Here are the best homestead kitchen tools to help you prepare delicious meals while you save time storing and preserving food.
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The Homestead Kitchen
The homestead kitchen is the lifeline of the home. It’s where the meals are prepared, food is preserved, and relationships are built.
Kitchen skills were once handed down through the generations. However, now they’re slowly becoming a thing of the past. I’m a public school teacher and I’m always surprised to learn that not many of my students know their way around a kitchen.
In our home, the kitchen is where my homesteading journey began. When Brent and I were first married, I learned how to make biscuits like my grandmother did. She made a pan of biscuits every day for her family, and that was something I loved about her.
Making those biscuits from scratch also gave me the confidence to cook other things from scratch. Being that we were also broke, I realized how much money I saved by cooking from scratch.
Before becoming a teacher, my first career was as a paramedic and registered nurse. I worked closely with critically ill patients and realized how much of an effect a poor diet has on the body.
Conventionally grown food is full of harmful chemicals, and the standard American diet isn’t real food at all. These combined experiences shaped my idea of what is healthy and influenced me to do as much as I could on my own.
Modern Homestead Kitchen Tools
It’s a great time to be in the homestead kitchen. We have so many more tools and technology than our grandparents ever did. Cooking from scratch was once a full-time job. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever to preserve food, store food, and prepare food fast.
Many of the old homestead kitchen tools are still relevant today, but there are also some modern ones that I can’t live without.
Homestead Baking Tools
I don’t know about you, but when I think of homesteading I think of baking bread. Biscuits were what got me started after all. Bread isn’t the only baking done in the homestead kitchen. Our oven does a lot of the heavy lifting for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Stand Mixer
I have quite a few essential tools for baking. The first is my stand mixer. I do everything in it from shredding chicken to kneading bread. It also whips up my tallow body lotion in no time. There are many different mixer options on the market, but I have always been a fan of Kitchen Aid because of the versatile attachments. It can be used for a lot of different homestead tasks.
Stoneware
When baking casseroles I love using stoneware. The heat distribution in stoneware baking dishes is much better than standard glass dishes. Don’t get me wrong, I love my glass baking dishes for freezer meals, but they can’t compete with quality stoneware. Just know that stoneware is very similar to cast iron in that it needs to be seasoned.
Bread Essentials
One of the first skills most new homesteaders learn is baking bread. Homemade bread is simple and much healthier than its store-bought counterpart. Very few tools are needed to bake bread, but my favorite gadgets for making beautiful sourdough loaves are a proofing basket, dough whisk, and a Dutch oven.
Not only is a Dutch oven great for making sourdough, but it also cooks other meals like a pot roast beautifully.
Cooking in the Homestead Kitchen
When you’re growing your food at home, and preparing meals from scratch, you need the right cookware to do it. After all, the goal is to grow, raise, and prepare healthy delicious food for your family.
Cookware
Cast iron cookware is by far my favorite for multipurpose use. You can cook on the stovetop, then easily transfer the dish to the oven. The cookware evenly distributes heat so you don’t get uneven cooking. It’s better than any nonstick cooking pan if it is seasoned.
It’s also easy to restore old cast iron cookware. I have several pieces that belonged to my grandmother and they’re still going strong.
If you need to season your cast iron, this is a great tutorial.
Pro-tip: Always preheat your cast iron before cooking on it. This is what makes it non-stick. Let it warm up on the stove or in the oven before cooking.
If cast iron isn’t your thing, I also use All-Clad stainless steel cookware. It’s a quality, low-maintenance, non-toxic cookware that will also be very versatile like cast iron. The best part is it’s dishwasher safe. I love old-fashioned skills, but I hate washing dishes by hand. Seriously, I could hug the creator of the dishwasher.
Homestead Kitchen Appliances
Several appliances are a must as far as modern homestead kitchen tools go. A food processor makes life so much easier. It’s great for making pie crust, salsas, relishes, soups, and whatever else you can dream up. I use mine the most during the summer when canning is in full force.
A vegetable chopper is another kitchen tool I can’t live without. I grow a lot of peppers and onions in my garden every year. The chopper helps me easily prep them for whatever dish I’m using them in. It also doubles as a mandolin for thinly sliced zucchini, eggplant, and potatoes.
Other kitchen appliances I can’t live without are a crockpot with a digital timer, An instant pot for getting quick meals on the table, and an air fryer for fast and healthy dishes. I love to cook collards, turnip greens, and rice in the instant pot. It cooks them so fast, and perfectly every time.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how my grandmother ever worked a full-time job and had a healthy meal on the table every night without these gadgets. They keep our little kitchen rolling along.
Canning and fermentation in the homestead kitchen
Canning
One of the most useful skills you can master in the homestead kitchen is food preservation. Canning just happens to be one of my favorite ways to preserve our harvest. It’s inexpensive, it doesn’t take up valuable freezer real estate, and it makes for a quick meal. Check out the 5 reasons you should be canning.
There are so many options on the market for canning equipment. Not going to lie, I want to upgrade to a larger pressure cooker one day. For now, my Presto pressure cooker does a fantastic job. It’s great for newbies because it’s basic and simple.
If you want a gold-standard pressure cooker, check out this huge All-American. It will hold double the amount of jars as my little Presto. There are also several digital set-it-and-forget-it pressure cookers on the market. What a time to be alive!
Other canning supplies I use regularly in my kitchen are Ball Canning jars, lids, and accessories. I’ve always used Ball because they are so easily accessible. If I run out of supplies, I just stop by my local grocery store and buy more.
If you are new to canning I also recommend their complete book of home preserving. Canning is a process that has to be followed to the T. Another great resource is the National Center for Home Food Preservation. I only use trusted sources when canning. Nobody has time for botulism!
Fermentation
Fermentation is a great skill to have in the homestead kitchen. It’s a healthy and safe way to preserve food without taking up valuable freezer space or using a canner.
Fermentation is a process that uses microorganisms to break down the sugars in the food. It converts them to alcohol which safely preserves the food. The organisms are also great for your digestive system.
The process of fermentation produces a lot of gasses, so fermentation lids are helpful to use. They keep your food from getting mold or debris while allowing the gasses to escape. a fermentation weight is also very useful for keeping the food below the brine.
Long-term food storage
We buy a lot of food in bulk to save money and trips to the grocery store. If you’re buying in bulk you’ll need a way to store your food long term. Mylar bags in 5 gallon buckets are great for storing flour, sugar, cornmeal, and other dry goods.
The bags absorb moisture, block sunlight, and prevent contamination from insects. Your supplies will be kept fresh for many years in that kind of storage. We store the buckets in our broom closet.
Rice can also be kept for many years as long as it’s in an air-tight container. I love these containers for storing rice, dried beans, and other dry goods in the pantry. They’re also prettier to look at than the standard packaging.
This is also a great way to keep your pantry well-stocked. Keeping supplies in your pantry will help you to cook more meals at home, and decrease your trips to the grocery store. You’ll also be ready for whatever snowstorm or government disaster is thrown your way.
Processing
We raise our own pork and chicken as well as hunting wild game. If you are going to process animals at home you’ll need some homestead kitchen tools to break them down.
Kitchen shears are one of the essential homestead kitchen tools for breaking down a chicken. It makes cutting along the backbones so much easier. A set of sharp knives is also essential to have on hand . I use this set in my kitchen and have had them for years. Quality products are worth the investment.
I also use a large cutting board for bigger cuts of meat or cutting up a lot of vegetables from the garden. A large board is also great on chicken processing day. It will keep your knives sharp longer as well as save any surface you’re cutting on.
Pretty things
I’ll be honest, I’m practical when it comes to the things I have in my kitchen, but having beautiful mixing bowls just makes me feel good. It’s so nice to be able to leave things out on the counter that are beautiful so the kitchen never really looks messy.
Copper measuring cups are the perfect mix of beautiful and practical. They’re very durable and will last a long time in your kitchen. I’ve cracked several plastic measuring cups over the years, so for me, they’re worth the investment.
Wooden spoons are another beautiful and practical kitchen tool. They’re durable, and less abrasive to surfaces than steel and metal. They also don’t heat up like metal utensils do. I think we’ve all made the mistake of leaving a metal spoon in a pot and then grabbing it.
I have a collection of old and new wooden spoons in my kitchen. They’re beautiful on my counter and great for cooking.
Large wooden and Stoneware Bowls are great for mixing, storing, and preparing food. They’re beautiful sitting out on your counter, but also durable to use every day. I love my wooden bread bowls. I keep them on my kitchen island to store fruits and veggies. I also use them for serving bread rolls. on the table. They’re both practical and durable.
Hand towels are the most underrated kitchen essential. They’re pretty lying by your sink, but they pull a lot of weight around the kitchen. They clean up spills, wipe hands, serve as a potholder, and moisture cloth for proofing sourdough bread. You really can’t have too many pretty hand towels around.
Closing
The homestead kitchen never sleeps. There’s always food to prepare, and tasks to complete. Having quality, multi-use, and beautiful kitchen tools will help you get your tasks done easier and faster.
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Here is a round-up of my favorite homestead kitchen tools
- Stand mixer
- versatile attachments
- Stoneware baking dishes
- Proofing basket
- Dough whisk
- Dutch oven
- Cast iron cookware
- All-Clad stainless steel cookware
- Food Processor
- Vegetable chopper
- Air fryer
- Instant pot
- Crockpot
- Presto pressure cooker
- The complete book of home preserving
- Fermentation Lids
- Airtight container
- Mylar bags
- Sharp knives
- Kitchen shears
- Copper measuring cups
- Wooden spoons
- Stoneware Bowls
- Hand towels
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