As a stay at home mom, I have been known to spend a good 80-90% of my day in the kitchen. If I’m not cooking, baking, preserving food or canning, I’m cleaning up the mess I made when I was cooking, baking, preserving food and canning!
With so much of my time spent in the kitchen, I have learned a thing or two about which products are worth the purchase price. Here, I have put together a list of some of my FAVORITE kitchen products! These are all products that I personally own, use on a regular basis, and absolutely recommend!!! So without further ado, here are 10 of my favorite things! 🙂
My FAVORITE EVER mixing bowl that my husband tells me is ridiculously big, but I use it for EVERYTHING!!! I like to bake in large batches. With this bowl, I can easily mix the dough for 4 loaves of bread all in one bowl! That means I only have to bake it once a month now!
I also use this bowl all of the time for washing or prepping large batches of herbs or produce that I’m getting ready to can. It is soooo nice to be able to fit everything into one bowl when I’m working with a lot of food! It’s also super easy to clean because the food doesn’t stick to it. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this product and highly recommend it to anyone who cooks on a regular basis!!!
2. My Favorite HEALTHY Dessert Maker
My kids and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE our Yonanas maker!!! This machine instantly turns frozen fruit into a smooth and creamy “ice cream” that is super healthy and packed with important vitamins and nutrients!!!
My kids LOVE that they get to eat as much “ice cream” as they want! I love that with all of my food allergies, I can actually eat something resembling ice cream that tastes AMAZING!!! We love to mix and match flavors, and I especially love it with a little honey drizzled on top. YUM!!!
3. My Favorite Food Thermometer
This food thermometer is my absolute favorite!!! Baking a meatloaf or a thick chicken breast used to be a total guessing game. Sometimes the outside would look cooked, but the inside would still be raw. And you definitely don’t want to cut the meat open to check the inside without letting it rest, or all of those great juices will be lost!
With this thermometer, I can cook any piece of meat (at any size) and know that not only will it be cooked perfectly, but also that it will be safe for my family to eat. I especially love the digital display that allows you to select what type of meat you are cooking and gives you a recommendation for a safe temperature.
In addition to all of that, it also beeps to alert you when your ideal temperature has been reached. I usually set the temp for about 5 or 10 degrees lower than the recommendation because the temperature will actually continue to rise AFTER you take it out of the oven as you let it sit. Just leave the thermometer in while it rests to be sure your food reaches a safe temperature before you eat it.
Another benefit of this thermometer is that the display sits outside of the oven where you can see it, and it even has a magnet attached so you can stick it to the stove or oven door.
4. My Favorite Belgian Waffle Maker
I know I sound like a broken record here, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Belgian waffle maker!!! (Obviously I’m going to love everything on this list, as it IS a list of my favorite things!)
This waffle maker makes the fluffiest, most delicious, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside GIANT waffles! It cooks evenly and even works great with my gluten free waffles! There is no need to spray it. Nothing sticks!!! Just wipe it clean with a damp cloth after it cools down, and it’s good to go!
Oh, great! Now I’m craving Belgian waffles just from writing this! I may have to take a quick break here! 😛
5. My Favorite Food Storage Containers
I love that these are rectangular in shape. I used to have the round ones, but there was so much wasted space in between them when they were sitting next to each other.
Our kitchen fridge is TINY and cabinet space is also at a premium. That’s why I switched over to the rectangular ones. I also love that they stack really neatly in the fridge and cabinets.
The biggest benefit of these glass containers as opposed to plastic is their durability. Glass doesn’t stain or warp in the microwave or dishwasher. Pyrex glass is pretty heavy duty stuff, and I love that these are safe for the fridge, freezer, microwave and dishwasher.
Also, if you do grab some of these, I strongly recommend replacing your WHOLE SET of food storage containers. I have found that the best way to maximize space is if everything is the same shape and/or size. I practice what I preach, as you can see from this picture of my kitchen cabinet. 🙂
These have worked out really well for us!
Although I’m not the type of person to weigh my meatballs to make sure they’re all the same size, I do find really good uses for this food scale.
I use this anytime I’m making a recipe that involves fresh fruit, like apples, pears, plums, peaches, etc. Recipes don’t generally say, “use two apples” because there is a huge variation in the size of apples. Alternatively, it will say, use 2 lbs. of apples, or 3 lbs. of peaches. That’s where this scale comes in handy!
I use this to weigh my apples every time I make applesauce. I also use it if I’m following a Pinterest recipe from someone who uses weights instead of volume measurements. The same can go for making spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes, or baking a pie from the berries you picked in your backyard.
This digital scale is super easy to use and read. It also has a button that allows you to subtract the weight of the bowl from the total weight to make life easier on you. I can’t imagine cooking any of the above listed things without it!
7. My Favorite Pressure Canner
This canner has saved my family hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year on food!!! Although my first time using a pressure canner was a little intimidating, it’s actually very easy to use! I have canned all kinds of fruits and veggies, as well as countless jars of pasta sauce and apple sauce.
This canner can hold up to 7 quart size jars or 20 pint size jars in one batch. It has served me very well and is still going strong!
I love to use this toaster oven! I use it almost every morning to make my breakfast. The thing I love most about toaster ovens is that there is no waste of energy. No need to preheat a big giant space (like in a regular oven) and no waiting for it to preheat before you can cook your food.
Anything that I can fit into my toaster oven as opposed to the regular oven, I do put in it! It is so much faster, more convenient, and I don’t have to wrestle with trying to fit a giant sheet pan into my kitchen sink to wash it afterward!
This toaster oven has every different setting you can imagine to ensure a perfect cook on your food. Bon apetit!
So, I definitely don’t think I would still be making applesauce from scratch without this apple peeler! I used to peel my apples by hand with a veggie peeler. I’d only get about 3-4 apples peeled before my hand started to cramp up, and there was always the danger of my hand slipping and me taking off a chunk of my finger!!!
I was soooo grateful when my husband’s grandmother told me to get one of these! It is so fast and easy to use that even the kids can use it! They actually LOVE to use it, which makes my life that much easier when it’s applesauce time! Many hands make light work!
This is also a really great tool for peeling potatoes, too! (That has to be one of the most tedious chores ever with a veggie peeler, right?!) But with this tool, it’s a snap!!! I highly, highly recommend getting yourself one of these!
10. My Favorite Food Processor
Ok, I know I keep saying this, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this food processor!!!!! I definitely saved the best for last here!
This food processor makes a huge job fly by in a breeze!!! It has a double-sided blade that allows you to slice or shred as you push things through the top opening. It can shred or slice half of an onion in less than 1 second!!! It made prepping my veggies for the freezer soooo fast and easy!!!
It also has a very large capacity container so that you can get things done more quickly by working in big batches. This has TOTALLY saved me when I’m trying to chop herbs to freeze!! It used to take me HOURS in the tiny little food processor that I was using before I got this one! Now, it only takes a matter of minutes!
I cannot say enough about this amazing food processor, and I truly believe that every home cook could benefit from having one!
I hope you enjoyed my post and hope that you find these items as helpful and delightful as I do! Please email me with any questions or comments at anne@blessingsinsurprise.com. Have a fantastic day! 🙂