I’d say that’s been well over a year since I really took notice of what I was cooking up in the kitchen. When we’re cooking from scratch we tend to eat pretty clean, but that’s not to say I’m opposed to a takeaway pizza, or burger, or Chinese, here and there. Balance, you know? They have been a few things – food and facilities – that have made eating cleaner a wee bit easier. So today I thought I’d share my healthy kitchen essentials that I always make sure I keep tucked away in my cupboards. First up – food…
My nut stash is overflowing. Seriously. If anyone has any good tips for storing nuts – any squirrels out there? – then I’m all ears. I use nuts everyday; whether it’s for sprinkling over a stir-fry or blending into some brownie mix. I find almonds and cashews to be the most versatile, but I do love to make sure I have some seeds on hand too like pumpkin and sesame. Whenever I sprinkle sesame seeds on anything it makes me feel well fancy.
My other store-cupboard must-haves include: maple syrup, which is my go-to sweetener of choice (I recommend picking up some from Amazon because it works out wayyyy cheaper), microwaveable packs of brown rice because they are just so darn quick and easy to rustle up and it stops me ordering takeaway when I’m feeling lazy nine times out of 10, tins of pulses like kidney beans, black beans and chickpeas and coconut oil for obvious reasons (I use this one because it has no coconut taste). I’ve also realised that seasoning is quite often the key to make things taste really yummy. I always make sure I have a lemon, lime, bulb of garlic and a knob of ginger in the fridge (along with chocolate of course) and then my most used spices are garlic granules (I would marry garlic if I could), cumin, mild chilli powder, ground cinnamon and smoked paprika.
In terms of equipment, it will be no surprise to regular readers that I think my Magimix Food Processor is d’bomb. I’ve got other electrical things that sit out on the counter and gather dust, but this baby gets used most days. Sometimes multiple times if I can be bothered to wash it up manually and not throw it in the dishwasher (a.k.a the lifesaver). From hummus to homemade cookies, I mix up everything in there. Another device that gets used everyday are my measuring cups. Now mine were from West Elm ages ago, but basically any old ones will do. They mean that I get the perfect ratio of milk to oats every morning in my porridge and a lot of the recipes I use often use cup measurements so it saves the hassle of having to convert them.
I’m an absolute garlic fiend and I’ve found that the easiest way to press my cloves is with the Joseph Joseph Garlic Press. It’s not a real pain in the butt to clean and you can get every last morsel of garlic out of it for your dinner. Now the other thing that I feel like would be really handy, but I haven;t quite yet managed to find the perfect ones – are a set of kitchen knives? Anyone have any recommendations? Mine were from IKEA back in my student days are struggle to cut a tomato. Sad times.
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