If it were up to most families in Houston, they would eat out every week. Kids would always get their favorite meals and never have to eat a brussel sprout, and parents would never have to worry about cooking a meal — or cleaning up after it.
Unfortunately, eating out every night probably wouldn’t agree with your wallet or your pants in the long run, but there has got to be a way to make cooking a meal easier in the kitchen. You work hard all day long at your job, but you shouldn’t have to continue working hard when you get home just to make a meal.
Lucky for you, there are so many cool and helpful kitchen gadgets ready to make meal prep, cooking time and cleanup just a bit easier. We scoured the web to find the best helpful kitchen gadgets to make cooking time easier. Here’s what we found.
Best small kitchen appliances
You probably have your coffee pot, your stand or hand-held mixer and your blender, and there’s no doubt that these appliances will do a lot for your home. But they’re not the only appliances out there that can help you make a meal quickly. Depending on what you like to cook, you can find small kitchen appliances that will speed up the process and let you enjoy more time with your family in the evening.
Out of all the helpful kitchen gadgets we found, here are our favorite small kitchen appliances.
Instapot
Last year, Instapot became the It appliance for homes across the U.S. If you’re still holding out on the Instapot, maybe it’s time for a second look.
The Instapot replaces up to seven appliances in your kitchen, including a pressure cooker and slow cooker. With its easy-to-use panel, you can adjust the temperature, keep track of time and monitor the pressure so you get a perfect meal every time. Make rice in a flash or let a chicken soup sit and cook during the day when you work. When you get home, you’ll be easy to serve. Find it at Amazon.
Toaster oven
You may not want your little ones trying to use your stove and oven just yet, but with this Panasonic toaster oven, they don’t have to. Don’t let the name fool you. Toast is just one of many things this toaster oven can make.
This toaster oven takes up a small amount of space in your kitchen, but it’s a handy tool for heating up leftovers and making frozen foods such as pizzas. With it, your kids will gain a little independence as they learn to make their own lunches on weekends and even snacks before you get home at night. Check it out here from Lowe’s.
Best helpful kitchen gadgets
It’s not always about the big appliance that can get cooking done faster. Sometimes, it’s the handy little tools that make the biggest difference in the kitchen. When you make one aspect of cooking move a little quicker, it speeds up the whole process and makes cooking more enjoyable.
These helpful kitchen gadgets may be small, but they certainly pack a punch. Check them out.
Bottle juicer
If you’re a big fan of fruit-flavored water, then you can probably appreciate how difficult it can be to add your favorite fruit juices to your water. Sure, you can buy lemon and lime juice separately, but wouldn’t it be easier to buy just the lemon and get the most use out of it?
That’s where this bottle juicer comes in. It attaches easily to the top of your bottle, and it has a juicer and on top. Simply cut your lemon in half, press it onto the juicer and watch the lemon juice flow down the funnel and into your water bottle. The bottle juicer works great for limes, lemons and other fruits. Find it at the Containe Store.
Oil and Vinegar mister
When you serve a salad for dinner, you need a good dressing to top it off, but ranch, Caesar and thousand island dressings are so heavy and filled with tons of calories and sugar. Why not make your own salad dressing using just oil and vinegar?
With this 2-in-1 mister, you get the perfect combination of oil and vinegar every time. It’s easy to refill, and when you’re done, just put it away in a cabinet — no refrigerator space needed. Get it on Amazon.
Grilled cheese toaster bags
Though some kids could eat it forever, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches do get old after a while, but when you have kids that are too young to cook on the stove, their warm sandwich options are limited.
Unless you have these reusable toaster bags. Fix up your favorite sandwich, slide it into the bag and pop it into the toaster. The bread gets toasted and the cheese melts, making it a perfect companion to any can of tomato soup on a chilly day. The bags can easily be washed and reused up to 50 times. Buy them here on Amazon.
Adjustable apple slicer
When your kids come home hungry for a snack, they probably reach for chips and cookies. Not only do they taste good, but they require very little prep time — unlike apples and peanut butter for example.
Not the case with this adjustable apple slicer. Just push down, and you’ll get a perfectly sliced apple every time. Adjust it to get either eight or 16 slices. Your kids will have an easier time making an afternoon snack, and you’ll have an easier time when you go to make a crisp fall apple pie. Find it at Williams Sonoma.
Heat-conducting butter knife
This helpful kitchen gadget may be for your hands only — kids may be too young to use it — but it could make slicing chilly foods so much easier.
This heat-conducting butter knife channels the heat from your hands into the knife itself. It then uses that heat to slice through whatever you’re trying to cut. If you’ve ever tried to cut through a cold stick of butter, then you can appreciate how helpful this tool could potentially be in your kitchen. Check out the SPREADTHAT here.
Best kitchen storage solutions
No matter how big or small your kitchen is, you could always use more storage space. In fact, you may have extra kitchen storage hiding in plain sight. All you need is the right helpful kitchen gadget to make the space work for you.
When it comes to cooking, having the right kitchen storage solutions can go a long way to make your life a little easier. Here are the best kitchen storage solutions we could find.
Tower kitchen holder
Have you ever left water bottles drying in your sink for weeks because you didn’t have a good way to dry them — and then left them there? Or tried to scoop leftovers into a reusable plastic bag only to have the food spill over the bag? Worry no more, this pronged tower kitchen holder is here to help.
Small and compact, the tower kitchen holder has four prongs which can hold water bottles, and many other things, as they dry, and they can also prop up plastic baggies and trash bags as you scoop leftovers in and seal them up. Get it on Amazon.
Over-the-door organizer
Your kitchen drawers may be full, but you’ve got plenty of unused space in your kitchen cabinets. Make better use of that space with this organizer that fits right over your cabinet door. Discrete and easy to install, this organizer will hold aluminum foil, seran wrap and other kitchen essentials or it can hold cookbooks and organizers. Grab it on Amazon.
Pull-down spice rack
When you’re in the moment and cooking in your kitchen, you want to be able to reach quickly for your spices right when you need them. Like many parents cooking dinner, you’re probably juggling cooking with watching your kids, and it’s hard to stay focused and get all of your ingredients out when you need it.
Now all of your spices can be easily accessible right where you need when you need them. This pull-down spice rack fits easily into cabinets, so you can pull it down when you need to add spices. Some cooks let their creativity run free when cooking, so if you think to add in a little tumeric or oregano, go for it. All of your spices are within arms reach. Find this organizer on Amazon.
Best kitchen cleaning tools
When everyone has finished eating, do you sometimes look around the kitchen and feel nothing but dread? That’s because you’re going to have to clean up everything now that the meal is over. Even if your kids are old enough to help clear the table, you still have to take care of dirty pots and kitchen appliances.
But these helpful kitchen gadgets will go the extra mile when it comes time to clean up. Before you reach for that rag, take a look at these kitchen cleaning tools and make cleanup time a breeze.
Bottle cleaning beans
Do you dread using your blender because cleaning it can be such a hassle? Do you make it a point to put only water in water bottles because getting the taste of another liquid out will be nearly impossible? Not any more with this helpful kitchen gadget: bottle cleaning beans.
These bottle cleaning beans are spongy and weighted, so they sink right to the bottom of your water bottles, blenders and other hard-to-reach containers. Just add dish soap along with the beans then shake them up with water. Your bottles will finally get the cleaning they deserve. Check them out now at the Container Store.
Whisk wiper
What’s the most frustrating part of baking — or really just using a whisk? It would have to be cleaning your whisk. All of batter gets stuck, and it can be difficult for even your dishwasher to clean effectively.
Rather than spending so much time trying to get all the bits of batter out of your whisk, do some pre-cleaning work and attach the whisk wiper to your beater or whisk. This silicone device slips on easily your whisk and traps all of batter and mix. When you’re done, just slide it back down your whisk. The device will pick up all that batter, making cleaning your whisk or beater so much easier. Find it here at Amazon.
Dishwasher mesh bag
You likely have plenty of small appliances for your kitchen that are labeled as “dishwasher safe” — but how can you possibly fit some of those appliances and their parts into your dishwasher? And really, do you even want to try? Sure, it says they’re dishwasher safe, but how can you be absolutely sure?
For those who like to take extra precautions with their appliances and dishwashers, this dishwasher mesh bag fits easily over appliances that are deemed “dishwasher safe” to protect them. It can also hold smaller accessories that might otherwise slip through the bottom of your dishwasher and get lost. When you have teething toys and other plastic toys that need a good wash, pop them in the bag and let the dishwasher do the rest. Grab them at Walmart.
We know that when you come home, you’d like nothing more than to plop down on the couch and have your dinner brought to you, but when you’re working and have a family, that’s not always possible. But cooking a meal doesn’t always have to be a time-consuming chore. With you have the right helpful kitchen gadgets, your job becomes much easier because you spend less time chopping and measuring and more time with your family.
And that’s really what all of this is about: cooking a family meal that everyone can enjoy. As the saying goes, work smarter, not harder and let your helpful kitchen gadgets do the rest.
We want to know: what are your favorite kitchen tools and hacks? Share with us in the comments.
