If you’re anything like me, you’re trying to reduce waste as much as possible. You’d also love to have more time, money and space to do the things you love. For me, those things have gone hand-in-hand. In reducing waste, we save money and time, giving me the space I need to live more slowly and intentionally. To opt out of the hustle and spend time with friends and family, doing things that nourish our hearts. Below are my most used tools that will help you reduce both food & single use plastic waste, save time, save money, and save space.
Prep Tools
Whether you’re cooking for one or prepping a week’s worth of meals for a family of five, when you have tools that significantly save prep time it makes a huge difference. We make a lot of meals from scratch, and I also preserve foods for long term storage by canning, fermenting, and dehydrating. These are the Tupperware tools we use to save so much prep time.
Choppers – whether for canning a big batch of green tomato salsa, or just mincing some onions and garlic for a single recipe, the choppers chop and mince in a fraction of the time it would take with a knife.
Mandoline – for slicing, nothing beats the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of a mandoline, but the Tupperware mandoline doesn’t just slice. It makes both straight and wavy slices, julienne, dice, waffle cut, and fries. All the safety features make it easy to use with confidence.
Master System – Get the base, and add the accessories of your choice. The most-used accessory in our house is the Grate Master Shredder. Shred a block of cheese in seconds, or grate carrots and beets for soup or muffins, potatoes for hashbowns. Add the cone trio and use the cones to shave ice for homemade snow cones, slice chocolate, or grind nuts and coffee beans. The Fusion Master Spiralizer accessory spiralizes fruits and vegetables like zucchini, carrots, squash, beets, potatoes and apples into your choice of three different noodle shapes. It’s a great way to add some veggies to any dish in a fun way that the kids enjoy. We use the Fusion Master Mincer to make our own ground meats, meatballs, and sausages. You can in add things in with the meat as you mince like cheese, bacon, onions, and garlic for cutsom burgers, meatballs, and more.
Food Storage
We try to reduce costs on food as much as we can by growing some of our own food and finding ways to save when we do have to make a purchase. One of the ways you can do this is by buying in bulk, but this is only a savings if the food doesn’t spoil so the way our food is stored matters. These are the food storage containers that work best for keeping foods fresher for longer.
Smart Containers – FridgeSmart containers were developed in partnership with the University of Florida. With their research findings they created containers that control the two things that contribute the most to spoilage: air flow and moisture. They’re adjustable for different types of fruits and vegetables, and so easy to use with a handy chart right on the container. FridgeSmart, along with CheeSmart containers for cheese, and the Onion & Potato Smart containers for onions, garlic, and potatoes, have saved us so much money by helping us keep those foods fresher for so much longer.
Freezer Mates – One of the easiest ways to preserve food for longer storage, prepare meals in advance for saving time on busy days, and take advantage of the cost savings of buying in bulk. We love Freezer Mates freezer containers because they prevent freezer burn, and because they remain flexible even when frozen so they won’t crack or break.
Modular Mates – There’s a lot to be said for a well-stocked pantry, and even better when you can save on those dry goods by buying in bulk! One of the most important things you can do to keep bugs out and keep pantry staples fresh is to store them in durable, high quality, air-tight containers. Tupperware Modular Mates are what we use for the majority of our baking ingredients and snacks.
Baking Basics
Baking our own breads and baked goods is a great way to save money while also having full control over the ingredients. Sure, you can get fancier tools like KitchenAid mixers, proofing baskets, or even bread makers, but you can also keep things simple. These are some of the Tupperware baking tools we love and use often:
Bowls – Tupperware is famous for bowls, and for good reason. Beautiful and functional, Tupperware bowls have an air-tight, liquid-tight seal that’s great for proofing dough (no need for disposable, single-use plastic wrap) and they come in a variety of sizes, styles and colours. My favourite is Thatsa bowls –they’re big, wide, and have a little handle on the side for holding the bowl with your thumb while you mix. So handy!
Portioning Scoops – make perfectly portioned meatballs, muffins, cookies and cupcakes. What I love about the Tupperware portioning scoops is the interchangeable scoop sizes and how easy they are to swap out and clean!
Whip n’ Mix – one of my favourite tools for mixing cookie dough, or making whipped cream, meringue, fresh butter, icing, and mayonnaise from scratch. The Tupperware Whip n’ Mix is so much faster than a hand mixer, or even my KitchenAid!
Silicone Forms – unlike the other silicone baking mats and forms I’ve bought in the past, everything just pops right out or slides right off of Tupperware’s silicone forms. They’re safe for the oven, microwave, and freezer and they make it so easy to make muffins, egg bites, cookies, brownies, squares, and anything else you don’t want stuck to your cookware. The baking sheet is also a great, reusable replacement for parchment paper and tinfoil.
Bonus Favourite
Cold Brew Carafe – I love my coffee, and cold brew has been a lifesaver when it comes to heartburn. It’s less acidic and it has more caffeine than hot brewed coffee! So easy to make: just fill the filter with coffee grounds, then fill the carafe with water and let it brew for 12-14 hours. Make it the night before and you’ve got coffee ready to heat and drink or make an iced coffee.