If You Want to Cook Healthy, These Kitchen Items Are a Must

If you make the occassional smoothie, a basic NutriBullet ($140) will be enough. But if you make them daily, you want to go with a top-of-the-line blender like this Vitamix ($450). It'll not only last years, but it's powerful and versatile enough to make frozen fruit ice cream, soups, all-natural nut butters, and flours from whole grains.

Although a really powerful blender like a Vitamix can be used to puree just about anything, the wider base of a food processor ($200) is sometimes easier to work with. So if you love creating nut butters, protein bars, unique desserts like these vegan salted caramels, as well as making your own baking ingredients like oat flour and almond meal, a food processor is a must. It can also be used to make big batches of baby food or creamy soups that you can freeze for later.

If you're a huge fan of juices for their nutritional benefits, or you like to do periodic juice cleanses, you'll save money and get the freshest juice possible by making it yourself. Beyond fresh juice blends, you can even make smoothies and almond milk with this Hurom juicer ($300).

Especially in the colder months, a slow cooker is a huge time-saver. It'll not only help you create healthy meals, but huge batches of them, so it'll ensure you eat healthy for the next few days. You can make soups, filling curries, chilis, steel-cut oatmeal, layered egg casseroles, and even whole squashes.

If you're a creamy-soup-lover, this little gadget ($60) enables you to puree your recipe right in the pot, which is so much easier (and safer!) than pouring small patches of boiling hot soup into your blender or food processor. This means you can throw in tons of healthy ingredients like canned beans, kale, and silken tofu, and all you'll taste is the delightful smooth texture. It can also be used to quickly mash potatoes or bananas for bread, or to chop ingredients for recipes such as veggies or nuts.

If you're freaked out by the chemicals in those nonstick pans, get your hands on a good cast iron pan (or better yet, one small and one large one). Once the pan is properly seasoned, you'll love how it distributes heat evenly, requires less oil, can be used directly on a grill, and boosts your iron intake. It's perfect for stir-fries, one-pan dishes like this spaghetti squash with roasted broccoli, eggs dishes like these spicy baked eggs, and skillet breads.

If you're aiming for a healthy diet, that means eating tons of fruits and veggies. So you'll need a good set of knives ($300) to slice and chop everything from delicate tomatoes to tough squashes.

A little organization and prep can make all the difference in eating healthy. If you store whole grains and dried beans in mason jars, having them all lined up and at eye level when you open your pantry will inspire you to use them more than if they're tucked away in the plastic packages they came in. Jars of all sizes can also be used to store a week's worth of salads, bring your morning smoothie or overnight oats to work, make fresh sprouts, or pack healthy snacks.

If you're interested in cutting down on carbs, a spiralizer ($32) is a fun and easy way to for create vegetable noodles made out of zucchini, butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potato.

While this definitely isn't something you have to have, a reusable baking sheet like a Silpat will save you money down the road because it can be used instead of parchment or wax paper. It's also a great replacement for aluminum foil if you're worried about health issues regarding its use. It saves a few calories when baking cookies since you won't need to spray the pan, and it'll also inspire healthy recipes like homemade fruit leathers, crispy baked spinach chips, crunchy carrot chips, and baked tofu.