Apr 14, 2016

Non-Food Must Haves for Whole30

Yesterday after work Tucker and I went to visit a friend to buy some shorts off of her. Tucker played with her niece that is a few months younger and was given a snack. In true Tucker fashion, he fell asleep while eating the snack.

And proceeded to stay asleep through being removed from his car seat and put on the couch.


This usually means Tucker is out for the night. Except for a couple of 10 minute wake ups, it was true. He fell asleep at 6 for the rest of the night and I suddenly had about 4 hours to myself since Danny was at work. I sat and waited to see if this was the real deal, got my PiYo workout in for the day, then it was time to eat dinner. And it was the best dinner. I made some zoodles, chopped up a red pepper and threw in the ground sausage.  After I threw it in the bowl I thought it needed some sauce. I had purchased some Whole30 compliant mayo from the store and haven't been loving it on its own, so I wanted to see what I could do with it. I put a couple of shakes of Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning in it and it was perfect!


I was so pleased with this dinner. Eating, filling and it didn't feel like I was depriving myself.

As I was cooking, it dawned on me that no one ever shares what tools they use while doing a Whole30 or eating paleo(ish). There are recipes and meal ideas for days, but you hardly ever see the kitchen gadgets. I know there are 2 that are vital to my meals and a few other things that you just need to have.

1. Crock pot/slow cooker.
This one is pretty obvious. We have 2. Every household should have at least one, Whole30 or not. I love my crock pot. I like having 2 because dishes just aren't our top priority every night and it allows me to prep the next days lunch or dinner. This is especially helpful if Danny is working a rotation that falls during the week.

2. Mix 'N Chop from Pampered Chef

This was given to me by my mother-in-law. She got it for free or something and hardly ever cooks. She told me it was for crumbling ground beef, but I've used it for that approximately 2 times. It is, however, perfect for making cauliflower into rice! I don't do it the way all recipes direct you to. I steam a bag in the microwave, then just crumble it with this thing. It gets the job done and is less work.

3. Spiral & Slice from Pampered Chef
 
 

This was demoed (demo'd? I have no idea haha) at a Pampered Chef bridal shower as a cool tool to use for garnishes. The website pretty much says the same thing that it can make your meals pretty. Well, I use it to make my meals. I bought it to test out zucchini noodles and such before I bought a big spiralizer. Well, its been a year almost and this thing is good enough. Plus this fits in the dishwasher and cabinet without taking up too much space.

The noodles don't look like your traditional spaghetti noodles, but they work. This is a great tool to get dinner on the table in a hurry. I mainly use it for zucchini, but have used it for potatoes once or twice.

4. Food storage

There are 2 types of food that make Whole30 and pretty much all healthy eating easier: prepped food and leftovers. Leftovers being my favorite haha. You will need storage containers. We have a drawer full of plastic containers that come from lunch meat and Chinese take out, but we also have this nice glass set from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

5. Egg Timer


This is my new favorite. I cannot boil eggs. I'm a pretty good cook and can  make lots of things, but not hard boiled eggs. The whole family had to go on a hardboiled egg hunt on Christmas Eve Eve because of it. Not anymore! My mama found this lovely little thing and it is a game changer.  I'm not bad at boiling eggs that I was pretty confident this wouldn't help. I was wrong. I love egg salad and Danny loves hard boiled eggs by themselves. I think he ate like 7 the other day. So, my inability to boil eggs was sad for us. I tried it Sunday night and the eggs were perfect and my egg salad on Monday was delicious.

Those are the 5 things I cannot live without in my kitchen when eating Whole30 style. What are some of your favorite kitchen gadgets that make healthy eating easier?

2 comments:

  1. I have the veggetti (I know it sounds dirty), it is the "As Seen On TV" gadget. It noodles the veggies. I have that PC Chopping thingy and I hate it. I like my ground meat to me more chunky and my husband wants it to be as fine as sand. I don't' use it and he does. I should try it for our cauliflower though. I use to have like 4 crockpots and then the crocks broke so we are down to 1, well 2 if you count the 1980 version in my camper, but it can not be immersed in water or put in the fridge.

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  2. That egg tool is pretty neat! I boil eggs a lot because Remington likes them like that. I also have that mix and chop tool from PC and I love it! I use it all the time but it's a bitch to clean :)

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