3 Kitchen Tools to Make Meal Prep Faster

Some days are for kitchen projects. You can spend a whole Sunday and then some cooking a brisket stunning enough to make Instagram weep, or use an afternoon to make dumplings from scratch with the whole family. But most days aren’t for kitchen projects—rather they call for easy, quick, nutritious meals that don’t take all of your energy, yet still sing with flavor. Enter time-saving meal prep tools. These are the three we can’t get enough of on our most time-crunched weeknights.

When something saves you time while simultaneously saving you space, that’s a truly beautiful gift. This air fryer/toaster oven combo bakes, broils, toasts, keeps warm, and air fries, which is quite a lot of functionality for one humble appliance. It’s big enough for a 12-inch pizza and small enough to fit on most countertops. Because it’s more energy-efficient than a conventional oven, it cooks food more quickly, too. Use it to bake chicken or salmon; we like to wrap filets in foil packets, which lock in moisture and also make cleaning a snap. Likewise, roasting vegetables has never been easier (or faster). Coat them in oil and seasonings, and roast away! Combine your protein and veg for an easy dinner.

We also love the air fryer function. We’re huge fans of all things fried (we know, shocking), but deep frying takes up a ton of space, can be dangerous if you don’t plan for oil spatter appropriately, and isn’t really the healthiest way of cooking things. The Crisp 'N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven allows us to whip up favorites like sweet potato fries easily and often. Other air fryer favorites include potato skins, jalapeño poppers, fish sticks, and wings!

Plainly put, everyone needs a Griddler®. It’s a great panini press, works really well for indoor grilling, and is perfect for meals on those days when you literally just can’t even right now and are tempted to get takeout. It cooks your food quickly and is simple to use, with features like an LCD display, a timer, and preheating capability. Plus, you can adjust the upper and lower plates to different temperatures.

Customer Roadqueenie from Wisconsin notes that burgers are “done in less than half the time.” Put your patty (ground meat, steak, or any protein you like) between two slices of bread, cook up some veggies (the Griddler works well for these), and you’ll have dinner on the table in minutes. Cleanup couldn’t be easier: The cooking plates are removable and dishwasher-safe.

Stasher Reusable Silicone Food Storage Bags are one of those kitchen items we feel like we’ve been waiting for our entire lives. First, they’ve completely eliminated the need for disposable plastic sandwich and snack bags, which is a win in every way. We like to fill a few with pre-portioned veggie slices at the beginning of the week and throw them into kids’ lunch bags for an easy snack or side. They also make great sandwich bags.

You can cook and prep with them, too: Cut up vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts at the beginning of the week and put them in a Stasher. Since the bags are microwave-safe, you can just put the bags in and steam veggies for a quick, healthy side dish. Repeat the process for proteins, too—put a piece of steak, chicken, salmon, or tofu in a bag with your favorite marinade. Keep it in the fridge during the day and when you get home, you’ll have something tasty to make for dinner without dirtying up the kitchen. Just take it out of the Stasher and put it on the stove or in the oven!

Once mealtime is over, store any leftovers in (you guessed it!) a Stasher bag. No need to worry about cleanup, either. The bags are dishwasher-safe and can be used again and again.

We also love these bags for smoothies. Portion out kits of cut-up fruits and veggies, and keep them in the refrigerator. When you get up in the morning, all you’ll have to do is pour your prepped ingredients into a blender, add your favorite milk, and hit a button.

Mealtime made easy! We’re ready to get cooking.