From left, pots and pans, cutting board and juicer

Heather Little-White, Contributor

Healthy eating means having the ability to store, heat and cook the foods you love. As you navigate your way through the kitchen, it calls for certain basic tools and equipment to help you with recipes and different styles of cooking. In addition to the major appliances - refrigerator, stove, oven and maybe a microwave - you will need basic tools for cutting, measuring, mixing, cooking and storing your favourite foods.

Cutting knives

To assist with pre-preparation of foods, it is critical to have a set of cutting knives to assist with peeling, paring, dicing, cutting, chopping and filleting.

Cutting boards

Cutting and other prep should be done on cutting boards instead of the kitchen counter. You should buy them colour-coded to prevent cross-contamination in preparing different foods. If colours are not available, keep different boards for meats, fish, vegetables and baked products.

Mixing equipment

Spoons, including wooden, bowls, spatulas and wire whisks.

Juicer

Freshly squeezed juice from vegetables and fruits. The heavy-duty types may be part of a kitchen centre are better for leafy vegetables, pineapples and quantity juicing.

Kitchen centre

A combination of many appliances in one, it may include the blender as an attachment. Other items include a mixer with dough hook, the food processor and other attachments like the juicer, slicer and can opener.

Pots are essential to cooking, so you should try to include a pressure cooker, cast-iron skillet, large stockpot, omelette pan, saucepans and a double boiler.

Blender

For making fruit smoothies for breakfast or snacks. The blender is also helpful for making home-made dressings and other food items.

Wok

A helpful tool for perfecting Chinese dishes. It is best to select a good quality stainless-steel wok that can be placed directly over a gas or electric burner. Teflon interior is enticing but does not last as long as they flake if scratched. Then it becomes unhealthy.

Steamer

For producing crisp vegetables, you may select the inexpensive metal basket to set in a pan for steaming. Large electric steamers are available and these automatically shut off and are easy to clean. The bamboo steamer also works well when placed on top of boiling water in a wok. This method allows many dishes to be steamed.

Crockpot

A useful pot for preparing soups and stews using leftover vegetable trimmings, meat cuttings, chicken wings and backs. The crockpots with removable containers are preferable because of ease in cleaning up. Besides, they provide more even distribution of heat to the food being prepared.

Bakeware

Bakeware includes casserole dishes, cake pans, pie pans, muffin pans, baking and cooking sheets.

Bread machine for dough lovers to provide the luxury of making your own bread at home easily and quickly. The machine efficiently mixes, kneads and bakes one loaf at a time. Select bread machines with enough power capacity to handle wholewheat flour.

Storage

Plastic containers are inexpensive and easy to locate. However, these deteriorate quickly. Ceramic, glass and stainless containers are more pricey and more difficult to care. You can recycle canning jars, bags and plastic buckets from your supermarket.

Heather Little-White, PhD, is a nutrition and lifestyle consultant in the Corporate Area. Send comments to editor@gleanerjm.com or fax 922-6223.