You have the essential kitchen tools, and you’re keeping your kitchen stocked with the essential ingredients that are unique to your dietary patterns and meal prep style. And maybe you've added a few extra tools to your kitchen's inventory from Part 1 of our "Kitchen tools that make meal prepping even better" three-part series. Next in part 2, we'll continue highlighting a few kitchen tools that can introduce more variety to your meals, and make food prep even easier and more enjoyable.
Spiralizer
If you’ve ever purchased “zucchini pasta” also known simply as spiralized zucchini – or other spiralized vegetables – then it’s time to grab a spiralizer!
You could save a lot of money not purchasing the ready-made stuff, you’ll add variety to meals, and little helpers love using this tool.
Stand Mixer
Your life could change for the better if you don’t yet own a stand mixer!
Use it to whip potatoes, your own whipped cream, mix up batters, knead bread and pizza dough, or combine meatballs or meatloaf mix.
But wait! There’s more!
Additional attachments give you the means to make ice cream, puree tomatoes, grind meat.
In fact, you could skip the standalone spiralizer, and put a spiralizer attachment on your stand mixer!
Save your energy in the kitchen for a fun workout instead – buy the stand mixer.
Pinch Bowls
These offer the fun feeling you operate your own restaurant kitchen.
They’re perfect for using frequently used seasonings like salt or your favorite dried herbs.
Or they’re convenient when setting up your mise en place: getting all your ingredients prepared and organized prior to cooking.
Cast Iron Dutch Oven
These heavy pots are kind of like the slow cooker of pre-electricity days.
They maintain consistent heat and are excellent for soups, stews, braising, sautéing, boiling, poaching, slow-cooking, baking, and deep frying.
Many today are enamel-coated, available in a variety of colors, so they even add some eye candy to your kitchen.
With some exceptions (i.e. damage, or non-oven-safe handles), Dutch ovens can withstand higher temperatures and can therefore be placed in the oven to roast, or under the broiler to brown.
Wok
Have you been stir-frying in a standard skillet? Trying your damndest not to flip the contents out of the pan? Meanwhile, wishing you had something better?
Or maybe you haven’t tried stir-frying yet, but you love East Asian cuisine like Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese, and you’d love to play more with those flavors at home. Then a wok is what you need!
With higher sidewalls, you can flip and toss a meal’s worth of ingredients without losing a single piece of broccoli!
And as you might guess, the wok isn’t limited to Eastern Asian cuisine. Whatever you’d cook in a skillet you can cook in a wok! Its versatility makes this a practical add to your kitchen’s inventory.
There are more kitchen tools to come!
Stay tuned for the final items on this list in Kitchen Tools that Make Meal Prepping Even Better: Part 3. And in case you missed it, check out Part 1 of this three part series!
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