Tools of the Trade

I admit that I am no expert when it comes to homesteading but, I do have a couple of years under my belt and have gone through some trial and error which I'm hoping you can gain some knowledge from.

When it comes to gadgets in the kitchen I'm of the mindset that less is more. I do not like clutter on the counters. I prefer small appliance that I can slip into a cupboard or onto a shelf so their out of sight. This isn't always logical of course. But thankfully our kitchen is set up in a way that next to our fridge there is an expanse of counter that used to have a microwave on it, until we got the one over the stove fixed, and that we don't really utilize for much. This is where I store my most used appliances, including the coffee maker(!).

For you today I have four appliance that I deem absolutely necessary for successful homesteading. I'll tell you what I have, including the brand and what I use it for. Of course you will have to figure out what is most useful to your form of homesteading but hopefully this will give you some good ideas.

First up: A stand mixer

 

 

I have a kitchen Aid professional 600. It has the largest bowl and motor that they make. I don't necessarily think that everyone needs one this big, because this version is expensive, and if I was only using it for homesteading then I would have gone with a smaller one. But because I also bake and do other things for customers with it I needed something that was going to stand up against batch after batch of frostings. It comes with three attachments, a whip, a paddle and a dough hook. I use all of them, often. You can also buy a bunch of other attachments for it that will plug into its auxiliary port (?) I have one that grids oats into flour but there are literally tons of them. I love kitchen Aid appliances I think for the money you spend you really do pay for a quality product, and they always look cool. I use mine for making large batches of bread dough, and mixing up things like butter and of coarse for any baking that I do.

 

Second: A Food processor

 

Again I have the Kitchen Aid 11 cup food processor. I got this as a gift this past Christmas and honestly I don't know how I lived without one. I uses this on an almost daily basis. It is vital for mostly everything we do around here. It came with three blades and two slicing disks. I use it to make the dough for tortillas, for grating cheese, for making peanut butter and for making pie crusts. I flippin love this thing. And you might notice that its the exact same color as my mixer, which I also love - Color Coordination!!

 

Thirdly: A Dehydrator

I use this on an almost weekly basis. This is the Nesco digital dehydrator and came with four trays, but can hold up to 12. It is extremely quiet, you hardly even notice that its on and has a digital display that tells you the time you have left and the temp. I use this for the obvious things like dehydrating fruit (our favorite so far is Mango and Pineapple!) and herbs. A used to be a big fruit snacks eater, he would take two packs with him everyday in his lunch. But now that we have this I dehydrate some fruit on Sundays and he takes a sack of those instead. A healthy and unprocessed alternative.

The last thing on my list isn't really an appliance but I feel like it is necessary to making our homesteading project a success- a well organized success: A label maker

 

This is the DYMO letratag and I am a label maniac. HI my name is STEPHANIE and I am addicted to labeling things.... really I am. But I feel like it really does make things more organized and useful. when you know where everything is and what's in every jar then when it's time to make dinner its a much more streamlined process.

 

Here you can see I've labeled our spices (which we get from our local Amish store) and a couple of quart jars that I store beans in. Now see if these weren't labeled you'd have to pull out each one and look at the lids to make sure you are pulling out the right one. But now you can see them when you open the cabinet and just get out what you need.

Label maker = VITAL!

I guess you could also add a canner to this list but since I only use that for harvest season I don't really find it necessary all year long.

And there you have it my four vital tools for homesteading. What do you find vital in your kitchen?