Most of the time, we think streamlining is best. We love getting things down to the bare essentials. After all, there’s a reason everyone has been on the KonMari train. But occasionally, there are some extra things that make life much easier and more fun, and the kitchen is just such a place.
Sure, you could totally get by with a great knife and one nice pan, but if you could add a few tools to your arsenal that would take your healthy cooking to the next level? Well, in fact, you can. With just 6 extra kitchen gadgets, you can bump things up a notch. Healthy living is just a few clicks of your mouse away.
Ice cube trays
We figured we’d start off with the most low-tech of the tools just to ease you in. Of course you can use the trays to make, well, ice, but we actually love having a couple silicone ice trays around to help prevent food waste and give our future selves some cooking shortcuts. When we’ve made a huge batch of homemade stock or have very ripe avocados that will go bad before we can eat them, we like to freeze them in the ice cube trays. We also like to mix herbs about to turn with olive oil and freeze that in the trays. That way you have flavour bombs at the ready whenever. Once they’ve frozen, we like to pop the cubes out of the trays and into sealable plastic bags to free up the trays.
Storage containers
Having great, reusable storage containers (we prefer lovely glass containers) tucked away in your drawers is super helpful for ensuring you stick to your healthy lifestyle. You can batch cook grains or vegetables to make throwing together meals easy, and you can also use them to bring your lunch to work. Your wallet and your waistline will thank you.
A spiralizer
So many of us have jumped on the courgette train in recent years, and for good reason. It’s a great way to cut down on empty carbs and bump up your vegetable consumption. You can use it simply to make veggie noodles or, once you’re comfortable with it, in more innovative ways. Use it to shred veggies for a stir-fry or to make beautiful tangled salads. Any spiralizer will work, but we love this particular model.
An immersion blender
We like to think of our immersion blenders as our magic wands in the kitchen. You could certainly blend up soups or mashing root vegetables, but having an immersion blender in your arsenal makes life infinitely easier. You’ll no longer have to wrangle a pot of piping hot vegetables into a blender, as you can simply whizz everything up in the pot you cooked it in.
A food processor
If you spring for one of the high-tech immersion blenders, they often come with a small food processor attachment (as well as some other handy ones). Though this is great for whipping up small sauces or condiments, there is no replacement for a real food processor. These high-powered machines make it easy to throw together your own energy balls, hummus or nut butters. They’re even great for making chopped salads!
An air fryer
Alright, so this one is not exactly a super common kitchen gadget, but trust us: once you get one, you’ll never look back. These things are trendy for a reason. Not only can you make crispy fried foods more quickly and with far less fat but also roast or bake things rapidly. We particularly love the Philips Air Fryer.