Good health starts with a great diet, and one way you can go about achieving this is cooking from home more. When you cook meals yourself you know exactly what goes into them. They’re not loaded with sneaky salt and sugar and saturated fat. But cooking at home every day requires commitment. It can be especially difficult if your cook’s kitchen isn’t up to scratch. Giving it a makeover will not only increase the value of your home, but it will be far more practical for you day to day too. Cooking dinners, preparing lunches, meal prepping and entertaining guests will all be far easier. But what do you need to do to improve your kitchen?
A Cook’s Kitchen: The Essentials
A Fantastic Fridge Freezer
Modern fridge freezers are frost free, and can even be plumbed in so that your water and ice dispenser comes from the mains without needing to keep being refilled. Just be sure to have this done by a professional, you don’t want to end up calling an emergency plumber out because something has gone wrong! Choose a large fridge freezer if you have space for it in your kitchen. It allows you to stock up the freezer with essential ingredients. There will be plenty of space for fresh things, drinks and leftovers in the fridge.
A Well-Stocked Spice Rack
When you have plenty of herbs and spices on hand, you can create delicious meals with only simple ingredients. A cook’s kitchen is always filled with herbs. With a tin of tomatoes and some dried pasta, for example, you can create an incredible dish just by using the right seasonings. It means you can experiment with different types of cuisine. And if you run out of fresh food it means you can create tasty dishes using just items from the store cupboard.
Learn about all different types of herbs and spices, what works well together and what kinds of things are used in each dish. You could even take a cooking class to master the basics first if you’re unsure. Find a way to store your herbs and spices making it easy to use them. You could go with shelves. Or you could even use a tray that will hold lots of little jars in a large kitchen drawer.
Good Appliances
We all know the importance of a good oven, however, don’t overlook your smaller appliances. A stand mixer, for example, can help you make homemade dough or batter for cakes and cookies. A lean grilling machine will help you to get rid of the majority of the fat on meat. And it makes it less greasy and more healthy.
A slow cooker is an excellent addition to any kitchen, sometimes you just won’t feel like spending time slaving over a hot stove. If you plan ahead, you can throw all of your ingredients into the slow cooking pot in the morning and go about your day. They’re safe to be left on and unattended, so by the evening, you have a delicious dinner ready to go. Slow cooking renders meat. It makes even tough cuts very soft. This means you can use cheaper cuts too, so you can save money.
I’d add an Insta-Pot to the list. Since getting one, I use it more than my crock pot. Same result in a fraction of the time.
That’s a great idea Maria! Thanks for sharing!