>>Would you be able to write a list of all the handy kitchen gadgets you own that help in your food preparation and preservation?<<
Sure, I’ll be happy to. I’ll preface by saying I’m not into gadgets – if I don’t need it, I don’t want it around. So my list won’t be very long.
Pressure canner – I think this is the most valuable kitchen tool I have. It doubles as a pressure cooker, making cooking beans or any other food super quick, and it enables me to can any food I can think of. That means I can buy lots of fruit, vegetables, or meat when the price is right and have a safe method to preserve it for using at my convenience at a later time. It wasn’t an expensive purchase, and even combined with the cost of all the jars/lids that I bought, it didn’t take us more than a couple of months before the free/inexpensive food we were able to take advantage of because we had a way to deal with it that we recouped our expenses. The more expensive the food you can, the faster you recoup the costs. Being able to can meat at sale prices has been a major money saver. I have the Presto 23 quart model.
Canning jars – this connects with the above. In addition to obviously using them for canning, I use them for making kefir soda and making lacto fermented vegetables. Also good for storing grains, nuts, etc. They look nice on the shelf. 🙂
Dehydrator – another very valuable food preservation tool. Also saves us lots of money but I can’t say that we’ve recouped our costs yet. I’m planning to give it a good workout this summer and fall to take advantage of cheap produce – I didn’t have this model yet last summer and relied mostly on canning as a preservation technique. I have the Excalibur 9 tray version.
Apple peeler/slicer/corer – this was very useful for us when we were able to get many, many pounds of free apples; it made processing the apples for canning much easier. If you don’t need it for a lot of apples, it’s not necessary at all. I have two, one from Pampered Chef and one from a company that I can’t remember – I paid $6 for one and $7 for another. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to put them to use again this fall!
Food processor – we eat a lot of vegetables and this saves lots of time in preparing them. I got a manual one to replace the electric one when it broke, but some kind of fast way to slice/chop/shred vegetables is very helpful for me. Since the manual model chops and grinds but doesn’t slice and shread, there’s still room for me to get the electric model, which I’ll only do when the price is right.
Grain grinder – because I like the nutritional aspect of freshly ground flour, this is a valuable addition for us. We have the Nutrimill.
Blender – useful for making smoothies, homemade mayonnaise.
Handheld blender – I keep my main blender pareve and like being able to blend dairy soups with this.
Good set of knives – I wouldn’t have put this on the list if you asked me a month ago. But I just bought a new set since the knives we got as a wedding gift started to break. The new ones are lousy even though they are the same company that made the originals and I really see what a difference good knives make (if anyone has recommendations for good knife sets in a moderate price range, please share!).
Griddle – this covers two burners on the stove and makes it possible for me to cook pancakes much faster than in a regular frying pan since I have more surface frying area.
There are other things I have which are useful, like a manual cherry pitter or a waffle iron, but they fall into the category of convenient but an extra. You have to be careful about spending lots of money on unnecessary kitchen items. Even if you get them for free, there’s the hidden cost of the space they take up. To me, they have to be very useful to justify the room in the cabinets they use. There are things like breadmakers that I don’t personally find to be of value that others swear by, so there’s really no universal list of what everyone needs.
If I had to recommend two kitchen tools that I think are worth buying for the person interested in saving money on food, it would be the canner and dehydrator. Since I got these, I feel like my food costs are going down while the amount I can buy goes up. But you have to have an idea what you’d do with them once you get them! They won’t save you any money sitting on the shelf.
Avivah
hi avivah! i have had superb luck with knives from chicago cutlery- they are moderately priced and i found mine at target. i bought 2 packages (one was paring knives in different sizes and one was different slicing knives) and i was delighted with both. then i splurged on a large carving knife, which i love love love. i was never spoiled with knives before, but i am now, and nothing so far from them has been overpriced. also, we have a food processor that we got from walmart for under $30 and it has served us perfectly fine for years and years. i know people who hesitate to buy a “cheapie” food processor, and i must confess that i have never used or owned a fancy one, but ours had been reliable and has stood up to lots of wear and tear. so, maybe you won’t have to wait quite as long to get a food processor… enjoy the knives!!
I have heard very good things about the Forschner Fibrox line (Cooks Illustrated, the foodie geek magazine, always rates them up there with the 150$ knives). I, myself, have the fancy schmancy knives as people gave them to me as wedding and other gifts as everyone knows I love to cook and good knives are such a bracha to use. I hate going to my friends’ kitchens since most of them only have junky knives which are not sharp — I take my knives whenever I go on vacation! Make sure you get a sharpener if you don’t have one — they are only 15-20$ and then learn how to use them (the internet has good video instructions)
My mother offered to stock, my kitten for my wedding, and we got my knives from a restaurant supply store. I just went to the store, picked up knives until I found ones that felt comfortable in my hands. They’re some off-brand, and they were cheap, but they’re great. Restaurant supply stores usually have kitchen tools that just last and last.
Now I use special knives with bent handles because of my arthritis, but I don’t like them very much. They’re not that sharp.
For pitting cherries, I’ve found it much faster to put on a pair of rubber gloves (so I don’t stain my hands) and pit them with my fingers. It’s very fast once you get the hang of it.
Hi, do you know of a reasonably priced website to buy the canning supplies from?
Avivah I recommend Victorinox knives. I have had mine for 6 years and am now looking for new ones ( I left my set at my parent’s in Canada when we made aliyah – talk about a major oversight!) for here in Israel. Also a good sharpening stone will keep your knives in good condition.
http://www.victorinox.ch/index.cfm?site=victorinox.ch&page=504&lang=E
Thanks for all the tips on the knives! Dd13 asked if she could research the knives for me so I pointed her to all your comments and set her loose. (Ja’el, I didn’t see your recommendation in time, but I’ll keep it mind for the future!) She looked at the feedback on different knives, and found an inexpensive set on overstock.com that got very good reviews and I told her I was willing to order them based on her research. If they’re decent, I’ll let you all know!
Ita – are you in Israel? Because if so, the weight of the canning jars is going to be a major expense. And regarding the other items, you’ll be best off researching sites for the best prices that will take into account shipping. If you’re in the US, Walmart is an inexpensive source of the jars and jar lifter. Fillmore container (online) is the cheapest online source I’ve found for lids. And I got the canner at Amazon for $80 with free shipping. Hope this helps!
http://www.amazon.com/Presto-23-Quart-Aluminum-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B0000BYCFU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1250093061&sr=8-1
Thanks Aviva.. Is this the pressure cooker/canner you have? On imamother someone was saying it’s not good b/c it’s aluminum..
Is it smart to order the jars online as I will be verrry pressed for time when I am there?
Thanks so much !
One question though, do you make all your breads/muffins pareve? If not, how do you use the jelly made in a meat pressure cooker/canner on bread that was made in a dairy oven?
Ita – yes, the Presto is the one I have. I don’t know why someone on imamother said it would be a problem; since the food you process in a canner doesn’t touch the pot it doesn’t really matter! Understanding how the canning process works ties in to your second question, also. Jelly isn’t *made* in a canner, it’s *processed* in clean closed jars in the clean canner. Hope that helps you understand what the shailah would be, so you can accurately describe it to your rav.
Yesterday someone told me when she looked at buying the 1/2 pint jars online, it worked out to .80 cents a jar plus .80 per jar for shipping – and that was for shipping within the States. So shipping will double your costs. I’d really recommend just heading to the closest Walmart wherever you’ll be, but you know if your money or your time will be tighter.
Thanks. I am still new at this stuff as I haven’t had the chance to try it yet!
Avivah– Love your blog. I like the Lamson Sharp knives. YOu can get them online at a cook’s wares or at PCD (professional cutlery direct). I got my favorite chef’s knife for a song at the Oregon State Fair many years ago.