A Little Culinary School Secret That Changed My Kitchen Forever

Happy New Year!

As we step into 2026, I’m wishing you a year filled with good food, simple moments in the kitchen, and the ease and confidence to trust yourself more — one meal at a time. Let’s kick things off with a little kitchen wisdom I picked up in culinary school…

Recently, I hosted a live kitchen session created exclusively for a podcast and its listeners. At the end of the event, I always ask one of my favorite questions:

“What’s one nugget you’re taking away from today?”

The answers are often thoughtful, but this time a theme really stood out.

What people loved most were the straight-from-culinary-school tips and tricks — the kind of things you usually only learn if you’ve studied culinary arts or worked in professional kitchens. Little “insider” habits that quietly make cooking easier, faster, and more enjoyable.

So today, I want to share one of those secrets with you — because it has truly made a huge difference in my own kitchen.

One of the Things I Brought Home from Culinary Boot Camp

In culinary school, we used something called deli containers to store our prepped ingredients.

If you’ve ever worked in a professional kitchen, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

And if you haven’t — this might just change how you organize your kitchen.

Here’s why I love them:

• They come in standard sizes (1 cup, 2 cups, 4 cups), so they double as measuring cups

• They’re great for storing and freezing ingredients

• They’re dishwasher safe

• All sizes use the same lid (yes, really!)

• They take up very little space in your cabinets

In my kitchen, I have four neat stacks: 1-cup containers, 2-cup containers, 4-cup containers — and one simple lid pile.

That’s it.

After returning from culinary boot camp, I came home, looked at my drawer full of mismatched plastic containers, and thought: Why am I doing this to myself? I donated them, bought a set of deli containers, and never looked back.

Multi-purpose. Easy to clean. Less storage space. One lid fits all. Boom. It really doesn’t get much better.

You can easily find them on Amazon in sets if you’re curious.

This is exactly the kind of thing I love sharing — not fancy recipes, not complicated steps, but small systems that make cooking feel calmer and easier.

And that brings me to an update I’m excited about.

The live session I recently hosted for podcast listeners is now open to the public — and I gave it a little twist by turning parts of it into a hands-on cook-along experience.

If you’d like to cook with me in real time, learn practical techniques like these, and build confidence in your own kitchen, I’d love to have you join me.

🗓 Wednesday, January 28

🕕Early evening (designed so you can cook, taste, and enjoy dinner right after)

👉 You can sign up here:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-year-fresh-flavors-how-to-cook-for-yourself-with-confidence-and-joy-tickets-1979980936280?aff=oddtdtcreator

Whether you join the cook-along or simply try out deli containers in your kitchen, I hope this little culinary school secret makes your time in the kitchen easier — and a lot more fun.

With flavor love,

Kerstin