My top 10 favorite kitchen tools – at home or on the road

Note: I was not sponsored by any companies mentioned in this post. This is a list of items I truly love and use in my family kitchen and I recommend them because I believe you would enjoy them too!

If you order anything from the affiliate links, I may get a small commission. It will cost nothing to you while it will help to support and provide me with an opportunity to write more on my blog.

Note: I was not sponsored by any companies mentioned in this post. This is a list of items I truly love and use in my family kitchen and I recommend them because I believe you would enjoy them too!

If you order anything from the affiliate links, I may get a small commission. It will cost nothing to you while it will help to support and provide me with an opportunity to write more on my blog.

I have always loved to cook whether at home or during travels. Homemade food tastes so much better and you have the benefit of knowing exactly what you put in your food. I noticed years ago that while most restaurant food tasted good in the moment, a few hours later I would experience bloating and stomach discomfort, likely linked to the presence of white sugars, gluten, trans fats, processed and unnatural ingredients and also how food was combined and cooked. Eating out not only made me experience issues, it was also expensive.

With global pandemic overtaking the planet, you probably experienced the need to shift to cook more at home. And it is such a great choice if you are looking to improve your health and be in control with what you are putting in your body. Healthy gut is a key to your overall health.

I want to share with you my top 10 favorite kitchen tools, many of which go on road trips, whether it is by car, van, camping or staying at airbnbs or hotels. Obviously, assess what’s appropriate to take in your situation, depending on your access to electricity and how much room you have.

HERE ARE KITCHEN ITEMS I CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT:

1 – Instant pot

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – no (unless you have electricity)

Instant Pot is amazing! I often use it multiple times a day. I make my yogurt, bone broth, vegetable broths, perfectly cook rice, beans, and grains without burning them (and you don’t have to watch and stir them), slow cook meats and stews, prepare soups, steam veggies, etc. I already have 2 instant pots – 3 Quart and 6 Quart size and there are days when I could definitely use another one. A small instant pot is perfect for traveling. You can take it to airbnb or hotel with no kitchen, and as long as there is electricity, you will always have a homemade meal. Just throw some veggies, rice or potatoes, some protein such as chicken, water and spices, turn it on and go sightseeing! An hour later you have the most delicious homemade food.

Check out my video of my favorite Instant Pot recipe of butternut squash chili. So good, especially on cold days!

2 – Omega Masticating Juicer

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – maybe
Camping – not recommended

I rarely travel with this one as it is a bit bulky and also fragile. I do juicing cleanses every month and a few years ago I happened to do a 5 day juicing cleanse and spontaneously went on a roadtrip. We brought the juicer in the van with us and I didn’t have to interrupt my cleanse. It was absolutely perfect!

At home I use Omega Masticating Juicer almost every morning. The simplest and most powerful juice you can start your day with is celery juice – check out Medical Medium book for more information on the fantastic benefits of this juice. I love a variety of juices and have done the extended multiple day juicing cleanses before. If you had never done a juice cleanse before, start slow – try it for a day or even just introduce juice as breakfast and see how you feel. If you have any serious medical conditions, do your research and ask your doctor if you should avoid any specific vegetables or fruits.

Please go with a masticating juicer instead of centrifugal. Centrifugal juicers spin too fast and are not very effective at extracting nutrients out of veggies and fruit into juice.

3 – Vitamix blender

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – no (unless you have electricity)

Vitamix blender is absolutely incredible! I love making dips, sauces, and hummus because I never buy these items at the store. You might wonder why? Next time you shop, check the label of ingredients of sauces and you will see that it is almost impossible to find one that doesn’t contain a ton of sugar and artificial and chemical ingredients with names you can’t pronounce. These ingredients and preservatives are added to make them shelf stable. But that comes at a cost of us ingesting foods that are not real foods – foods that are processed and synthetically produced.

A powerful blender is the best way to make healthy smoothies, sauces and dips, baby or pet food, pureed soups, ice creams, etc. A blender is essential for babies, older animals, and anyone whose health may be weak if he/she is recovering from a disease or a surgery and is unable to eat solid food. I also love making periodic heavy metal detox smoothies (recipe by Medical Medium). This blender comes with a fantastic book of recipes so you can get started right away. Once you try a few recipes, you will be ready to experiment on your own.

One more thing to add to this – I only recently realized how important it is to invest in the right blender. 10 years ago I had a cheap blender, and nothing blended well, it would get messy and not at all worth the effort of cleaning up afterwards. So I thought blenders were a waste of money, until I used Vitamix. So please buy a good blender, an expensive blender that will last you for years. You will use it all the time and really enjoy it. It’s better to buy one $400 blender that does all jobs you throw at it than 10 of $40 blenders that will sit on the counter and not do anything for you.

4 – Wooden cutting board or bamboo cutting board

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – yes (get a smaller size)

Please please PLEASE stop cutting on plastic boards! I know it is easier to clean plastic, it’s light-weight and cheap… But think about this. Small pieces of plastic might end up in your food. Your plastic cutting board will end up in trash one day and it will take thousands of years to decompose. And by the way, so does silicone. Small and light bamboo cutting board or wood cutting board is perfect for traveling and for your home you can get a few sizes of boards and designate them for veggies, fish, meat, onion/garlic, etc. If you take good care of your cutting boards, wash them immediately after use and don’t immerse them into water for a long time, they will last you for years. They are safe to cut on and eat from, even if a little wood chip gets into your body, it’s not a toxic hazard

5 – Real chef knife

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – yes (for camping get a folding knife like this one)

A secret to good cooking is a good chef knife. It will make you feel like a chef, even if you don’t know how to cook yet. You will be motivated to learn to cook better just from holding a good chef knife that feels so solid, has a nice weight and is perfectly sharp.

While a big chef knife is sometimes tooo big to bring, this pairing knife always travels with me when I am planning to cook. I also love this folding knife for camping and adventures, its lightweight and perfect for cooking in backcountry.

6 – Tea kettle

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – no, unless you have electricity (but you could use this one to put on camp fire)

Tea kettles are cool! I usually drink 5 cups of tea every day, green or black in the morning and herbal in the evening Yes, you could always use a pot to warm up some water but kettles are extremely efficient and boil water in seconds for your coffee, tea, oatmeal or noodles. This glass kettle is my favorite, I love seeing the water boil and this glass is extremely strong. On the solo roadtrip adventures I often use this portable mini tea kettle. If you are concerned about glass breaking, you could buy this electric stainless steel kettle or this stovetop stainless steel kettle. I usually avoid metal because it does leach into water. Sometimes for traveling people use silicone or aluminum kettles, I would not recommend those. Silicone is not too bad but please avoid aluminum as it will definitely leach into water more so than stainless steel.

7 – Tea or coffee press

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – yes and sometimes I use these tea or coffee strainers instead.

I could never live without my French press, which I also use to make tea. Ideally, if you have room and drink both coffee and tea, have 2 of them – one designated to coffee and one designated to tea. When you buy a coffee press, try to get one with all stainless steel and glass inside and without any plastic or silicone pieces that would be touching hot water. To make drinks during camping and traveling I like to use these tea strainers.

8 – Storage containers: Fido glass and Mason jars

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – yes (mason jars) and alternatively use these bees’ wax cotton wraps or these reusable silicone bags.

Please stop using plastic and especially stop heating up your food in any plastic containers, even if you think it is the healthiest plastic, BPO free etc. There is no such thing as “healthy plastic”! Microplastics are highly toxic for the body and they will never decompose in our planet’s soil either.

Glass containers are toxin-free (they will not leach anything into your food), beautiful, easy to clean, and don’t retain any smells (while plastics do). Fido glass containers are a bit pricey but after you experience the quality of this glass, trust me, you will not want to use any other containers. My favorite pantry size are 1.5 liter Fido jars but I also use quite a few of 1 liter jars (I make and store yogurt in these). I also love using mason jars to store nuts, berries and other snacks, and they look so much more attractive than pre-packaged goods so I am naturally encouraged to eat healthier. I recommend using these stainless steel lids with your jars instead of lids that come with mason jars as those tend to get rusty over time if you reuse them.

If you are traveling, camping or hiking and concerned with heavier or fragile glass, I recommend these reusable silicone storage bags or these bees’ wax cotton wraps and bags. They are a fantastic storage solution for wrapping leftover food and keeping it in the fridge, snacks for hikes or roadtrips, veggies, and fruit.

9 – Stainless steel pots and pans

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – yes Also, this cast iron pan is fantastic for car camping (it is a bit heavy).

I only cook in stainless steel pots. This topic probably deserves a separate blog post as far as health ratings, stainless steel is the healthiest cookware after ceramic cookware, which is expensive and breakable. Le creuset is amazing but so pricey.

Please do your research on cookware as most of it leach very dangerous chemicals into your food, especially those non-stick pans. Cast iron pans are not the healthiest because they do leach iron into your food but grilling on cast iron is so yummy! Just limit how frequently you do it.

To clean your stainless steel pots I periodically use Bar Keeper’s cleaner. I usually add water into the pan right after cooking and then wash my pans as soon as possible after dinner and it keeps my pans and pots clean and happy.

If you are traveling, this is a fantastic propane stove you might like. Easy to set up and use. It can also be used as a backup for your house in case main stove doesn’t work because electricity or gas is off.

10 – Berkey water filtration system

At home – yes
Travel / tiny living / vanlife & RV / airbnb – yes
Camping – maybe, or you can get a personal water filter like this one

You need a good water filtration system or at least a personal water filter capable of removing bacteria, toxins, and all harmful substances. I use filtered water for cooking and washing vegetables and, from my research, Berkey water filtration system is one the best solutions that is actually quite affordable. When we were traveling in a van, this was a must to take with us and we never had to buy water in plastic bottles.

Other great kitchen items:

Best kitchen scrubby to wash your dishes
Wooden spoons and cooking utensils
Stainless steel straws
Milk frother
Oven gloves
Stainless steel baking sheets and trays
Dehydrator

Other notes:

Phase out plastics to make your kitchen and your family healthier. Instead of plastics you can use glass containers as I mentioned above, reusable silicone bags and bees’ wax wraps. There is also a variety of compostable plant fiber bags that look like plastic but are actually compostable. Please do your research though, some of these brands claim they are “sustainable” but in reality their product is not organic or fully bio-degradable.
Reduce or eliminate usage of paper towers and use washable organic cotton towels or napkins that you can re-use.
Use glass water bottles or stainless steel thermos bottles for hot and cold drinks.

Here’s a Butternut Squash Chili recipe that you can try!

This page contains affiliate links. I only recommend products I love and use in my family. If you buy something through one of the links, I may earn a small commission. It costs nothing to you while you help support and encourage me sharing resources and videos with the community.

cook cooking kitchen kitchen tool