is a few years old and upgrade ourselves to a Breville, or keep ours and pick a similar one up for him?

Like you, it's just the two of us. I use my Breville Smart Oven 90% of the time even though I have a Wolf stove. It seems like such a waste to heat up the gas oven especially in the summer months even though we have a/c. Give your son the Oster and treat yourself to a Breville. I bought mine at Sur la Table, but if I ever have to replace it I'll get the next one at Hammacher Schlemmer because they offer a lifetime guarantee.

Breville Smart Oven

Quick digression: plllog, I've printed out your thoughts and taped them to the bag of just baked cc cookies with the note -- Read this before eating. There will be a test later:) We've had family share thoughts (including daughter's boyfriend who lived with a bunch of guys that actually divided fridge for individual food -- labeled -- no sharing -- all long distance runners) and now I can include cooking forum friends:) Can you imagine cooking for six guys that walk miles all over campus ... every day????

You'll appreciate this. At year end, all campus dining dollars are zeroed out and go back to the school (can't carry over, can't donate/designate, etc.) Sooooo ... This year, we took his remaining dining dollars and went to that "campus store" and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of food to donate to the local food bank (yep, that's how much he had left). Then I had him facebook friends to see if they had leftover dining dollars and wanted to participate. After a somewhat tentative start (ie this is expensive), he became quite the budget conscious/selective shopper. Dropping off boxes of food was a great way to end the year.

Lars, I'm going to look strongly consider that Duxtop for me:) Looks like it has great potential. BTW, did you soak your beans?

Elba1 -- I'm glad you started this thread!

Cathy in SWPA

Thanks for all the continued advice! I have to look into getting a pressure cooker thing - I thought you plug it in like a crock pot - didn't know you can put it on an induction burner and use it like a regular pot. I'll take notes and get this list going!

Elba, there are two things: one is a stainless steel pressure cooker pot that works on the induction hot plate (there are aluminum ones that work on other fuels). The pressure cooker pot can be used like a regular cooking pot if you don't seal the lid (better to never put a pressure cooker in an oven, even unsealed, lest you forget and create a bomb). The other thing is an electric pressure cooker, or electric multicooker with pressure cooker feature, which is a stand alone electric appliance that has its own heating element.

Cathy, funny about "read this before eating" test! I totally get it about the runners. They don't just need food--they need fuel. They have individualized times and types of intake, and unless they're willing to work constantly together for a mass training table, each taking care of his own makes sense. Great idea to use leftover credits on donateable goods. I bet school supplies could also be welcome if anything in the store, rather than just food, can be bought. Some places you can only spend the meal money during the meal period, so if you skip lunch, you have to buy your fruit and yoghurt before 4:00 p.m. It's great that your son has so much flexibility. That'll make it easier to combine the meal plan and cooking in.

Ok, thanks - so both types have been recommended in this thread - how to decide...

The electric ones have the additional function of a programmable slow cooker, so he can set up the stew or whatever in the morning and have it start cooking unattended, and be ready by dinner time. Also is a rice cooker. As well as a pressure cooker.

Kind of a coin flip. Definitely an induction hob is a must have. Then among the basic pots and pans, should be a stovetop pressure cooker. I'd call the electric unit a "nice to have" extra.

In my daughter's case, she wasn't permitted an induction hob.

Cathy, yes I did soak my beans before cooking them, but I believe you can cook them without soaking them - it will just take a bit longer. The pressure cooker instructions say to soak the beans first unless you are using lentils. If I do not soak the beans, I add 1/2 tsp baking soda, and that makes them cook faster. I sometimes add 1/4 tsp baking soda to black beans that have been soaked, as they sometimes stay hard.

There are good reasons for not soaking beans, but I forget what they are. They don't soak in Mexico. :) Just put them in the oven for half an hour to an hour.

Ok thanks John that helps. So we'll start with the induction hob and stovetop pressure cooker. Maybe I'll check out an electric one for myself. Then I can still give him our electric skillet and electric pot too if he wants it. The nice ladies in my church women's fellowship group do want to get him a toaster oven (I guess I'll wait till ours dies to get the Breville), and that is definitely what he will get the most use out of. Besides making toast, he uses ours daily to melt cheese on his sandwiches, reheat leftovers, and sometimes cook meat. Full dinners are probably what he'll make the least since he does have a reduced meal plan, but when he has the time he thinks nothing of taking 30 minutes to make himself a sandwich - cooking some meat (he may get some Boars Head cold cuts), sautéing onions and peppers, melting cheese, topping with sliced avocado, etc.

I love reading everyone's advice, too, Elba1. I did laugh when I read CindyMac's comment " Give your son the Oster and treat yourself to a Breville." because that's what I thought.

In any case, I was thinking about your purchases on my run this morning. If it were me and with just one kiddo, I would set up with utensils, dishes, etc., that have been mentioned and the induction, maybe a slow cooker. I would let his cooking style evolve a bit and then purchase accordingly. The only reason that I looked into the multi-cooker was the number of guys at my son's apartment. Last year he did cancer research at a hospital, lived on campus and came home on the weekends. We gave him four frozen servings of minestrone that he ate the whole summer (it wasn't that good -- he was just desperate and nothing actually ever defrosts in those dorm fridges anyways:) He did eat multi-grain tostitos with it too. Great experience/appreciation factor for him. It's nice that your son knows his way around the kitchen -- what a great head start for him. Plus, he has you:)

Lars -- thank you for letting me know about the beans. I'm going to give them another whirl. I soaked some cannellini beans, pressure cooked high 8 minutes, natural release and they missed the mark (grade B-, some blown out, not real "creamy" consistency, etc.) I'm still at the beginning of the learning curve, but I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like just setting this thing, leave the room to continue with work. As an aside, I was horrified that I spent, unbeknownst to me until review of receipt, $6.99/lb on bulk bin organic cannellini beans at WF. Pretty pricey for me -- thankful I didn't ruin those:)

plllog -- You worked some serious magic yesterday:) Son came upstairs late from work yesterday and said, "I'm giving serious consideration to the getting the commuter meal plan" HA! I told him about your comments; he smiled and said "more ammunition, hey?" He did have cookies last night/testing went well:) Amazingly, with over 40,000 kids, this place manages to serve really good, decent food. And yes, he's over 6', weighs ~ 150 lbs., totes a huge backpack (like all students these days) plus his sax all over a widespread campus. He runs too; frankly, he needs calories. I love the idea of donating school supplies -- may have to think about that. Although his university holds at trash-to-treasure event (think all that dorm stuff) at year end, I wish we could direct our monies where we want. Btw, if I need any more "ammunition", I'm going to let YOU know:) PS I continue to think good thoughts regarding your water restrictions.

Cathy in SWPA

My son is 6'2" and weighs in the 150's too - ah to be able to eat like a teenage boy and look like that!!! Since he won't want to waste his paid meals, the other reason I think he will more likely make his own lunch than dinner is that the place he can use his meal card for lunch is called FoD (Food on Demand) - you walk in and order your meal on a computer and they make it for you. For some reason, though, he said it seems like almost all "dinner food" choices, and he doesn't want 2 dinners a day. He has always been a kid who likes "breakfast food" at breakfast, what he considers "lunch food" at lunch, and "dinner food" for dinner - no breakfast for dinner for him lol! I can definitely send him with some single servings of homemade soups and things like that. He will only be an hour away - he mainly just came home for breaks last year, but I could always make a run sometime to give him some food for the freezer if he wants - like single servings of pulled pork, etc. I'm going to read through all these again and make my master list - I so appreciate all the feedback - thank you!

A couple of suggestions:

When DD was in college and lived off campus, we would do cooking marathons when she came home to visit. We would make pasta sauce, stews, soups, casseroles, stir fry and rice dishes, marinated meats, etc. and freeze them in individual servings which she took back to school with her. We got to bond doing the cooking and it gave her quick healthy meals. DD loves to cook but with her heavy academic load, she had very little time so this worked out great for her. She would also do a similar thing by prepping and/or cooking all her meals for the week on weekends. She did a lot of reheating in her small crockpot. She would move the frozen meal from the freeze to the fridge a day or so before to thaw then plop it in the crockpot, set it and forget it until she got home from class.

Freshman year when she was in the dorm, we bought her a small meal plan because that is what she wanted. She then joined a cooking club where everyone kicked in a set amount of money each week and they decided on 3 or 4 lunches or dinners which the group cooked. Everyone had to volunteer x amount of time to help and those that did not cook did the dishes and errands. She loved this! It was a great way to get to know people and eat healthy at the same time. (There were set guidelines with regard to ingredients and actually cooking as opposed to reheating.)

Thanks for the suggestions. We could definitely do that - freeze lots of food in individual servings. With this being the transition year, I don't want to "overstock him" though since he does still get a good number of meals on the plan. We'll see how it goes, and maybe by next year he might want a minimal meal plan. A cooking club is a great idea - maybe he could suggest that at a dorm council meeting. Our concern would be his severe allergy to all nuts - folks that don't live with it would not know about cross contamination and things like that. So maybe if they wanted to cook in his room that might work, as there would be no nut residue anywhere.

I just looked at the suggested induction burners - will probably go with the Duxtop on Amazon with free shipping for $59.99 that has 10 power levels, unless it is worth it to spend $20 more on the next model up that has 15 power levels? The Avantco at webrestaurantstore is $67.99 and I didn't see where it said how many power levels.

Think we might have to hold off on the Fagor induction compatible pressure cooker for a while - great reviews, but it is $150, and we have So many things to buy (the kids will by some) - my daughter is just starting her freshman year, and has nothing yet except and Ikea garbage can lol, she needs all her wisdom teeth out, he needs a cavity filled, we just bought them Sonicare toothbrushes that the dentist recommended, my son needs "big" things too like a vaccum and air conditioner (has bad environmental allergies, receives injections for those) - Kids Are Expensive!!!!!!!

I'd get the more power levels. With only ten, I spent a lot of time adjusting up and down because the right level didn't exist. I think you're right about the pressure cooker. He can ease into that kind of thing, but the investment in the better induction unit will pay off for him in more time and less aggravation.

Cathy, when I cooked the beans, I cooked them at high temperature for 6 to 7 minutes and then at low temperature for an addition 7 to 8 minutes for a total of about 15 minutes. The last cooking time does not start until the pressure has been reached.

Elba, if you want to spend less on a pressure cooker, you could buy just the four quart pan, which is what I use almost exclusively. I bought the full set mainly because it was a special deal at the time, and they were giving the eight quart pan for free, essentially.

How much room does he have for all the suggested stuff? Personally, I found an electric frypan to be extremely versatile. You can bake in it, fry in it boil pasta in it and more. Potatoes come out as baked potatoes, not boiled imitations. Some can be done in a toaster oven but I guess it's what you get used to. I've had toaster ovens and never used them. Never liked them. I also am a big fan, as people know, of roaster ovens. My Nescos would be with me. I also like that little convection oven with the huge glass bowl. Probably does everything a toaster oven would do, and more.

I know a lot of people are pushing pressure cookers (was going to say 'pressuring' you, but decided against it!) I really wonder if he knows how to use one? Might be better for down the road.

I'd suggest sitting down for a while and set out some ideas of what he is likely to cook. What has he cooked before? Use that list to get a better idea of what he needs. Then go shopping. I too would say check the thrift stores, garage sales and even friends and relatives. Many have things they'd like to get rid of but don't want to throw it, and would probably feel better if it went to a good use.

Good to know the extra power levels are worth it for the induction burner.

Thanks for the link to the 4qt. pressure cooker - when we get one, that would be good to start with.

This is a real apartment with a real kitchen - a big hole where the range would be, so he does have room for what has been suggested - it's not a big kitchen, but there is enough counter and cabinet space for him.

I think the advice to start slow and add things later is good. When I think about it, the four of us managed through our kitchen renovation with just the toaster oven, microwave, electric skillet and pot. Since he will be receiving the toaster oven as a gift, and we already have the electric skillet and pot that I don't really use, maybe we'll just send him with those to start, and a small microwave if he is agreeable (I think he would use it to defrost and reheat things, and he likes to make the occasional cake in a mug). Then maybe the induction burner with a couple pots for a birthday or Christmas present if it looks like they would be useful (and the pressure cooker as a purchase after that, or maybe we'd buy it, see how much we use it then pass it on to him).

Do you recommend cast iron cookware for the induction burner, or is the glass surface a little fragile for heavy cast iron?

We do have a Goodwill and a Savers store, so I will definitely check those out when I have time, thanks!

The pressure cooker mystifies me, I have successfully cooked for 40 years without one but I suppose some might say that about a microwave.

I was thinking that too - but I am open to it because I did not have room for a Kitchen Aide stand mixer until a few years ago, and now I use it all the time. Just got a Nesco roaster in November and I love having it when I need it. So maybe I don't know what I've been missing without a pressure cooker!

I use cast iron on induction all the time. Cheap enamelled steel works well too, and carbon steel is a dream. The trick with cast iron is to remain in control of it. Don't toss! Pick it up by the handle(s) and set it down. Don't fling! Cast iron takes longer to heat up, but it's wonderful to cook with, and easy to care for if you know how to season and clean it.

Great, thanks!

Kindred skinny guys, Elba! I think kindred thrifty guys too:) (And my daughter just had her wisdom teeth out in January at 23 years old - good grief) Just wanted to say that I have a tree nut allergy (can have them in the house, but can't touch/cook/be around) and you get gold stars managing that additional "layer/curveball" of life. Really. As an aside, son is giving a 10 minute presentation to us tonight regarding meal plan (he doesn't know it) and when timer goes off, a decision will be made. Also, just wanted to let you know that daughter came home from Boston and both she and boyfriend said the one thing they use is their Breville. I think they actually bought deluxe. Out of all the stuff I've mentioned a microwave, induction and Breville would be my choices.

Moosemac -- I love your whole post!!!! Particularly, the bonding part. Great memories and so so practical too. My kids are slowly learning the value of freezer meals. My son pulled out some flat-packed roasted red pepper pasta (didn't look too appetizing:) one evening so he could eat it when he came home from work the next day. I know that the pasta probably wasn't al dente, but he thought it was great because he was hungry and really understood/appreciated the ease and value.

Lars, thanks for the bean clarification -- will try again!

Cathy in SWPA

Thanks Cathy :)!