Cooking can be intimidating. You have to find recipes, shop for the recipes, then you have to actually make the recipes. Then you have to do it all again the next day and the day after that. I can see why so many people rely on takeout and restaurants. But with the current state of the world, learning to cook at home has never been more useful. After years of practice, I’ve found a few things that make things easier and faster. I wanted to put together a list of my favorite cooking tools to make meals easy at home.
To come up with this list, I thought about what I made for dinners this past week. I mentally walked through the preparation of each one and these are the four items I used to make every single meal. I truly use these daily and have found that each one makes my life a little easier and cooking a little quicker.
My Favorite Cooking Tools
A Microplane Grater
This is by far my absolute favorite kitchen tool. When you read a recipe and it calls for garlic, grab this grater. If the recipe calls for ginger, grab this grater. If you need to use fruit zest, grab this grater. I use most often for garlic. Instead of chopping up garlic, which can take forever and is a sticky mess, I just peel the cloves and grate it into my food.
Flexible Cutting Boards
These babies are a staple in my kitchen. They’re lightweight and flexible so you can chop everything on them and then carry them over to slide your ingredients into your pan. These are great for cutting meat or anything that stains (like cherries) because they are non-absorbent and can be thrown in your dishwasher.
One Sharp Knife
I do have a full knife set. And I do use several of the knives in that set on a regular basis. But if I were shopping only for necessities, I would invest in one, nice chef’s knife. I think an 8″ knife is perfect for a home cook. You can do more research on what you need in a chef’s knife, but just be sure to never run it through your dishwasher and to always dry it right away after hand washing it so that it keeps its edge longer.
A 10″ Non-stick Skillet
I use this 10″ T-Fal non-stick skillet every single day. It’s perfect for meats, eggs, or even sauces/gravies and is really easy to clean. It also has a heat sensor in the middle so you know when your pan is heated before searing your meat or heating up your oil. I also like the high walled sides and that it comes with a lid to prevent oil splatter.
A few extra nice-to-have items:
- Wooden spoon
- Tongs
- Baking sheet
- Collander
- A paring knife
And that’s it! It’s not that intimidating right? You don’t need a kitchen full of gadgets (unless you want them!) to make meals every day. Now you tell me, what is your must-have, favorite kitchen item? Let me know in the comments!
