Ten Of My Kitchen Favorites

From kat's Kitchen

One of my favorite YouTube channels, Plain Vanilla Grandma, had a list of her favorite things in her kitchen and one of her bathroom. I thought it would be fun to do it on my blog. So here is my list and they are not in the order of what is my favorite as I could not decide what order they would go in. After writing this, I realized I could write another ten. But I will save that for another day. 

1. Duxtop Induction Cook Top

I love this and use it daily. I took all the burners off the electric stove in my kitchen and have the induction cook top on it instead. They say it uses less electric and I can't really comment on that since my electric bill is very low and I pay a set amount monthly. Your pans have to be magnetic to use on it and I have gotten rid of all mine that were not. Cast iron is, but unfortunately it is too heavy for me now. I kept my small cast iron skillet and griddle and have three other pans that are induction friendly. 

2. Nuwave Oven

The Nuwave Oven is another of my favorite small cooking appliances. It works great and can bake, toast or reheat all kinds of different foods. It can be used for baking cakes, cookies, pies, etc, Just about anything you can think of. Meats, casseroles, whatever. It too, is said to be energy efficient. I can even put a frozen piece of meat, such as a hamburger or sausage in it and it cooks it perfectly. I use it to make bacon and it comes out in flat long pieces. Just the way I like it! You can cook a whole turkey or roasting chicken in it too, though I have not done that yet.

3. Instant Pot Duo

I bought the Instant Pot before I moved here. I tried to use it a few times but it was not meant to be used with limited electric from solar panels. I see people who have solar and are living in rvs and vans use it with solar. So it is possible or newer technology helps. I use it a lot here. Cooking with it is a pleasure. Food comes out cooked perfectly (once you master using it) and fast. Not like a microwave for just reheating in a couple of minutes, but I reheat leftovers in it all the time. Does not take that long at all. 

4. The Hot Pot

The hot pot is made by a company called Dash, made in China. It is plastic but it works great. I have had it for almost two years. It heats the water super fast. I use it almost daily for making herbal teas. Anytime I need hot water for a recipe or any other reason I use this. You can also cook in it. I think it was designed for college kids to cook in their dorm rooms. I do not cook in it because I do not want it to take on the smell of food or seasoning. I bought it for heating water only.

5. Vegetable Chopper

I recently bought this vegetable chopper and I have been using it  often. The only thing I do not like about it is cleaning out the squares on the cutting blades. I have been using a toothpick to do it. If someone has a better idea, please let me know. It has made chopping onions tearless. I use it mainly for onions but you can use it for almost any vegetable to need to chop. It has two blades in different sizes. It is a good tool for preparing food and saving time. You still have to cut the onion in half or quarters to fit it into the chopper. 

7. Salad Spinner

I FINALLY found one that really works! I have tried so many of these salad spinners and they didn't really work. This one I bought a few months ago and have been happily spinning ever since. No more grit on our salad or Rabbit's kale and parsley leaves. Easy to use and well made. It is plastic and made in China. 

8. Salad Keeper

I love this so much I am thinking of buying a second one. It has a little switch to turn according to what type of vegetable you are storing in it and how much air flow, or if any, is needed. I just put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Fresh produce is what I buy the most of so storing it properly is important. Rabbit and I eat a lot of fresh salad greens and herbs. This is a big help since I used to lose so much because it would go bad quickly. Now it stays fresh much longer.

9. Pantry Organizer 

In a previous post I wrote about this little space saver in Kitchen Storage Rack In A Small Kitchen. I cannot say enough good things about it! If I had a space for another one, I'd buy it in a second. It is made out of plastic but the heavy kind. As you can see, I have the quart size canning jars in it and other glass containers. No problem at all! Fits perfectly in that small space.

10. Vacuum Food Saver

It doesn't look impressive, does it? Well, I got sick and tired of the build up of frost inside those plastic freezer bags. The plastic bags for the food saver may be more money, but my opinion it is well worth it. I just can't stand seeing all the frost inside the plastic freezer bags. Now I buy the larger packages of chicken thighs and hamburger at a better price.  Then bring it home and vacuum pack the hamburger in small packages of one hamburger each. For the chicken thighs, I put two pieces in each package. I usually only eat one but like to have the other for a leftover the next day or so.

Copyright © 2020 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2020  Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2021