Ree Drummond Helps Bryce Drummond Set Up His College Kitchen

Bryce started college last January at University of North Texas. He graduated from high school a semester early so he could start college a semester early and be able to make spring practice with the football team (you might remember that he was recruited to be one of the quarterbacks.) Bryce lived in the dorm the first semester, then another dorm over the summer, but now he's in an apartment with two of his teammates. Can you imagine all the food that will be consumed among the three of them? Goodness!

Bryce, with the help of his "friend" (here we go again! 😂) Hadley, was able to get largely moved into his furnished apartment in terms of clothes and bedding, but Paige and I drove down early last Sunday morning for the sole purpose of setting up his apartment kitchen, because the kitchen is really all I care about and I needed to know that he had the capability of cooking an egg if he wanted to.

Paige and I drove straight to Walmart a couple of miles from Bryce's place and loaded up on miscellaneous kitchen items: cookware, mixing bowls, cooking utensils, bakeware, and plates/bowls. While I tried to be neutral, I couldn't help but gravitate to one section in particular. This is not a paid advertisement! Har har.

Ree Drummond

So my original plan was to gather some things from my store in Pawhuska and take them to Bryce. But Paige and I got away later than we expected and Pawhuska is in the opposite direction from the way we needed to go and would have added 45 minutes to our already five-hour drive. So we just decided to leave the Pawhuska store intact and contribute to the local economy of Denton, Texas instead.

Ree Drummond

At first I was hesitant to get Bryce and his buddies brightly colored floral kitchen accessories, but Paige insisted they wouldn't mind---and she was right! We took the haul back to the apartment, unloaded it and put it all away, and when I tell you I was absolutely consumed with the organization of this kitchen, I am not exaggerating. Paige initially began just randomly sticking things in drawers, but after I haughtily snapped at her that "spatulas absolutely, positively do NOT go in that drawer!" she decided to take a few steps back and let her middle aged mother have her kitchen organization fun. There really is only one right place for each item. I am laughing so hard as I'm typing this.

By the time we put everything away, Alex and Mauricio (who live in Dallas) showed up, and we all hopped back in the truck and went back to Walmart for a grocery haul. Milk, cereal, eggs, butter, deli turkey, wheat bread, ketchup, salsa, apples, bananas, oranges, frozen broccoli, pasta, rice, jarred sauce...the list of staples went on and on. And yes, I was definitely just as committed to getting each item in its proper place. Basically, I was way more worried about getting Bryce's kitchen organized than I have been about mine these days...but I miss my sweet blond boy and I want his peanut butter to be in just the right spot in the cabinet. It'll help me sleep better at night.

I'm so sorry that I was so focused on the task at hand that I completely forgot to take a photo of the fridge and cabinets. I'm going back down in a couple of weeks to check his fridge, and I promise I'll snap some pics then! But I do have a photo of the strange way I drive down the highway on the way to Dallas.

Ree Drummond

Do any of you do this? Please say yes.

Anyway, here's a list of the equipment I used to stock Bryce's little college apartment kitchen. Some was PW brand, some wasn't. Consider it a starter kit!

2 stainless mixing bowls (can be used for mixing but also for popcorn), 1 nonstick sheet pan, 1 nonstick round cake pan, miscellaneous leftover containers, this set of knives, 1 plastic cutting board, wood cutting board, 1 nonstick cookware set, 1 iron skillet, 1 griddle, a spatula, a rubber spatula, wooden spoons, tongs, dish towels (floral!), paper towel holder, dish scrubber, melamine plates, melamine bowls, cheese grater, and a few other random little things.

Oh, and Paige got them a Glade Plug-In. She's in college, so she understands these things!