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If you’re interested in elaborate, Pinterest-worthy recipe ideas, and fancy kitchen appliances, I’m not your guy. But if you’re anything like me, and don’t want to slave over the stovetop in order to lose weight, you’re in the right place.
There are six kitchen gadgets and tools I use on a regular basis every time I want to lose weight, and they’re all under $120 (often well under) and easy to use.
Some of these may seem obvious; some may not — but they’re all worth including in heavy rotation if you want to transform your body right now:
Tool #1: A food scale ($10-$15)
Whether or not you lose weight comes down to whether or not you’re in a calorie deficit: burning more calories than you take in. Think of this like spending less than you make when you want to get out of debt.
In the latter scenario, would you ever guess price tags and hope for the best? Or would you review your bills and the cost of every purchase you’re making?
Of course you would.
But for some strange reason, people don’t do this when they want to lose weight. They “mind their portions,” eat “clean,” and aimlessly cut carbs and see what happens. These are vague, inconsistently effective strategies that make dieting harder than it needs to be.
If you break out a food scale before each meal, and weigh your portions, you can avoid this senseless frustration and guarantee your results.
“But Sam! I don’t have time for that.”
No worries. If you don’t have 30-90 seconds to weigh your portions before each meal, and dieting for another several weeks or months works better for your calendar, keep doing what you’re doing.
Tool #2: Glass Tupperware ($20-$40)
I’m not a fan of the stereotypical, chicken-and-broccoli-for-every-meal approach to meal prep — but prepping a few staples twice per week is as much of a no-brainer as using a food scale is.
I typically have my VIP Coaching clients do this on Sundays and Wednesdays. On Sundays, they prep options for Monday-Wednesday. On Wednesday, they prep options for Thursday-Saturday.
(If you don’t do this second session later in the week, you’re leaving success to chance when obstacles are most likely to arise.)
Personally, I’m not a fan of prepping hyper-specific meals. That’s an easy way to get sick of what you’re eating. Instead, I like to prep bases you can use for a variety of meals. For example:
- Lean proteins like chicken, lean ground turkey, and steak you can use in salads, bowls, and wraps
- Carbs like rice, roasted potatoes, beans, or quinoa that can be used as a side, in a burrito, or in a pre or post-workout meal
- Vegetables that I’m unlikely to make after a long day at work, like broccoli, asparagus, or Brussels sprouts
Other staples of mine — like eggs, protein powder, tuna packets, oatmeal, fruit, and diced onions and peppers require little-to-no prep, and can be thrown together on the fly.
In any case, having a nice set of glass Tupperware makes them easy to store, sort, and maintain the freshness of your prepped food.
If you need help getting more protein, look no further than the One-Stop Nutrition Guide: my completely free, detailed guide on the best ways to increase your intake:
Just tell me where to send your copy:
When you do increase your intake, you can expect to stay fuller, lose more body fat, and even burn more calories at rest.
Tool #3: A vegetable chopper ($20-$30)
Tool #3: If it weren’t for this tool, I’d probably eat half the vegetables I usually do. It makes prepping vegetables a breeze, and is especially valuable if you’re not someone who typically enjoys vegetables.
There are multiple settings to chop with, and the finely diced option makes vegetables small enough to “sneak” into wraps, burritos, salads, eggs, and rice without feeling like you’re wolfing down golf ball-sized bites of broccoli.
If you set aside 3-5 minutes to use this immediately after getting home from the grocery story, your vegetable box will be largely checked for the rest of the week.
Tool #4: A blender ($40-$200+)
An obvious one, I know. But the vast majority of my most successful VIP Coaching clients have a homemade shake or smoothie almost every day. They’re cheaper, healthier, and more nutrient-dense than the premade options you see at the grocery and convenience stores.
Per usual, you can go fancy here, but I’m not interested in blending dozens of random “superfoods” every day. I keep things simple, and throw in:
- 240 mL of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 240 mL of water
- 2-3 ice cubes
- A small handful of greens
- A large (100-140 gram) banana
- Some frozen berries (50-75 gram’s worth)
- 35-40 grams of chocolate peanut butter OR vanilla protein powder
- One serving (12 grams) of PB2 (an optional powdered peanut butter)
In less than five minutes, you’re looking at a filling, high protein, nutrient-dense shake that keeps your mornings, afternoons, or pre or post-workout meals consistent.
I typically get my protein powder from TrueNutrition.com, because they have high quality products you can easily customize to your personal preferences. If you check them out and like what you see, you can enter the code “Hercules” at check-out to save 5% on your order.
Tool #5: A George Foreman grill ($35-$70)
A grill aficionado might scoff at this, claiming it’s not “real” grilling. But I have approximately zero grilling pride, and want whatever’s fastest and easiest 90+% of the time. Which means the George Foreman grill is the perfect option for me.
Honestly, I think it’s the most underrated prep tool around, because it is so freaking simple:
- You plug it in
- You wait for the light to turn green
- You put on whatever you’re prepping
- You close the grill
- You wait for the light to turn red
That’s it. You don’t have to preheat anything, make a mess, or constantly monitor it (as many other methods require). You could even use this time to use your vegetable chopper, instead of twiddling your thumbs and scrolling social media.
Then, in fewer than fifteen minutes, you have 2-4+ meals ready to go.
Tool #6: An air fryer ($50-$150)
I often joke that “air fryer people” are like CrossFitters and vegans, in that they love to tell you what they’re doing, whether you’re interested or not. But the truth is, they’re on to something. I use my air fryer for almost every meal, for many of the same reasons I use my George Foreman grill so much:
- You don’t have to preheat it
- It keeps the “mess” contained
- You barely have to monitor it
It’s also very versatile. I prep things like steak, chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and even fried Oreos (balance, baby) in this thing with equal ease:
When I’m feeling ambitious, I actually use my air fryer, onion chopper, and George Foreman grill at the same time, and prep 3-4+ days worth of staples in under 45-60 minutes.
(Pro tip: the larger air fryer models are best for meal prep and prevent you from having to load it up a few times to make a few meals.)
These six tools and gadgets handle 80-90% of my kitchen needs when I have a specific goal I want to nail… without living in the kitchen.
This isn’t to say anything left off this list isn’t useful (a nice cutting board and set of knives come to mind, along with a crockpot and non-stick pan), but you certainly won’t go wrong starting with these.
In most cases, you’ll barely ever need anything else.
What else do YOU use in heavy rotation?
