Kitchen Essentials: 4 Must Have Kitchen Tools To Keep Your Family Safe

Chances are, either you are someone you know will develop food poisoning this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control, roughly one in six Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases every year. While you’re most at risk of contracting a foodborne illness outside of your home (the ubiquitous mega-buffets come to mind) there are several ways you can safeguard the health of your family through safe cooking practices in your own kitchen. Nothing beats a clean kitchen and equipment, but equally important is having the proper tools that no chef should be without. Here are four kitchen essentials to keep you and your family safe.

1. Thermometer

Every cook knows that certain foods need to be cooked to a minimum temperature, but did you know that you can't tell if a food is done (particularly meat) just by looking at it? Some meats can be pink in the center even when they have reached a safe temperature—check out this US.Gov chart showing recommended minimum temperatures. Ladle & Blade carries a full line of digital and analog quick read thermometers for all your cooking needs.

2. Cutting Boards 

If you've ever been in a commercial kitchen, you've noted that they often have color-coded cutting boards. Each color universally corresponds to a particular designated use of each board, i.e. red/meat, yellow/poultry, green/fruit and vegetables, beige/fish and seafood, blue/cooked foods and white/general use such as slicing bread, etc. This is to prevent cross contamination during the food preparation process. There are only two sure-fire methods to keep raw food bacteria from migrating to ready-to-eat or cooked foods: sanitizing your cutting board between each use, which is cumbersome; or having specific cutting boards for the various operations. Ladle & Blade offers professional grade cutting boards for commercial kitchens and the home,too.

3. Color-Coded Knives

The same color system used for cutting boards can also work for knives. Or did you really think that a quick rinse of your favorite knife between trimming those pork chops and mincing your onions would really kill that pesky bacteria? Ladle & Blade is pleased to offer the Mercer Millennia Collection of color coded knives. These precision constructed knives not only will help promote safe practices in your kitchen, but they look stunning as well. 

4. Aluminum Rolling Pin

At the risk of upsetting your Grandma, it must be pointed out that aluminum rolling pins are superior to the wooden style. Not only do they stay cool after being chilled to keep butter from melting into the dough, it is much easier to keep clean. Wooden utensils are notorious for harboring bacteria since the wood surface provides millions of microscopic cracks and crevices that are virtually impossible to deep clean. That's not a problem with the latest Ladle & Blade offering, the KMS aluminum rolling pin.  For the more traditionally minded, we also offer an aluminum version styled after the old wooden rolling pin design.

At Ladle & Blade, we don't just  strive to bring our customers the latest and greatest cooking tools. We also provide relevant and well-researched information to augment your culinary skills.   We love to hear from our customers.  Email us at sales@ladleandblade.com for questions or just to say 'hi'. Or you can leave a comment below.