The Top Kitchen Essentials You’ll Need For a Healthy Eating Kitchen

Buying everything for the kitchen at one time can seem daunting, but waiting is even worse. While it can be irritating to go out and buy all you need to stock a kitchen, it’s more irritating to be in the middle of baking a nice chicken and realizing you’re missing seasoning or butter. Or, you have a friend or date drop by and all you have to offer them is a glass of water. Now is the time to be a grown-up and purchase the things you didn’t want to in college. Whether living and cooking solo for the first time or in need of a kitchen overhaul, here are the best (and most necessary) tools to wine, dine, and entertain like a pro.

Chef’s Knife
One of the most versatile knives available, a chef’s knife allows you to chop, slice, mince, and more without switching tools. Look for a stainless steel variety to keep away rust.

Cutting Board
The workhorse of every kitchen, there are few dinners where cutting and chopping isn’t involved; making the cutting board your new best friend. While plastic ones are inexpensive and easy to come by, wooden versions tend to be more sanitary since they lack grooves for germs to hang out in. They also help keep your knives in tip-top shape.

Measuring Cups and Spoons
Having measuring tools on hand is essential for following almost any recipe; or even just portioning out serving sizes. You’d be surprised at how small serving sizes can sometimes be until you put them in a measuring cup.

Kitchen Shears
This underrated tool will quickly become a favorite. Used for everything from chopping herbs and vegetables to slicing dried fruit and even meat, they make every kitchen task that much easier.

Colander
Though it’s possible to drain pasta using a pot lid, the result isn’t always pretty: think pasta escaping and lids slipping. Instead, use a colander, which drains water like a pro. Also, colanders make it super simple to wash fruits and veggies.

Can Opener
There are few things worse than reaching for a can and realizing there’s no way to open it. (Or soup, coconut milk, beans, or anything else). Though many goods have pop-tops these days, it’s always better to prepared.

Mixing Bowls
Use them to marinate meat, dress veggies with sauce or seasoning, and make salad dressings and dips (give one of these a whirl!). Skip glass bowls that chip easily and opt for lightweight stainless steel versions.

Blender
These master mixers are used to whip up smoothies, mixed drinks, soups, nut butters, and sauces all in a matter of seconds. How’s that for an all-in-one appliance?

Grater
The most common use of graters is shredding cheese. But they’re also wonderful for zesting citrus fruit and shredding chocolate and vegetables like potatoes and zucchini. How else did you think hash browns came to be?

Whisk
This funny-looking tool has many more uses than beating eggs and making whipped cream. It’s also great for mixing vinaigrettes, and combining dry ingredients for baking.

Vegetable Peeler
Spare your fingers and stick to this tool, which serves as a master potato peeler and a fancy veggie ribbons creator. Peelers also great for shaving off pieces of hard cheeses like Parmesan.

Tongs
Use them to flip meat, serve salads, toss stir-fry ingredients, or squeeze juice out of a lemon like a champ.

Rolling Pin
If you love making dough, a rolling pin will help create perfectly even crust for pies and pizzas. It’ll also come in handy for making holiday cookies. Stick to pins that are longer than the area of the rolled-out dough to ensure it’s even.

One comment

  1. Baking is SO fun. One thing that isn’t mentioned in the article (probably because it’s very expensive and NOT a necessity), is a Vitamix. They are absolutely amazing. To anyone reading this article, you’ve really got to get one. Make sure you watch for a sale, because they aren’t cheap. You can mix anything in them; you can even make your own soup!

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