Last Updated on August 27, 2021 by TheMealPrepNinja

Investing In Meal Prep Kitchen Essentials

Is it really good to invest in meal prep kitchen essentials? Planning and preparing food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is not an easy task. Plus, you still need to make sure that you are giving your family something nutritious and satisfying.

Each of us must maintain the cleanliness of our bodies and surroundings. We also need to make sure that we are eating a proper, nutritious diet. We can only be certain that everything we eat is healthy and clean if we prepare every meal ourselves. You might ask, “Isn’t it too troublesome?”

Well, it requires a lot of work but there are meal prep kitchen essentials that can help you prepare everything with ease. You need to find nutritious recipes that are easy to prepare and cook in bulk like our Chicken Chipotle Meal Prep Recipe. Veggies, grains, and salmon are some of the ingredients that remain scrumptious after freezing. You need to consider foods that are suitable for freezing and still taste delicious after you microwave them.

You should do your meal prep on weekends when you have no work and the kids are at home. You can get everybody to pitch in and have fun family time with everyone. Take a look at the list of the kitchen essentials below and have fun in your meal prep.

Meal Prep Essentials For Food Prep

When I first started my meal prep journey I did not have too many meal prep essentials in my kitchen. As time went on I start to add items that would help me with my meal prep. There are a few key items that you will need to start with and then there are other items that are good to have over time. Food containers are a great example of a kitchen essential that you will need to start.

Other essentials like air fryers, and pressure cookers are example of items that you can get over time. There are also other essentials like knifes that you can up great over time.

You should do your meal prep on weekends when you have no work and the kids are at home. You can get everybody to pitch in and have fun family time with everyone. Take a look at the list of the kitchen essentials below and have fun in your meal prep.

Kitchen essentials for MEAL PREP

Meal Prep Containers

You need to have different types of containers – glass and plastic – to store the food that you are going to consume for the entire week. Make sure that you have enough containers for all meal prep needs. Meal prep containers are one of those essentials that you can upgrade over time.

Most people start off with some basic BPA free reusable plastic containers and then upgrade to glass meal prep containers. Glass containers last longer, and they are easy to clean. It is best to have an assortment of sizes that can contain:

3 compartment containers – great for when you have an assortment of foods

2 compartment containers – A main dish and a side dish

Soup containers – great for chili or soap recipes

It is also recommended to use non-toxic, reusable plastic containers that you can store in your freezer

Here is the meal prep container I use.

Food Scale

When you have a food scale, you can easily measure the ingredients that you will need for your recipe. This tool is most helpful when you are preparing a particular recipe in bulk or when you are trying to create a new dish. It is also much easier to divide the finished dish among the members of the family. You simply weigh the portion that should go to the container of each member of your family.

It is very imperative that you have a food scale anytime you are dieting and want to make sure exactly how many oz or grams are in an ingredient. I like to weigh my meat so that I know around how much protein I am consuming.

Here is the food scale I use.

Slow Cooker

Slow cooker allows you to create delectable dishes without spending too much movement and time when preparing your dish. A slow cooker comes with a built-in timer. You just need to set the cooking time and wait for the timer to sound off when it finished cooking your dish. You can do other things while waiting for the dish to cook. You don’t need to check every now and then, unlike when you are cooking on your stovetop.

There are a lot of delicious slow cooker recipes that you can find on our website. Slow cooker recipes are one of my favorite meal prep recipes because you can dump and go and come back when ready.

Here is the Slow Cooker I use.

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot offers 7-in-1 functionality that can help a lot in your meal prep. This is one of the best among the meal prep kitchen essentials that you need. You can cook a lot of dishes using only a single cooking appliance.

When your recipe requires your meat to be tender, you need to use a pressure cooker to achieve that. You also use a different cooking appliance for dishes that require slow cooking. You will need a steamer to steam your dumplings and other dishes that use the same manner of cooking. You use a casserole or pan to saute.

You use different cooking appliances and utensils to prepare the different types of dishes. However, you only need the Instant Pot pressure cooker to cook all of those dishes that require different cooking methods. You can save time and money.

This this the Pressure Cooker I use.

Blender

You may choose to have a high power blender or an immersion blender. You can also choose to have both blenders in your kitchen. You can use an immersion blender when you need to puree soups. You can use an immersion blender directly to your soup. You don’t need to transfer your soup to the blender and then back to the pot again.

The high power blender is great for making sauces, smoothies, and gazpacho. You can also use it to blend dry ingredients, such as cereal mix.

This is one of those kitchen essential that you can upgrade over time.

Here is the Ninja Blender I use.

Mason Jars

Like glass containers, it is good to prepare mason jars in different sizes. They are great for storing seed butter, fermented veggies, smoothies, sliced veggies, marinades, sauces, dressings, homemade dips, and others. It is easy to bring along and keeps the content safe for consumption later.

You can meal prep overnight oats, salads, and even protein shakes.

Here are the Mason jars I use.

Knives Set

You won’t be able to prepare your dishes without using a set of good knives. You will definitely need more than one knife. You can’t use your paring knife to chop your meat and veggies. Well, you can try, but you will surely face some difficulties when you do that.

When choosing your knives you need to consider how they feel in your hand. Are you comfortable holding a particular knife? Does it have a suitable weight? Is it sharp enough? While you’re at it, you may also want to buy a knife sharpener. Believe me, your knife will become dull over time, and you need to sharpen it to make it as good as new.

You can upgrade your knifes over time or just replace them.

Here is a knife set that I use.

Food Processor

A food processor can do better than knives when it comes to slicing, shredding, and chopping. Make sure that the food processor that you are going to buy comes with a slicing or shredding blade. This is especially helpful if you are going to prepare large quantities of ingredients, which you will use for different dishes that are included in your week-long meal plan.

Here is the Food Processor I use.

Healthy Meal Prep Ideas, Now That You Have the Essentials

Healthy Chicken Recipes

Slow Cooker Recipes

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Recipes

Air Fryer Recipes

Breakfast Recipes

Meal Prep Food Essentials

There are many other kitchen essentials that you will need or want, to help you with meal prepping. The best thing to do is to start with what’s more important to you and start there. Over time you will build up your kitchen essentials.

Order What You Need To Get Started

Most of the time, it is difficult to prepare healthy meals that the entire family will enjoy for breakfast and bring along for lunch. Many people rely on fast foods to provide them with something to fuel their body and get through the day. If you have the meal prep kitchen essentials, you can be certain that meal preparation is a breeze and all of you are eating something healthy and clean.

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