The Ridiculously Simple Kitchen Tool You've Been Sleeping On

Ah, the modern kitchen. If it's not air fryers and milk frothers, it's Podcyclers and minipressos. And if you think we made up those last two gadgets, get that doubt outta here because we didn't.

Now that the doubt is gone, let us tell you a little secret your grandparents probably knew and might have tried to tell you for years: Simple is simply better. In fact, Bon Appétit wants to tell you that grandma and grandpa's dishes are back in a big way along with other simple, old-school favorites. Take the noble punch bowl, for example, or nostalgic foods (like grilled cheese and Baked Alaska) on restaurant menus. Bon Appétit goes so far as to say that grandparents themselves are the next big thing, with professional chefs around the country eager to brand their restaurants with a nod (or an homage) to the elderly relatives they and their culinary sensitivities (and even recipes) came from.

So what is the next best (read: simplest) thing in kitchen tools? You might think that your spatula or pasta rake is the most straightforward tool in your kitchen. And you'd probably be right. But there is one tool you might not have even thought to stock, and it's so simple and useful that you'll be kicking yourself all the way to grandma's house. To borrow one.

The truth is, while it's not sexy, cool, or remotely pleasing to the eye, a simple plastic squeeze bottle is going to be your new best bud in the kitchen. It might even be your new romantic partner because you will quickly fall in love with this inexpensive cohort (read: cheap date) that is only dying to help you out on your next meal.

If you find yourself accidentally glugging a gallon of extra-virgin olive oil into the pan when the recipe only called for a tablespoon, you might need a squeeze bottle. If, as Epicurious suggests, you are making a precision-perfect emulsion, which requires the precision-perfect pacing of an Olympic swimmer when it comes to adding oil, you might need a squeeze bottle.

If all you ever wanted in life was for your grandparents to think you were a professional chef, don't open your own restaurant and put their face on the menu; it's way more economically sound to buy a squeeze bottle, fill it with a colorful, edible sauce, and draw pretty designs on the edges of your grandparents' plates before serving. Voila! Instant bourgeois. A great kitchen hack with the simple squeeze bottle is to use it for simple syrup, a la Rachael Ray's husband in an Instagram post, where the mixologist says that it's a bartender's buddy, too; just keep a squeeze bottle of the stuff in the fridge for easy cocktails (like the Mother's Day one the pair made together).