Ready to stock your meal prep kitchen? In this post I share with you meal prep equipment and a complete guide to stocking your prep kitchen. You don’t really need much equipment to prepare your weekly meals. Stock your kitchen with the below listed basics to make meal prep a breeze.

Meal prep equipment starter set

Meal Prep Equipment Starter Kit at Walmart.com

I’ve created a handy meal prep equipment shopping list starter kit for you at Walmart.com. This shopping list has everything listed in this post that I recommend for a well stocked meal prep kitchen.

You can purchase the entire Meal Prep Equipment Starter Set for just over $1,800 at Walmart online.

That price includes all of the high quality equipment I use and recommend, such as:

a Vitamix blender
Cuisinart food processor
Kitchenaid hand mixer and hand immersion blender
Ninja air fryer
Wusthof knives
Pyrex meal prep containers
bamboo cutting boards
kitchen utensils
cleaning supplies
…and more.

You can also easily delete anything on the list that you do not want to purchase.

Use this meal prep equipment shopping list as a guide for what to purchase for your own kitchen. Or, purchase this starter kit as a gift for a loved one who is starting their own home meal prep kitchen.

View the Meal Prep Equipment Starter Kit at Walmart.com >

Tips for purchasing meal prep equipment

Check discount retailers such as TJ Maxx and Marshalls for great deals on meal prep equipment.
Purchase your meal prep equipment refurbished (like on ebay) or recycled at your local thrift store for the best deals.
Choose stainless steel materials.
It’s better to have several quality meal prep equipment items, over lots of low quality items.

Is aluminum cookware safe?

According to Dr. Neal Barnard, founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, we should avoid using aluminum cookware.

“Our bodies do not need aluminum. The link between this metal and Alzheimer’s is more controversial than the other metals listed above. Until we know for sure, Dr. Barnard recommends avoiding aluminum. Sources include baking powder, many antacids, single-serve creamers and salt packets, pickle relish, aluminum cookware, aluminum foil (especially used with acidic food such as tomatoes), and antiperspirants (most deodorants are fine).” – PostIndependent.com

Meal prep equipment: Complete guide to stocking your kitchen

Bowls, Utensils, Cutlery & Cutting Boards

Below is a list of tools for meal prep in your kitchen:

Culinary knives

A good quality, sharp knife will help you easily prep and chop your meals each week. Our favorite knives are made by Wusthof brand. Two must haves are an 8” culinary knife and a 4” paring knife. Also, invest in a “steel” so you can sharpen your knives at home.

Wooden kitchen utensils

I prefer to have a great set of wooden utensils always on hand. These are utensils that often last a long time and can be used on any surface, such as glass or nonstick pans. They also work well on stainless steel.

Cutting boards

Bamboo cutting boards are our favorite. They are inexpensive and last for a long while.

Heat resistant rubber spatula

It’s nice to have a spatula for scraping sauces and pureed soups from out of a blender, pot or pan. I prefer to only have heat resistant spatulas because they can be used for both hot and cold food prep. If you use a spatula that is not heat resistant on a hot pan it will melt into your food.

Large metal and/or glass mixing bowls

Make sure to include a set of mixing bowls in your meal prep kitchen. These are great for making salads in and reserving prepped vegetables, soaking beans, etc. Pyrex makes great glass mixing bowl sets.

Oven mitts

You’re going to definitely need a good set of oven mitts for pulling hot baking pans and dishes out of the oven. I recommend having at least two in your kitchen at all times. Sometimes its nice to have extra in the case that the other ones become wet or soiled.

Natural parchment paper and baking cups

Choose unbleached parchment paper (because bleach hurts our environment and our bodies). Our favorite brand is Because You Care. Purchase online or at most grocery stores.

Compost bowl or bin

Reserve all your food scraps in a large bowl, or in a compost bin. Place your food scraps in the green waste bin or into your garden compost pile.

View Stainless steel compost bins at Walmart.com

Meal prep containers

Stock your kitchen with glass pyrex containers with lids, and/or glass mason jars to store prepared foods. Avoid storing in plastic containers.

9 super cute Pyrex Halloween glass serving bowls

Stainless steel equipment

Below is a list of stainless steel meal prep equipment:

Stainless steel stock pot with lid

Purchase a good quality stainless steel pot with lid either new online as well as recycled at your local thrift store. Avoid aluminum, non-stick, and cast iron materials.

Large metal colander

A colander is a bowl with holes. Choose a metal one with medium-sized holes. You can use this to drain pasta, beans, and lentils, rinse your vegetables, and also to reserve cooked food.

Steamer pot

A steamer pot is ideal for steaming vegetables quickly and easily. Essentially, a steamer pot is a metal pot with about 1 inch of water at the bottom, with a metal colander sitting inside with a lid on top. You can easily steam vegetables and dumplings using a steamer pot.

Stainless steel pans

Purchase good quality stainless steel saute pans either new online as well as recycled at your local thrift store. Avoid aluminum, non-stick, and cast iron materials.

Stainless steel baking sheets

Purchase good quality stainless steel baking sheets either new online as well as recycled at your local thrift store. Avoid aluminum, non-stick, and cast iron materials.

Small kitchen appliances

Here are the small kitchen appliances I recommend for meal prep:

Air Fryer

I recently started using an air fryer and realize it is a very great tool to have on hand. It’s basically like a little convection oven. The hot air is easily able to be distributed in the oven during “air fryer” to allow food to cook evenly like it would in a deep fat fryer. I like to use my air fryer to fry tofu, potatoes, falafel, and more.

Blender

Purchase a good quality blender new or recycled, our favorite blender is a VitaMix. Other great brands are Ninja, Nutribullet, and Cuisinart.

View Vitamix blenders at Walmart.com

Hand mixer

If you enjoy baking, get yourself a KitchenAid hand mixer. You can use this to make batter, dough, and also mix your salads and similar dishes. I like using a hand mixer over a large stand mixer because it’s easier to clean and store.

View Kitchenaid hand mixers at Walmart.com

Food processor

Purchase a good quality food processor new or recycled, our favorite brand is Cuisinart. Learn more below.

View Cuisinart food processors at Walmart.com

Kitchen cleaning

Here’s a list of cleaning products and tools I use in my meal prep kitchen:

Cleaning solution

I use Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds, a biodegradable natural cleaning fluid. Use this to do your dishes, mop your floors, clean your bathroom, etc.

Here’s THE best natural dish soap

Cleaning sponges

Use plant-based sponges that will eventually biodegrade. My favorite brand is called Twist. They make scrubbing sponges and scouring pads all from plant materials.

View stainless steel compost bins at Walmart.com

Steel scrubbers

Having a steel scrubber on hand is a must for scrubbing pots, pans and dishes that have food stuck on them. One of these sponges allows you to scrub even the hardest to clean pots and pans quickly.

Kitchen towels

I have two sets of kitchen towels. One for decoration and hand drying. The other for scrubbing and deep cleaning. The pretty towels I are usually seasonal themed and purchased while I’m out shopping and see something I like. The kitchen towels I use for deep cleaning come in a large pack and are usually white.

View kitchen towels at BedBathBeyond.com

Meal prep equipment brands

Below is a list of brands I trust and use in my kitchen.

Wusthof culinary knives

Having a good quality knife is important for safety as well as efficiency. I recommend investing in a good quality knife or set of knives. The brand I recommend is called Wusthof and they are located in Germany. When I was in culinary school, these were the standard issue knives we received in our knife kits.

Sometimes you can find a great deal on Wusthof knives at TJ Maxx. Save $35 on this Wusthof Santoku knife -limited availability!

If you’re looking for a good quality inexpensive knife, the ones they sell at Smart n Final or other kitchen supply stores are also great. The benefit to purchasing a higher quality knife is that it is usually just one piece of steel. This is as opposed to an inexpensive knife which is often two separate pieces stuck together. These risk coming apart while chopping which is a potential hazard. You can avoid this by keeping sure any knife that is two pieces is securely together.

Vitamix

Vitamix makes my favorite high powered blender. I have two, one of which I’ve had for over 15 years and it still works great. Having a high powered blender makes it easy to make creamy beverages, sauces and soups. Sometimes a lower powered blender will not be able to make your dishes blended into a creamy consistency. Having the benefit of a high powered blender can help you really improve your cooking.

A Vitamix is an NSF Certified blender which means it is a blender that is approved for use in commercial kitchens. I trust the brand highly because of this designation. There aren’t many household small appliances that are NSF Certified.

I use my Vitamix to meal prep:

Homemade plant milk
Cashew cheese sauce
Smoothies
Walnut butter
Peanut butter
Pureed soups

There are some great places to get a good deal on a Vitamix. I recommend checking out the new, refurbished and used Vitamix blenders on ebay. I also recommend checking TJ Maxx and Marshalls for Vitamix blenders at a discounted price.

Cuisinart

I have two Cuisinart food processors, one that is a large one and one that is a small one with a citrus juicer attachment. I have had both for many years and I still use them often with great success. I prefer the Cuisinart brand of food processors because I find they are well made with quality materials. They are powerful and always do a great job of chopping my food. Additionally, they are built to be very easy to clean.

View Cuisinart food processors at Walmart.com

Kitchenaid

I love Kitchenaid brand and use two of their small appliances in my kitchen. One is a hand mixer, like I mentioned above. These are super find to use and come in a variety of bold colors.

View Kitchenaid hand mixers at Walmart.com

The other is a hand immersion blender. This is a tool that is shaped like a want that you can place into a large pot or bowl to puree food. It’s like a little mini blender at the tip of a wand. This is handy for pureeing soups that are hot.

View Kitchenaid immersion hand blenders at Walmart.com

Ball jars

I use Ball jars to store my dry food as well as blended beverages like smoothies and homemade plant milk. They are also great for storing sauces and individual servings of pudding.

View Ball jars at Walmart.com

Pyrex

Pyrex makes the best quality glass kitchen cookware, measuring cups and meal prep containers. I have many Pyrex dishes and containers. They are great because they can go from the cold fridge directly into the hot oven with no issues. This makes reheating food very easy.

View Pyrex at Walmart.com

Starter set