Home-cooked meals can be inexpensive, delicious, and satisfying—and a drag to make, especially when you have a ton going on. But the best kitchen tools can alleviate much of that time suck.
If your kitchen is understocked, prepping food can be fraught with tedious chopping, messy spills and stirring, and in the end, a sink full of extra dirty dishes. Fortunately, when you have certain kitchen tools at your disposal, cooking can become something to look forward to instead of a time-consuming chore. Or, at the very least with how 2021 is shaking out, something you can perform easily and smoothly, without adding to the stress of the day.
“The right kitchen tools can almost convince you to make a meal at home, which will be superior to takeout nine out of 10 times,” Rachel Beller, M.S., R.D.N., founder of Beller Nutrition in Culver City, California, tells SELF. “It is that difference between being proactive and having that mental block of feeling that it’s just too difficult to execute.” With everything going on these days, anything that makes life simpler is a big win in our book.
That doesn’t mean, though, that you should pack your kitchen drawers and fill up your counters with trendy gadgets that will be collecting dust a year from now. “The minute it has a gazillion pieces and is a little bit difficult to clean, I know it’s a short-lived recommendation, and I don’t go for those,” says Beller.
We asked registered dietitians and chefs to share the essential kitchen tools they actually use all when prepping food to cook faster, easier meals. Here are a few that you may want to add to your drawers. An added bonus? You’ll likely also end up saving more at the grocery store, since you won’t need to spend as much money on pricey prepared foods.
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