It’s Preptember here at BA, and that means we’re bringing some of our favorite tools and tricks for meal prep, storage, and those all-important back-to-school plans.
There’s a special type of chaos that comes with Sunday meal prep. Every pan I own is in use, the cooktop is coated in oil splatters, papery garlic skins skitter across the floor, and the sink is stacked with dirty dishes.
For years, that was my Sunday ritual: hours of chopping, blending, and washing, just to end up with five identical dishes I’d be tired of by Tuesday. Then, I got my hands on Cuisinart’s Smart Stick immersion blender, and everything about that routine changed.
I (perhaps embarrassingly) own three blenders, including a Vitamix and a Beast Blender, but my immersion blender is the one I reach for most when I’m working ahead. It’s the tool that turned meal prep from something I dreaded into something I (almost) look forward to.
The case for the immersion blender
I love cooking, I write about kitchen gadgets for a living after all, but cooking in bulk when you live alone can feel like a chore. And eating the same thing four days in a row can even get downright depressing. The way I’ve figured out how to enjoy it is by starting with basics—grains, roasted veggies, versatile proteins—and then jazzing them up with sauces, marinades, and dressings so they don’t feel repetitive. That’s where the Smart Stick comes in.
The genius of an immersion blender is that it does its job without taking over your kitchen. Instead of dirtying half a dozen bowls, I blitz soups right in the pot, emulsify vinaigrettes directly in deli containers, and blend sauces in the very vessel I’m storing them in. Pop on a lid, slide it into the fridge, and you’re done.
If you’ve ever lived in a small apartment, you know counter space is a currency. Unlike my Vitamix, which takes up prime real estate on my kitchen island, the Smart Stick is slim enough to tuck away in a drawer and light enough to pop on the dish rack. There’s no more giant blender jar taking over the sink. Instead, clean-up is just a 30-second soapy rinse.
Attachments make it even better
This immersion blender does more than blend—it’s three tools in one. Cuisinart includes two extra attachments, a small chopper/food processor and a whisk, which amplify its meal prep ability.
The chopper attachment is my shortcut for prepping onions, garlic, and herbs, saving me from one of the most tedious parts of meal prep (seriously, if you haven’t tried mincing garlic with a mini chopper, it is as close to life-changing as a small appliance gets). It’s also a game-changer for small-batch pesto, where ingredients would barely reach the blades of a full-size food processor.
The 8-inch blending shaft is another plus. It’s longer than most other models I’ve tried, which means it can easily reach the bottom of deep stockpots or tall bowls. That means no more awkward pot-tilting and no more half-blended soups.
What I use my Smart Stick for
Sauces, dips, spreads, soups, marinades—you name it. If you can blend or blitz it, this thing has probably handled it in my kitchen. I’ve used mine to whip up:
