Do you want to get serious about cooking, but you don’t know where to start when it comes to choosing the right tools, especially when you’re on a budget? Setting up a well-rounded kitchen can be a daunting, not to mention expensive, task. Whether you’re a college student, newlywed or budding cook, these 10 cooking tools under $10 are a great start to upping your game in the kitchen.
1. Whisk: A whisk will come in handy when mixing batters or whisking eggs for breakfast.
2. Fine Grater and Zester: Zest adds instant flavor and color to any recipe. This tool does double-duty by grating hard cheeses like Parmesan too.
3. Swivel Peeler: Peel potatoes to be mashed, remove the tough outer skin of butternut squash and prepare carrots for your favorite chicken noodle soup recipe with this gadget.
Get 7 more kitchen tools under $10
Coming up with creative holiday gifts for kids can be a real challenge, but to my surprise, several kids I know have been asking their parents for cooking equipment this year. Why not? Half of the tools in my kitchen are better than toys in some respects. Just this morning my son turned my trussing string into rope for his crane to lift my favorite whisk.
If you’re looking for an out-of-the-box idea that will keep kids excited about and engaged in cooking, here are a few things I’ll be giving this year:
- Let your nut-free child walk around feelin’ cool with these kickin’ tattoos.
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You know all those cookie-cutters that are a jumble at the bottom of your kitchen drawer? Well, reach way down and grab a handful because we’re going to put them to good use.
Cookie-cutters are great for transforming ordinary rolled-out cookies into fun shapes, but their usefulness goes way beyond the obvious. I use cookie-cutters for a wide variety of kitchen duties and whenever I let my kids cut their food into fun shapes, they’ll eat just about anything.
Here are five ways you can use cookie-cutters to make cooking and eating a whole lot more fun:
1. Hole Foods — Use a heart, star or any shape you prefer to cut the center out of sliced bread and make an egg in the hole (try Ree Drummond’s recipe). Last week my daughter had Egg in the Dog!
2. Pancake Zoo — Place a greased cookie-cutter in a saute pan over low heat and fill it with pancake batter. Use tongs to remove the hot cookie-cutter and gently flip the pancake until it’s cooked through. I like making a pancake zoo, using a variety of animal shapes.
Three more ways you can use cookie-cutters
In this new column twice a month, Catherine McCord will be sharing a blend of kid-tested, mom-approved products and secrets to keeping sanity in the kitchen.
I am sure that it comes as no surprise that the room in my house in which I spend the most time is the kitchen. As a result, finding reliable kitchen tools which can perform double and triple duty is essential.
While some kids got cars, when I was 18 my mother gave me my first set of kitchen shears. And I was thrilled. Not just regular old scissors, kitchen shears are a cook’s best friend. Once you use a pair, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without them.
Here are just a few kitchen chores that become a breeze by using them:
- Trimming fat off chicken and meat
- Cutting the spine off shrimp to easily peel and devein them
- Cutting the ends off green beans
- Chopping herbs (especially chives) into tiny pieces
- Cutting open food packaging
Read more for kitchen chores that become a breeze
