In my experience in the kitchen, there have been many unused kitchen tools. With my drawers overflowing with random gadgets I never use, I seem to have found the solid few that are genuinely essential to my cooking experience. While none of the things on this list are going to be essentials for everybody, these tools have helped me make some of the most delicious meals.

Immersion Blender

AS STATED in my previous post, this is a must-have for the kitchen, especially if you consider yourself to be a soup girlie. The good old immersion blender has replaced my smoothie blender on multiple occasions, and makes a killer milkshake. All my favorite easy soup and sauce recipes can be made with an immersion blender, eliminating chunks, so you don’t have to worry about your picky boyfriend telling you that he can feel or see the tomato chunks in your tomato soup. Recently, I made an amazing Potato Leek Soup recipe that I found on TikTok with my immersion blender, and as per usual, it left me super impressed.

Pro Tip: Use your immersion blender in a tall container to avoid splatters!

TikTok Video⬅️ Check out this awesome Potato Leek soup recipe mentioned above! Trust me, recipes like this make the immersion blender your best friend.

Instant-Read Thermometer 🥩

Okay, I’ll be honest…I used to guess when my chicken or steak was done, and half the time it was either undercooked or dry as cardboard. Enter the instant-read thermometer, my savior when it comes to cooking meat. If you’re still figuring out how to cook meat perfectly (I’ve been there), this tool is a total game-changer. No more guessing, no more stress. Whenever I make a roast or a steak, my thermometer is right next to me like a loyal sidekick. It lets me know that my food is both safe to eat and cooked how I like it.

Slow-Cooker

Once again, something featured in previous posts, the wonderful Slow Cooker. I’ve mentioned previously how wonderful the slow cooker can be for making one-pot dishes and saving a significant amount of your time. Scroll to the bottom of my previous post for an epic chili recipe you and your family will love.

Some Slow-Cooker recipes to try:

• Sausage Casserole
• Pea and Ham soup
• Veggie Bolognese
• Broccoli & Cheese Soup

This is my trusty slow cooker! It’s a bit seasoned, but I still love it dearly:) The reason I wanted to show you this is that I want you to notice the knobs on the left and right. The left knob controls the heat, and the right controls time, so you have options on how to cook your meal.

Zester 🍋

This one is definitely not an essential for everyone, but for me, I love to bake as well as cook, and lemon zest provides a lovely flavor. Salads and pastas are great dishes to incorporate zest into. One more way to use zest in your cooking could be roasting it with veggies for extra flavor; I particularly enjoy lemon zest on my potatoes. These handy little zesters are also useful if you want to grate Parmesan into your food, or even for grating garlic, if you don’t own a garlic press or don’t feel like mincing it with a knife.

Did You Know? You can zest frozen citrus, too!

Bench Scraper

Okay, although I don’t use it often, I find this one to be beneficial when I do. Making pizza dough is much worse of an experience without a bench scraper. Pulling dough apart is pretty difficult, especially if you are expected to make even portions, so I typically will use a bench scraper to separate a dough ball into even sections without having to pull it apart with my hands. This may seem great, but honestly, I think my favorite part of owning a bench scraper is being able to easily wipe flour off my counter without it getting all over my hands or a cloth. OH! One more thing you can use a bench scraper for, which my auntie taught me, is for spreading icing on a cake. She also does it professionally sooo yeah, she knows what she’s doing. There are many other uses for a bench scraper that I didn’t even mention in this post, but trust me, these are great.

Veggie peeler 🥕

My friend once used a knife to grate potatoes for months, and it wasted so much of the potato that I couldn’t even watch while she did it. Carrots and apples are also something for which a peeler comes in handy. Realistically, these peelers are only useful for produce, but they are truly useful for many reasons:

• Efficiency: Saving time in the kitchen so that you aren’t peeling the skin of your veggies for hours at a time.
• Food waste: You won’t be like my friend and throw away parts of your food that would be useful to use for a recipe.
• Safety: You can peel fruits and vegetables with less worry than you would using a knife. At least that’s how I feel about it.

Some Gadgets that may not be worth buying

Avocado Slicer

Okay, seriously, who invented this? Apparently, it’s some sort of magical 3-in-1 tool that helps you cut, de-pit, and slice your avocado. If you are looking to save your money, then don’t waste it on a product that does something you can do on your own. Plus, after watching multiple videos of these little tools being put to use, it seems like the avocado slices are mushy anyway. No, Thank You! I can definitely see this being useful for kids, but for me, it would end up being a dust collector in my kitchen drawer for months.

Banana Slicer 🍌

This one is a tool I found out about recently, and let me tell you, I was flabbergasted. What is with people and not wanting to just use a regular stinkin’ knife!? Cutting bananas can be done with a butter knife, or even a fork if the banana is super ripe, so there really is no point in getting something that will do an action a regular kitchen knife could do just as easily.

Rotary cheese Graters

Okay, honestly, I find these quite fun and a great time-saver, but sometimes we have to choose money over time. Regular cheese graters, even though they may not perform as efficiently, will do the same job and just as well. I should also mention that a rotary cheese grater has so many parts, and they may be easy to take apart, but they take longer to clean anyway, rather than just using dish soap and water for a normal cheese grater.

Pizza Scissors? 🍕

What? I truly do not understand why anybody would think to buy pizza scissors. Not only that, but I can’t even think of a reason someone would want to buy these things anyway. From what I have looked at, they are literally just scissors to cut a slice of pizza, with a little tray so you can pick up the individual slice. Once again, can we not just use a normal knife?

Onion cutting goggles

Okay, this might make a funny gift, but realistically, they will not do the justice you think they will. These goggles don’t seal around your eyes very well and don’t even prevent crying. Opening a window, door, or turning on a fan would work better. And you can take it from me as well, because my boyfriend bought these for me, and doesn’t let me cut onions without them:/

The verdict

It took so long to actually find any websites that I agree with in terms of what is “worth your money.” However, this website right here does the trick, and I feel like it took the words right out of my mouth. 20 ‘Handy’ Kitchen Gadgets That Are Just A Waste Of Money

There are so many kitchen tools that are worth buying, but there are also so many that are honestly pointless. There are videos all over the internet of people buying expensive tools that another cheaper tool could do just as well, and to that I say, “cha-ching” 💵. On a real note, you might not agree with everything on this list, and that’s okay, but these are all essential to my kitchen routine.