Below is an overview of a few things we’d prefer not to live without in our REAL FOODIE kitchen. What would you add to this list?? We’d love to hear your suggestions in the comment section below!!

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker – We don’t have a particular brand preference, but a slow cooker is a MUST for occasional “low maintenance” dinner preparation like our favorite Crock Pot Roasted Chicken recipe! Also…the bigger the crock pot, the better – in our opinion!

Cutco Knives – We’ve owned this set for many years, and they’ve never failed us.

Fruit & Vegetable Chopper – This link is the brand we own. It’s also the only one we’ve ever tried, but it works great! And we found it at Costco for $20 or $25! It’s also available on Amazon!

Garlic Press – We LOVE this one from Pampered Chef! There is actually a big difference in how well garlic presses work, and we’ve been disappointed with many other (expensive) name brand presses.

No-slip cutting boards/mats. These are from Sur la table, but ANY type of cutting board that is “grippy” will suffice. After all, it’s no fun (and just plain dangerous, actually) to be chasing your cutting board around as you slice and chop!

Good Cook “Safe” Can Opener – We don’t eat many canned foods…but when we do open an occasional can of tomato paste or beans, there’s NO chance we’ll injure ourselves because we threw out our regular can opener after slicing open a finger on the sharp edge of a can lid. Yikes! I’ve seen these priced as high as $20 at some stores, but if you’ve ever cut yourself in this fashion, I’m sure you can appreciate the value!

Hand Blender & Mini Processor – This is the brand we own/use (because we found it at Costco for more than $10 cheaper than other stores)! It’s the only brand we’ve ever owned, but it works GREAT! We use it to chop nuts, puree soups, and to make our favorite homemade mayo recipe!

Hand Chopper – This gadget is great for dicing veggies or nuts. We also LOVE our mini version that we use for mincing garlic!

Popcorn Popper – We love making air-popped popcorn because there’s no greasy pan to clean up! Click here for our favorite Sweet ‘n’ Salty Popcorn recipe!

Salad Spinner – This is one kitchen tool we absolutely cannot imagine living without! No more soggy salads or waiting around for lettuce leaves to dry in our house!

Vita Mix – This is an expensive machine (about $400!!), but we use it a TON! It can turn even the most stringy veggies into smooth and delicious healthful drinks with a juice-like consistency! We also LOVE making health-ier desserts (like our favorite Candy Apple Dip) with our Vita Mix, and a regular blender just doesn’t do the job! We happen to own the Vita Mix, but Blendtec is another comparable high-powered blending machine that can do all of the same things! The best prices I’ve seen (for new machines) are at Costco – they have them on demo a few times per year at our local store!

Food processors are awesome! And the bigger, the better!! 🙂  We don’t have a particular brand to recommend; but this tool comes in REALLY handy for making some of our favorite recipes, like Dairy-Free “Ice Cream”.

Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Molds – We love that these molds can be taken individually from the mold stand with their individual covers! We use these to make (dairy-free) Homemade Chocolate Pudding Pops and other tasty treats!

The Eating Additive-Free e-book includes a 160-recipe natural cookbook and a 40-page grocery shopping guide to provide REAL FOODIES (and aspiring REAL FOODIES) with all of the recipes and information Chad and Christy Pooschke (founders of CompletelyNourished.com) discovered when they started converting to a more natural lifestyle. Click here for pricing and more details!

What would you add to this list of “must haves”?? We’d love to hear your suggestions in the comment section below!!