Sunday, June 17, 2012

Some of My Favorite Kitchen Products

Since I have started spending more time in the kitchen, I have found several products that save time and energy.  And some are just plain cool.  I'm sure more favorites will be discovered but this is what I have recently found or use regularly.

APRON!  This is saving my clothes.  I quickly learned that cooking ruins clothes.  You get splatter stains and little holes from rubbing up against the cabinets.  We have one spot in our counter top in front of the sink that is a seam where the formica was split.  I have a bunch of little bitty holes in some of my shirts and I finally discovered they are from leaning over the sink, washing dishes. This one also has pockets and an adjustable neck strap so it fits me and the husband.  I found this one on amazon for a way better price than anything in the stores around here.
 Digital Slow Cooker!  I can program this one to cook for a set number of hours then switch automatically to warm.  I've never had a slow cooker that would do that.  It has made life so much easier.  We found it on sale at Target.
 Food Saver!  I've started learning that cooking from scratch and working full time and being a mother and taking care of whatever other miscellaneous things need done, just doesn't always work out.  With this magnificent little invention, I can cook some meals ahead of time, seal them, and freeze them.  Now I have a quick and easy warm up meal for busy nights.  Or an easy, throw it in the slow cooker meal.  I've also used it to seal up marinades instead of worrying about my plastic bag breaking open and making a mess in the fridge.  Yes, that has happened to me more than once.  We also repackage our store bought meat with this in smaller, meal size portions.  The meat does not freezer burn in this like they do in plastic bags or plastic wrap.
 A good knife is essential to a cook.  I have three actually.  And I would love to have a few more.  For some meals I have to use all three. The green one pictured is from pampered chef.  It keeps a sharp edge for longer and is easy to sharpen yourself.  The other two are from A.G. Russel.  The one that isn't pictured here is just bigger.  Again, they hold the sharp edge longer and are easy to sharpen at home.  Note:  DO NOT PUT THESE IN THE DISHWASHER!  They won't last as long.  I always hand wash.
 Over the cabinet door basket!  I found these at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I loved them so much, I bought three!  In one, I put my essential oils and homemade sprays.  In another, I put plastic bags, foil, plastic wrap, straws, etc.  And in the third, I put whatever doesn't fit in the others.  These allowed me to use wasted cabinet space behind the door and clear out two full kitchen drawers.

 Salt and Pepper Grinders!  I paid way more for these than I thought.  If I had known how expensive they were (they were on the wrong shelf and I didn't pay enough attention until I got home) I never would have bought them.  I'm so glad I didn't pay attention, because they are worth the money.  Fill them with peppercorns and salt and grind away.  These make it so much easier to spread evenly across food you are cooking and you can actually see how much you are dumping in.
 Slow Cooker Liners!  I hate scrubbing the slow cooker after food has cooked on the inside.  They are often hard to clean without scratching.  And since we use the slow cooker much more often now, this saves so much time and energy.  Just spread them across the bowl of the slow cooker, just like you were putting a trash bag in a trash can, dump in the food and cook.  When it is done, pull out the food to serve/store, pull out the bag and dump excess liquids down the drain and toss.  You still have to wipe out the slow cooker but no scrubbing.
 Toaster Oven!  We don't even have a regular oven where we are living right now.  We have a gas range and a toaster oven.  It is a larger toaster oven with convection bake but it still wasn't all that expensive.  You can't put the larger cookie sheets or pizza pans in it but everything else fits.  It has worked for us and I will most likely keep using it regularly even when we have an oven again.

No comments:

Post a Comment