Eating well starts with stocking your kitchen and pantry properly.
Whether you are a seasoned home cook or just getting started with healthy eating, it’s helpful to have a stocked kitchen and pantry. Here is my list of helpful kitchen tools, basic ingredients to have on hand, and sources for buying all of it. Please feel free to leave me a comment or email me (acleanbake@gmail.com) if you have a question that isn’t already answered on this page!
Essential Ingredients
- Fats & Oils: Butter or shortening, Coconut oil*, olive oil*, nonstick spray*, unsweetened almond milk*, eggs*, unsweetened canned coconut milk, coconut cream
- Nuts, Seeds & Nut Butters: Almonds*, Peanuts*, Cashews, Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sugar-Free Almond Butter*, Sugar-Free Peanut Butter* (DIY nut butter tutorial here!), Tahini, Flax Meal (or whole flax seeds), Chia Seeds
- Flours and Grains: Almond Flour*, Coconut Flour*, Tapioca Starch* and/or Potato Starch, Gluten-Free Rolled Oats, Gluten-Free Oat Flour (DIY oat flour tutorial here!), Sweet Rice Flour, Buckwheat groats, Buckwheat Flour, Psyllium Husks (ground)
- Sweeteners & Fruit: Honey*, Granulated Monk Fruit Sweetener (I use Norbu)*, Maple Syrup, Granulated Stevia (I use Natvia), Coconut Sugar, Raw Sugar, Bananas, Apples and Applesauce, Lemons and Lemon Juice, Raisins, Dried Cranberries*, Dried Cherries*, Dried Blueberries*, Dried Medjool Dates*, Unsweetened Shredded Coconut*
- Herbs & Spices: Pure Vanilla Extract*, Baking Soda*, Aluminum-Free Baking Powder, Ground Cinnamon*, Ground Ginger, Ground Nutmeg, Ground Cloves, Ground Allspice, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Garlic Powder*, Five-Spice Powder, Table Salt*, Black Pepper*, Chili Powder*, Paprika, Red Pepper Flakes, Sea Salt/Fleur De Sel
Essential Tools
Must Haves
- Metal Measuring Cups* and Measuring Spoons* (plastic can break and the measurement labels wear off, which gets awkward)
- Glass liquid measuring cup*
- Sturdy cookie sheet or pan*, but ideally two, with nonstick pads* for each (or else some parchment paper to keep on hand)
- A Large Microwave-Safe Glass Mixing Bowl* (and some small microwave safe bowls on hand too. Cereal bowls do just fine)
- Glass 8″ Square Baking Dish*
- Glass 9″ Loaf Pan*
- Box Grater
- Sturdy Flat Spatula and Rubber Scraper/Spatula
- Cast Iron Skillet*
- Good quality chopping knife*
- Sturdy Cutting Board*
- Good quality oven mitts. I like the ones with a silicone pad around the finger tips.
- I would also highly recommend a cookie scoop*. It’s basically a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, and even the biggest size is less than $20. It prevents a ton of wasted batter and time when you’re scooping cookies, muffins, pancakes and, of course, ice cream. It’s well worth the investment.
- It is also helpful to have kitchen scissors, and large and medium (sandwich size/quart) ziptop bags on hand
Nice-to-Haves
- Hand Mixer*
- Food processor with both as s-blade and a shredder attachment*
- Good quality paring knives*
- Blender
- Sturdy whisk* (I recommend one large and one small)
- Additional mixing bowls, spatulas, cookie scoops, and baking pans (I always recommend glass)
- French Rolling Pin
- Bench Scraper*
Luxury Items (I have them and love them but don’t need them)
- Stand Mixer
- Immersion blender
- Mini food processor*
- Bread maker
- Pasta roller
- Spiralizer
- Apple peeler/corer
*These are the items that I use most often
I shy away from name brands (e.g. I don’t always buy Oxo) if the generic version is equally sturdy. Often the additional cost you pay for a name brand is just for bells and whistles like a slightly larger size, fancier design or a little bit more padding on the handle. Most basic cooking tools need to hold up, but don’t need a lot of bells and whistles to work well. Not that Oxo doesn’t make exceptional products, but if you’re on a budget or have a lot to buy, consider investing in the middle-of-the-road products that are still sturdy enough to hold up.
You can purchase all of these items and more through the Amazon widget below.
Where possible, these are the tools and ingredients that I actually use in my kitchen and on the recipes on this site! The tools and ingredients are organized by category. Please use the menu on the right hand side to navigate to the category you are interested in.