Food Allergy Parents spend a LOT of time in the kitchen. So below are some of my favorite tools that make cooking safe food for our family a little easiser.
VITAMIX BLENDER
All my friends and family know how obsessed I am with our Vitamix Blender. We have the 5200 and I love it so much, I even bought one for my mom! It’s one of my favorite splurges and it’s also one of my best tricks for getting toddlers to eat more vegetables.
So an investment? Yep. But we use ours daily and even take it with us on road trips so we make sure to have meals safe for our food allergies.
If you want creamy smooth green smoothies–even if you use kale–a professional-grade blender like our Vitamix 5200 is what you need.
BERKEY WATER FILTERS
Water is essential for good health, but most drinking water contains harmful contaminants. That’s why we filter all our water for drinking and cooking through a Berkey Filter.
We used to just use a fridge filter and a faucet filter, which is certainly better than nothing. But when I discovered the difference between water filters and water purifiers and compared Berkeys to other water filter systems, we upgraded to the Berkey.
It gives us peace of mind to know our water is being filtered for viruses, chlorine, fluoride, and much more,
If you look into getting a Berkey Filter for your family, you’ll notice there are several different sizes. We started with the Travel Size but it was much too small. The Royal Berkey is perfect for our family of four.
CAST IRON SKILLET
When our non-stick pans starting flaking and peeling, and I learned about the health hazards connected with Teflon, I decided to clean up our kitchen pans. We got a set of Stainless Steel pots and pans, which are good. However, the real boss of the stove in our house is our Cast Iron Skillet.
We inherited an OLD cast iron skillet (similar to this one on Amazon) that we found in a grandparent’s basement. My husband researched about seasoning it and cleaning it properly, and it’s become one of our most-used kitchen tools the past two years.
A couple things to know if you’ve never cooked with cast iron before:
- It’s heavy
- The handle gets hot (we use a hot pad to move it)
- If you season it properly, you shouldn’t need oil/butter to cook most things. Eggs are one exception when we still need oil to avoid sticking..
If you want a cast iron skillet with a heat-resistant handle cover and lid, Legend Cast Iron makes a 12″ skillet with great reviews.
AIR FRYER
Wow! Why did I wait so long to get an air fryer?
From heating up leftovers to making delicious sweet potato fries, we use this thing a lot more than I thought I would!
The one we got is a little smaller than I’d recommend for a family of four, but this 5.8 QT Cosori Max XL Air Fryer has a bigger basket, a touch screen, and a lot of great reviews.
6 QUART INSTANT POT
I didn’t hop on the Instant Pot bandwagon right away because I used a slow cooker a lot and didn’t understand why I’d need an instant pot.
Now, I understand 🙂 I use it all the time and it has been a total gamechanger in our kitchen.
We ordered the Amazon Bestseller Instant Pot Duo 6 QT 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker and am very happy it. I LOVE that I don’t have to babysit the oven or stove. Six quarts is big enough for our family of 4, but if you have a bigger family or want to double recipes a lot, you might consider the 8 QT or 10 QT options.
It was under $100 and we use it multiple times per week. Well worth the investment. We regularly use the Instant Pot to make rice, quinoa, lentils, chicken, spaghetti, and curry, but it can be used for many other things too!
The air fryer lid wasn’t a thing when we bought it, so if you want an air fryer and don’t mind spending more, the Pressure Cooker + Air Fryer Lid would be worth a look.
SILICONE MUFFIN PAN + CUPS
My family loves muffins! In fact, Muffin + Smoothie Night is a weekly tradition for us. BUT scraping muffin tins with baked-on crumbs is such a pain!
I never bake muffins without a silicone muffin pan or liners anymore. Cleanup is such a breeze!
We have silicone muffin pans for big muffins and colorful silicone muffin cups for regular-sized muffins. We love them both.
My husband, who often helps with washing dishes, has commented many times from the kitchen sink about how much easier these pans are to clean. 😀
SILICONE SPATULAS
We were given a set of curved silicone spatulas like these and they are always the first I reach for when baking, cooking, and mixing. They’re perfect for scraping out that last bit of SunButter, salsa, or marinara sauce too.
If you don’t have a set of Silicone Spatulas yet, these are a must-have in your kitchen utensil drawer.
BOSCH DISHWASHER
A great dishwasher is a super important tool in our food allergy kitchen. We make virtually every snack and meal at home, so I LOVE having a dishwasher that works. We made sure to find one that cleans well and is quiet (because our last one was so loud!).
We bought a Bosch dishwasher and I would absolutely buy it again. If you’re in the market for a dishwasher, I highly recommend a Bosch dishwasher.
Three Pro Tips from the dishwasher installation guy to make dishwashers last longer:
- Use powder detergent instead of liquid
- Only use 1/2 Tablespoon of detergent
- Use rinse aid whenever the light indicates
For more allergy-friendly home tips, check out Recommended Cleaning and Personal Care Products for an Allergy Friendly Home.