Tools, Toys and Treats for Your Own Bariatric KITCHEN

These are not paid promotions. These products are my persona picks to keep in your home kitchen so you are always ready to cook efficiently and help you stay organized, add convenience to your cooking and bariatric-specific kitchen helpers that will help you with your own post-operative diet, needs and meals.

The Basics

 

Prep Bowls

These are essential for keeping a clean organized work space while you cook and preparing your mise-en-place. If you need to prepare a mixture, put your cooking ingredients to one side or tastefully serve your accompaniments or spices, these small plates, salad bowls and individual bowls are just what you’re looking for. Including large and small containers, . They are perfectly stackable and transparent to make storage easier .

 

Different Sized Tongs

Tongs as a a great multi-use tool. You can use them to toss and coat pasta, turn meat, removed blanching vegetables from boiling water and so many other things. You want many sizes for different tasks and silicone-tipped tongs to keep you non-stick pots and pans scratch free

 
 
 

Set of Airtight Glass Storage Containers

These are a must for storing leftovers, sauces and other food. They are freezer, over and microwave friendly. Whether you’re making a base sauce for the week,, creating a lunch to take to work with leftovers or freezing extra portions, a set of basic freezer-friendly, oven-safe glass containers are essentially for every kitchen.

 

Tabbed Cutting Boards

Practice good sanitation in your kitchen. Having separate cutting boards for fruits & veg, fish, meat and cooked foods helps avoid cross contamination and keeps your safe from foodborne illness like salmonella.

 

Stackable Set of Kitchen Essentials

This 9-piece set is a great space saver and gives you an assortment of kitchen essentials with one large 4.8 quart mixing bowl, a colander, a steel sieve strainer, a 0.5 quart small mixing bowl with measurement tools for 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup measuring cups and 1 tablespoon. A great bargain for a set of essential items that is cheaper than buying all these things individually.

 
 

Silicone Cooking Utensils Set

A basic set of silicone tools are must have in the kitchen. They are safe for non-stick pans. I have mine wall mounted on hooks, but you can also easily store them in a inexpensive utensil crock.

Gizmos and Gadgets

 
 
 
 
 

Smart Kitchen Scale

This smart kitchen scale does more than weight out a portion. This smart scale helps weighing nutritional meals, calculates nutrition information and food facts, and is ideal for portioning snacks. Know not only how much you’re cooking but the nutritional information portion-based food-specific content. This is an essential item in my kitchen not just for developing recipes but for checking the nutrition in my own meals. It is a bariatric-food must-have.

 

Garlic Zoom 

While mincing garlic by hand takes only a little long than this nifty kitchen toy and provides for even, uniform cuts, the Garlic Zoom is a great hack for when you’re in a rush to get dinner on the table or not concerned about the perfect mince.

 
 

Portion Control Scoops and Measures

Figuring out appropriate portions, not just to consume only the appropriate serving size, but to serve yourself a portion of what you know your stomach can accommodate now can be a challenge. These marvelous measure take the guess work out of serving sizes and eliminate portion distortion.

 
 

Portion Perfection for Bariatrics - A Dietitian’s Pictorial Guide by Amanda Clark

Trying to get the right serving size for your new stomach? Pick up a copy of Portion Perfection for Bariatrics and eliminate the guesswork. This pictorial book can be integrated to modify any recipe. It is absolutely great for seeing the right portion size; it shows you how much to eat after gastric sleeve, bypass or banding.

 
 

Post-Surgery Portion Control Plates & Bowls Help get the right serving size to treat your new tummy right; prevent weight rebound post-surgery

They may not be fine china, but they eliminate the guesswork and also illustrate the appropriate portions for bariatric patients, who often cannot consume the same amount of starch or carbohydrate portions as other people. A staple in my cupboard, these plates and bowls make putting a plate together a pleasure and allow for easy eating.

 
 

Bariatric Patient Special Menu Restaurant Request Plastic Card

I keep one of these in my wallet. It is so much easier than having a waiter come over and interrupt my dinner a dozen time to ask if everything is ok because I am eating so slowly and consumed perhaps a quarter of my food. This card bears an official Medical Alert logo to clarify you do not want a half-portion to order off the kid’s menu to save money or be a fussy diner; it is a medical condition and, just like an allergy, a restaurant will take this card seriously. Also, a little tip, if you order a half portion sometimes the issue is not the kitchen do it - they can - the restaurant just doesn’t know how to charge you for it. So when I hand this card over, I typically offer to pay full price for the modified portion. Other patients ask the portion they can’t eat in one sitting to simply not be served but set aside immediately in a doggie bag.

 

Appliances

 
 
 

Instant Pot

Whether you buy a classic Instant Pot or the more budget-friendly Mueller UltraPot 6Q Pressure Cooker Instant Crock 10 in 1 Pot , this is a must for your bariatric kitchen. Slow cook meat so it is soft, tender and easy to swallow, pressure cook meat balls in minutes, make perfect hardboiled eggs or quick oatmeal, you’ll love your ,multicooker.

 

Breville Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker

This is the Instant Pot’s high-end cousin. It has amazing features and settings for pressure cooking and slow cooking. It features 11 Pressure cook settings plus a custom setting to suit your favorite recipes. It offers high or Low Slow cook settings from 2 - 12 hours. The Keep Warm function turns on after cooking, so food is ready to serve when you are. It also has a higher price tag. So why pay more? This is what I have in my kitchen and it just might be my be favorite thing. I have experimented with Instant Pots, which are like classic, base model American cars and despite the product claims to do 16, none of the results are expection - just a basic, reliable, easy to use model. The Breville is like a high-end European sports car, incredible to use and stunning results; it yields exceptional food every time from every recipe.

 

Cuisinart CPB-300 350 Watt BPA-Free Personal Blender

The Compact Portable Blending/Chopping System powerhouse does it all! Use the streamlined blender jar to make smoothies in a flash, mince herbs, or grind up flax in the chopping cup, and whip up custom drinks right in the four Tritan travel cups! Designed to fit anywhere, the Compact Portable Blending/Chopping System delivers big performance with a 350-watt motor and user-friendly electronic touchpad. The blender jar, chopping cup, and travel cups are all shatter resistant and dishwasher

Pots and Pans

 


Calphalon 5 qt Non-Stick Chef’s Pan

There are some basic pots and pans you’ll need in your kitchen. My favorite is a chef’s pan. It is deeper than a normal pan and is great for making stir-frys, pasta dishes,, and a variety of other dishes and meals. This is my go-to pan

 
 
 

Living That bariatric Life

 
 

Cuisinart Chef's Classic Nonstick Hard-Anodized 1-1/2-Quart Saucepan with Lid

This small pot is great for making sauces, poaching eggs, making small portions of whole grains and variety of other uses. It is a staple in the test kitchen.

 

Barry The Sleeve

Need a friendly face to help see you through the trenches on your journey? Want a cheerful reminder to be mindful of your new stomach and it’s new rules? Buy Barry! He never judges. He always has a smile. And he is a reminder you got bariatric surgery so you could enjoy a better, more dynamic life; keep a smile on your face.