Frugal Kitchen Essentials Every Frugal Kitchen Needs – The tools you have readily available in your kitchen can make or break your budget, believe it or not. If you don’t have the kitchen essentials needed to cook at home, how will you ever reduce the cost of your food budget?
Since you’re trying to be more frugal and save money, my guess is that you want to know what you’ll need to pull this whole “eat at home” thing off. One thing that helps me save a lot of money is simply cooking from scratch as much as I can. It seems so simple, but a lot of people struggle with pulling it all together.
No worries, though. All you need to do is create a meal plan each week, go grocery shopping on a budget, and grab all the necessary food to cook meals at home.
But if you don’t have things to cook with, it would all be in vain, right? You’ll have a fridge full of food that will go bad and you’ll inevitably end up in the drive-thru ordering $25 to $30 worth of food to eat each night.
And let’s be real, $30 can go a long way at the grocery store. Your family could eat for days with the money you spend on takeout.
So, with all that said, I want to share with you some frugal kitchen essentials every frugal kitchen needs. All of these frugal kitchen tools will help you create delicious, healthy, and budget-friendly meals at home.
13 Must-Have Kitchen Essentials Every Frugal Kitchen Needs
1. Cuisinart Mini Food Processor
This Cuisinart Mini Food Processor is an absolute must-have in my kitchen. Being vegan, my recipes call for a lot of processing and I literally use mine every other day when cooking. Matter of fact, I often have to process half of my recipe, dump it, and process the rest.
That’s exactly why I’m also including this 12-cup food processor by Hamilton Beach on this list of frugal kitchen essentials. By all means, start with the cheapest one, but if you cook in large batches, you may want to save yourself a headache and get a larger size. It’s definitely on my Christmas wish-list!
2. KitchenAid Handheld Mixer
This KitchenAid handheld mixer will certainly get the most basic tasks done in your frugal kitchen. I don’t do much baking, but I do like cornbread and cake now and then. Therefore, I never saw the need to go overboard and purchase a stand mixer that will collect dust in my cabinets.
However, if you find yourself baking more than once a week, I’m pretty sure you’ll get your money’s worth with one of these gorgeous KitchenAid stand mixers. This kitchen essential can help you make all kinds of different frugal dishes – homemade pasta, bread, cakes from scratch and more.
3. Crockpot Slow Cooker
This Crockpot is perfect for days when you’re going to be busy and won’t have time to prep and cook food. If you plan ahead, prep, and freeze your ingredients — you can dump your food in the Crockpot and it will be done in time for dinner.
This programmable Crockpot is easy to use and easy to clean. It’s large enough to feed 7 people, so you know what that means — leftovers! If you have a family of 4, package up the rest and take it with you for lunch at work.
4. Meal Prep Containers
Speaking of lunch at work, you’re going to need something to carry your food in. I absolutely LOVE these meal prep containers. These 3 compartment containers are very durable. You can put them in the freezer, microwave, and the dishwasher.
If you’re really good at the whole meal planning and meal prep thing, cook one large meal during the weekend. Divvy up the portions in these meal prep containers and you will have lunch for an entire week. These will definitely help your savings add up!
5. Pyrex Bowls
I literally use these Pyrex bowls every single day. These are a great frugal kitchen essential because they will hold all of the leftovers you’re sure to have now that you’re cooking at home.
The 18 piece, clear bowl set are glass and so much better than plastic. Plastic Tupperware stains and not all of them are BPA free. You want something that’s high quality and safe, which is exactly why I recommend you get a set for your frugal kitchen.
6. Brita Large 18-cup Water Filter
I’ll shamefully admit that not too long ago, I was spending close to $10 per week on water gallons at the grocery store. That’s why I finally broke down and invested in a high quality 18 cup water filter.
This filter literally saves me $40 a month! I only need to replace the filters every two months and I fill this up a couple of times a day at most.
This frugal kitchen tool is a must-have if you’re spending money on water every day. If you need water on the go, grab one of these Brita on-the-go filter cups to save even more.
7. KitchenAid 9 Piece Measuring Cup and Spoon Set
Some ingredients are expensive, so you’ll want to make sure you’re using just enough. This KitchenAid 9 piece measuring cup and spoon set is dishwasher safe and BPA free. It’s not the most expensive thing out there, but it’s simple enough to get the job done.
8. Absolute Frugal Kitchen Must-Haves: Dishes!
Here are 3 items that you should add to your kitchen essentials list:
- AmazonBasics 18 pc Dinnerware set
- LIANYU 20 pc Silverware
- Anchor Hocking Drinking Glasses (Set of 12)
I get it! No one wants to do the dishes after a long day at work, but those paper products add up! If you have nothing to eat off or eat with, you’re adding another unnecessary expense.
Your dishes don’t have to be anything fancy, but good and sturdy enough to get the job done. If you’re feeling extra frugal (like me), throw in a couple of cloth napkin sets and you’re good to go.
9. COOKSMART 5 piece Bamboo Wood Non-sticking Utensil Set
This 5 piece bamboo wood utensil set is another great frugal kitchen essential. They are safe, durable, and perfect to use for most cookware sets that you don’t want to scratch. The only caveat I can think of is to never put these in the dishwasher (they will mold). Warm, soapy water will do the trick. Be sure to leave them out to air dry too.
10. Clear Glass Sauce Bottles
I love to make dressings from scratch because they are healthier and much cheaper than pre-made. Therefore, these clear glass sauce bottles are another frugal kitchen essential to have on hand.
11. Instapot Ultra 8 Qt 10-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker
Instapots are all the rage these days and I can definitely see why. You can make everything from cake, yogurt, rice, and more in this thing. They are perfect for those days when you have to cook but don’t really want to. You can have a complete meal in under 30 minutes from what I’ve heard. I don’t have one of these bad boys yet, but it’s definitely on my Christmas wish list.
12. Wilton Non-Stick Large Cooking Sheet
You need at least one good cooking sheet (preferably two) in your frugal kitchen essentials. Instead of spending all of your money on pre-made packages of cookies and other treats, you can make your own. I also like to use these to bake our personal sized pizzas on versus buying a separate pizza pan.
13. Rachel Ray Cucina Hard Porcelain Enamel Non-Stick Cookware
The last must-have frugal kitchen essential you need is a set of good cookware. I’ve had this Rachael Ray set for almost 3 years and they are holding up great. This cookware set withstands some pretty high temps and they are easy to clean. Never put them in the dishwasher and be sure to use your wooden spoons while cooking!
Frugal Kitchen Essentials Recap
Here’s a quick recap of all the frugal kitchen essentials that will help you save more money in the long run:
- Food processor
- Handheld mixer
- Crockpot slow cooker
- Meal prep containers
- Pyrex bowls
- Brita water filter
- Measuring cup and spoon set
- Dishes
- Bamboo cooking utensil set
- Clear glass bottles
- Instapot
- Cooking sheet
- Non-stick cookware
Of course, this list could go on and on but I believe these are the basic kitchen essentials that every frugal kitchen needs. I use these tools continuously and although they cost me money up front, they’ve more than paid for themselves.
With the right frugal kitchen tools, you can decrease your food budget so you have money to save or pay off debt. If you see something you need to add to your frugal kitchen, pin this post to Pinterest for future reference so you can get what you need!
