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Kitchen Essentials for Simple Living

Kitchen essentials for simple living

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Simple living can mean different things to different people. For us, it means cutting back on the unnecessary things in life and focusing on the simple things. Like spending our time and money on experiences rather than on items we don’t really need. 

Saying that though there are certain things that we couldn’t live without. Certain products just make your life easier which is also important to us.

Related Post: Simple Living Challenge

Today I thought I would share our kitchen essentials for simple living with you…

Kitchen Essentials for Simple Living 

Kitchen essentials for a simple life

Slow Cooker

Our slow cooker was given to us by my mother in law. She just never got around to using it and thought we might like it. I use it a lot! Especially in the Winter months. I love the fact that I can just bung all of the ingredients in it in the morning and just let it do its thing.

It means we aren’t rushing around after work and school to organise supper. It also doesn’t matter if everyone gets home at a different time as they can just help themselves when they are hungry.

Mason Jars

Mason jars are a ‘must have’ for our kitchen. We use them for a variety of different things including storing leftovers in the fridge, storing tea leaves and for shopping, zero waste style.

I have lots of different sizes depending on what I use them for. You can often find jars in charity shops or at second-hand sales for very little money. It’s alos worth asking the shop assistants in the charity shops to see if they have any in the back stock room as they don’t laways have them out on display.

Bread Maker

I love our bread maker. I got it for free on PrelovedUK, however, I have had it a few years now and it’s pretty large. It takes up a lot of space on our worktop. I do plan to by a new, more compact, one in the future. I’ve got my eye on these Panasonic Bread Makers which are about half the size of my current one.

Bread makers aren’t just for making standard bread you can also make things like scones, sourdough and fruit loaves.

Simple living make your own bread

Measuring Spoons

Measuring spoons come in very handy, especially for bread making. It makes the whole process quick and easy. They also help to make sure you get the right amount of ingredients in your food rather than guessing.

Kitchen Scales

When you make a lot of food from scratch you really do need a good set of kitchen scales. I have had the same scales for years now which fits nicely in our cupboard so it doesn’t have to permanently be on display on the side.

Wooden Spoons

No kitchen is complete without wooden spoons. We have three that have lasted us for years. If they ever do reach the end of their life I intend to put them in the compost so no waste either.

Blender

I use our blender to make smoothies for breakfast. It makes the whole process simple and fast. At the moment I buy the pre-made frozen smoothies which are quick and easy but they do come individually wrapped in plastic which I don’t like.

When I get myself organised I shall make up batches of chopped fruit to make my own each morning.

Knives

A good set of knives can make a huge difference to your cooking experience. Personally, we have 4 kitchen knives which I believe is the perfect amount. We have one bread knife, one large cutting knife and two smaller ones.

I have found that a lot of our friends that have a block of knives, with a variety of different sizes only ever seem to use 2-4 of those knives. They just collect dust on the side.

mason jars

Mixing Bowls

We have a selection of different mixing bowls that also double up as serving bowls for when we have guests.

Cooling Rack

We have one cooling rack as I only ever bake one thing at a time. I use it to cool our bread and any cakes that the other makes.

Wooden Chopping Board

A decent wooden chopping board is definitely worth investing in. We spent quite a bit on ours but we’ve had it for nearly 15 years now. It’s the only one we have which might sound unhygienic but if you look after them properly and wash it after every use it’s fine.

A recent study found that wooden chopping boards are more hygienic than plastic ones. The study showed that bacteria grows on plastic boards overnight but died on wooden ones.

From an environmental point of view, the wooden boards will eventually rot but the plastic ones will not. If you are trying to reduce the amount of plastic in your home then a wooden chopping board is perfect.

Reusable Food Wrap

Reusable food wrap is something that I have only recently been looking into. Currently, we use cling film to wrap our food which I hate! I’ve been researching alternatives and found that a lot of people use beeswax reusable wraps or they simply cover their leftovers with another plate in the fridge.

If you can find a suitable reusable alternative not only will you be saving money but you’ll also be helping the environment too. It’s a win-win situation.

The online store Boobalou sells beeswax wraps (I’m not an affiliate it’s just an awesome website!) or alternatively you can attempt to make your own.

So what about you? What makes it onto your kitchen essentials list? 

Gina Caro

You may also like: Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life + Ecoegg Laundry Egg – Kind to your Environment, Pocket & Skin

2 thoughts on “Kitchen Essentials for Simple Living”

    1. Hi Lisa,
      Yes, I did think of including a dutch oven (I think that’s what they are called) but we don’t actually have one ourselves so didn’t put it in. I know a lot of people swear by them though.

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