Kitchen tools and essentials to save calories when you cook

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If you just started your fitness journey, finding the right kitchen tools for healthy eating can be overwhelming. The right kitchen and cupboard essentials are a great help to reduce calories from meals you love and keep them tasty at the same time. You will also be able to experiment with more healthy foods you have never tried before and add them to your balanced diet!

If you don’t know where to start, here are a few handy items for your kitchen:

1. Cooking paper

Many “traditionally” deep fried foods are actually delicious when you oven-bake them on cooking paper. Meatballs and potato chips a bright example. You don’t even have to spray meatballs with oil to make them delicious!

2. Wooden spoons

Necessary to flip over your food, especially if use non- stick pans. It is important to keep your cookware without scratches to keep any potentially toxic substances away with your food. If you have any old scratched pans, please get rid of them! Wooden turners are also very useful to flip vegetables and pastries on cooking paper.

3. Vegetable oil spray bottles

A cupboard essential to reduce calories in your meals! After a couple of weeks you will realize you need less oil than you think to cook.

Only a tablespoon of vegetable oil contains 113 kcal. With spray bottles you can save you from dozens of calories when you are cooking in the oven or in your pan!

4. Pastry brushes

Especially useful to bake potatoes, croquettes and roasted vegetables. One of the best tools to save calories when you cook, when spraying with oil is not enough! Your food will be nice and crispy if you just brush the top of it with butter or oil! BPA free silicone and natural brushes usually suggested by chefs. It depends on their purpose! Click this post from BBC for more details.

5. Tinned Non-starchy vegetables in water

Non- starchy vegetables are very juicy and they add volume to your food for very few calories! That is really helpful because you don’t nessecary have to reduce the amount of food you eat to reduce your energy intake! In other words, non-startchy vegetables reduce the energy density of your meal (calories per portion). And of course, they also add fibre, vitamins, minerals and flavour to your foods!

With tinned vegetables in water you can have 1 of your 5 a day without extra energy and sodium. It is so convenient to keep them in your cupboard use them any time you are out of fresh vegetables or you are not in the mood for washing and chopping!

• Add them to any kind of sauce or stuffing and save calories per portion. Especially tinned tomatoes, carrots and mushrooms are versatile ingredients for many recipes!
• Try to stir meats in canned tomatoes to reduce the amount olive oil you need for stirring. Especially if you are not sure about the safety of non-stick pans with this trick you will may not have to get one. Just avoid very high heat and stir with a wooden spoon regularly.

6. Food processor with stainless steel blades

A very useful kitchen tool for healthy eating, especially if you are a beginner at cooking. Also, if you like creating a new recipe it will be your favourite gadget for cooking experiments!

• You can make batter with smooth texture without adding extra oil butter or eggs in pastries.
• You can make smooth sauces without oil and butter.
• Oat flour from rolled oats will be ready in seconds.
• You can dice fresh vegetables with zero effort.
• Use it to make low calorie truffles with fruits and oat flour!

7. Pressure cooker

A good quality pressure cooker is one of the best investments for your kitchen:

You can cook legumes in less than an hour and make them as soft as you want to. That’s very helpful if your gut is sensitive and you find canned legumes too heavy. Legumes are super healthy and you can use them in a variety of low calorie recipes!

You can prepare meats quickly comparing to using a regular pan or the oven. You will need less oil/ butter too.

8. A bunch of spices

… Not because they have magical weight loss properties!! Just to add more flavor. When you reduce oil and butter and sauces, it is normal to find your meals less tasty at first. Adding more salt is not advised. We only need 6g per day and you can already find most of it naturally in foods!

• Different spices will encourage you to try more vegetables and healthy recipes you have never tried before.
• Thyme and oregano, lemon juice and a tablespoon of olive oil: A dreamy combination on roast chicken breast.

9. Food scale

It is true that making healthier food choices is the priority during your fitness journey. The purpose of having a food scale is not to become obsessed with counting grams. It is to get a good idea of what the portion size you need looks like for every food group. After a year you will may not even need it!

 A ”handful” or “1/3 of your plate”  or “½ a bowl” are not the most accurate ways to estimate a portion size. Everyone has different household items and a different hand size!  With energy dense foods you will be surprised by the calories per week you will save when you weigh your ingredients.

10. Vegetable steamer

Steamers maintain fibre and nutrients better than pressure cookers. You don’t need to add any oils.

• Make sure you follow the instructions.
• If a steamer is not suitable for specific vegetables, there should be an indication.
• If you choose a microwave steamer make sure it’s BPA free and you use the recommended heat.

Do you have any other tips to share? What kitchen tools work for you? Leave a comment below!