Do you enjoy cooking and spending a lot of time in the kitchen prepping food, baking and cooking? If you do, you will know how essential utensils are for assisting with every task.

If you are more of a takeaway person or someone who reheats ready meals in the microwave, you may want to start to learn to cook healthier meals for yourself, but you don’t know where to start.

Kitchen utensils can help you make any dish you desire and if you buy quality items to begin with, they will last for years to come.

1. Quality pans – non stick pans are the perfect utensil for you to cook most things and sets often include a milk pan, saucepans and skillet (great for whipping up omelettes, stir fry’s and more).
2. Knives – knives are essential for any cook and can be used for peeling, slicing, chopping, dicing and more. Make sure you choose good quality. You can purchase knives individually or in a knife block.
3. Chopping board – essential to protect your work surfaces from staining and scratching. Chopping boards come in all styles, shapes, colours and materials to match the theme of your kitchen.  You can even buy chopping board sets!
4. Slow cooker – a fabulous one pot to cook a whole meal to perfection, saving you time as they can be left on all day whilst you are at work.
5. Kitchen scales – you cannot make a pie, sauce or a cake without measuring out your ingredients (well, unless you guess!), so kitchen scales are a must! 
6. Oven proof dish – perfect for cooking lasagnes, chicken, casseroles and roasts.
7. Wooden spoon - ideal for mixing, as a salad scoop or with your favourite pasta dish.
8. Grater – some recipes require grated vegetables, cheese, lemon or lime. A grater makes this easier and effortless.
9. Strainer - handy and perfect for everyday use, washing salad or fruits.
10. Garlic Press – if you enjoy flavouring your food with garlic, a garlic press is a great utensil for making sure all of the garlic ends up in your meal and not on your hands.

If you haven’t got any kitchen utensils or you need to top up your existing equipment, check out The Kitchen Shop in Lichfield, they sell everything you need to prepare and cook a delicious meal.