Indigo jones

The aisles of retail stores are filled with a plethora of kitchen gadgets that are supposed to make our time in the kitchen easier. The truth is, most of them are just making our wallets lighter, and our landfills full of useless plastic. Once you have a well stocked kitchen with the critical appliances (food processor and stand mixer) and tools,( great knives, tongs etc.) not much else is necessary.

There are however, a few things that have become my “go-to“ kitchen tools of choice, enabling me to do things more effortlessly.

Immersion Blender:

This  hand-held stick blender can be inserted right into the pot to blend sauces, puree soups or mash potatoes. It is easy to clean, and eliminates the need to transfer heavy pots of hot liquid into the blender to puree. Simple vegetable soups can be whipped up in no time, with very little mess.

Microplane Graters:

These long narrow graters are hand-held and easy to navigate around the curves of fruits and vegetables. Zesting citrus has never been simpler!

Levered Citrus Juicer:

This hand-held tool allows you to easily squeeze ½ a lemon, lime or orange right into the pan or bowl, while straining out the pulp and seeds. Great for simple salad dressings and sauces! It’s simple, low tech and “easy ,peazy lemon squeezy“ to clean.

Spring Loaded Scoops:

These scoops are for lots more than ice cream! Use a small one for dropping uniform dollops of cookie dough, and a larger one for filling muffin or cupcake tins.

What are some of your favorite kitchen tools that you can’t live without?

Photos: Spencer Jones / Glasshouse Images