Our Top 10 Favorite Kitchen Essentials for Home Cooks

Glass Spice Jars

Prior to getting married, I came across these glass spice jars from Ayousin. Bought my own set when I got married because they’re easy to use and durable. Even the ones I left back home with my family are still being used to date! Partnered with these easy-to-clean labels, our kitchen not only looks great but also super functional.

Expandable spice rack

I use a lot of herbs and spices so I have tons of spice jars in our kitchen. This expandable spice jar expands when needed, in case you need the additional height for the items you’ll put on them. And let’s admit, it makes the kitchen look aesthetically pleasing too!

Airtight Glass Jars

I prefer glass containers to plastic because they’re easier to clean and generally look and feel better. I use varying sizes of these airtight glass jars from Gugu’s Home Goods for some of my pantry staples like coffee, sugar, breadcrumbs, and pasta. They also look pretty nice displayed in your pantry, especially when they’re all stocked up!

They also have jars with non-screw lids which we also use in the kitchen, but we prefer these screw-on lids as they’re more friendly to someone as clumsy as myself.

Food Weighing Scale

Some might say that a scale is over the top for home cooking, maybe it is. But for us who have to deal with portion control for our diet, there’s nothing more reliable than measuring. It’s the same every single time and all I need to do is place items on the weighing scale.

This ORIA LED Rechargeable Weighing Scale measures between 3g to 15kg, enough for home use, unless you use much lighter ingredients regularly.

Magnetic LED Kitchen Timer

I use a kitchen timer regularly to make sure we don’t forget about what we’re simmering on the stove, or even just to make sure we don’t oversteep our tea. I know you can purchase cheaper kitchen timers for less than ₱50. But after buying one, breaking, and repurchasing, only for it to break again, I decided to spend a bit more to get something more reliable, a BASEUS LED Kitchen Timer–this is currently 2 years old and going strong. It uses 3 AAA batteries and is also magnetic so it just perpetually sticks on the side of our refrigerator ready anytime.

Lavatools Javelin Pro DUO thermometer

Using a kitchen instant read thermometer like the Javelin Pro DUO from Lavatools when cooking takes out the guesswork of finding out if your food is under, over, or just right. What I love most is the LED display automatically rotates, and it’s especially helpful because I’m left-handed. It’s also magnetic so it just hangs around the side of my fridge forever. It uses a coin battery though, but that’s easy to find in Shopee! But I’ve been regularly using this for about 2 years now and I haven’t changed the battery yet.

Air fryer parchment paper

Many are against using air fryer parchment paper, mainly because it restricts airflow and prevents food from being golden and crispy. I definitely agree. But using one does make cleaning so much easier so it’s also a matter of preference and choosing when to use it. I use it the most when roasting chicken breast fillets or even potatoes and carrots, which we often eat. We use these as our air fryer is more square-shaped, but there are circular ones available too!

1-ply paper towels

Moisture is the enemy of crispiness (or even good roasting) and using paper towels to pat your meat dry is a kitchen essential to achieve this. I specifically prefer Sanicare 1-ply paper towels (a bit more expensive than some others) as they are just the right thickness. We also prefer it over 2-ply paper towels as those tend to separate and stick on the meat when used (irritated me a lot when we didn’t realized we got the wrong one).

Deli Containers with Airtight, Leak-proof Lids

Do you know those containers they use in cooking videos on Youtube? This is it. It’s very different from the takeout containers you get in restaurants that are flimsy and break easily. These deli containers are sturdier, semi-flexible (for creating a spout when pouring), microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe, freezer-safe, airtight, leak-proof, and easy to wash. It’s one of my favorite things purchased for the kitchen and I have them both in my refrigerator and freezer to store many different things including my homemade stock, spice blends, and a lot of other things.

You can find similar ones in Shopee, but I’m unsure of the quality. I decided to import from Amazon from the brand Safeware (as recommended by Joshua Weismann) so I can guarantee the quality.

IMMERSION BLENDER

Because of our restrictive Low Fat, Low Cholesterol Diet due to NAFLD, I make a lot of homemade stuff so we know exactly what and how much of it is in the food we consume. I love this Imarflex Immersion Blender to make smooth sauces such as our homemade pesto or hummus, or grind up meat for chicken nuggets and dumpling fillings using the food chopper bowl included in the set. It’s not as powerful as some other brands, but it does the work just fine for our needs.