Kitchen Essentials for Becoming a Meal Prep Professional
Tools that make meal prep faster, easier, and way less stressful
Meal Prep Easy? Start Here.
Have the right tools.
With just a few key items, you can cook faster, clean less, and actually enjoy the process.
1. Instant Pot.
If you buy one thing, make it an Instant Pot.
Why it’s awesome:
It’s a pressure cooker, slow cooker, and rice cooker in one.
You can cook frozen meat (no more waiting for it to thaw).
It’s hands-off: just set it, walk away, and come back to a full meal.
It’s perfect for soups, stews, shredded meats, and freezer meals.
We often have three appliances going at once which brings me to #2 & #3
2. Rice Cooker:
A rice cooker keeps things simple. It cooks your rice or grains perfectly every time with no babysitting.
Bonus: most rice cookers double as steamers, so you can toss in veggies too.
3. Slow Cooker
The slow cooker is your best friend for soups, chili, roasts and anything you want to “set and forget.”
We mainly use this for soups and roasts to free up the instant pot!
Throw everything in before work, come home to dinner ready, and freeze the leftovers. That’s meal prep done right.
4. The Core Tools Every Kitchen Needs
Here are the must-haves that make prep faster and cooking smoother:
Veggie chopper: Speeds up slicing and saves your hands.
Good knives + knife sharpener: Dull knives slow you down and make cooking annoying.
Top-down measuring cup: Great for quick, accurate pours.
Sink top colander/strainer: Keeps meat juice off your food.
Ove’Gloves: Makes handling hot items easy.
Meat thermometer: Ensures perfect meats.
Garlic press + citrus press: Easier than by hand!
Silicone baking mats: No sticking, no waste.
Separate timer: Track multiple dishes at once.
Food scale: Portion control made simple.
Steel measuring cups + spoons + bowls: Durable and easy to store
Quality pots and pans: We love Swiss Diamond, but any good nonstick works.
5. Storage and Organization
Meal prep isn’t just about cooking it’s also about storing it right.
You’ll want:
Glass Tupperware with snap lids (no staining or plastic in your food)
Glass baking dishes with lids for easy fridge-to-oven transfers
Cabinet organizers for lids and containers
A good dishwasher (a full one means a week of home-cooked meals!)
A clean, open sink with a sprayer for fast rinsing and cleaning
Get em’
6. Nice-to-Have Extras
Enhance your setup:
Blender: Great for smoothies, chili, soup, food processing
Salad spinner: Keeps greens fresh
Wooden spoons, spatulas, ladles: Durable and non-scratch
Icing spatula: Surprisingly useful for spreading and scraping
Sharp Kitchen scissors: For meat, bags, and boxes
Microwave: Obvious, but essential
Meal plan from ChatGPT with all of your goals and restrictions (You can even ask for grocery lists and then just use that to create an online shopping cart)
7. The Top 3 High-ROI Tools
If you’re on a budget, start with these:
Instant Pot — replaces half your appliances.
Microwave — the fastest reheat tool ever made.
Glass Tupperware — for storage that lasts and is healthy.
With just those three, you can meal prep efficiently for years.
