If you want to lose weight, you will be more successful if you start to cook more of your meals. Cooking your meals means you control exactly what’s in them, so you skip out on many of the high-calorie additives in restaurant and takeaway foods.

A few tools can make prep for your home-cooked, weight-loss-friendly meals quick and easy. Most lists you’ll find online about kitchen tools contain various sponsored products, so it’s hard to know what’s actually useful. None of these products are sponsored; they’re just straight-up practical.

Spiralizer

You’ve probably heard about a spiralizer for making vegetable “noodles,” but there’s so much more that a spiralizer can do for you. When you’re consciously trying to increase your vegetable intake (as you likely are if you’re trying to lose weight!), a spiralizer provides another option for preparing your vegetables. Keeping things interesting is crucial to making increased vegetable intake a long-term habit.

There’s also much more to spiralize than just zucchini. Try out these other spiralized veggie options:

• Beets
• Carrots
• Squash
• Cabbage
• Kohlrabi
• Cucumbers
• Sweet potatoes

Add them to salads, stir-fries, stews, or whatever else you’re cooking up!

Storage Containers With Lids

Batch cooking and meal prep increase your chances of weight loss success because we all know what kinds of choices we make when we’re hungry, tired, and can’t be bothered to cook. However, if you’re going to start meal prepping, you’ll want to be organized. With nowhere to put all your meal-prepped foods, it’s unlikely that your effort will pay off.

Invest in high-quality storage containers with lids. Ideally, purchase glass containers – they will last longer, and there’s no risk of potentially harmful substances in plastic containers leaching into your leftovers.

Always label your containers when batch-cooking, so it’s easy to pick out precisely what you want from the fridge or freezer. And don’t forget the date on your labels – you’ll know what to eat first and prevent food waste.

Food Processor

This one is an investment (and needs a bit of counter space), but it can go a long way toward making weight-loss-friendly meal prep significantly easier. There are endless options for what you can do with a food processor because it can chop, blend, whisk, slice, grind and puree. It’s the perfect kitchen tool for everything from smoothies to pesto to no-mess minced onions.

Shopping for a food processor can be overwhelming; here are a few things to look out for:

• Size: If you’re cooking for one or two people, a 7-cup food processor should be plenty!
• Accessories: Most food processors come with standard attachments that typically include a grating disc, slicing disc, chopping blade and dough blade. These are all you need for everyday cooking, and fancier attachments won’t add too much value for you.
• Speeds: Your food processor only needs two speeds; models with multiple speeds do not add any extra value.
• Pulse function: Look for a model with a pulse function, as this allows you to do handy and time-saving tasks like mincing onions or garlic.

If a full-size food processor is out of your budget, consider a mini one! Mini food processors are much more affordable but can still give you the same perks, especially if you’re cooking smaller amounts. You could also consider a high-speed blender, depending on what you usually cook. A blender might be a better, more affordable choice if you tend to blend more liquids, like smoothies and soups.

High-Quality Knives

Knives might seem like a no-brainer, but if you’re used to prepping food with a dull, low-quality knife, investing in a high-quality knife can completely change your food prep experience. There are seemingly endless knife options to choose from, but all you need are three go-to knives for your kitchen:

• Chef’s knife: 8-10 inches long
• Serrated knife
• Paring knife

Measuring Cups and Spoons

The more you cook, the more you will understand how much of certain ingredients to add to your recipes without always needing measuring cups and spoons. However, most people find measuring cups and spoons a handy tool when they’re getting started with cooking or whenever they try a new recipe.

Measuring cups and spoons allow you to follow recipes accurately, which will help keep your calories in check. It’s surprisingly easy to add more ingredients than you intend to while you cook because eyeballing is notoriously inaccurate (meaning you can quickly rack up extra calories in your meals).

Egg Cooker

If eggs are a regular part of your weight loss diet (and they probably should be!), an egg cooker can make your boiled or poached eggs an absolute breeze. No need to boil a pot of water and set the timer – simply add your eggs, follow the instructions, and wait for the beep! With an egg cooker, you can cook multiple eggs at once and get the perfect level of doneness, every time.

An egg cooker is another countertop appliance, but this one is small and well worth the amount of egg-boiling inconvenience you save.

Takeaway

If you want to be successful with weight loss, it’s unavoidable that you’ll need to spend more time in the kitchen. Meal prep can maximize your time in the kitchen and make healthy meals during the week accessible. Having a few essential kitchen tools on hand will make meal prep easier; as you know, the easier something is, the more likely you are to actually do it!