Around the Holidays we are cooking more, baking more, or at the very least, going to other people’s homes and thinking, “man! I need that in my kitchen!”

With online shopping, it is so easy to add to your kitchen tools. If you’re someone who doesn’t get joy from cooking or being in the kitchen, just hear me when I say a small appliance can make a BIG difference! Make your life easier where you can!

As a registered dietitian, I love food. I think that is a pretty common thing for dietitians, almost a pre-requisite to being a RD! You need to like food and all things food! But, we don’t all enjoy being in the kitchen the same amount. I don’t consider myself a great cook, but I like it enough and I especially like to host people, so having the knick-knacks and equipment at home to make that easier is important to me.

Here are a few of my favorite things for myself (things for my little one will be at the end). I included the links to Amazon for easy find! These items can be something you gift yourself, ask for on the wish list, or gift for a friend or loved one this holiday season. Look for those Black Friday deals!

tupperware

I love love love my big tupperware containers. It drives me bonkers when I have to break up a dish into two containers because I don’t have a big enough one available. I also find that large containers make it a breeze to prep things to eat throughout the week. For example, I use these big Sterilite containers for salad, pasta, soup, and fruit salad! These containers keep things pretty fresh and are easy to open and close. I have two sizes- the 4.7QT (what I use for fruit salad most of the time), and the 8.1QT (I use this for my regular salads and I could have 1 bowl with lunch and dinner throughout the entire week!).

I also love my nesting stainless steel bowls! A tip- get the rubber bottom!!! This is a game changer, otherwise your bowl is sliding all around while you are stirring! See, it’s the little things.

These bowls are really nice to use for hot foods and meats. I keep them separate from my baking bowls and that also helps for sanitary reasons to prevent cross-contamination. They come with lids so you can easily store them air-tight in the fridge too! I don’t think I can find my exact brand, but these are close!

If you are an avocado-lover, my last piece of tupperware I’d recommend is an avocado storing container. I didn’t believe that it would work as well as it did! Downside is it only store half an avocado, but it is better than nothing! I would say my avocado will stay in “good” condition for about 3-4 days. This device was better than a plastic bag, and cute too!

Cutting boards

My favorite cutting board ever was a gift for my wedding. I believe it is made of walnut wood and is something I do have to care for by not letting it get wet and I like to oil the wood every now and then. I love this cutting board because of the size and it is beautiful and doubles as a serving platter. This would be a super kind gift to give someone who loves to cook. It is big and heavy, so ideally you have the counter space and just leave it out! Mine is right beside my sink, above the trash, and next to the fridge. The ideal place to be used all the time! I included a photo of my cutting board but this is not something you’ll get on amazon. It is usually found by a local vendor or an online shop that specializes in wood cutting boards. You could even get it engraved which would be a sweet touch.

The other small, but mighty tool I love in my kitchen is my mini cutting board. It is a little problem to be worried about, but I would get really frustrated when I’d cut veggies and have to carry them to my pan from my large cutting board. In the process, pieces would fall all over the ground and resulted in a big mess I’d then spend time cleaning while doing tons of other things to cook my meal! So… easy fix was to get a small cutting board that I could just pick up and scrape the food into the pan. These are very inexpensive and can be really nice to have on hand. Another use for it is to have your little one help you prep food in the kitchen and they can use the tiny cutting board!

Other Knick-Knacks

My last little appliance is my grater. I know this also sounds simple and unnecessary to share, but there are so many people out there who, like me, have a hand held grater and it is just not efficient! Now that I have my platform grater, it is much easier to get the job done and less than half the mess.

“When your kitchen tools are functional and efficient, it makes cooking more enjoyable.”

For the parents!

Like I said earlier, I do have some of my favorite things for parents too! At the time of this post my son is 15months old. So I am in the exploratory food-phase still. There are big messes every meal time and he is just now getting more comfortable with utensils.

To make things easier on myself, the bibs, utensils, and dishes my child uses is important to me. These would be great gifts for a new parent, or even things to keep at the grandparent’s house if you’re with the grands a lot.

Here are my three favorite items for littles, ages 6 - 36months.

Silicone Bibs; Click photo for Amazon link

Suction bowls and plates; Click photo for Amazon link

Easy to grasp utensils for littles; Click on photo for Amazon link

Well there you have it! My short list of can’t live without items for my kitchen. I hope this list of items is helpful and saves you time and frustration in your own kitchen!

about bamboo nutrition

Bamboo Nutrition is a group of registered dietitians and therapist who care deeply about their clients and take a more in depth approach to helping meet your health needs. Our team is full of “specialists,” meaning our providers do not claim to be good at everything, but each person on our team has a niche that they can confidently say is their area of focus and expertise. This allows us to pair you with the provider who can truly help you with your concerns and guide you through your health journey. Our hope for every client we work with is that they will experience long-term peace with food.

Bamboo Nutrition has locations in Columbia, Missouri and Rochester, Minnesota. We are online and in person. We offer individual sessions and have various groups and classes.

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