Are you looking to downsize the amount of kitchen gadgets you have? Or maybe you’re starting from scratch and looking for suggestions on what to purchase? Keep reading for my top 5 kitchen essentials that I always use in my kitchen.
I don’t consider myself a minimalist, but I tend to clean out my kitchen cupboards and get rid of clutter I don’t use often enough. If I were starting over, helping my younger sister stock her kitchen, or simply downsizing, these are the essentials I would have a hard time living without in my kitchen (outside of things like cutting boards, utensils, and measuring cups).
#1 Instant Pot
This was the best housewarming gift I have ever received – so much so that I’ve gifted it to family members as a housewarming gift too! My favorite things to cook in the Instant Pot are rice, mashed potatoes, bone broth, stews, and soups because it saves so much time. I no longer spend 40+ minutes waiting for rice to cook or potatoes to boil, and I can keep it warm with the “Warm” setting. The ultimate set-it-and-forget-it!
I love to use the “sauté” feature when making soups and stews. I can sauté vegetables (like garlic and onion) directly in the Instant Pot while prepping the rest of my ingredients. This helps create a deeper flavor with no extra pots or pans to clean up. A win-win!
You can easily heat leftovers in glass containers too, if you don’t have or want to use a microwave or dirty pots or pans to heat up on the stove. So many uses for one kitchen gadget!
#2 Airfryer
We were gifted a hand-me-down Airfryer when my in-laws purchased a newer one, and I fell in love with it after the first use. Gone were the days of roasting vegetables in the oven for my husband and me. It was time-consuming, a huge ordeal for a small amount of vegetables, and unfavorable when it heated our small apartment, especially in the summertime.
I tend to buy frozen vegetables to save on prep time and vegetables going bad, and I love that the Air Fryer can bake them from frozen. I also love using it for a small snack of gluten-free chicken nuggets – it’s a much better texture than the microwave!
If you have a smaller amount of food to roast, bake, dehydrate, etc., don’t want to waste time preheating an oven, want to save money on gas/electricity, or maybe you live in a dorm or apartment without an oven, this is a great appliance to have on hand!
#3 Blenders
I haven’t committed to buying a huge blender yet (like a Vitamix) and honestly, I’m not sure when I will. We own a Magic Bullet blender which I have used hundreds of times for smoothies, sauces, fruit dips, and more. This blender has come in clutch for countless meals, but it’s small. If I wanted to make a tomato soup from scratch, there’s no way I’m blending it in batches in the Magic Bullet. So chunky tomato soup it is…or so I thought!
I found a hand-held immersion blender on Amazon and though I don’t use it often, it fills all the gaps between a Magic Bullet and a huge blender. And it doesn’t take up nearly as much space! I can also blend my tomato soup or cauliflower leek soup straight in the pot. No transferring the soup to a blender (possibly in batches) or washing a blender. Just a simple rinse of the immersion blender head and in the dishwasher it goes. Absolute magic.
#4 Glass Tupperware Containers
If you like to save time in the kitchen, I bet you batch cook like I do! When I make meals, I like to make more than we’re eating that sitting and store the rest as leftovers. Less time in the kitchen = more time for life. And since I heat leftovers in the microwave often (like at work), I don’t like storing my food in plastic tupperware (even if it’s BPA-free). I feel glass containers also have a longer life than plastic, and they don’t turn orange from spaghetti sauce. You can find great sets of glass tupperware contaners that won’t break the bank too.
#5 Garlic Press & Vegetable Peeler
(Yes, these are two different items. Let’s just consider these in one category of “prep items”, haha.)
These are newer to my kitchen, and boy have they saved me so much time. I used to tell myself I didn’t need to clutter my kitchen with a garlic press and vegetable peeler because I could cut garlic and peel veggies with a knife. While this is true, I didn’t realize how much I disliked doing it! I would buy garlic, not want to spend 5 minutes cutting it or having my fingers smell like garlic the rest of the day, so I wouldn’t cook the garlic I bought. Cutting the peels off potatoes and carrots was time-consuming and wasted more of the flesh than I wanted. So, I gave in, bought this garlic press and vegetable peeler set, and have never looked back. I now have crushed garlic in less than a minute without my fingers reeking of garlic and peeling potatoes has never been easier.
With how little room these items take in a drawer, the benefits far outweigh the cons (are there even any cons?) and they’ve landed on my kitchen essentials list.
Final Thoughts
Of course, I could write about more kitchen essentials and must-have gadgets. However, these items are my more frequently used tools, and being without them would severely slow me down in the kitchen. And while I love cooking, I also love being efficient and having extra time for other things I love.
What would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments!