When it comes to frugal living, the general rule is preparing your own meals, desserts, snacks, and coffee. As I mentioned in this post, you save heaps of money when you make your own food compared to buying from takeaways or eating out at a cafe or a restaurant.
This means there are must-have items in your kitchen to make your food preparation easier and safer:
1. Slow cooker
A slow cooker is very simple to use. You put all ingredients in it, set the timer, and leave it alone. As the name suggests, the cooking process will be slow, usually ranging from four to eight hours. A slow cooker is not only energy-efficient, but they’re also safer. Here are more details about how slow cookers are safer and more energy-efficient.
2. Wood Chopping Boards
Wood chopping boards are better and safer than the plastic ones. After a few months of use, the crevices in the plastic chopping boards are a breeding hotspot for bacteria. Here are more details about wood chopping boards, including how to clean and maintain them.
3. Knives
A good knife makes meal preparation faster. This means choosing the right knife for doing a specific job. For example, you need a filleting knife to remove skins and cut fish, meat or chicken. You need a paring knife for cutting and peeling fruit and vegetables. Therefore, having a complete set of knives is a good investment for your kitchen. Here are more details on knife type and how to choose a good one.
4. Ceramic Cooking Pans
There are certain foods like pancakes, medium-rare steaks, or quick stir-fried vegetables you want to cook on a stove instead of a slow cooker. Ceramic pans are a popular choice as they are non-toxic and have more efficient heat transfer substance.
5. Hand Mixer
From whisking eggs, whipping creams, and mixing cake batter, a hand mixer is a more practical, more affordable option than a full-sized stand mixer. Here are more details on how to choose the right hand mixer for you.
6. Food Processors
There are so many foods that we can make with a food processor, from granola energy bars to almond butter. Food processors can also shred vegetables into smaller pieces, making them easier and faster to cook, which means, less electricity (or gas) consumed when cooking.
7. Baking pans
If you love pastries, cakes, loaves of bread and muffins, then a non-stick loaf pan, and a muffin tin are must-haves. Compared to buying one piece of cake, which usually costs around AU$6. When making your own cakes, for example, a cinnamon donut banana bread will cost maximum AU$0.70 per serve.
8. Water Filter Jug
A good quality water filter jug provides a better tasting and healthier option as the filter removes chlorine, chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals and bacterial contaminants from tap water.
9. BPA-free Water Bottles
Why buy bottled spring water when you can bring your own filtered water? Start investing in non-toxic, leak-proof, BPA-free water bottles like these ones. Fill your BPA-free water bottles with the tap water you filter using the water filter jug mentioned above and start carrying them wherever you go to keep you hydrated without the need to buy any bottled spring water. Bottled spring water is not only expensive in the long run, but also not safe as the plastic is not always BPA-free.
10. Vacuum Flask
Instead of boiling water several times a day to have nice warm drinks, a vacuum flask is the best option as it retains beverages for extended periods of time. This means you just need to boil once or twice, fill in the hot water to the flask. You’ll save on gas or electricity, whichever you use to boil water.
11. Coffee Pot
If you’re a coffee drinker, coffee pot is your best friend when it comes to saving money. Instead of buying coffee which is around AU$3.90 per cup (here in Melbourne, Australia), you can buy a 250-gram pack of coffee powder and make your own coffee at home, which costs around AU$0.17 per serve. The saving is unbelievable.
12. Insulated Travel Mug
The word ‘travel’ shouldn’t be just limited to travelling overseas or interstate. Even going to your workplace is also called ‘travel’. If you like to bring a hot beverage with you and sip it while you’re travelling, then investing in a good quality travel mug is a must.
13. Spice Containers
With spices, because they last long, it’s always better to buy in bulk because it’s cheaper. For practicality, it’s better to store them in small containers like a rotating spice rack set like this for example.
14. Freezer Containers
Freezing food saves time. You can cook in bulk just once, put them into several containers and reheat them as needed later on. For this, using airtight freezer containers to keep your food is your best choice.
15. Food containers
As described in my post here, bringing your own lunch to your workplace saves a lot of money. This means having good quality food containers is a must. You can keep your food in an insulated container so it retains the heat in the food like this one, or you can just use a normal (non-insulated), non-toxic, BPA free container like this one.
