I don’t know about you, but my blender gets used every single day! This makes it my number 1 must have kitchen item. Whether I’m making a smoothie for a snack or an on the go meal I think it may be the most used tool in my kitchen.

Many recipes require mixing your food, but not necessarily blending. A simple food processor is always an item that makes the kitchen essentials list to have on hand in the kitchen.

This makes more sense for a kitchen with less space, or a person who prefers less clutter

Have you ever made a smoothie and waited too long and it melted to liquid? Or a hot cup of coffee or tea and before you know it, its cold? This tumbler is amazing and keeps drinks hot or cold for hours! Literally, I made a cup of tea and forgot about it. When I grabbed my Yeti 4 hours later my tea was still hot! Anytime I leave the house with a drink it goes in my Yeti!

I even have the other lid attachment with the straw, which is ideal for your cold drinks

I found this great set and they stay out on my counter because they are literally used every day as well

Many of the clean eating meals that I prepare call for a 3oz of chicken for example. My food scale comes in handy when I am trying to maintain a certain level of portion control.

Now that I make sure to eat breakfast every day I find myself eating a lot of eggs or gluten-free pancakes. We used to have a large griddle, but it took up too much space. Now I use and love the little griddle. This compact electric griddle is ideal for smaller meals and takes up much less space.

When I’m not making breakfast on my little griddle, I’m making eggs in my Lodge cast iron skillet. This is great for making eggs with spinach and onions. I always use a wooden spoon with my cast iron skillet rather than a metal spatula.

If you are a fellow cast iron fan, we also have and love the Lodge cast iron dutch oven. My husband loves this for preparing larger meals.

The standard muffin pan is a kitchen essential because its great for food prep. When Im feeling super motivated I will spend some time baking a few batches of muffins, like blueberry or apple cinnamon as well as egg and kale muffins to freeze and store for later. These make a great grab and go food for when you don’t have the time to cook. Lately, I grab a blueberry muffin from the freezer, pop it in the microwave and enjoy one with my nightly tea

Since trading in my nightly glass of wine for a relaxing cup of tea I’ve decided I need to organize my growing tea collection. This tea box is perfect!

This may be the uber-organizer in me shining through. But I have organized my refrigerator using these food storage containers and love them. They have become one of my necessary kitchen items for sure.

More produce organizers

Mason jars make the kitchen essentials list for two reasons. First, they are perfect for making overnight oats. Second, if you are like me and prefer not to have food in bags (like almond flour, stevia, cacao etc) you can transfer them all to mason jars. I got tired of the bags and moved the majority of the powder type ingredients into mason jars and simply labeled each jar with what it inside.