Dinner time can take so long sometimes, with the prep and the cooking and the cleaning. These 9 gadgets can speed up your meal prep time.
Some people enjoy cooking dinner. Others, not so much. But the family feels like they need to eat every day, so we cook every day. Of course, you can always go out, but that gets expensive and takes even more time.
There are meals that take a while to prepare, and some people may not have the luxury of time in the evenings. I love to cook, but the prep part is not so fun sometimes. Over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few kitchen gadgets that have really helped decrease the amount of time it takes to get meals ready.
Originally Published On: September 21, 2017
Last Updated On: April 23, 2020
Slap Chop
I love having my slap chop. It makes it so quick to chop up some of the veggies, and when I chop onions with this, it doesn’t make me cry from it. I have found that these work great with the harder vegetables, such as onions and peppers, but it doesn’t work as well with soft ones like tomatoes.
Mandoline Slicer
I don’t use the mandoline slicer as often as some of my other gadgets, but when I need something sliced thin, this makes it so much quicker. Most of the time, I use this to thinly slice apples or potatoes to make chips. It also has a grater on it which I have used to grate cheese as well as vegetables for making my vegetable fritters.
Egg Slicer
Having an egg slicer is totally a luxury, but it’s perfect for slicing a hard-boiled egg to put on top of salads. If you want a chopped egg, you can slice it one way, then rotate and slice the other so it’s chunked. You could also use it to slice strawberries or other berries as well as butter for biscuits.
Salad Spinner
We use this so much more often than I ever thought we would. When we had lettuce growing in the garden, we were eating salads almost every night. Now that it got too warm to grow the lettuce, we still buy some from the store and make salads often. This salad spinner is great because we can use the inside part as a colander to clean the lettuce, then spin it to help dry the lettuce, and we can store it in the refrigerator in this as well. I haven’t done it yet, but it could also be used for drying other things, such as herbs, kale, broccoli, etc.
Garlic Press
I was skeptical about this at first. But I absolutely hate peeling and chopping garlic, so I figured I would give it a try. Oh my goodness, I wish I had bought this sooner. I got it in March of 2015, and that wasn’t near soon enough. This thing is amazing. I don’t have to peel the garlic clove to use it, and it minces it in seconds. So much time saved!
Chop Wizard
When I’m making something that requires a lot of chopping, this thing makes quick work of it. I can use it to chop vegetables, fruit, and cheese. When I make some pico de gallo, it’s so fast to use this to chop everything up, then mix together, and done.
Food Processor
Another gadget that I don’t use too often, but when it can be used, it makes a big difference in the time it takes to make a meal. I use it for chopping vegetables quickly, or for crushing up graham crackers to make a pie crust. It can also be used for making things such as hummus.
Rotary Grater
Shredding cheese has never gotten easier. Seriously. I always prefer to buy block cheese and shred it, but it can take so long to do sometimes. The rotary also makes the cheese look so nice for garnishing a meal as well.
Pineapple Corer
I bought one of these for Justin for Christmas last year, and we are amazed at how well it works! We love fresh pineapple, but it was always such a pain to cut up. This pineapple corer gets it done in minutes. And it’s cool because it leaves the shell of the pineapple intact so it can be used as a container to put food or a drink inside.
The mandarin slicer looks like a cool gadget to have in the kitchen. It could be especially useful when making salads.
Oh yes, I hadn’t thought about that!
Nice! We have a lot of these and a bunch of good meal prep containers. Meal prep Sunday is real in our house lol we have so much for the week!
That’s awesome! I don’t always prep for the whole week, but once my boys start school full time I probably will at least with their lunches.
Although I’m not much of a cook but I like to help out. In our kitchen we already have a chopper which we practically use everyday. I would love to have Garlic press, I not only hate peeling, but I hate the smell it leaves in my hands for a long time. I’ll pass this list to my mum, she would love this for sure.
The garlic press is amazing! I use it many times per week. Garlic used to be my least favorite ingredient for the same reasons, but now I can have it ready super-quick!
You’ve featured so many great product ideas here. I’ve never used a salad spinner but think it might be a good idea. My daughter hates it when I don’t squeeze all the water off of the lettuce after I’ve washed it.
I didn’t really think it was necessary at first either, but now I use it every time. The lettuce stays fresh longer since it dries better as well.
Omg my garlic press is my fave gadget, I just hate cleaning it!
Mine came with a little brush to clean it with that gets in all the small places pretty well. Or you could try an old toothbrush!
These gadgets would make food prep quicker and easier. I would be interested to get myself a Mandoline slicer, a Chop Wizard and a garlic press.
They are all great tools! I use the garlic press at least 3-4 times per week.
Totally awesome gadgets, would make it all go so much faster!! Way cool!
Yes, I love how much time these all save!
I definitely need a food processer. Thanks so much for reminding me!
I don’t know a lot about cooking but will save these when I start learning about the kitchen and cooking. Thank you for sharing!
Oh, I have 5 of these gadgets in my kitchen, but I admit I don’t use them often. I know they save time, and maybe I should start using them more. Thank you for these great ideas!
That egg slicer would be so darn handy at work! Would save me so much fiddling and time.
I have some of these gadgets, and the others do sound convenient. We just got an immersion blender and that has been quite convenient compared to using the blender.
I love some of the chopping gadgets you mention here. Anything that makes light work of chopping is a big win for me!
I could not live without my food processor. It does so much work and then I toss the parts in the dishwasher. I love it!
Oh my gosh, yes please! These gadgets are surely to keep my time less in the kitchen. I need that pineapple corer! I just cut up a pineapple a day ago and man, it was slippery. I lost a few slices. Need to check this one out.
I wasn’t much of a cook so my kitchen is not well equipped. But now I’m trying to cook more often and I only have three of your nine gadgets. Time to go shopping!
Oh wow! I never thought about getting a pineapple corer, but I need to get one for my kitchen – stat!
You can never have too many gadgets, especially in the kitchen! I see at least three I need.
Quick meal preparations are my goal. Im always loaded with work and family stuff so it would be really helpful
I love having my slap chop too. Im so grateful I had it as a present.
Id love a salad spinner in the house. As a busy mom, these tools make our life easier.
I love these gadgets already. They make meal preparations quicker which saves me a lot of time to do other stuff such as cleaning the house.
All these gadgets are essentials. I’ll definitely put all of these in my list so I can buy them one by one per month.
I got the egg slicer a few months ago and it’s been amazing for making salads!
Hhhhmmm…I had never seen a garlic press before. I am very intrigued by it and would love to use it. Thanks for sharing about all these gadgets.
Absolutely right!!! These tools can save a lot of our time in kitchen. Garlic chopper and salad spinner are really great tool that can make our lives easier ☺️