With many of us working full-time these days, prepping and cooking meals has shifted from hours spent in the kitchen to creating quick, easy meals in under 30 minutes. To help make meal prep as easy as possible, read our list of the top 10 tools for any kitchen.

1. Meat Tenderiser - Perfection is in the preparation, so before the meat hits the pan, let our tenderizing hammer's unique crossed spikes and ultra flat face bring its most beautiful flavours to the surface. The Capital Kitchen Meat Tenderizer is perfect for tenderising and flattening steak, chicken breasts and butterflied chicken.
2. Mandoline - Mandolines are a staple in any busy kitchen, making fruit and vegetable prep easy. With the Oxo Good Grips Hand Held Mandoline, you can safely and evenly slice fruits, vegetables and cheeses. It features a sharp blade to slice and you can change the thickness depending on what you're cooking.
3. Pasta Machine - Once you make your own pasta, there is no going back. Fresh, homemade pasta is the best and while it takes a labour of love to make, it is well worth it compared to store-bought. The Stevens Brava Pasta Machine 180mm is designed to make rolling and shaping your pasta easy. It comes with the classic flat rolling attachment which flattens your pasta as thin as you want it, the perfect base for creating lasagne sheets, tortellini or ravioli. It also comes with an attachment to make spaghetti or fettuccine. It is a versatile tool and a popular product at Stevens.
4. Julienne Peeler - A peeler is an essential in any home for easy vegetable and fruit prep. The Oxo Good Grips Julienne Peeler is no different. It is a specialised peeler designed to finely julienne fruits and vegetables into works of art. Great for salads, garnishes, zesting citrus and stir-frys.
5. Herb Scissors - Why spend ages trying to chop herbs when you can simply snip them straight into the pan or garnish your plate? The Capital Kitchen Herb Scissors are a hidden gem in the kitchen. Effortlesly elegant and built with four tiny blades to easily snip herbs. This will be your new go-to tool for herb prep.
6. Salad Spinner - A good salad starts with lettuce that has been thoroughly washed AND dried. Don't spend time rinsing and hand drying your lettuce when the Capital Kitchen Salad Spinner can take the hassle out of it. Simply place your lettuce into the green basket, give it a rinse with water then put the lid on and spin the lettuce until all the water is out. You'll be amazed at how much water truly comes out your lettuce and what you would be missing by hand drying it! Perfect for lettuce but also leafy greens, vegetables and berries.
7. Apple Corer - An under-rated tool in the kitchen, the Capital Kitchen Apple Corer is not only good at removing apple cores but can be used to remove pits as well. The serrated blade edge is good for inserting into the apple and making a clean cut to remove the core. Prepping apples will never be the same.
8. Hand Squeezer - Picture this: you're cooking dinner and the recipe says you need to juice half a lemon. You grab a lemon, slice it in half and when you go to squeeze it, hardly anything comes out. Sound familiar? With the Capital Kitchen Lemon Squeezer, you'll get the maximum juice out of your lemons without the extra strength required to squeeze it by hand.
9. Garlic Press - Everyone knows the worst part about cooking with garlic is the peeling and dicing stage. Forget the time spent dicing it when you can crush it in seconds with the Capital Kitchen Garlic Crusher. Simply place your garlic clove in the press, bring the handles together and voila! Crushed garlic filters through the tiny holes and is ready to cook with.
10. Spiralizer - The best healthy noodle prep tool! The Capital Kitchen Revolution Spiralizer Slicer can turn any vegetable into spiraled noodles. Simply insert your vegetable into the slicer and spiralize. Great for zucchinis or carrots and a great substitute for pasta.