6 Kitchen Gadgets That Make Cooking Easier for Busy Moms
Updated: Aug 25
If there’s one thing motherhood has taught me, it’s that dinner time comes around every single day with absolutely no regard for how tired I am.
Apparently, these people expect to eat multiple times a day. Every day.
Between work, school, activities, laundry, cleaning, and answering questions like “Mom, where are my shoes?” while the shoes are literally three feet away, I’m always looking for ways to make kitchen life a little easier.
And while I love a beautiful kitchen gadget as much as the next person, I don’t want another random tool taking up valuable drawer space unless it actually saves me time, makes less mess, or keeps me from dirtying another dish.
These are six of my favorite kitchen gadgets for busy moms that actually earn their spot in my kitchen.
I realize a cheese grater isn't exactly revolutionary technology.
But hear me out.
Freshly grated cheese is just better.
It melts better. It tastes better. And somehow dumping a giant pile of freshly shredded cheese onto tacos makes me feel like I really have my life together.
I use mine for cheddar, mozzarella, Parmesan, and basically any other cheese I can justify adding to dinner. And yes, you can absolutely use it for more than cheese!
Why busy moms will love it: It's simple, quick, inexpensive, and useful for everything from taco night to homemade pizza.
For years, my method of juicing a lemon was basically:
Cut lemon.
Squeeze lemon with hand.
Get approximately 47 seeds in dinner.
Discover tiny cut on finger I didn't know existed.
Regret everything.
A citrus juicer makes the entire process so much easier.
I use mine for lemons and limes when I'm making marinades, salad dressings, sauces, tacos, chicken recipes, or anything else that needs a little fresh citrus.
You get more juice with less effort, and you don't have to go fishing through dinner trying to find lemon seeds.
It's one of those tiny kitchen gadgets you don't think you need until you have one.
Bonus because this one is stainless steel with a lifetime warranty unlike the el-cheapo plastic ones.
Why busy moms will love it: More juice, fewer seeds, less mess, and no aggressive lemon squeezing required.
This one is for anyone who has ever stood next to the oven repeatedly checking a piece of meat while simultaneously trying to help with homework, unload the dishwasher, and break up an argument happening in the next room.
A Bluetooth meat thermometer lets you monitor the temperature of your food without hovering over it.
Which means I can put meat in the oven or on the grill and actually walk away. Imagine that.
It's especially helpful for things like chicken, steak, pork, roasts, and other meats where I'm constantly wondering:
Is it done?
Is it overdone?
Should I check it again?
Did I already check it 90 seconds ago?
The answer to that last question is usually yes.
Why busy moms will love it: You can keep an eye on dinner while doing the approximately 900 other things happening at the same time.
This may be the least glamorous item on this list.
It may also be one of my favorites.
Because cleaning dried spaghetti sauce off the inside of a microwave is not how I want to spend my evening.
A microwave splash guard simply sits over your plate or bowl while you're heating food and helps contain all those little explosions that would otherwise decorate the inside of your microwave.
Mystery leftovers someone reheated for six minutes instead of sixty seconds?
At least the microwave has a fighting chance.
It's especially helpful if you have older kids who heat up their own food because apparently putting a paper towel over a bowl before microwaving it is an advanced life skill.
Oh, and I particularly love this one because it also comes with a mat for underneath!
Why busy moms will love it: Less microwave splatter means one less thing you have to clean.
And honestly, that's enough reason for me.
An olive oil sprayer is one of those gadgets I didn't realize I'd use so much.
Instead of pouring olive oil and accidentally turning my roasted vegetables into an oil slick, I can give everything a quick, even spray.
I use it for vegetables, chicken, potatoes, homemade fries, air fryer recipes, and coating pans.
It's especially handy with an air fryer because you can add just a light layer of oil without drowning everything.
Never mind the fact that there are chicken nuggets in the freezer and someone is currently asking me what's for dessert.
Why busy moms will love it: It's quick, easy, and helps evenly coat food without pouring way more oil than you intended.
Whoever invented the clip-on pasta strainer understood busy moms.
Traditional colanders are great.
They're also another giant thing to wash.
A clip-on pasta strainer attaches directly to the side of your pot so you can drain the water without transferring everything into a separate colander.
That's the magic.
One less dish.
I use it for pasta, potatoes, vegetables, and anything else that needs to be drained.
And when you're feeding a family and the sink somehow becomes completely full approximately twelve seconds after you start cooking, eliminating even one dirty dish feels like a major victory.
Why busy moms will love it: It saves space, creates fewer dirty dishes, and makes draining pasta ridiculously easy.
Kitchen Gadgets Don't Have to Be Fancy to Be Helpful
I've learned that the kitchen products I use the most aren't necessarily the fanciest ones.
They're the little things that remove one annoying step.
The cheese grater makes prep easier.
The citrus juicer keeps seeds out of dinner.
The Wi-Fi meat thermometer lets me walk away from the oven.
The microwave splash guard saves me from scrubbing.
The olive oil sprayer makes cooking quicker and less messy.
And the clip-on pasta strainer eliminates another dish from the sink.
None of these gadgets are going to magically make the kids stop asking “What's for dinner?” at 4:37 p.m.
Unfortunately, I haven't found that product yet.
But they can make getting dinner on the table a little faster and easier—and during the busiest seasons of motherhood, I'll take every shortcut I can get.
Because if a $20 kitchen gadget saves me five minutes and one dirty dish?
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