Manual Kitchen Tools For Off Grid Living
Whether you’re a homesteader, survivalist, prepper, or simply into self sufficient living… manual kitchen tools are a must-have. At least the essential ones.
Kitchen Tools Without Electricity
Electricity. Electric appliances. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! We have our share of electric kitchen ‘tools’ and appliances that sure do make life easier. However, what if there was no electricity? Be it a grid down scenario, or a desire to live less reliant upon it, lets brainstorm which manual kitchen tools we might need…or want.
I’m going to start with a list of manual kitchen tools off the top of my head in no particular order. Add your suggestions in the comments below.
Coffee
I just finished a cup of coffee. Freshly ground coffee beans from the electric grinder went into the electric drip coffee maker to produce a wonderful cup. No electricity? Well, I see three options. Cowboy coffee, Percolated coffee, or a French press. And, a coffee bean hand grinder with plenty of beans in storage :=) Or, a supply of freeze dried coffee (grin).
[ Read: Green Coffee Beans Long Term Storage | Shelf Life | How-to Roast ]
Manual Can Opener
Here’s an important manual kitchen tool… We’re all pretty used to our electric can opener, right? Sure is convenient. I keep several manual can openers too. One is none, two is one… What about the old Shelby P-51? Got some of those too, although not as easy as a good hand crank can opener.
OXO Good Grips Soft-Handled
(popular on amzn)
[ Read: P-38 or P-51 Can Opener – Handy, Compact for Emergency Kit ]
Hand Grain Mill – Grinder For Wheat (and other)
Do you make your own bread? Do you do it all from scratch? Sometimes we do. Although we certainly take advantage of our electric bread machine too. Where does the bread flour come from? Well, we also utilize our electric grain mill to grind our wheat into flour.
With that said, we also have a hand grain mill to get the job done without electricity. It takes longer. Crank, crank, and more cranking… But it works! I wrote about some good choices for these, which may interest you.
[ Read: Hand Grain Mill Choices For Wheat – Flour – Grains ]
Sifter
Speaking of grinding wheat into flour, a sifter is a good manual kitchen tool. You just add flour and turn the crank. Makes for a fluffier bread because it grinds out any remaining clumps.
Stainless Steel 3 Cup Flour Sifter
(most recommended on amzn)
Manual Meat Grinder Kitchen Tool
Processing that game meat without electricity? Or processing livestock? Grinding up meat combinations? Making sausage? Feed meat into the grinder and place a plate or bowl beneath the blades to catch the ground meat…
Stainless Steel Manual Meat Grinder
(well rated on amzn)
Mortar and Pestle Set
You’re probably growing some of your own herbs. And you’ve probably got a storage of bulk spices, some of which may need grinding. A natural marble mortar and pestle set to easily grind herbs, spices.
Natural Marble Stone, Grinder and Crusher
(amzn)
Mandoline Slicer
Slice or shave vegetables, potatoes, you name it… Just be careful with it! One reason I use a Mandoline is for consistent slices for my food dehydrator.
Adjustable Mandoline with cut-resistant gloves
(Gramercy Kitchen Co. editors choice on amzn)
Manual Rotary Egg Beater
You know the kind… the egg beaters with the crank handle. A sturdy hand mixer easily mixes up ingredients for smaller baking jobs and other tasks, without the use of electricity.
OXO Good Grips
(best seller)
Mechanical Kitchen Timer
Not digital (like everything these days), but a mechanical kitchen timer. Remember the kind where you turn the dial and it dings when its done? I’ve got one of those…
Visual Mechanical Kitchen Timer
(unique visual timer)
Camp Stove and Camp Oven
Maybe you’re going to cook over fire. Or maybe you have a LP tank and stove/oven. So you’re all set with those kitchen tools. But if you don’t, you’re going to need a stove burner. A camp oven would be nice too (yes, Coleman makes one). I also have a SOLO rocket stove, which heats up incredibly fast with just some twigs.
[ Read: Best Butane Stove For Indoor Use – Single Gas Burner ]
Coleman Camp Oven
(amzn)
Analog Kitchen Scale
Talking about manual kitchen tools… A dial kitchen scale with ounces and pounds easily readable. Great for the big and little projects from portioning foods or weighing garden yields.
Taylor Precision Stainless Steel
(Iconic food scale via Taylor Precision amzn storefront)
Manual Pasta Maker
Feel like making some pasta dough and feeding it through a pasta machine for homemade noodles? Spaghetti, Fettuccini, Lasagna or Dumpling Skins? We’ve had a pasta maker for years… It’s fun to experiment.
Pasta Maker
(amzn)
Big Berkey Countertop Water Filter
I should have put this first! There’s nothing more important than safe drinking water! We’ve been filtering all of our drinking water with this for more than a decade. A highly recommended purchase that will last a very long time.
Solar Oven
I built my first solar oven many years ago. Actually, I built several (trying to improve the design). I also bought one which could actually get up to 375 degrees-F on a good day. Anyway, it beats having to use fuel to cook, assuming you’ve got a sunny day and it’s not the middle of winter (depending on where you live)…
[ Read: All American Sun Oven Solar Cooker 10+ Years Later ]
Okay you off-gridders, homesteaders, and preppers… What else would be food manual kitchen tools?