As a new mama, I have learned – quickly – how important it is to have shortcuts in the kitchen. Whether I’m feeding Ellie, changing her diaper, changing her clothes because she had a poop explosion, getting us ready to go out, playing with her, entertaining her, chasing after her… well, spending less time in the kitchen gives me more time for all of that.
But most of all, I just love the freedom to be able to spend time with her, to play with her and simply be there, without the stress of having to constantly leave her to go spend time in the kitchen instead. And then when she’s napping or asleep for the night, I love having “me” time, and hanging with Miguel when he’s home from work… and I love simply having the choice to do whatever I want because the kitchen isn’t calling.
But the thing is, as much as I need our meals to be speedy, I don’t want to sacrifice nutrition by relying on frozen dinners and packaged, well, crap. Food companies typically aren’t out to provide the most nourishing meals but rather ones that taste good and are as cheap to produce as possible. They’re after taste, texture, mouthfeel… basically, things that will make us want to eat as much as we can and then buy even more. In other words, they’re not creating products with our health in mind.
So in light of that, I prefer to make my own food as often as possible. Now, keep in mind that I am ALL ABOUT leftovers as well as planning out our dinners for the week and prepping as much as I can, and all of this makes it possible to cook real food and not rely on packages while making it quick.
In this post, I want to share the three kitchen gadgets that allow me to spend less time in the kitchen and have more time for everything else. Here we go!
Kitchen Essential #1: Slow cooker
You guys, I love my slow cooker. It takes less than 5 minutes to chop and prepare my ingredients and then I put everything in. Then BAM, I am all done until dinnertime, at which point we get to eat. Like, yes please. And there are so many things you can do in your slow cooker; just google it. Seriously, do it… you’ll see.
Kitchen Essential #2: Blender
Smoothies, my friends. Get to know them, and get to love them. And if you’re like “yuck” or “boring” or “I’m still hungry”, then you simply haven’t found the right recipe. Try these:
Green Smoothie
Chocolate Milk Smoothie
Irish Smoothie
It takes less than 5 minutes (see the theme here?) to go from start to finish of getting out your ingredients, blending them up, and taking your first sip of that deliciousness. Plus, smoothies are a great way of getting fast nutrients and energy into your bod… a requirement of the busy mama, am I right? (More on increasing energy here.)
Kitchen Essential #3: Mini food processor
Who wants to clean up after using the typical large food processor? Ain’t nobody got time for that! My mini one is so quick to clean and also comes in very handy for chopping ingredients (hell-OOO, time saver!), and it’s a great size for dips and salad dressings. Plus, now that Ellie is starting to eat solids, I know I’ll be using it a lot more in the coming months. Since we’re just at the point of introducing foods slowly, we’re more deliberate with what she gets. But, once she’s eating a wider variety, I’ll be using the mini food processor to purée whatever protein and vegetables we’re having with our dinner. Super simple!
Even though these are common household items, I hope this has given you some motivation to use them more often. I mean, who doesn’t want more time for the other things in life? I don’t know about you, but as much as I enjoy being in the kitchen (and I actually do), I need to expedite the cooking process so I have time to enjoy everything else, too.
Now I want to hear from you… comment below with which of these is YOUR personal favourite, or if yours isn’t on the list, let me know what it is. I don’t want to be missing out on any busy mama kitchen essentials, that’s for sure. Wherever I can save time in the kitchen, I am all over it!
P.S. If you want a place where you can talk honestly about motherhood, learn how to feed yourself (and therefore your babe) the healthiest foods, and get supported by other mamas who are in the same boat as you, then join my private FB group. Can’t wait to see you there.