My Top 10 Kitchen Tools in my Real Food Kitchen
I’ve not had my kitchen tools for over two months now, and each day I find myself day dreaming of being in my own kitchen with my favorite kitchen tools cooking my favorite meals and clipping herbs from my garden and …
Oh, sorry! I got distracted. That’s been happening a lot lately.
Anyway, I think perhaps now is a good time to share about my favorite kitchen tools. I miss these babies dearly, and I look forward to reuniting with them in a few weeks!
My Top 10 Kitchen Tools
1. Garlic Press
We use a lot of fresh garlic in our house. We even planted it in our garden last year.
Garlic has so many health benefits, and we use it often to ward off illnesses like the cold, flu, stomach bug, and even seasonal allergies.
Garlic is my go-to herb and having a garlic press makes adding fresh minced garlic to soups, stews, and sauces ever so much easier!
2. Cast Iron Skillet
I have fallen in love with cast iron. I admit the switch over was difficult. There is a steep learning curve (at least for those of us trained with Teflon, non-stick pans), and my husband wasn’t the best advocate (he was too afraid to mess it up).
However, we’re more than two years into using cast iron, and I can honestly say we’ll likely never go back.
My husband is the number one caretaker of our cast iron now, and everything tastes better that’s cooked in cast iron. Plus I love that I can move my dish from the stove to the oven and back again without worrying about whether or not I’ll mess it up.
The key to cast iron is getting it seasoned right, learning a few basics for caring for it, and the rest is just goodness and mercy going into your belly. To be honest, cooking cornbread in a cast iron skillet is what sold me. Oh, my mouth is drooling.
We currently use the 10-inch skillet and 12-inch skillet regularly. We also have and use the 14-inch pizza pan and reversible grill/griddle (mostly used for camping). On my wish list is this baby.
3. Stainless Steel Pots
When I’m not cooking with my cast iron, I’m stirring soups and making spaghetti sauce in my stainless steel pots.
I only have a three (large stock pot, soup pot, and small saucepan), and it seems to be all I need right now. I snagged both of them on clearance at a local shop a few years ago.
4. Crockpot
No kitchen is complete with a crockpot. There are so many meals you can make in a crockpot! It’s a big time saver on those busy days.
My favorite way to use my crockpot is for homemade bone broth (especially chicken). My crockpot is almost always running with stock. This is why I have two crockpots – one for stock and one for a meal. This one is my favorite though.
5. Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
My Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer is one of those kitchen tools that’s growing on me. Of course, I had to have it when I first got married, but I quickly learned that I had no idea how to use it!
However, with time I’ve come to really love my stand mixer. I use it for making my favorite homemade bread, crusty bread, pizza dough, and countless other bread recipes. It’s great for mixing meatloaf and meatballs. Not mention, a big batch of mashed potatoes is a cinch now!
There are days I still knead dough by hand, but sometimes it’s nice to have a little help!
6. Blendtec Blender
Purchasing our Blentec was one of our first purchases after changing our diet. This was back in the day when green smoothies were all the rave!
But more than that I wanted something to make homemade nut butters, hummus, make mayo, and maybe even butter. I really wanted something more than a blender for smoothies.
We hemmed and hawed over this purchase for months (perhaps more than a year?). We were fresh out of debt and wanted to pay cash for the blender, but was it really worth it?
We took the plunge, and not for a second have we ever regretted our decision. We’ve had this blender for going on five years and not a week goes by that we don’t put it to good use!
7. Excalibur Dehydrator
Another big purchase, but another one we haven’t regretted for a second. This dehydrator is great for making fruit leathers and dried fruit of any sort, jerky, yummy veggie snacks, and more. The possibilities are endless, and we’ve only just started diving into this world, but we are thoroughly enjoying learning more and more about how to use it to the utmost.
8. Glass Jars
My kitchen is overflowing with glass jars (both Ball and Kerr). I have jars ranging in size from half pint to gallon!
We store flour, nuts, dried fruit, and beans in them. We use glass jars for drinking glasses, vases, and catch all cups for pens and coins and receipts. But we also use them for jam, kombucha, pickle making, tincture brewing, and more.
Glass jars have endless uses and boy do I miss them right now!
9. Good Knives
A real food kitchen (or any kitchen for that matter) must have good knives!
I personally use and love Cutco because that’s what I sold in college. Yes. I sold Cutco. I was terrible at it, but I scored some amazing knives out of the deal. This knife is hands down my most used knife in the set.
10. Apron
Finally, no kitchen is complete with an apron. Call me old fashioned, but I love aprons. My personal favorite place to get aprons is from Flirty Aprons. Their aprons are the cutest!
Aprons always make it easier to work faster without worrying about my clothes and they just feel homey!
More of My Favorites:
I couldn’t fit all my favorites into just ten. Here are my close runner ups! I use these often and really, really enjoy having them.
Bamboo cutting boards (different sizes are helpful to have)
Coffee pot with grinder and French press
These are my favorite kitchen tools. Some of them were wedding gifts, some were amazing thrift finds, some given to us as anniversary gifts, and some we bought with our hard earned money.
But most important, I didn’t go out and buy all of this at once. We’ve slowly made changes as pots wear out, utensils break, and needs arise. If you’re just getting started on your real food journey, don’t try to buy everything all at once! I still have things on my list that I would love to have.
For instance, I’m drooling over …
This gorgeous dutch oven and these glass storage containers with lids and a Berkey water filtration system.
Maybe these will be added to our real food kitchen, maybe they won’t. Either way, we stay within our means and trust God with the thing we have accumulated in our ignorance but cannot yet replace.
What about you? What are your favorite kitchen tools?
This post is part of A Grace-Filled Look at Real Food series. See all the posts here.
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This post is right up my alley.
Yes to the garlic press, good knives, great blender (we have a Vitamix), and glass jars.
I have never thought of using the Kitchen aid for meatloaf or meatballs but that is a great idea!
I have wanted a dehydrator for years but haven’t convinced my husband yet. One day…
I would add that I love my enameled cast iron pot and my pasta maker, which really streamlines making fresh pasta at home.
Our best friends out here have the Berkey filter 🙂 It’s awesome! It’s on my list, too.
A big YES to the cast iron frying pans (in several sizes, including the small one I make cornbread in for the two of us), the good knives, the crock pot (2) and the glass jars. NO to the garlic press; I flatten it with a big chef knife and my fist to peel the cloves, then smack it again to mash it, and mince it up further with the knife as needed. I still have my old Osterizer blender that works fine, a food processor that came with my husband that I’m ambivalent about, and only a little hand mixer. I love my agate mortar and pestle for grinding spices, but I have an electric mill I use for seeds and things. I’d probably die without my microwave; don’t ask.
I love new kitchen gadgets! I don’t love cooking, but having the right utensils and appliances makes it a lot better, especially if I get to wear a cute apron! And I really love baking!