Top 5 Healthy Cooking Tools

When you have a limited budget with a small cooking space, which are the best kitchen tools to invest in for healthier cooking? When it was time to get out own place together when Mattox and I got married, I had to ask this same question. Now I don’t have a Kitchenaid or a Vitamix, but I can tell you the five tools I use or need on a regular basis when cooking healthier meals.

1. Chopping Knife

A good knife makes all the difference between joyous cooking and pull-your-hair-out cooking. When you have a smooth, sharp knife that slides through the most fibrous of vegetables like butter, chopping veggies for soups, salads, and stir frys makes food prep a breeze. If you get anything expensive in your kitchen, get a good knife. Here are a few suggestions.

2. Blender

Mattox and I use our blender literally almost every day. Since we both love sweets, we blend up smoothies for a healthier dessert, blend up a better frappuccino,  or I will make a green drink for a meal if I need something on-the-go. We love our Ninja blender, but recently it broke blending up a pitted date for a coconut smoothie that I was experimenting with. We are currently accepting donations for a Vitamix :)

3. Food Processor

A food processor is another tool that I use just about every day. If I need to whip up a quick dip, sauce, cookie dough, banana ice cream, or power bar, I take out my food processor. It saves so much money, calories, and even time to make your own sauces and healthier desserts in the food processor rather than buying tubs of ice cream, oil-laden sauces, and bars full of additives. We had the food processor attachment for our Ninja which worked great up until recently (see above).

4. Microplane

I don’t have the proper microplane and just have a small zester, but I would HIGHLY recommend a microplane for all of your zesting needs. I try to use my cheese grater to zest lemons and limes, but it just doesn’t cut it (pun intended). This is a great tool for healthy cooking because you can add so much flavor to dishes by zesting the skin of citrus fruits and even small pieces of chocolate instead of adding more oil, butter, or lard.

5. Oil Mister

This is a fairly recent purchase, but for the 3 months I have had it, it has also been something that I use every single day. The other spray cans can have CFCs which deplete the ozone layer, silicone, and other extra things that we just don’t need in our bodies. There may be some brands that are fine, but I really like this oil mister. I bought the Misto sprayer which you just fill halfway with olive oil or any other kind of oil, pump it to build the pressure, and spray it onto pans for cooking, salads for dressing, or any other foods that might need a touch of oil but not a whole glob of it. It also lasts quite a while. I have been using it for months and it still has oil left in it.
What are some of your favorite healthy cooking tools?