25 Kitchen Tools You Don’t Need and What to Use Instead

This post is about the most common kitchen tools you don’t need and what to use instead.

why You Don’t Need Many Kitchen Tools

Throughout different decades, there have been many hardships in the economy where people have to ration. With hardships, comes creative ways when having little to work with. You’ll be surprised to find what you can do in the kitchen with just the basics.

With having only the kitchen tools you need, it will give you peace of mind. You don’t have to stress about needing the latest and trendiest kitchen gadgets. You’ll have more space in your home to breathe. With less tools, comes less dishes to wash. Most importantly, you will save money!

don’t buy these kitchen tools

If you do have some of these items, think about how often you actually use these items. Yeah some of these items may be more convenient to have, but if you only use them once in a blue moon, then is the trade off of keeping these items worth it for you?

1.Basting Brush

The purpose of a basting brush is to spread a layer of butter, oil, egg, or any type of glaze over a food. Instead, use your spatula to spread a nice layer on top of the food.

2.Bench scraper

Unless you bake a lot of dough, a bench scraper is not needed for the everyday household. Instead, use your hands or the back of a knife to scrap smaller food pieces. For scrapping dough off the surfaces, use a flat metal turner.

3.Bottle Opener

If you don’t drink or cook with alcohol too often, a bottle opener isn’t needed. However, if you do happen to have a beer bottle cap, you can use a spoon, knife, scissors, lighter, key, screwdriver, or ring to open one.

4.Cake Server

Do you really need a tool dedicated to picking up a cake slice? Answer is no. Use a basic knife or a metal turner to lift up the cake slice.

5.Can Opener

Think about how often you use canned food in your meals. Oftentimes it is just once in a while. Many cans come with pull tabs that don’t require a can opener. If you do need to open a can and don’t have a can opener, you can use a knife or a spoon to pop it open. If you own a pocket knife, many come with a can opener feature.

6.Cleaver Knife

A cleaver knife helps cut through tough cuts of meat. Most people aren’t cooking gourmet meals that require a specialty knife. A basic traditional knife set will do the trick for cutting your everyday and harder to cut meats.

7.Cookie Scooper

It is very easy to eyeball the amount of cookie dough you need to form a cookie dough ball. Ditch the cookie scooper. Use your estimating powers and hands to form the perfect size cookie dough ball. You can also use a regular spoon to scoop the desired dough amount.

8.Garlic Press

A whole head of garlic and a single clove of garlic is a pain to deal with. Opt for buying a jar of minced garlic. It ends up tasting the same as whole peeled garlic. With minced garlic you don’t need to worry about the pain of peeling and chopping garlic along with not worrying about it going bad. Not buying a garlic press is one less item taking up space and one less dish to clean. If you don’t like jarred minced garlic and want to chop your own garlic, use a regular chef’s knife rather than a garlic press.

9.Ice-Cream Scooper

Kitchen tools meant for only one purpose like an ice-cream scooper is a no go for your wallet and space. Use a regular spoon to scoop up the ice-cream. If the ice-cream is too tough, try warming up the spoon in warm water, then scoop the amount you’d like.

10.Lemon Squeezer

Save time and money when saying goodbye to a lemon squeezer. Use store bought lemon and lime juice rather than buying individual citrus. Trader Joe’s makes an all natural lemon juice with just one ingredient – organic lemon juice. Because most recipes only call for the tiniest amount of lemon and lime juice, you won’t taste the difference.

11.Measuring cups + Spoons

Hear me out on this one. Most of the measuring cups and spoons are useful to keep. However if you don’t cook meals that require precise measurements, or if you like to eyeball amounts, you don’t need all the measuring cups and spoons in a typical set. For example, 1/8 tsp, 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tbsp are spoons that I would recommend decluttering. As long as you keep the basic whole tsp and whole tbsp, you should be good.

12.Meat Chopper

A meat chopper is used mainly for breaking up a block of ground meat when cooking. You can use a basic kitchen turner or spoon to break up the meat just fine.

13.Meat Pounder

A meat pounder tenderizes meat to make it flatter, softer and easier to chew. Place a silicone baking mat on top of the meat, and use a rolling pin, or an actual mallet / hammer to pound the meat instead.

14.Microplane + Cheese Grater

When zesting citrus, grating spices, or grating cheese, you can use a standard cheese grater instead. Many cheese graters have multiple grating textures on different sides that achieve the same fine microplane job.

To combat owning a cheese grater and zester, you can ditch both and use a food processor to grate cheese. This saves time and space. Traditional boxed cheese graters are bulky and hardly ever used. There are not many recipes that call for grating, but there are many more uses for a food processor.

15.Mortar and pestle

When deciding what is necessary, a mortar and pestle is not one of them. Using already packaged seasoning is much easier than having to hand-crush your own. It’s a kitchen product that has to be cleaned a certain way. You can’t just clean it with soap and water so that in itself makes it a hassle to deal with. However, if you do need to crush food, you can always use a rolling pin, water bottle, blender, or food processor.

16. Offset Icing Spatula

If you aren’t frosting a cake on a weekly basis, you can skip out on buying an offset icing spatula. A regular silicone spatula will do the job of frosting your cakes.

17.Pasta Server

A tool dedicated to one purpose and one food item is never needed. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to pick up pasta.

18.Pizza Cutter

A pizza cutter is great for cutting pizza or pie crust sheets, but how often are you having those meals? Use a basic chef’s knife to cut slices.

19.Potato Masher

A potato masher is great for mashing potatoes and beans, but just like pizza, how often are you having those meals? A potato masher is bulky and takes up a lot of drawer space. If you want to mash and whip up your food, use the bottom of a cup, hand mixer, or manual whisk.

20.Rice Paddle

Any serving or kitchen tool that holds food such as a spoon will do the task of stirring and scooping up rice. A silicone spoon is preferred in order for the rice grains to not stick.

21.Rolling Pin

Unless you are a baker, a rolling bin is not a necessary kitchen tool to have. Think about how often you are rolling out dough. Most likely it is only a few times a year. Rolling pins are bulky. You can use anything that is long, round, and linear to roll out dough such as a drinking cup, water bottle or wine bottle.

22.Seafood Cracker

If you are eating luxurious hard shelled seafood and don’t have a seafood cracker on hand, you can use kitchen shears, a hammer, or knife. It may not be the most elegant way of cracking, but if you crack all the shells before serving and eating, it should be just fine.

23.Skimmer

A skimmer helps remove the foamy layer of cooking liquids when formed. You can use any slotted kitchen tool such as a slotted spoon or a small mesh strainer to remove the foam.

24.Thermometer

If you don’t have a thermometer on hand, you can always make a small slice in the thickest part of the food to see if it looks done. As long as you follow the recipe, it is pretty easy to tell when a food is done cooking and safe to eat.

If you are making candy that requires a thermometer, ask yourself how often are you making homemade candy. If you really need one, there are tricks out there that demonstrate how to see when candy/ food is done without a thermometer.

25.Whisk

Lastly, this is for those who own an electric mix. If you have an electric mix, it typically comes with different whisk attachments. You can use one of those whisk attachments instead of buying an actual hand whisk. In some cases depending on the recipe, you can always use a fork to whisk instead.