Utensils for Meal Prep
Utensils are the tools of the trade. These are essential for proper kitchen prep and encourage cleaner cooking habits as well as more effective mise en place which is a fancy way of saying ‘pre-organized.’
Your utensils are an extension of yourself in the kitchen. They help you cut, slice, grind, pulverize, organize, and more. With the right utensils, you can cook anything. There are variations here and there, but so many of the world’s cooking techniques use the same core concepts and we’ve got you covered with the best ones for meal prep.
Cooking Tools
Few things are more iconic than a line chef’s spatula or a rustic spoon. Cooking tools are like a magicians wand, helping us stir our concoctions into nutritious meals. There are tons of options to choose from, some good and some bad, so we’re here to help you identify what suits your kitchen best.
Utensils aren’t a one-size-fits all solution. Different tools use different materials that are not always compatible with your pots and pans. It’s necessary to understand the distinction between what will and won’t work for your kitchen.
Cutlery
Forks and spoons come in all shapes and sizes, filling a number of needs. Cutlery is great for serving out large portions of food or for general eating. If you’re eating lunch on the go, having a reliable set of cutlery can keep things from getting messy.
But we can take cutlery a step further and use it for cooking too. Chopsticks are great combination utensils. While we normally associate them with eating, longer chopsticks are effective stove top tools that can flip and stir ingredients.
Cutting Boards
Cutting boards reflect the practical working space that you have on your counter. No matter the size of your counter, your cutting board is where you will be doing the majority of your prep work because cutting directly on your counter top is terrible for your knives, it is also unsanitary.
Cutting boards, which are usually wood or hard plastic, help protect the edge of your blades, lead to better cuts, and prevent cross-contamination. Consider how much meat versus produce you are cooking with and you’ll be able to dial in exactly what type of cutting boards you need for meal prep.
Knives
Knives come in all shapes and sizes and are an essential tool for cooking. Knives give us the ability to manipulate nearly every ingredient we use. In most cases a Chef’s Knife is all that anyone will need, but there are an amazing amount of options that exist for other purposes too.
Bread, cheese, meat, fruit, the list of specialized knives is endless, but they can also be intimidating for beginners. Ironically, the safest knife is the sharpest knife; and we only suggest the best knives that encourage proper grip and technique.
Measuring
Correct measurements are key to producing uniform meals that will sustain you through the week. Although it’s not necessary to measure out every single item that goes into a meal, there are still certain ingredients that might require more attention than others if you are calorie counting or following a recipe exactly.
You’ll also need to differentiate measurements between solids and liquids because they use different measuring tools like spoons versus cups. Baking, for example, uses a combination of both and requires exact measurements in most situations.
Mortar & Pestle
A mortar and pestle is a rudimentary food processor that grinds and smashes ingredients into a paste or powder depending on the consistency. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but are found almost ubiquitous across all cuisines.
Mortars and pestles excel at breaking down strong fibers, releasing compounds that react with each other to create more flavorful aromatics. When you add multiple items to a mortar, then you begin making pastes and bases that are the building blocks of more complex cuisine.
Prep Tools
Cutting produce isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do and can cause your hands to cramp over time. Fortunately, there are a multitude of prep tools that make it easy and quick for us to prep in the kitchen. Peelers, for example, can save considerable time while keeping our ingredients more intact than if we were to peel an ingredient with a knife.
What’s even more exciting is that a lot of prep tools like mashers and presses have unique additional uses that aren’t always marketed or obvious at first glance. Potato mashers double as the perfect smash burger device. If you think that’s cool, we have a whole lot of other exciting prep tools to show you!