When back-to-school shopping season rolls around, you may think of the typical supplies like pencils, notebooks, and sticky notes. Here at CIA, our supply list is a little different. Here are side-by-side comparisons of some of the essentials鈥攊ncluding a few that may surprise you!
1. Patterned Duct Tape vs. Correction Tape
Correction tape is great for concealing your mix-ups on paper. What you don鈥檛 want here is to get your knives mixed up with someone else鈥檚! Patterned duct tape lets you easily identify which knives belong to you.
2. Mini Notebook vs. Composition Notebook
You won鈥檛 be able to carry around a composition notebook while you鈥檙e in the kitchen鈥攖here鈥檚 too much action! Instead, buy a mini notebook to keep in your chef鈥檚 jacket pocket. You never know when you鈥檙e going to need to jot down some notes during service.
3. 6-inch Ruler vs. 12-inch Ruler
While almost any size ruler could be put to use in the kitchen, a 6-inch ruler is perfect for measuring and perfecting your knife cuts.
4. Cake Tester vs. Protractor
Protractors are used to measure the number of degrees in an angle, but we think you鈥檒l get a lot more use out of a cake tester. Baking and pastry students use them to check doneness of their baked goods, and culinary students, the doneness of their fish.
5. Sharpies vs. No. 2 Pencils
Sure, pencils are useful, but in the kitchen, a Sharpie marker can be used to date and label ingredients.
6. White T-shirts vs. Graphic T-shirts
You鈥檒l be issued a CIA uniform, but you will definitely want to invest in plain white T-shirts to wear underneath your chef鈥檚 jacket, as well as black socks to complete your look (it鈥檚 dress code, y鈥檃ll). But don鈥檛 worry, you can wear your statement tees when you鈥檙e hanging out in your room or at The Egg.
7. Kitchen Shoes vs. Sneakers
A new pair of shoes is always a first-day-of-school staple. For CIA, you鈥檒l want to purchase kitchen shoes that meet our criteria: black, sturdy, with non-slip soles. (And if they have laces, they need to be black laces.)
8. Cookbooks vs. Textbooks
Here鈥檚 a case where CIA students need both鈥攖extbooks for your academic classes and also cookbooks for your hands-on kitchen classes!
9. Bleach Pen vs. Stain Remover Stick
Yes, a stain remover stick is helpful to get that small stain out of your shirt before class, but CIA students know that having bleach handy is essential for keeping your chef鈥檚 jacket clean.
