Better Home Cooking Basics: #45 Speed Up Prep Time & Reduce Mess with a Food Scoop or a Dough Scraper.

After you’ve chopped your onions & minced your garlic how do you get it into your skillet or pot that you’ll be cooking it in? Do you carefully scoop & balance it on your knife & then slowly walk it over to your stove while maybe sacrificing some to the floor & by some I mean most & now you have to clean the floor? Do you bring your entire cutting board to the pot & scrape all of your hard prep work into said pot or skillet (if you’re lucky enough to keep the balance of it with one hand while you scrape with the other?

I can be a bit of a spaz & would love to say I never spill anything - but that couldn’t be further from the truth. A handful of years ago I bought a stainless steel food scoop like this one while I was down visiting Charleston. I wish I could tell you the name of the store or even the brand of mine but I can’t. Yes most people probably pick up something more sentimental when on vacation - but me - I opt for practical kitchen gadgets.

Turns out this little "souvenir" is my favorite & most used gadget in the kitchen. I use it daily. It’s the perfect way to caddy food from your cutting board to your pot without spilling it everywhere - no balancing act required. It's a great way to be more efficient with your time in the kitchen (read: spend less time cleaning the mess of your floor.)

I like the one I use (see the photo below) because it has sides to it so none of the food can escape that way. This one & this one are great alternatives with sides.

You can also use a pastry/dough scraper like this one. It won’t have sides so more balance is required but you can scoop larger amounts for transporting around your kitchen.

What's your favorite kitchen gadget? I would love to know! Please comment below.

Get more of my better home cooking basics here.