Among the various treatment options M's medical team presented us with, the ketogenic diet was a little intimidating due to its strict nature, but as someone who (1) loves math and (2) loves getting creative in the kitchen, I was eager to give it a try. The other silver lining (as in these situations it is very important to find whatever silver linings you can) was that I got to go on a mini shopping spree for new kitchen prep gear. I'll go through the stuff I've so far determined to be most valuable to making this diet work for a toddler in a busy, active family.
Scales
The first thing you'll discover about a therapeutic keto diet is that you must. weigh. everything. And not like "oh yeah that look like about a tablespoon" - nope, this is weighing to the gram every single thing that goes into your kid's mouth. Residents of more civilized parts of the world may already be familiar with cooking and baking via weight instead of volumetric measurement - calling for 120g of flour instead of 1 cup, for example - but for most Americans, this is a strange new world.
Kitchen scales are easy to find, but your dietician may be concerned about resolution, accuracy, and long-term calibration maintenance. We originally were told we needed a scale that measured to the tenth of a gram, so we got one via the Charlie Foundation (where, in my opinion, they mark things up a lot, though I didn't realize that til much later). As it turns out we don't actually really need that. But now that we have it - because no returns - we use it as our workhorse, since it plugs in and that means one less battery to worry about changing. LW Measurements 1200g balance on Amazon
The Salter scale I've actually had for a long time, since we lived in the UK for a couple of years and I wanted to be able to use local recipes without converting to volumetric measurements. It's less than half the price of the fancy high-accuracy scale the Charlie Foundation recommends. We were warned that it may be out of calibration, might not be accurate enough, et cetera et cetera, so we panicked and ordered the new one. Since then, I've verified that it's basically exactly as accurate as the other scale, it just only measures to the gram instead of the tenth of a gram. Which, as previously mentioned, we don't actually need to do. So this is a handy backup scale I'd feel comfortable packing along with us on a trip (since it has a smaller footprint than the other one), and that I use for making bigger batches of food, since the fancy scale maxes out at 1.2 kg. Salter Electronic Kitchen Scale on Amazon
And then there's that little one. M is still young enough that we always take a diaper bag everywhere, so I wanted something that we could carry easily in there for unexpected feeding situations while we were out and about. I found this little scale that's smaller than my iPhone, had great reviews from scientists about how well it held calibration in the field, and seems to be just as accurate as my other scales so far. And the best part: it's wicked cheap. American Weigh Pocket Gram Scale on Amazon
You may also notice a little silver lump in the corner - that's a 50g calibration weight I got to verify that all my scales are basically all equally accurate, and double-check to make sure nothing goes out of calibration after we've traveled with it, dropped it, or whatever. 50g Calibration Weight on Amazon
Prep
The pre-kickoff information your medical team will provide you with will suggest you get "small bowls for measuring and mixing" and "small spatulas." I thought I had enough already since I consider myself to have a very well-stocked kitchen, and elected not to purchase any. Reader, I did not have enough. Part of the problem is that while I have many *bowls*, weighing out various sources of fat in liquid form, proteins, and carbs for every meal means that your options are (1) spend all your time hand-washing your existing small mixing bowls while prepping food for your kid and the rest of your non-keto family, (2) use up all of your big bowls and put them in the dishwasher so that every load is just bowls, bowls, and more bowls, or (3) just make life easier and buy a crapload of tiny bowls.
I quite like this set of small glass bowls I ended up with - they're just the right size for most ingredients I need to measure for a toddler's needs, they wash easily and don't take up a ton of space in our dishwasher, they stack and store easily, and also come with plastic lids in case I want to use them for storage. Set of 8 Libbey Small Glass Bowls on Amazon
The spatulas are necessary because when every gram counts, that means every gram of applesauce, olive oil, or cream measured and used during preparation needs to make it into your kiddo's mouth. I have to scrape down prep bowls big and small as well as scrape the remnants of meals off the high chair tray to stick in my son's mouth. This set is small enough for the small prep bowls and storage containers and nice and cheap. Set of 6 Evelots BPA-Free Silicone Mini Spatulas on Amazon
Food Processing
I own a food processor. I have for many years. It's a very nice one. I think I've used it twice.
It's big, heavy, and a pain to clean, so I have to be really motivated to get it out. I usually am not. But since we're finding it easiest to keep M on his diet by mixing and mashing lots of stuff together, I've found a new life for another tool I own: my immersion blender.
I originally bought it so I could make butternut squash soup (which it does quite well), but the various attachments have turned out to be incredibly useful both for when I made baby food (because I am that parent that DIYed baby food) and for making M's meals now. It comes with a mini food processor/blender type thing that holds enough stuff to make toddler meals and is pretty easy to clean; it also has a whisk attachment which is super handy for whipping the ubiquitous heavy cream that is part of this diet. The immersion blender attachment I use for soups is also nice for evenly mixing vegetable oil and fruit into Greek yogurt for his breakfasts. It's lightweight, easy to clean, and stores well - basically, it is the antithesis of my food processor. Breville Control Grip Immersion Blender on Amazon
Storage
And finally, a key strategy to making this all work: freezer storage. I am the cooking-lover in the family, but I work full time and my husband stays at home. Fighting with M to get him to eat everything he needs to is frustrating enough, and my husband doesn't need to also be faced with constantly coming up with combos and calculations every meal when it's not something he enjoys doing. So on the weekends I make big batches of the things I know M likes to keep in the freezer.
I use these little Ziploc containers since they're just the right size for most toddler-sized keto meals and snacks and they stack nicely in our freezer. Ziploc Extra Small Square Containers on Amazon
I also label everything with what the meal is, whether it's a complete meal or whether it needs anything added to it before serving (like 18g of a 10% fruit or 2g of butter), and the ratio (in case his ratio changes and we can't remember what in our freezer is for which ratio). I used to use a freezer-specific version of masking tape like I use to label adult meals that I make ahead to freeze, but pens and Sharpies don't work well on it and frankly, trying to write all that info out on a small circular roll of tape for 5-10 servings at a time is a pain in the butt. So I went for these labels, which are easy to write on, easy to remove, and water-soluble if you forget to remove one before putting them in the dishwasher. Dayspots Dissolvable Labels, Pack of 500 on Amazon
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