Hurry The Food Up Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes For Busy People 
Hey guys,
so the time has come. You’ve got your recipes, you’ve got your ingredients. You’ve got half an hour and you’re gonna make the best meal you’ve ever made. What else do you need? Our kitchen essentials equipment list might come in handy…
We’ve prepped an aptly named list of the essentials, the damn-usefuls, and the nice-to-haves for banging out some top quality results in the kitchen. (Note: we’ve geared this list towards beginners, but you never know what might you spot…)
(Disclaimer: below are affiliate links, which means we’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase. That being said, we do recommend these products as we think they’re well tested and helpful)
The Essentials
No matter what food you’re cooking up, you’re eventually going to need a knife. Get a good one and you’re sorted. Something like this German-bladed Zwilling is more than worth investing in. Chopping, dicing and slicing suddenly becomes the easiest thing ever, you won’t believe the difference. Just watch your fingers. Combined with a sharpener, it’ll last for years and years and years. And years. And years. Get the point? And watch your fingers!
If you have a little more money available then this three piece set is great. It’s the one we (Dave and Kat) use, and it’s amazing. The sizes will cover all your kitchen needs. If you’re going for just the one knife, we’d recommend the medium one above.
A chopping board. Sounds simple enough, and it is. You don’t want to be slicing your lovely new knife onto your table or sideboard – get a board that’s easy to wash and get stains and bacteria out of. Glass is best avoided ‘cos it’ll wreck your new knife!
With some plates and cutlery you’re now ready for the most basic of meals.
Here are a few cool recipes where you ONLY need to cut stuff. Time to test out that new knife! Check out our Greek Pitas (excellent for a quick lunch), this awesome Turkish Lentil Salad with a honey mustard dressing or this sour yet spicy High Protein Kidney Bean Salad.
Feeling more adventurous? Keep scrolling…
The Damn Useful
A hand blender is just so bloody versatile. It massively speeds up any mixing or blending that you need doing – soups, smoothies, spreads – name a word beginning with s and it can probably make it. Well, possibly. It definitely helps with pancake mixtures too…
Here are a couple of hand blender recipes – you’ll wonder how you ever survived without one! Creamy Tomato Basil Soup – easy and healthy, and simple, homemade, 2 Ingredient Peanut Butter in 3 minutes. Done.
A colander. So simple, so useful. If you get one like this then it can act as a sieve too, and you don’t need to buy anything additionally. Drain cans, wash veg, empty pasta. Helpful indeed.
Investing in a set of food containers is also very much worth your while. When you’ve made too much of something – chuck it in for later. When you want to take lunch with you – chuck it in for later. Need to keep food fresh? Chuck it in for later.
Mixings bowls are really important too. When you want to throw different ingredients together, you’ll need one, simple as that. Look for a non slip bottom and a handy pouring spout to make it easy.
Another worthy contender for the damn useful list is a grater set. A bigger grater for cheeses and veg, a finer one for garlic, lemon zest and so on. You’ll wonder how you managed without one.
Obviously you’re going to need a pan set at some point. Nonstick is the way to go, it’s makes cooking (and washing) sooooo much easier. A three piece set will allow you to be more economical when cooking, but if you go for just one then try to get one with a lid!
Once you get them you can make our two most popular recipes: the legendary 2 ingredient Banana Egg Pancakes and the almost-as-famous-and-probably-will-be-soon Cottage Cheese Pancakes delivering 37.5g of protein per 100g!
Hand in hand with pans go pots. You can buy them separately, or together with some pans in a handy package. Useful for any kind of recipe that requires a pot. Which is quite a few, obviously.
Following the same vein…a baking tray! You’ll need one for most oven-based recipes (check out this cool Melted Feta and Veggie Bake for a good way to use one!) Just make sure it fits in your oven first – measure your oven if necessary.
You’re also going to want utensils at some point too. Spatulas, peelers, spoons, tongs, whisks, measuring cups, tin openers, pizza slicers…the list goes on. You can buy them all separately or this all-encompassing set contains just about everything you need.
All of the items mentioned above are going to be really helpful in creating some amazing recipes. You’ll be impressing yourself and those around you in no time at all. The items in the following and final section are not strictly necessary, but will certainly make life easier…
The Nice to Haves
If you’re planning to make a lot of smoothies or do a lot of blending then it could be worth investing in a heavy duty blender. There are hundreds to choose from running from about 20 bucks to a couple of thousand. Something like this Ninja should be a good balance between quality and price, but how much you want to spend really depends on you.
A muffin tin. Muffin tins are useful for…making muffins. And things that look like muffins. So if you’re going to be doing that then grab one! (Have a look at these lovely high protein egg muffins!)
Oven gloves. If you’ve ever tried to take something out of a hot oven without protecting your hands first…well you probably won’t do it again. ‘nuff said. You don’t need to spend a fortune to get the job done.
A citrus juicer is also a great help. Get the most out of your lemon, limes and oranges while keeping away those horrible pips. This model is one of the cheapest but most effective.
Alright, this list takes care of just about everything you’d ever need in a well-stocked kitchen. Of course more luxuries are available, and anything that speeds up cooking time sits well with us. Have fun creating and experimenting with some kitchen recipe masterpieces – naturally our blog is a great place to start 😉
Dave, Howie and Kat.
Check out our Breakfast in Six Cookbook
Our beautiful ebook, Breakfast in Six is out! It’s our favourite 30 vegetarian and vegan breakfast recipes – all made with six or less ingredients. They’ve never been seen on the site before (and never will). Check it out!
Cool post! 🙂
Thanks Cris! 🙂
Great list! And great post idea! So many lists like this put blender at the very top, but honestly it is amazing how much you can do with just a knife and cutting board! I have almost everything on your list except a colander. And it’s funny how often I find myself needing one. I didn’t realize how many things need rinsing until I was without a way to do it!:D haha
Thanks for the comment Natalie! I love a blender, but I think nothing beats a good knife. A colander is pretty handy as well 😉 (actually I use it all the time, haha)
What a great list! Although I am somewhat of a kitchen gadget fiend and I just want them all. I can pretty much justify anything when it comes to kitchen tools. LOL!! Don’t show my hubby this!
I pretty much have most of these things! My problem is I can’t stop buying things! I’m obsessed with kitchen and cooking supplies! I love that hand blender too! Nice list!
hahaha! Funny, but I somehow don’t have the feeling I could develop such an addiction 😛
Your #1 and my #1 would be the same. I LOVE a good chef’s knife and use it for 99% of the meals I make. I’m not really a gadget person (because of my love for my knife!), but I do love my Vitamix and food processor too. 🙂 Great post!
Thanks Jenn!
Yep, I think I need to get a food processor as well soon. I have the feeling they are not so popular over here in Germany like they are in the US
This is a very informative post.
Thanks for sharing!
This is the second time I’ve read this post. At first I thought I had everything, but now I need that blender!
It’s so handy! And makes the best pancakes ever 😉
This is such a great list of “must haves”! Its like everything you need all in one handy list. Great!
Thanks Chrysta! Hope you find something you need 🙂
You totally nailed this list! I started out w a set of Henkles knives and a few years ago invested in a small set of Wustoff knives which I don’t know how I ever lived without! I of course would put my Vitamix at the top of my ‘must have’ list and would probably save it in a fire right after my children 😉
Haha I’ll cross my fingers that doesn’t happen Gwen – but you can always get the kids to carry the Vitamix if needed 😉
Got ’em all. Cliche, but my Vitamix is at the top of my absolutely necessary list. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t use it and I love it to bits. A good food processor is an essential for me as well. And a knife — I must have a decent sharp knife. If there was a kitchen fire, these are the things I’d run out with 🙂
I’ve never actually used a Vitamix so I couldn’t say on that one – but it sounds like they’re a great investment. Gonna have to look into this a little deeper. Thanks for reading!
I am a kitchen gadget kind of gal and have far too may. My husband is always complaining that our kitchen surfaces are cluttered! My most prized kitchen gadget is my food processor.
Nah you’re fine Mel – you don’t have too many gadgets, just not enough cupboards 😛
Great assortment of useful kitchen tools! Another solid post!
Thanks Levan!
Haha! If you ask me, they are all damn useful. I don’t think I can stay without any of them.
Great list but I’d definitely also want measuring cups and spoons, as well as a box grater! Also, if you get a powerful enough handheld immersion blender (like a Bamix), you won’t need a regular blender — something to keep in mind if space is an issue 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Claudia. The box grater is a grate (sorry) idea! I agree the measuring spoons and cups are v important too (they’re in the multiset above) and yes the hand blender is just amazing! To be honest we’ve pretty much stopped using our old blender – as you say it just takes up a lot of room and and can’t do much the hand blender can’t 🙂
::facepalm::
Sorry, yes, you’re right — the set includes measuring cups and spoons, clearly some days there isn’t enough coffee in the world, ha ha!
My list of essentials is slightly different than yours: chef’s knife, cutting board, serrated knife (for tomatoes and bread), measuring cups, measuring spoons, slotted silicone spoon (doubles as a spatula), silicone tongs, silicone turner (for pancakes and anything else that needs flipping), nonstick wok with lid (which I basically use like a huge frying pan so I even use it for pancakes, also can be used for soups or stews), Bamix (the grinder attachment means I don’t need a coffee grinder or mortar & pestle, the whip attachment means I don’t need a whisk, the beater blade replaces a blender), milk pot with lid (a small saucepan with pouring spout that doubles up as my kettle), box grater, can opener, peeler, big sieve (doubles as colander), mixing bowl (metal or glass, so I can also use it as a double boiler, also doubles as a serving dish), French press, a digital scale (indispensable for European recipes as well as for baking), silicone muffin cups (they stack, which means they take up less room plus I can use them to freeze portions of soup, etc.), oven gloves, and a rimmed baking sheet (for cookies and roasting veggies).
Best of all, everything fits into a backpack so it’s literally a kitchen-to-go 🙂
PS I use Corelle dishes, for which lids can be bought separately so I don’t need additional food containers. In addition to being microwave-safe, they are also oven-safe to 350F/175C. I like small spaces, which means tiny kitchens, so every inch counts!!
Oh, I forgot to mention: I consider having at least one pressure cooker to be essential, because they only use a third of the time and energy to cook — super important for thing like legumes. For anyone cooking for one or two people, I’d recommend a 3.5-litre or 4-litre pressure cooker. (I’m frugal but firmly believe investing when it comes to the important gear, so mine is Kuhn Rikon; I’ve had it for about a decade and it still looks and functions great, despite regular use, and I fully expect it to last a lifetime.)
Woah Claudia! Now that is a great list! Thanks a lot for sharing!! A pressure cooker sounds interesting! We’ve also been thinking about trying out a crock pot at some point.
Reading it one more time I see so many very useful utensils, it’s almost worth writing up another post (and bying some more kitchen tools on my end :-))
Glad you found it helpful, Howie!
I’ve owned a slow cooker before, but got rid of it. Why? Using a slow cooker means planning hours ahead — first thing in the morning, when I’m not alert enough to think about what I want for dinner!
A pressure cooker cooks meals so quickly that I can start the meal half an hour before I’m ready to eat, which is more my style.
Over the years, I’ve owned all the so-called must-have items, including food processors and stand mixers and ice cream makers and grills and bread machines (totally unnecessary now that we know it’s possible to make bread without kneading), and have come to conclusion that none of them are worth the space or expense…except for someone who cooks in huge quantities and/or struggles with physical challenges (such as arthritis, for example).
On the rare occasion I bake a cake, I use a small dough whisk (a bit more efficient than a spoon, but still not part of my essential kit). When I make cookies and the dough is really thick, I use my hands (clean hands + short nails = best kitchen tools ever). No need for even a hand mixer, never mind a stand mixer.
A food processor has all those bits and pieces, whereas it’s much easier and quieter to use a knife or a box grater. I use my Bamix to puree hummus and the like. A food processor takes forever to clean, unlike a knife, box grater or immersion blender, which all wash up in seconds.
As you can tell, this is a subject near and dear to my heart! That’s because my grandmother set such a good example for me. She made the best meals, yet the only small kitchen appliance she had was a hand mixer (she had arthritis) to supplement her counter-height fridge and narrow stove. Her kitchen was so small that she didn’t even have any counter space and did all her prep work at the kitchen table.
My mother is German, and I used to spend most of my school holidays with her parents. Oma would give Opa a shopping list first thing in the morning. Opa and I would take the dog and go to all the various shops — the bakery for Broetchen, the butcher for cold cuts and meats, and various stores for everything else. Oma would cook just enough for the day, and the cycle would begin again the next day. No leftovers, no pre-packaged foods, everything fresh and prepared from scratch.
That’s how I try to cook these days! Except I do cook enough for leftovers, because sometimes I’m just too busy to shop and cook every day 🙂
Woah thanks for sharing this, Claudia!! The last two paragraphs definitely remind me of my grandparents as well. My Oma used to know so many great dishes, it was amazing! And she did everything with just the basic utensils.
One more advantage the pressure cooker has over a slow cooker: Use a regular lid instead of the pressure cooker lid, and the pressure cooker can be used as a sauce pan. Multi-tasking at its finest!