Reduce Your Kitchen Prep By Using The Right Tools

One thing I love to help with is getting families back to the table to enjoy a family meal, and to do that is to spend less time in the kitchen. Let me show you some tools that will accomplish this goal.

During the pandemic lots of families are at home cooking more, but may be getting a bit frustrated with the length of time cooking if that sounds like you, you're in the right place. If you are currently safe at home and now a work from home employee, and a school teacher, stick around hopefully I can help.

Now most of the family and friends I know like something quick and easy and tend to get fast food, or take out because cooking is just one thing we didn't do and still may not have time to do. The last thing I want to do is to spend over an hour messing around in the kitchen before I get to eat dinner. My motto is if it takes 30 minutes or less I'm good to go. So I wanted to share some of my favorite quick tricks to help get your meal on the table sooner by cutting down your prep time.

Having the right tools in your kitchen is the first step in making cooking easy, fun and quick. Lets start here with five basic tools every kitchen should reduce your kitchen prep time. These tools are kid friendly with adult supervision cooking can be a fun family activity.  

The Quick Slice is the perfect tool to quickly cut soft veggies and fruits into lengthwise slices in just a few seconds. It's also easy to use for those that may have difficultly holding a knife or for the kids just learning how to cook. What I love about this product is that I can quickly cut my veggies in one motion and it cuts down my prep time significantly.  (Use with peppers, strawberries, avocados, hard boiled eggs, and the like)   

The Food Chopper this product is perfect for most of your dicing needs (it also happens to be a great stress reliever). By having it's three blades and it rotates each time after being pressed you can have a diced onion (without the tears) in about 30 seconds. I find that this product is very useful and easy to clean in the dishwasher for a quick clean up. This product is geared toward your hard veggies like onions, carrots, potatoes, and apples. Again this product is great for kids as the blades are secure and easy to use.

    Everyone needs a good pair of Kitchen Shears and this pair should only be used on food. There are your normal scissors and there are shears that can cut through meat, these are the shears to keep with your knifes and out of the craft bin. The reason you want a good pair of shears in the terms of kitchen prep, these are easier to wield instead of a knife. For example, if you are having rotisserie chicken from the local grocery store instead of carving it like a turkey, grab the shears and cut that chicken up. You may find it quick and easier than trying to use a knife to get into the smaller bird. The perk about these shears is that they can be taken apart and cleaned in the dishwasher. I tend to grab these over for a quick opening versus grabbing a knife. I also like using these on sausages to remove the casings. Overall a great product and kids can use these with adult supervision.  

The Manual Food Processor is a powerful tool that just happens to be manual and should be in every kitchen. It reduces your kitchen prep by allowing to make full recipes all in one container. I prefer making homemade salsa and hummus in mine. Sometimes it may be easier to pop open a jar of salsa instead of prepping each ingredient. but what I've found is Americans want to make their own food and to know what is in their food. If you have multiple things to chop for a recipe throw everything in and it chop and mix and combine ingredients. If you need to prep for the night before this also comes with a lid perfect for storage.

Lastly I recommend the 5 Inch Santoku Knife it's perfect for a majority of any prep needs. Every start to a recipe can normally call for a knife. Some may call for a Chef's knife but a majority of go to options would be the Santoku and this this is my favorite knife. Pampered Chef's cutlery is sharp and I love that they have a lifetime guarantee. This is my go to knife for basic chopping of vegetables, meat, you name it. I plan on doing a whole post on cutlery and why you need a good set. But you can never go wrong with a good knife.

I hope you found this interesting and helpful. These tools can help reduce the prep time and get your good food on the table without sweating in the kitchen. Everyone will love you and your meals at the dinner table even more.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite meals for you to try Quick Chicken Fajitas & Fresh Tomato Salsa.

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