My Top Ten Kitchen Utensils
At my cooking demos I find that people are always really interested in the ‘gizmo’s’ I have, so I thought I would share my top ten favourite pieces of kitchen equipment that I couldn’t do without and let you know where you can get them too. As always you can find them all on amazon* (if you click on the images in the blog, it will bring you to the amazon page) but you can also buy many of the smaller items locally. I tend to find some great utensils in TK Maxx and Homestore and you can find lots of good things in the kitchen sections of many of the high street stores too. Enjoy browsing through the list : )
- Lemon squeezer – Yes, such a simple little piece of equipment but I love it and it saves so much time as it works really well extracting the juice. They aren’t that easy to find – I got mine in a speciality cooking store but found them on amazon recently.
- Blender – Ah my blender! I have been through so many blenders over the years – I’d be afraid to count! I use a blender daily for smoothies and often for other things like pesto and ice-cream but mostly for smoothies. The gold standard in blenders are the Vitamix
and Blendtec
blenders but they run quite expensive. The blender I use is the Optimum 8200 and it has similar specs to these but is half the price – still not cheap but worth it in my opinion if you want a blender that can deal well with frozen fruit and ice-cubes. Go directly to Froothie.ie for their options.
- Apple corer – One of those simple little devices but one I use daily. Makes chopping up an apple for the kids a 5 second affair! You can buy them in ikea, homestore and more and I have seen them in TKMaxx too (a great place for picking up kitchen supplies by the way). Of course, amazon has them too…
and 
blenders but they run quite expensive. The blender I use is the 
- Minipro blender – this is the best thing since sliced bread and is such great value for money! As it has 6 blades it can chop and blend as fine as you want – it does everything from chopping onions to blending pesto into a very smooth paste. So quick and easy to clean too.
- Spiralizer – these are great for kids or to add a bit of variety into the kitchen. My kids love to spiralizer apples and it comes with 3 blades so different types of spirals to try. I use it mostly for courgette – making spaghetti from courgettes. Fab for a quick summer salad with any dressing but I love a pesto with it for a simple and quick dish.
- Sprouter – this is fab if you use it but takes up a lot of space if you don’t! (Bit like a home treadmill!). I tend to use mine a lot over the summer months and not so much in the winter. Sprouts are one of the most nutritious foods there are so I love it for providing freshly grown sprouts in a few days. There are a lot simpler and smaller options but I like the automatic aspect of this as all you really need to remember is to keep it filled with water and the machine does the rest (the watering effect is done on a timer switch). Make sure you will take the time to use this if you decide to invest. For the one I have go to easygreen,
- Measuring spoons – All my recipes use measuring spoons and cups to make life easier. You can get spoons in most places, even in Woodies but just to note, some of the round shaped spoons (which most of the cheaper versions are) don’t often fit into herb or spice jars so keep that in mind when purchasing. I prefer the rectangular shaped ones as they fit better into smaller herb jars.
- Measuring cups – As mentioned above, all my recipes are creating using cups as it is so much easier. . I find cups so much quicker than weighing food so create all my recipes using cup measures. Like the spoons you can find measuring cups in most stores, however, one thing I have learnt is to make sure you buy ones with the measures etched into the handle. Many of them have the measure on the base of the cup which makes it hard to read at a glance, or else are printed on the handle and that often wears off with time. So, choose one that is clearly marked on the handle so you can identify which cup is which measure easily. I like the oxo brand ones as they are solid, have clear markings and are magnetic – you can get cups a lot cheaper that this though (have seen them as low as €3) but just sharing the ones I like as I have gone through so many over the years.
- Banana chopper – yes it is a real thing and is so worth the 2 or 3 euros it costs. If you are into making smoothies and chop lots of bananas for the freezer then this is great as you can include the kids in helping you. There are no sharp edges but yet it does the job perfectly and creates perfectly sized slices for smoothies.
- A nice chopping board – I debated between this and my mini muffing tray for the last spot but as a chopping board is something you use daily it won out! Healthy eating usually involves lots of chopping so it is nice to have a good board (and knifes) to enjoy chopping with. Personally I like chopping on a solid wood board but think it’s important to choose one that you like. I like having one with a handle too that I can easily grab from the cupboard. Here are some options for you to consider.
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