Cooking at home can be fun and useful, whether you create simple, hearty meals or complex dishes. Preparing food in your kitchen saves money compared to regularly eating at a restaurant or buying take-out. If you are like most people that cook at home, then you probably wish that certain kitchen tasks such as ingredient preparation were simpler. Check out the following for some much-needed kitchen items that can simplify your next meal prep.
Heart of your home
Your kitchen is the place where your family and friends gather to cook, snack, and hang out. It is a positive thing when your kitchen is the center of your family’s attention. There are articles published suggesting that eating meals at home is essential to your family’s health and development. Whether you are a family of one or many, you can undoubtedly reap the health benefits of cooking at home.
Cooking essentials
Keeping in mind the importance of home-cooked meals, you have to find the motivation to do the prep, cooking, and cleanup. Since most of us are tired when we come home from work, cooking can be an arduous task at the end of the day. Increase your motivation and ease the burden with helpful kitchen gadgets.
Meal prep gadgets
Just about everyone has struggled with a difficult to undo jar lid at some point. If you don’t own one already, check out a robotic jar opener that will easily open almost any jar with the press of a button. It is pretty amazing!
Chop quickly to the size that you need with a chopping gadget. There are devices available that chop vegetables of almost any consistency quickly. They have multiple blades, which make the job much easier than cutting with a knife.
Another way to prep vegetables is with a spiralizer. You can make anything from zucchini vegetable noodles to shredded cabbage for coleslaw on this gadget.
Silicone items, like silicone spatulas and hot pads, are popular in the kitchen. Food grade silicone is tough, flexible, and is usually heat resistant or oven safe.
Sturdy pots and pans
Well-made pots and pans are heroes in the kitchen. Every kitchen needs at least a stock pot, large and medium saucepans, and an omelet pan.
Make sure that cookware is scratch resistant and dishwasher safe to make cleaning up easier. Look for good quality multi-functional pans. There are numerous brands and excellent products available; products such as a copper skillet like those as seen on TV.
Try a ceramic electric skillet for easy meals, side dishes, and breakfasts. Look for helpful and time-saving features, like non-stick surface and cooking without flipping food over.
Automated cooking
Slow cookers and pressure cookers are essential items that practically cook dinner for you. Most slow cooker recipes cook for 8-hours and switch over to a warming setting until you return home from work.
Pressure cooker meals can be started when you first arrive home and have dinner ready once you have sorted your mail, changed into comfortable clothes, and made side dishes.
Hot air popcorn poppers make snacking a breeze. Once the food is cooked, eaten, and the mess is cleaned up, nothing is more relaxing than sitting on the sofa – watching a movie or two – while snacking on something savory. Instead of running to the store to pick up a bag of unhealthy snacks, pop a handful of kernels, add a bit of salt and melted butter (or other flavorings if preferred) and enjoy one of the freshest, healthiest, least expensive, and yet most popular snacks in the world.
Meal prep can be made fun and easy with the right kitchen gadgets. Hopefully, these kitchen essentials will help you create delicious food and inspire you to have a healthier lifestyle.
