A healthy body begins in the kitchen. Many experts say the best thing we can do for our health is to cook at home. Stocking your kitchen with the right tools will make your cooking experience more efficient. Believe it or not, you might actually begin to enjoy the creativity and inspiration you find in the kitchen.
If you have never cooked, this can be a daunting idea. To share my experience, my adult children used to tease me that they grew up on five different meals…all easy and nothing fancy. I was not interested in what happened in the kitchen growing up so I did not learn to love to cook. When I married my husband, he was the main cook in the family. When we transformed our eating style is when I was faced with learning how to get around in the kitchen. Since then, I have learned to not only enjoy cooking, but I miss it when I batch cook too much and don’t need to make any dishes for a few days. If this can happen to me…it can happen to anybody!
For a stress-free (or reduced stress in the beginning) experience in the kitchen, you need the right tools…good tools. Here are some basics.
Knives
This is the most important tool in your kitchen arsenal. This is where you will want to think “investment” instead of a dollar store find. You don’t have to go crazy…no need to mortgage your house or sell off your jewelry. A good chef’s knife will make your life so much better. The cost of a pretty decent one can be as low as $40-50…a good one upwards to $300 or more. Find the knife that feels good in your hand. That is the one you want.
Look for a stainless steel or carbon steel blade, with a handle that balances well with the weight of the blade. Carbon steel will stain, but will hold its edge longer than stainless and is typically heavier. Depending on how much time you will spend in the kitchen may help determine if you choose a heavier or a lighter knife.
The newer ceramic knives may be a good choice. They are light, sleep and so sharp; they may seem to do the work for you. They are expensive though but can be an excellent investment in your health. If chopping is easier…you won’t mind it so much.
Some people like the fancy knife sets that come with the block for storage. These are nice for those will like this displayed for easy accessibility. You may find, however, that you use just one or two of the knives in the set so it may be a waste of time and space to invest in one of these sets. You can get away with doing most, if not all, your chopping with a good chef’s knife. A few exceptions are a good quality serrated knife for slicing tomatoes or strawberries. I use my little Rada tomato knife almost daily. A good bread knife is an asset, as well. Using your chef’s knife on bread is not a good idea…it will dull quickly and won’t cut nicely through the texture of bread.
To keep your knives in the best shape, a honing steel is essential. Get a diamond steel honing knife to put an edge on your knife on a daily basis. Each time you begin to cook, hone your blade on the steel to keep the edge sharp and your knife ready for use.
Cutting Board
Next to your knife, you will need a cutting board for prep. Again, skip the dollar store items. A wooden cutting board that fits the space you will be using to prep your food. Go as big as you can so you have room to work as you may be chopping multiple items for your meal. Get a nice, thick board that feels substantial in your hands. This will avoid warping. The newer bamboo boards are nice. They are light, durable, anti-microbial and anti-bacterial naturally and won’t warp. You may pay a bit more for this type but people who use them, love them.
A clean cutting board is a good thing…but soap may leave a film that transfers to your food. A suggestion I came across years ago was to wet your board and sprinkle it generously with salt once a week. Rub a half a lemon over the salty wet board to freshen it. Rinse well. This technique removes odors and germs.
Pots & Pans
No need to be super fancy when it comes to pots and pans in your kitchen. They need to be sturdy, so they hold up for years. Some of the best thrift store finds are older, stainless steels pots and pans. Even if they look beat up, clean up is easy with steel wool. There are plenty of expensive sets available if you prefer to make an investment in healthy cooking. This may take some research to find the ones that call out to you. There are hundreds of styles on the market.
I use stainless steel and find it easy to use (after the learning curve that I experienced early on). Stainless is the most basic. They distribute heat evenly and cook food efficiently. I am able to cook without oil in stainless steel…I keep a cup of filtered water nearby to use to avoid sticking. The key to cooking with stainless steel is to heat the pan to hot before adding food. This allows the porous texture to ‘close’ to create a more non-stick environment in the pan.
Cast iron may be a good choice for you. It is heavy and distributes heat evenly. Those who use them say they are easy to clean. They can go from the stovetop to the oven with ease. There are some porcelain coated cast iron pans that are nice for casseroles and more.
As far as non-stick pans, skip them. There is a newer ‘green’ non-stick pan that is likely safer than others. All the science tells us that most non-stick pans are not safe and can leach chemicals into our food. They aren’t fun to cook with either…you can’t brown food well and they seem unsatisfying in a way.
Gadgets
Oh boy…here’s a can of worms. There are so many gadgets available and they can make our lives easier in many ways. From simple wooden spoons to garlic presses, cherry pitters or graters…the options to make our cooking experience better are endless.
There are steamers, air fryers, high-speed blenders, electric pressure cookers, juicers and ice cream makers and more available for your kitchen dollars. I happen to love my air fryer, my Vitamix and my Instant Pot but it took me some years in the kitchen to gather up the guts to try them. The blender was the first investment. It is great for making smoothies, salad dressings, sauces, and soups. I had my Instant Pot in the box for over a year before I opened it. I was afraid of it. I had never used a pressure cooker and I was sure it would explode. It didn’t. I use it regularly now for steaming potatoes and kale, making amazing soups and stews, and for quick, easy pasta dishes. Same with my air fryer…it created that fried feeling without the acrylamides that can damage our health.
Bottom line is to invest in what you can and think of it as money well spent. Your health is worth it. Most of us spend so much money at restaurants for less-than healthy foods. Shift those dollars to your own kitchen and see what can happen with your health. It will get better and you will feel it!