9 Kitchen Tools That Make Eating Clean Easier
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Food Processor
A food processor might very well be the holy grail of clean-eating cooking products. I realized this should be my first purchase after coming across recipe after recipe for brownies that required dates be processed to add sweetness to the chocolate confection. I might be trying to eat cleaner, but you can rip brownies from my cold, dead hands, so the processor is a must. Beyond desserts, though, a food processor comes in handy for making pesto, dressings, condiments, soups and chopping up raw nuts. It's a tiny, multitasking wizard.
Hamilton Beach 8-Cup Food Processor, Available at Amazon ($34.84)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Spiralizer
Fun fact: One time my boyfriend and I tried to make a soup that required zoodles (zucchini noodles, aka the trendiest noodle to ever noodle), but realized too late that we didn't have a spiralizer. Instead, we tried to make our own, which resulted in very, very long ribbons of zucchini splashing into our very, very hot soup and right into our faces/hair. Save yourself the time and mess by adding this small, but mighty gadget to your kitchen.
Spiralizer 5-Blade Vegetable Slicer, Available at Amazon ($28.99)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Pre-Prepped Veggie ''Noodles''
If you really can't wrap your head around spiralizing or you're just looking for ways to cut corners and save precious time, many grocery stores now carry pre-prepped zoodles, butternut squash-oodles, carrot-oodles (has anyone come up with a word for these variations yet?) and more. For anyone who's just dipping their toes into clean eating and doesn't want to start buying all the toys just yet, this is a perfect cheat to get acquainted with your new favorite spiral veggie. You may never eat regular noodles again.
Green Giant Veggie Spirals or check your local grocery store for fresh produce (Prices vary)
Photo courtesy of Green Giant.
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Grater
A lot of clean eating is about finding whole foods to replace processed options, and cauliflower rice has got to be one of the smartest hacks of the bunch. Seriously, even if I wasn't on this mission to eat clean, I would still use cauliflower rice in recipes. While you can buy pre-grated cauliflower at some stores, it's cheaper and takes the same amount of time to grate your own at home.
Cuisinart Boxed Grater, Available at Amazon ($6.99)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Zester
For anyone who's afraid clean recipes might be too bland for their liking, we'd like to introduce you to the always trusty zester, with which you can add fresh, natural flavors to all kinds of dishes. Desperately missing the orange chicken you order from the takeout place down the street? Zest some orange and make your own at home! Pasta tasting a bit blah? Add some lemon zest! Use lime zest to in a homemade key lime pie or jazz up your homemade mayo with lemon.
Microplane Classic Zester, Available at Amazon ($12.89)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Travel Food Storage Containers
It's easy to eat clean when you have an entire kitchen at your disposal, but what happens when you have to leave your oasis and (gulp) venture out into the over-processed world? To bring your meals along for the ride, a few trusty containers are a must. If you're at all familiar with living the meal planning life, the need for Tupperware or mason jars will come as no surprise. Half the battle in eating healthy, be it clean or otherwise, is just being prepared, and having a few great lunches and snacks to bring along to work is a great way to ensure you give that vending machine the cold shoulder. This hot/cold "food flask" should do the trick.
Hydro Flask Double Wall Food Flask Thermos, Available at Amazon ($29.95)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Egg Cooker
There are some tools that seem so inane and unnecessary that you'll scoff at them, overlook them until that day that you finally buy one and you're like, "Where have you been all my life?" This egg cooker is that once-neglected item for me. It's silly, right? After all, I can and have been boiling eggs in a pot of water for years and if it worked for my ancestors then it should work just fine for me! Right? After seeing it pop up on more "best" and "top" lists than I can count, I finally read the description and considered how many hard-boiled eggs I've started eating and this baby was in my cart before I even got to the second review. For the gal (or dude) on the go, hard-boiled eggs are my favorite way to enjoy a bit of protein at breakfast without having to cook at home and thanks to my new best kitchen friend, they're easier than ever to make. I'm sorry I ever doubted you.
Dash Rapid Egg Cooker, Available in a variety of colors at Amazon (Starting at $18.82)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Food Chopper
Because you're cutting processed foods out of your diet, you'll be making a lot of things from scratch—dips, sauces, sides. To cut down on prep time, a food chopper can make easy work of dicing up everything from onions for guacamole to tomatoes for pasta sauce. Give your cutting board the night off every so often and call in a pro for recipes that require a variety of chopped veggies. Your wrist will thank you.
Mueller Austria Pro Vegetable Chopper, Available at Amazon ($22.87)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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Frozen Dessert Maker
Full disclosure, I don't actually own one of these, but, boy, would I like one. As someone who never says no to dessert (see slide #1), the idea of making clean ice cream from just some frozen fruit and maybe a pinch of cinnamon is a reason to jump for joy.
Gourmia Healthy Frozen Dessert Maker, Available at Amazon ($59.99)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.
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9 Tools That Saved Me When I Started Eating Clean
By Alicia Capetillo, Editor-in-Chief
The term "clean eating" gets thrown around a lot, but not everyone seems to agree on exactly what it means to eat clean. For some, they immediately think of Whole30 and the torturous idea of having to cut sugar and alcohol out of their lives. Others might conjure up an image of a my-body-is-a-temple enthusiast silently judging you for that mountain of cheese fries you're eating. For me, clean eating is a philosophy that could help me be more conscious of the foods I'm eating.
At its core, clean eating is just about eating whole foods, or those that are minimally processed or refined. By paying attention to ingredient labels, watching for additives that I cannot and will not pronounce, and prioritizing whole foods over pre-packaged options, I'm automatically cutting out foods that are probably not great for my body or my fitness goals anyway. While I'm not diving in 100 percent (I mean…cheese fries…), the idea of clean eating has been appealing to me for some time. So, with a few cookbooks under my arm and a dream, I decided to ease myself into some light clean cooking and pretty quickly realized that my bare-bones kitchen wasn't going to cut it. I made some adjustments and now, I'm a clean(ish) cooking machine.
Before you dive into clean eating or cooking, you might want to check that you have a few of these items on hand first.
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Food Processor
A food processor might very well be the holy grail of clean-eating cooking products. I realized this should be my first purchase after coming across recipe after recipe for brownies that required dates be processed to add sweetness to the chocolate confection. I might be trying to eat cleaner, but you can rip brownies from my cold, dead hands, so the processor is a must. Beyond desserts, though, a food processor comes in handy for making pesto, dressings, condiments, soups and chopping up raw nuts. It's a tiny, multitasking wizard.
Hamilton Beach 8-Cup Food Processor, Available at Amazon ($34.84)
Photo courtesy of Amazon.