there are so many different kinds of
kitchen appliances out there there's
blenders and food processors rice
cookers instant pots juicers so today
we're going to explore the ones that we
use here at pickup limes the ones that
we feel are essential and we're going to
tell you why and then we're gonna go
into some of our favorite kitchen tools
and equipment things like pots and
knives as well so the pickuplines
kitchen that you see here this is our
studio space this is where we create and
film and photograph recipes for you guys
to enjoy but I do not myself live here
so for a lot of the appliances I'm going
to share with you today I'm gonna share
two versions one is usually a more
powerful higher performance version
that's the one I use here at the studio
and then I have a smaller more compact
and usually more affordable version
which is the one that I use at home and
I think they each have their own merits
and downsides which is why I want to
share both and today's video is not
sponsored at all so if I'm name-dropping
it's just so that you know what it is
I'm talking about and I'm gonna leave a
link to everything I talked about today
in the description box below in case you
want to learn more now let's get started
the first appliance we're gonna cover is
the trusty old blender this here is used
to puree ingredients into a liquid form
it's especially used to make things like
smoothies or salad dressings or nut
milks and you can also usually use it to
puree soups if you don't have an
immersion blender now at this studio we
use the Vitamix and I absolutely love
this machine
anyone who's owned Vitamix usually says
the same so the upsides to this one is
for one just how powerful it is it will
crush anything including ice and frozen
fruit or solid veggies like carrots into
a pure uniform liquid consistency with
no chunks to be found anywhere and it
has a huge capacity it can blend up to
two litres of liquid and I also really
like the tamper which is the stick that
you can use to push things down when
it's kind of just a little bit thicker
that way you don't have to stop and
scrape down the sides occasionally all
around the Vitamix is an incredible
machine especially if you're looking for
power and volume this has got you
covered but if you're looking for
something more compact and affordable
then I can recommend the one that we use
at home which is this one the Ninja
Blender the reason we chose this blender
for the
house is multifold for one it's super
compact it hardly takes up any room on
the counter if you were to look at it
side by side for example to the Vitamix
you can see what I mean it's shorter
it's also a lot leaner especially the
base it's also very reasonably priced
especially considering what you get with
it which in our case was two different
kinds of blenders and a food processor
but more on that later
and then the blending pitcher can also
be popped off the base you can replace
the blades with a drinking lid and then
take it with you to go it's been really
handy for those mornings when I've been
in a rush and I just want to take
something and wholesome with me and I
think of all of the blenders I've used
this one is actually the easiest to
clean because the blades are easily
accessible all in all I feel like the
blender is just such a an essential
kitchen appliance for me personally
probably tied in first place with a food
processor so the blender and the food
processors look similar in that they
have blades they blend up certain
ingredients but they do serve two
totally different functions the blender
is meant to blend things that are more
liquid well the food processor blends
things that are a bit more
labor-intensive and usually semi solid
so these are for example making things
like nut butters yourself at home
like almond butter or tahini you can
also make energy balls with it date and
nut based desserts like brownies or the
base two granola bars it's a really
versatile machine but you do want to be
careful because when a recipe calls for
a food processor you usually do not want
to use a blender because like I said the
blender needs liquid so if you add more
solid foods to it like dates and nuts
without the liquid not only is it
probably not going to work you also run
the risk of breaking your blender in the
process of trying I'm gonna share three
food processors with you today the first
one being this Philips brand which is
the one that you've probably seen us
using a fair bit in different pickup
lines videos it's the first one that
Robin and I bought together because it
was really affordable but it's not super
high quality it also came with a blender
for example and that one broke just a
couple weeks after we started using it
so a little while ago we switched to
using this magic mix and I am i
absolutely love this one just like the
Vitamix it is powerful we made almond
butter in it the other day and it took
half the time
as our previous food processor did and
it's a lot more quiet as well and
another perk to this guy is that it has
three separate compartments depending on
the volume of the things that you want
to blend so for example the smaller
compartment you could use to chop things
like onions or to make salsa and then
the bigger compartment you could use to
make things like nut butters and it also
comes with these accessory components
that you can then use to quickly shred
things like carrots or beets or cabbages
that you can then use in salads or
nourish rolls so it's really handy for
food prep if you want to shred a whole
bunch of things all at once in just a
few seconds just like the Vitamix it is
on the pricier side but there are
different models and they come at
different price ranges depending on what
you're looking for the other thing you
might want to consider is that it does
take up a considerable amount of counter
space and at home we really don't have
any counter space at all so at home we
use the ninja food processor which again
came together as a unit with the blender
on the upside it's compact and it's
affordable but on the downside it can be
a bit small in terms of capacity and
it's not as powerful as the magic mix
like I don't think I would feel
comfortable making something like a nut
butter in this I'm afraid it might break
namely I just use it at home to make a
small batch of hummus each week and
that's good enough for us so if I could
summarize I definitely recommend a food
processor as much if not maybe even more
than a blender given how versatile it is
and I would recommend going for higher
wattage whenever you can because it does
mean it's gonna be a bit more powerful
at blending things like nuts and seeds
and if I could go back to my younger
self I think I would just say invest in
getting a good one once because then
you're gonna use it for years and it's
gonna make your life in the kitchen so
much more enjoyable and easy
next up is the hand blender and I
absolutely love this thing we have one
for both the house and the studio
they're pretty much the same in terms of
functionality and price so how it works
is that there's three components to this
one component is usually the immersion
blender which is what we namely use to
puree soups one other component that
could come with it is a whisk which
we've used to make things like our
coconut width and finally and my
favorites is the mini food processor as
I call it and you've seen me using this
in loads of different videos to make
things like salad dressings or pesto's
or creamy guacamoles the benefits to
this thing is just like this all in one
device with these three features and
it's super useful across the board it's
really small it hardly takes up any
space and it's also really easy to clean
especially if you don't want to clean
this huge food processor when you only
need to make a small amount of something
and the whole set for the most part
tends to be affordable no matter where
you find it so when it comes to
downsides honestly I can't think of
anything I definitely definitely
recommend these so this is pretty much
all we have in terms of appliances at
both the studio and at our house a
blender a food processor and a hand
blender three things pretty minimal and
for me personally all pretty essential
but I also know that it's really
person-to-person specific like some
people swear by their rice cookers
airfryer's juicers or instant pots it's
just that these three things are all
that I've needed for now so now that
we've covered our three kind of key
appliances there are a couple other key
kitchen equipment pieces that we get
lots of questions about so let's briefly
chat about them
you've seen me using this pot loads in
our videos and every time without fail
we get lots of questions about it so
this is luke russert dutch oven and it
was a birthday gift from robin probably
one of my favorite gifts to date it's
really versatile we use it to make
curries and pastas and soups
just about anything and it can be used
on both the stovetop and in the oven it
has a nonstick base which is really nice
and I also like that no matter what
color you get for it on the outside the
inside is always a light colour so I
think it's really easy to tell if
something is burning or not and given
that it is cast-iron it holds in heat
really well one thing to consider is
that it is heavy and the handles can get
hot so those two things in combination
can make it tricky to handle sometimes
another thing to consider is that it is
a bit pricier but I think it's so worth
it it comes with a lifetime warranty
it's just one of those pots you know is
gonna last you years and years I
personally I'm just I'm really really
happy with it
sharp good quality knives I really
underestimated the importance of this
one in the past there are two knives I
use for pretty much everything the
chef's knife which I use for cutting
vegetables and nuts and then the paring
knife for cutting things like fruits the
chef's knife that we use here at the
studio I got this in Kyoto Japan I'm
gonna leave a link to the shop I got it
from in a description box in case you're
interested it's super sharp it cuts
through everything like butter it is a
steel knife so it does rust over time
but if you clean it and keep it dry then
it's okay and the paring knife that we
use here at the studio was a gift from
robin's mum same story really sharp
amazing quality but it can also rust so
at home we have this three-piece knife
set it's from global and this one is
stainless steel so it's not going to
rust like the other ones are it's also
really good quality it's more affordable
and they really get the job done if
you're interested you might also want to
consider getting a really good knife
sharpener because sharp knives make all
the difference when you're cutting
veggies
now there are a few other kitchen tools
that I think deserve honourable mentions
just because we use them they're key
players and all of our food prep both
here at the studio and at home these are
things like the coffee grinder which we
actually use to grind seeds and spices
then there's of course measuring cups
and spoons spatulas both wooden and
silicone ones the good old garlic
crusher cutting boards of course some
spice jars mason jars and especially
airtight containers for storage so
instead of covering each of those in
this video what we've done is we've
created a supplementary blog post and we
go into each of them including which
ones we use and why if we have any tips
again we share those there so if you
want check out the link in the
description box below and now I'm
curious know which kitchen appliance you
personally if you have to choose one
which one could you not live without
I'll see you guys in the comments and if
you enjoyed today's video it always
really helps to support the channel when
you give it a thumbs up thanks a lot for
watching pick up limes signing off and
we'll see you in the next video
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