So you want to get healthy but don't know what a dooverlackie is...it's understandable. While you don't need anything to whip up a clean salad, you might want to get a bit more technical to vary your diet. Just how do people turn their carrots into spaghetti? Here my top 8 healthiest tools for your kitchen; gadgets that can turn your kitchen into a shrine of clean living.
Just remember, you don't need to go out any buy all of these at once (ouch!)...I started with nothing but an oven and a desire for good health.
1. Glass Jars
Save your glass jars to store pre-made healthy snacks for the whole week.
Make a batch of overnight oats in a large bowl, then portion it out into jars for the week ahead. You can also use them to make chia pudding, salad dressings or sauerkraut OR soak your nuts, sprout your seeds and a whole host of other things!
Recycle your own (free!) or invest in some beautiful mason jars - available from Etsy.
2. Nut milk bag
Fresh, nutritious, non-dairy nut milk is great hot or cold, on your morning muesli, in baking and tea or coffee. Making your own is easy - just soak raw almonds, cashews or macadamias for four to six hours in cold water, then drain, rinse, whiz with water, and strain with either a muslim cloth (be warned, this gets messy) or your new nut milk bag!
Nut Milk Bag, $8.50 from Honest To Goodness or in any good health food store.
3. Dehydrator
When food is heated above 40°C, the enzymes (which help us to absorb their all-important nutrients) begin to break down. Dehydrating food is a good way to get the same texture of food that has been cooked, while keeping all the nutrients in tact. They use low temperatures and a fan to reduce moisture and intensify flavour without actually "cooking". Make fruit roll-ups, turn beef into jerky, make quiche crusts, pizza bases, and dry your own herbs.
The Excalibur five-tray counter-top dehydrator costs $369 from www.therawfoodstore.com.au
4. Coconut opener
Put down the axe - you'll lose a toe. Seriously. Coconuts have a habit of rolling all over the floor when you whack them - i've tried it and failed miserably. Save yourself from coconut wrestling with a proper coconut cutter that clamps onto the coconut and cuts a neat round opening ready for you to dunk a straw straight in. No lumberjack required.
Try CocoCuts available from www.cococut.com for $25 or from Victoria's Basement and Thomas Dux stores.
5. Water filter
Get your hands on freshly filtered water to not only improve the taste, but to filter out any nasties that make their way in there - chlorine, I'm looking at you. If you want to stay healthy, drinking lots of fresh water is essential to keep your body digesting food properly and flushing out damaging toxins.
Try BRITA Water Filters - available nation wide.
6. Vegetable Spiralisers
Cutting down on pasta can actually have a huge impact on your body. I found it to be one of the biggest assistors in helping me achieve and maintain a healthy weight. But who wants Bolognese without it? The answer: turn zucchini, carrots, parsnips and beetroot into 'spaghetti' with a spiraliser. These natty little gadgets are perfect for raw-foodists, gluten-intolerant peeps, and offer a great way to sneak veggies into the kids dinners too!
Available from homeware and health food stores, around $40.
7. High-powered Blender
These powerful machines can whip up beautiful raw desserts, grind coffee beans, make nut butters, hummus, soups, ice creams and a whole lot more. The key to eating healthy is making these things (that are usually store-bought) from scratch, so you can control the ingredients. Blenders can be a large investment, but trust me, you will use it almost every single day and a god one will last at least 3 years. Seriously life-changing!
I use the Omniblend (from $309) for large quantities, and the George Forman Mix & Go ($39.95) for dressings and protein shakes.
8. Sprouter
Sprouting is all the rage at the moment - it improves the nutritional value of beans, nuts and legumes, while making them more easily digestible. Germinate your own crunchy sprouts to add to salads, wraps, and baking. You can create your own mini greenhouse by using your old glass jars (see #1 on the toolkit) or a buy purpose-built sprinter to go all-out pro.
Recycled glass jars (free!) or try the Original Biosnacky 3-Tier Dome Sprouter ($45) from health food stores and Sprout Organics on www.sprout.net.au.
There you have it. The rest is up to you Fitties.
