Whether she’s cleaning up (yet another) spill, whipping up a batch of her favorite chocolate chip cookies, or slicing a mountain of tomatoes for sandwiches, there are certain essentials that busy food stylist and mom Ashley Moore can’t live without.
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5 Kitchen Tools This Busy Mom Can’t Live Without
Ashley Moore shares her favorite kitchen tools that help her save time and get the most out of her ingredients.
By Published Sept. 29, 2022
In the newest episode of our YouTube series Today’s Special with Ashley Moore, learn more about her five must-have tools. They run the gamut from achieving more accurate cooking to making cleanup a breeze.
Using all (or even just one) can seriously elevate your cooking. Here are her favorites.
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1. Digital Instant Read Thermometer
Use this to get an accurate internal temperature of anything you’re cooking in seconds. Trust us; it’s worth the investment. The Thermapen ONE from ThermoWorks remains our favorite after years of testing, but we have a selection of recommendations at differing price points (including the Thermoworks ThermoPop, our favorite inexpensive option).
2. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
If you cook with any regularity, cleaning can be a bit of a chore. Ashley particularly enjoys her Magic Eraser for cleaning that layer of grime from a dirty toaster oven and getting red wine stains off counters. It makes removing other tough kitchen stains a breeze. (Listen, cooking with kids isn’t always the tidiest operation.)
3. Jar Spatula
A jar spatula is the kitchen tool you didn’t know you needed. It’s long, tall, and slender enough to fit into any size jar. Scrape out the last bit of peanut butter from the bottom of the jar (without getting any on your hands) or make sure you don’t waste a drop of Creamy Apple-Mustard Sauce. Our favorite is made by GIR, but OXO is another good option.
YouTube
Today's Special with Ashley Moore
In this delightful YouTube series, Ashley shares her favorite easy, fun, and family-friendly recipes and shortcuts.Watch on YouTube
4. A (Sharp!) Boning Knife
The sharper the better. This thin, flexible knife (our favorite is the Zwilling Pro 5.5" Flexible Boning Knife) can be used for more than deboning chickens. Ashley makes short work of slicing a tomato and even uses the narrow tip for digging out the stem. Boning knives are also ideal for trimming silver skin on a pork tenderloin or extra fat from most cuts of meat.
5. Dutch Oven
We’ve mentioned before why you need a Dutch oven, and Ashley is here to drive the point home. Its uses abound from braising to frying and even baking. A Dutch oven will streamline your cooking for years to come. Our favorite is from Le Creuset, but our best buy from Cuisinart is the one Ashley is using in the video.
Watch how Ashley uses each tool in the newest episode of Today's Special.