This post is being written by the “Him” part of the team.
Now I am the first to admit that I am not a chef, not even a cook, not even a little bit. Spreadsheets, yes. Website’s, yes. Cooking, no, well not really.
Having said all that, I do spend a few hours every Sunday preparing my meals for the following week and maybe even preparing our Sunday evening meal. Why do I meal meal prep you ask?
Because:-
- I weight train 6 days per week in the gym and it helps to to stay “on plan”.
- Due to the above, and following a Vegan diet, I like to monitor my macronutrient intake to ensure my protein intake is higher than normal.
- Having put in a few hours of effort makes me much more likley to actually eat what Ive made rather than just grab a “take away”.
So as a very novice cook I’d like to share with you the kitchen essentials that I cannot do this without!
READY, SET, BAKE WITH THIS NIFTY APRON!
Now, as an in experienced cook, I am one messy guy in the kitchen! No matter how hard I try, I just cant seem to keep myself clean, so I wear this and throw food around with not a care in the world!
PLASTIC MIXING BOWL
Fantastic for me to mix up my own vegan spicy marinade for my “No Chick” Chicken! We actually have two of these and I use the other one as my “muck bucket”. I’m sure there is a “chefy” term for that, but thats what I call it anyway!
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BITS OF ANY KITCHEN
We’ve had our Salter Digital Scales for years and the only thing we’ve had to do is change the battery (once!!) They have a great ‘tare’ function so if you’re weighing several ingredients into one bowl you can zero the measurements after each addition. These also come in a lovely variety of colours.
CUP MEASURES JUST MAKE EVERYTHING EASIER
There’s much debate about cup measure, we are British after all and well, these aren’t. BUT, I am a convert, they just make everything much easier!
FUNKY WHISK
I use this all the time, mainly for getting the lumps of our my marinade (one day I’ll actually do a proper post and tell you my secret recipe!)
THIS GARLIC PRESS BECAUSE NOT ALL BAKING IS SWEET RIGHT?
A little less glamorous than a beautiful cake stand or fancy coloured whisk but I LOVE this garlic press! It’s super strong and very easy to clean as the metal press part is detachable. I went through several more flimsy garlic presses before buying this one. Wouldn’t be without it now.
HIGH SIDED FRYING PAN
One of my dishes is a massive (or Mahoosive as we say in our house) batch of Protein Pasta with “No Chick” Chicken, I make so much that without a high sided pan I’d make even more of a mess!
SILICONE SPATULA
Perfect for mixing all the veggies into huge batch of quinoa salad.
SMALL KNIFE
Now, I am sure that i’m supposed to bestow the virtues of a £300 Samurai Steel Chef’s knife, but I’m not going to. This works perfectly for me, doesn’t keep its edge as an expensive one would but at that price i’ll just sharpen it more often (or ask “The Cook” to do it for me….)
MEAL PREP CONTAINERS
I make 20 meals per week, so I use a stack of these. They stack nicely in the fridge and the tops stay on in my bag. What more do you want?
FOLDING CHOPPING BOARD
As I said, I’m messy. Anything I can do to keep the food in the pan and off the stove top is a bonus.
SAUCEPAN
Meal Prepping for the gym inevitably means rice, and a fair portion of it too. Thanks to Sam’s How to cook rice post I’m great at it now and this saucepan is my go-to.
VEGAN WINE
Why the actual heck is wine not Vegan? Seriously? Who knew!
And, as I’m still very much a novice in the kitchen, I can get a little “stressed” when I have all rings blazing! So I like to relax with a small bucket of this afterward……
PHEW!! That’s the lot.
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