The Best Kitchen Gadgets to Make Cooking Weeknight Dinners So Much Easier

Cooking can be a creative outlet, a way to show affection, and a way to take control of your health. But cooking can also be stressful and time-consuming, especially on a weeknight when you’re already exhausted from a long day at work and have a hungry family (or just yourself) to feed. Ordering locally is always tempting, but it’s expensive and can have a negative impact on your waistline.

You may already have some of the most obvious and established appliances in your kitchen, but you can always squeeze in a few extra minutes and get your evening cook’s adrenaline pumping. These kitchen gadgets will make preparing weeknight dinners easier, no matter the menu.

Clip-on colanders prevent you from throwing pasta down the sink

If you’ve ever had a weeknight derailed by a pot of pasta accidentally thrown into the sink during a stressful mishap, know that there are clip-on colanders. Just pop one in your pot and you can easily strain without worrying about the dreaded spill (or a fourth-degree burn from the pasta water). These strainers are flexible and fit almost any pot or pan you need to strain.

An automatic stirrer will stir while you complete other tasks

Cooking is often a series of boring, repetitive tasks, and sometimes these tasks need to be done simultaneously. So why not at least outsource all the stirring of the pot? This battery-operated device does exactly what it says: you place it in your pot or pan, press the button, and it stirs whatever needs it while you go about living your life (or chopping vegetables).

“Soup Cubes” help you better portion foods to freeze for later

Here’s a mistake I make again and again when making sauces, broth, or soup for future dinners: I forget to divide them. Before I put it in the freezer. When it comes time to prepare this weeknight dinner, I have plenty of sauce ready – or rather, I have too much I either defrost the whole thing and waste some, or I try to cut a piece off. Enter: Souper Cubes. These are like ice cube trays for food and make it easy to freeze precise amounts of prepared food or leftovers.

Oven guards protect your hands from hot grills

Anyone who cooks regularly has minor injuries and scars, including telltale burns from hastily grabbing things from a hot oven. Oven rack guards allow you to exercise caution when removing trays from a crowded oven, even when reaching for a lower rack or grabbing something that has migrated to the back of the oven.

A pressure cooker lets you outsource most of the meal work

If an automatic stirrer is cold, a cooker that stirs itself is even colder. If your life goals include being able to cook dinner every night while doing other things, this is the kitchen appliance you need. It can cook a wide range of dishes more or less on its own and stir meals automatically. Simply load your ingredients, set your settings and go.

An automatic can opener saves time and effort

Cooking with canned ingredients is nothing to be ashamed of, but opening all those cans can be a chore that takes you away from other cooking tasks. Enter the automatic can opener: simply place it on a can, press the button, and let it do its thing while you literally do something more useful with your time.

A heating mat will keep everything warm for you

If your dinner plans involve more than one dish, you know the stress of being on time when something is ready well in advance of the rest of the meal. Serving cold sides or sauces is no fun, so a heat mat like this is the solution. Just place dishes on top as they’re ready and continue working on the balance of the meal, and everything will still be piping hot by the time you’re ready to sit down.

A split pan lets you cook multiple things at once

We’ve all been there: you need to fry several different things, but you only have one pan. Your choice is to cook desperately and set aside each portion of the meal, or get a split nonstick pan that makes it easy to cook multiple things simultaneously, speeding up your dinner process and ensuring everything arrives hot and ready on the table.

A “defrost claw” can speed up your defrosting process

If you’re like me and constantly forget to plan ahead when it comes to defrosting frozen ingredients, you also know the struggle of trying to speed up the process. Immersing frozen meat in cold water is a proven way to speed up the thawing process, unless your frozen products simply float to the surface. Enter the Thaw Claw, a simple device that secures your frozen food to the bottom of your sink or bowl so it can thaw faster and more efficiently.

Digital measuring spoons save you time when measuring

Saving time when making dinner is all about accumulating small wins. The time spent weighing and measuring all the ingredients in your meal adds up, so having a digital measuring spoon can make the process faster and more efficient, since you won’t need to place anything on a scale, adjust it, and then use a separate tool to transfer it to your pots and pans. Simply measure as you scoop and keep moving.

“Fry Away” removes oil or grease more easily

Cleanup is part of the time and effort of any midweek meal, and if you were tired Before you have started to prepare dinner, you will not be less tired after eating. So make cleanup easier with Fry Away, which makes getting rid of all that grease and oil simple: add a little to hot oil or grease, let it cool, then peel off the slightly gross results and toss them in the trash. Not having a jar of old oil on your kitchen counter (or not calling a plumber to clean your pipes if you’re too lazy to have a jar of old oil on your kitchen counter) or needing to clean a greasy pan? That’s how it is.