I love to bake. A LOT.
I’ve been into baking bread for a few years now, and I’ve loved baking cookies and similar treats since I was young.
Unfortunately, all that baking makes it hard to eat healthy. Too many sugars and too many carbs all add up to extra inches and extra pounds.
I try hard to keep active through regular walks and home workouts, but I’ve found that the easiest way to stay healthy is by keeping track of calories and keeping my diet in check.
And to help me stay on target for my weight loss goals, I’ve found that these three nifty gadgets work wonders in the kitchen. With an egg cooker, rice cooker, and vegetable steamer on hand, I can make a variety of healthy, cheap, and calorie-friendly meals.
1. Mini Egg Cooker
I love the Dash Mini Egg Cooker. I found it on Amazon for about $20, though you can buy it directly from the Dash website for the same price. It comes in a variety of super cute colors, and it’s only about 6 inches wide, so it doesn’t take up a lot of space.
With this mini egg cooker, you can cook up to 6 hardboiled eggs at a time in just a few minutes. No need to boil a pot of water and guess the timing. And you don’t have to commit to 6 eggs if you only want to eat 1 or 2.
Additionally, this little egg cooker comes with multiple accessories, so you can make more than just hardboiled or soft-boiled eggs. You can make poached eggs or omelets if that’s more your style.
Let me tell you a little cooking secret: You can make more than just eggs.
With the omelet tray, I’ve used this egg cooker to steam frozen vegetables. Because it’s small, it can hold about 1 cup of frozen veggies, which makes it the perfect serving size. You can then use the steamed veggies as a side with rice, potatoes, or chicken – whatever you’re in the mood for that day.
The egg cooker attachments are also dishwasher friendly, so cleanup is minimal.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to stick with this brand, though it is highly rated and recommended. There are cheaper, similar options available in stores at Walmart and Target, so find something that works best for you.
2. Mini Rice Cooker
The mini egg cooker got me so excited about small kitchen appliances, that I browsed around the Dash store. And of course, I couldn’t help but stumble across the mini rice cooker.
As with the egg cooker, the rice cooker comes in a variety of colors and you can buy it from the Dash manufacturers rather than through Amazon if you want. The rice cooker is about the same size at the egg cooker, so you don’t have to worry about it taking up too much space if you have a small kitchen.
This rice cooker lets you cook small batches of rice, making it my go-to cooker for individual lunches and dinners. Unlike my family-sized rice cooker that makes a minimum of 2 cups uncooked rice, this little cooker can make as little as 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a single go. When combined with the steamed veggies from my egg cooker and a little bit of sweet and sour sauce, I have a low-calorie lunch with minimal effort.
Guess what: you can make more than just rice.
This rice cooker comes with its own little cookbook, so you don’t have to make rice all the time. Soups, chilis, and pastas are all fun options. If you’re feeling creative, you can even try some healthy desserts like cinnamon apples.
And like the egg cooker, the accessories for the rice cooker are all dishwasher friendly. Easy cleanup and low effort.
Don’t feel obligated to buy this particular brand either! I’m recommending these gadgets because I use them personally on a regular basis, so I know they work for me. If you can find a cheaper, similar option that gets the same job done, go for it! You’ll be on your way to healthier meals in no time.
3. Microwave Steamer
Don’t have a lot of kitchen space for even small appliances? Don’t worry. I still have one more gadget that can help you heat cheap and healthy, and it works with your microwave.
The Prep Solutions veggie steamer only costs $20 on Amazon, and it can steam a variety of foods, from frozen fish and chicken to frozen veggies. Just pour a little water in the bottom layer, put your food on the middle layer, and then cover it with the lid and pop it in the microwave.
The veggie steamer is large enough to fit two Kirkland brand tilapia fillets, or a single fillet and a cup full of veggies. It can also steam chicken, and if you have your egg cooker going, and your rice cooker going, you can easily make some Asian-style rice without using the stovetop at all.
As with the other nifty gadgets, this veggie steamer is dishwasher friendly. No need to wash by hand, so cleanup is minimal. Eating healthy just got so much easier for me.
Do You Have a Favorite Gadget?
I like to cycle between all three of these nifty little gadgets, and sometimes I use all three at the same time depending on what meal I’m making. In the near future, I’ll share some of my favorite mini cooker and veggie steamer recipes, so keep an eye out for them if you’re looking for healthy, low-calorie meals.
But these are just my favorites. Do you have personal kitchen devices that you can’t go without? What’s your secret for eating healthy and managing portion sizes? Let me know in the comments below!
