Essential Kitchen Tools

1. Essential Kitchen Tools Long gone are the days where sharpened rocks, sticks, and fire were the only tools we needed to prepare a meal. Though that set of equipment might be an easier list to make, I’d much rather be living in today’s world of sharpened knives and heat-resistant spatulas. Life as a modern day cook is pretty good.

2. Essential Kitchen Tools If you’re new to life in the kitchen, or you’ve just ventured out on your own, making a variety of dishes — especially healthy ones — can be frustrating if you don’t have the right tools. Today we’re going to learn about the 11 tools we feel are most essential to get you from 0 to 1 in the kitchen so that you are ready to go on the quest of making your first home-cooked meal. Now my dear friend, don’t read this list and panic. You don’t have to buy all of these things at once. You can totally accumulate kitchen equipment over time, slowly switching out crappy equipment for new stuff. Building up a set of tools that feels comfortable for you can take time and depends on your preferences and budget. Choose wisely. To give you a little head start, we’ve provided you with Amazon links where you can pick up some of this equipment. We’ve tried to find you some inexpensive tools with the best reviews. These are affiliate links, so feel free to search for these items yourself on Amazon. We just want your kitchen to be equipped for success! Let’s get to the good stuff!

3. Essential Kitchen Tools Chef’s Knife The biggest game-changer for me when I started cooking was a nice, sharp knife. Have you ever tried to cut a sweet potato — or god forbid a spaghetti squash — in half with a dull, flimsy knife? I have, and it’s terrible. Not impossible, but using a crappy, dull knife makes preparing your meals tedious, time-consuming, and downright dangerous. It may be tempting to buy an entire block of knives or several different shapes, sizes, and edges… and if that floats your boat, feel free. But if you’re looking for the most bang for your buck, I’d go with the simple chef’s knife. It’s great for cutting just about anything you might need to as a beginner. Plus, it keeps your kitchen simple and minimalist until you truly need the variety. Cutting Board If you want to take care of your knives (and your countertops), you’ll need a cutting board. This makes transferring food from where you cut it to your pan and pot super easy (just pick up the

4. Essential Kitchen Tools board with your meat/veggies on it and walk over to your stove). And it keeps your knife sharper for a longer period of time. Go with a plastic, bamboo, or wood cutting board. Not glass or stone! Glass and stone boards will dull your knives much more quickly than the soft surface of a plastic or wood cutting board. Also, the sound of a metal knife rapping against a glass cutting board is just plain awful. We selected a very simple white cutting board. Non-stick pan OR Cast Iron Skillet for a level up Some people prefer stainless steel. Others like non-stick. I prefer cast iron. Though they take a while to heat up and they need to be seasoned first, cast iron skillets can be used for a variety of different things: cooking bacon, scrambling or frying eggs, pan-seared pork chops, stir-fries, sauteed veggies… the list goes on. This skillet is sort of your “do it all.” Next, to your knife, your skillet is likely going to be your most used item in the kitchen. The reason I prefer cast iron is that they are tough, they last forever, and because they’re made entirely of

5. Essential Kitchen Tools metal. You can use them in the oven, on the stove top, or even on a grill. And because it’s so heavy duty, you can even use it to add weight to your goblet squats or to defend your home from intruders (please don’t do this). The size of the skillet depends on how much food you’ll be cooking, but a 10-inch skillet should work great for most people. If you have no idea what seasoning means, but a cast iron skillet has piqued your interest, check out Nom Nom Paleo’s article on how to season and care for a cast iron skillet. However, for some kitchen newbies, the thought of caring for and seasoning a new cast iron skillet is a little too much work. For you folks, I’d suggest a good quality non-stick pan. Preferably one without Teflon. (Teflon is bad for the environment and it releases fumes that aren’t great to breathe if you heat them up past a certain temperature. Plus you have to replace them often because the Teflon comes off — more than likely in your food.) If you’re making stir fries, eggs, sautéed veggies, etc., a non-stick pan is great because it’ll do all that with minimal cleaning. The

6. Essential Kitchen Tools only caveat is that you can’t put these suckers in the oven (especially not Teflon) because most of these types of pans have plastic or rubber parts (Some have silicone that you can put in the oven up to a certain temperature. Know what type of pan you have before you do this!). So if you opt for a non-stick pan, you’ll need a baking sheet to cook your steak or chops in the oven as illustrated in this recipe. Sauce Pot A small sauce pot is essential for making things like soups and sauces and boiling or steaming vegetables. Something small will do. If you’re cooking for a large family or doing a lot of meal prep, you could probably choose a larger soup pot, but if neither of these applies to you, a smaller 1.5-quart pot will be fine. Meat Thermometer This might seem like a somewhat excessive tool, but it could be one of the best investments you make.

7. Essential Kitchen Tools When I was growing up and learning how to cook, no one ever cooked with a meat thermometer. But when I moved out on my own and started cooking for myself, I was afraid of giving myself food poisoning by undercooking my food. When you’re starting to learn, how can you be sure you won’t undercook your meats and make yourself sick? Especially if you don’t know what meat *should* look like when it’s done? The simplest and “stress-free” way of doing this is to know the meat’s temperature. If this is an aspect that you don’t want to worry about, do yourself a favor and get one of these. Measuring Spoons and Cups If you’re following recipes and you don’t have measuring equipment, how on earth are you going to make sure you’re putting the right amount of Chemical X in your recipe for perfect little girls? Norpro provides a wide variety of kitchenware that you can buy which are now available in India.

8. Essential Kitchen Tools Professor Utonium didn’t use measuring cups and he ended up with super-powered, crime-fighting children. Okay, maybe on second thought, that isn’t the best story to warn you against not using measuring utensils, but really — especially when you’re first starting out — if you want food to taste good, use those measuring spoons and cups. I know your grandma never uses them, but that’s because she’s been cooking for the last 60 years. When you’ve got that much experience under your belt, I give you permission to stop using them. Tongs For the longest time when I first moved out on my own, I didn’t have a pair of tongs. I’d try to use two forks, chopsticks, or a spatula to flip my food. And though it worked, it made these tasks so much more difficult. I dropped things, I splashed my clothes with grease and sauce… basically, it made an even bigger mess than I was already making. If you’re ever going to grill anything, turn baked chicken, or cook bacon, you’re going to need a decent set of tongs. You’ll thank me later.

9. Essential Kitchen Tools Heat Resistant Rubber Spatula The rubber spatula is the ultimate mixing tool in my humble opinion. Great for mixing just about anything, and if you leave it in your pot/pan by accident, it won’t melt into your food and ruin it. (To be honest, it’s probably best to get into the habit of not leaving spatulas in hot, cooking food though.) Oven Mitt, Hot Pad, or Kitchen Towels Protecting your hands is a must in the kitchen. I’d venture to guess that two of the most common kitchen injuries are burns and cuts. Having a sharp knife will help prevent you from cutting yourself, and having proper protection for your hands when pulling food out of the oven or touching the handle of a metal skillet is going to be essential. Please make sure to never use a wet towel or oven mitt to touch a hot surface. The liquid inside the fabric will boil and evaporate, and you’ll steam-burn your hand. Now, which of these you decide to buy depends entirely on your preference. For the lazy cooks out there or you minimalists, I’d

10. Essential Kitchen Tools suggest the simple kitchen towel. It’s multi-purpose and perfectly functional. Just make sure it’s not wet, and you fold it enough times to protect your hand from the hot pan! USA online shopping has become easier with a lot of varieties which you can discover and have them shipped to you.