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We hope you love our recommendations! Some may have been sent as samples, but all were independently selected by our editors. Just FYI, BuzzFeed and its publishing partners may collect a share of sales and/or other compensation from the links on this page. 27 Handy Kitchen Products That’ll Make Family Meal Prep A Lot Easier Consider these the extra helping hands you need to get it all done. 1. An Instant Pot 7-in-1 pressure cooker, which can do so many things in addition to pressure cooking — it can make rice, slow cook meats, or even make yogurt. It's so versatile, it's practically like having another person in the kitchen with you. 2. A clip-on silicone strainer so pasta night for the fam will be even easier — no cumbersome colander needed. It's also great for separating the grease from the hamburger meat. You know what they say: all strain, all gain. Or something like that. 3. A rapid egg cooker that will be your absolute favorite thing, no matter what time of day it is. Choose how you want the eggs cooked, set the time, and wait for it to go off. Adding hard-boiled eggs to the lunchboxes is a great way to add protein. And for later? No one ever gets mad about breakfast for dinner. No one. 4. A Le Petit Chef helper knife set, so you can teach life skills to your little and start training your smallest sous chef. This will be a HUGE help in the kitchen. 5. An Oxo three-piece baby feeding prep set that will seriously cut down on your prep time — and your anxiety — when you're feeding your littles. This comes with a grape cutter (it can also be used on tomatoes!), crinkle cutter, and baby food scissors. 6. A two-pack of Souper Cubes, so you'll never have delicious leftovers go to waste. Freeze your food in these perfectly portioned containers, pop them in the microwave when you're ready, and you can have a home-cooked meal ready to go for everyone in mere minutes. 7. A Ninja food processor and blender system because you need something to quite literally chop your food prep time in half. We've had this set for years and we love the versatility of it! 8. An apple slicer (it creates 16 perfect slices!) that will become the MVP of lunch and snack-making — especially during those hectic mornings with your crew. 9. A griddle from Drew Barrymore's Beautiful line, which will come in handy because you're pretty much your family's line cook. Burgers? Grilled cheese? All the breakfast foods? Coming right up! 10. A Mueller Pro-Series 10-in-1 that's ready to chop, dice, mince, cut, and slice its way into your heart (and kitchen). Reviewers love how this time-saver chops vegetables right into the container, so it keeps things neat and tidy. 11. A set of four yogurt parfait (or overnight oats!) cups that you can use to prep for the mornings so breakfast doesn't, well, break you. These cuties even come with their own spoons. 12. A Brightroom space-saving turntable, so you aren't spinning around in circles when you're looking for your most-used ingredients. 13. An Oxo 3-in-1 avocado slicer that will make you realize doing it the old way really is, well, the pits. Get ready to guac and roll on Taco Tuesday, because this tool is faster AND safer than a regular knife. 14. A microwave-safe12-pack set of Pyrex glass storage containers and lids, because you can't look at those old tomato sauce-stained plastic containers anymore. These clean well, last long, and won't smell... even if your kiddos leave your leftovers in them for a few days too long (no judging). 15. A classic 7-quart Crock-Pot slow cooker, so you can put the ingredients before work and come home to an amazing home-cooked dinner. And the leftovers? Tomorrow's lunches! 16. A perfectly sized countertop air fryer that will give your meals that crave-able, crisp you haven't quite been able to get in the oven. You can make restaurant-quality salmon in 15 minutes — and there's nothing fishy about that. 17. A 52-week meal-planning pad to help you organize your thoughts on food for the week. It also has space for your grocery list. (With some seriously satisfying check boxes... there's nothing better!) 18. A 12-piece set of Caraway nonstick ceramic cookware that is the perfect combination of form and function. Plus, they're made without PFAS, PFOA, PTFE, lead, and cadmium AND come with pan and lid storage — so you're getting clean food and a clean kitchen. We've had these for more than three years now, and I always reach for them first when cooking for my own family. They're easy to clean and provide a nice even heat distribution. 19. An Oxo food chopper, which you can use to cut up food for littles or to slice up ingredients for your meals. Chop to it! 20. A two-pack of Amazon Basics silicone baking mats that will make cleanup after a classic sheet pan dinner even easier than prepping the meal itself. And with two of these mats, you can use one for dinner and one for dessert... some freshly baked cookies sounds amazing, right? 21. A salad pod, which is the kind of thing your fam's jealous classmates, friends, and colleagues will look at and say, "Where did you get that?!" It elevates any salad and keeps everything fresh and crunchy. 22. A mini waffle maker that is not only sweet but, more importantly, will get meals on the table very, very quickly. Make a few extras and put them in your kiddo's snack bag (or yours, let's be real) for later! 23. An oven thermometer to help you get a sense of your oven's actual temperature while you cook and bake because the LAST thing you need is to have to start over with all those hungry kids watching you. 24. A pizza cooker that will totally transform your Friday pizza and movie nights. It's not delivery, it's the delicious 'za you cooked up for a bunch of hungry kiddos in about 10 minutes. 25. A set of 12 silicone baking cups, which you can use for sweet treats but also egg muffins, pizza muffins, and other lunch items. You'll never run out of liners once you have these! In addition to being fantastic for baking, they make for reusable separators in lunch boxes. 26. A three-pack of produce-saving containers, because your berry budget is getting out of control these days. Keep these nutritional powerhouses fresh for longer... and after you pack your kids' lunches, you might even have a few berries left over to put in your own. 27. A KitchenAid mixer that's a special collaboration with Target's Hearth and Hand line. This is a classic because hand mixing takes SO LONG, and you are over it. Trust: mashed potatoes are a lot faster when you use this. And now you can do it all with Chip and Jo's stamp of approval. Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity. Why Trust BuzzFeed Shopping? BuzzFeed Shopping is service journalism first: our writers and editors spend all day shopping so you don’t have to, vetting products, fact-checking brand claims, and surfacing what actually helps in real life. We center readers over revenue, recommend products with authenticity (using real experiences, not ad-speak), and reflect our diverse audience, inclusive of a variety of price points, people, and needs. We cut through fake deals, favor useful info over glossy fluff, and recommend both budget and splurge options with context so you can decide what’s right for you — and still have a little fun along the way. Kathleen Shea-Porter has been a freelance writer for BuzzFeed since 2020. She's always on the lookout for products that are the perfect blend of form and function — especially if it's in the realm of parenting, travel, and home goods and décor. When she's not writing, she's planning big adventures for her family, listening to audiobooks while cooking, and dreaming up themed parties to throw for her friends.
