If you’ve started your journey into traditional foods for any length of time, you will quickly see that you spend more time than most people in your kitchen from keeping a sourdough starter to fermenting veggies and kefir. With a few simple kitchen tools you can make that time a little faster and more enjoyable!
I’ve always been a foodie as my mom was an amazing cook. She had many cool gadgets from her days with Pampered Chef and while I still use a few of those fun gadgets, today I’m sharing the essentials for making your real foods meals a breeze.
These kitchen tools are what I use on a daily basis to have a real whole foods while avoiding as many toxins as possible. Nixing most plastic and opting for real materials for my food prep and serveware. Here are 13 essential kitchen tools!
Top 13 Kitchen Tools:
1. Good Cutting Board and Knives
I thought everyone had a chefs knife and a sturdy butchers block cutting board. But turns out some people don’t find this to be an essential in their home. I’ll never forget going to cook at my in-laws house for the first time and finding a tiny glass cutting board and a steak knife to cut my potatoes for the family dinner I was making. It took…a while! A large wooden cutting board and sharp chef’s knife are an absolute must for all the chopping I do in my kitchen.
2. Mason Jars
Mason jars are so versatile and I love the country feel they bring to everyday meals. I use the pint size for drinking out of, the quart and half gallon size for storing pantry goods, and the half gallon for bone broth/soups, leftovers and fermenting veggies. They are really sturdy as well and easily replaceable if they do happen to break!
3. Cast iron skillets
It took me a while to get the hang of cast iron but now that I have I love them. It’s great that I can take something from the stovetop and put it in the oven without dirtying another pot or pan. If you season them well they are totally non-stick and easy to clean up afterward.
4. Garlic Press
Garlic is used liberally in our house and a garlic press is a must! It makes mincing garlic a breeze. Now, if only there was a tool that peeled all the garlic cloves that would make it even faster.
5. Food Processor
I currently don’t have one of these but every other traditional foods blogger does and they swear by it. It takes a lot of time to chop up cabbage for sauerkraut and nuts for granola. This will be my next kitchen tools purchase for sure as I would love to make sauerkraut in bigger batches.
7. Blender (high powered and immersion)
I use my Vitamix almost daily for smoothies and my immersion blender weekly to make homemade mayo or to blend soups. The vitamix was a gift back in highschool from my mom and brother…that was almost 10 years ago and it shows no signs of dying anytime soon! As for the immersion blender I don’t know why I didn’t buy it sooner. It was about $40 and I haven’t had store bought mayo since. There are a few good brands on the market for mayo but by the time you buy those 4 times you’ll have paid for an immersion blender. Totally worth it in my opinion!
8. Instant Pot
The instant pot is one of my favorite kitchen tools. It has so many functions! I was so excited to make bone broth when I first bought it. While you can make bone broth and other things like yogurt on the stove top, the instant pot cuts bone broth time by 18 hours. I haven’t ventured to make yogurt yet but I hear that it keeps the pot at a consistent temperature which yogurt needs! When we find a local dairy cow or goat to get milk from I will try this and update here.
9. Water Filter (Berkey)
Clean water for drinking and cooking is essential (also, makes coffee taste better which is definitely essential;). The price of the berkey kept us away for a little too long. Thankfully, we are on well water where we currently live so it isn’t the worst drinking water. BUT if you are on city water a filter of some sort is a must! I like the Berkey because the raving reviews and the fact that it’s portable for camping trips.
10. Glass mixing bowls
If you have ever dabbled in sourdough then you’ve probably heard it shouldn’t make contact with stainless steel for long periods of time. Large glass bowls are great to do an overnight rise in and multitask for other things as well. I like the pyrex ones with a lid that will cover for overnight preventing the crusty top that can happen when you just use a tea towel. They’re also great for large salads!
11. Glass food storage
We’ve all heard about the dangers of plastic and leaching chemicals into our food. I personally don’t want to use plastic for my everyday tupperware use and the great thing about glass is you can pop leftovers right into a hot stove for reheating.
12. Stand Mixer
Stand mixers are great for kneading bread dough and of course making the occasional cookies. My husband recently gifted me a kitchenaid for my birthday after years of using a hand held electric mixer….it’s just not the same as the stand mixer. I love that it’ll knead bread dough for me. It’s also great for shredding chicken!
Fun story: My mixer actually broke after the second or third time using it. Apparently kitchenaid’s can’t handle 100% whole wheat flour. I’m still newer to bread making so maybe I did something out of order or I received a lemon from the store. I’m glad my husband purchased the warranty and they are sending me a new one as I write this. At least I can laugh about it now!
13. Sturdy Plates
With little hands at the dinner table sturdy plates are a must. We unfortunately have tile floors in our kitchen which I’ve found out are very unforgiving for dinner and glassware but even still our Corelle plates have held up pretty well to being dropped on the floor from a highchair. Ceramic plates wouldn’t have stood a chance against these floors!
These are my essential kitchen tools for my traditional foods kitchen. Do you have anything to add?
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