Small appliances that make homemade, from-scratch food simple.
Many say I was born in the wrong era, but I don’t think that’s entirely true. Yes, I love spending my time making everything I can from scratch, foraging plants, and finding new ways to simplify my life. But the thing many people miss is all of the help I have. Without today’s technology I wouldn’t be able to accomplish all I do, and I don’t think I would want to. Would I make fresh bread nearly every day if I had to knead it myself? Probably not. Would I pressure can my leftovers if I had to stand near the stove for hours to monitor the pressure? Doubtful. Here I will share my favorite small appliances that allow me to multitask and make these old-school tasks a whole lot easier.
I have linked to each of the products on Amazon to make it easy for you to get your hands on them!
This electric pressure canner was one of my first purchases and it changed a whole lot in my kitchen, and continues to today. If you have a busy schedule, always forget to take something out to thaw for dinner, or find yourself choosing take out because you don’t feel up to cooking that day…this is for you! This is probably the most versatile appliance I have and allows me to preserve and cook all kinds of food.
I primarily use my canner for pressure canning, but it has many other functions as well. With a slow cook setting, pressure cook setting, pressure can setting, and waterbath setting, this one appliance can replace your Instantpot, crockpot, and waterbath canner.
The pressure can setting allows me to preserve leftovers such as chili, meatballs, or soups and can meats, potatoes, veggies, and sauces to build a pantry of staples that are always accessible to me. This makes preparing dinner as simple as popping open a jar or two and warming it up!
The waterbath setting can be used for jams, jellys, salsa, pickles, some sauces, and anything else you’d normally waterbath. The best part about this is that you don’t have to take up a burner on your stove or worry about damaging your glass stove top with a giant pot.
The slow cook setting functions just like a crockpot. With a time setting that goes up to 10 hours you won’t have to worry about being home to turn it off when your meal is done. This is my go-to for making delicious, nutrient-filled bone broth that is later pressure canned for storage.
The pressure cook setting functions the same as other pressure cookers. So that means all of your go-to Instantpot recipes are totally compatible.
This is so much more than a blender! A magical machine that can cook, blend, and clean itself is a dream come true. The functions on this machine allow you to make a frozen cocktail, warm hot chocolate or cider, ice cream, chunky or smooth soups, apple sauce or other fruit purees and much more.
Imagine making a hearty soup in 30 minutes that requires nothing more than chopping and adding the raw ingredients (yes, even the meat). Whether it is carrots, celery, potatoes, or meat, they seem to cook perfectly every time.
Apple sauce and fruit purees can be as simple as chopping the raw apples into quarters or adding fresh or frozen fruit to the pitcher and selecting the sauce option. Another family favorite sauce is the cheese or alfredo sauce. A simple recipe with no whisking required! And best of all is the option to totally customize it to your taste buds with spices or a variety of cheeses.
To top it off, this fantastic blender cleans itself in under 7 minutes.
Fresh bread is one thing I have never been successful with. After years of trying countless recipes I had accepted that bread was just not my thing. All of that changed when I tried the bread maker! Thanks to this appliance we enjoy fresh bread, cinnamon buns, pasta and more almost every day.
The best way I have found to use the bread maker is on the dough setting. I add the ingredients and let the machine do the work. After 90 minutes I simply shape the dough and transfer it to pans to rise, then bake in the oven. It is absolutely possible to bake your loaf right in the machine, but the loaves seem to be an awkward shape for us (still delicious though).
This appliance has 13 modes that allow you to make a range of breads and dough, pasta, pretzels, pizza crust, coffee cake, jams, and glazes!
I love this one so much that I have 2! I dove into dehydrating with zero experience which meant I did a ton of research. The best features of this dehydrator are the easy to clean stainless steel racks, back fan for even drying, wide range of temperature and time settings, and extremely low noise. The addition of these silicone mats make things even easier!
We enjoy dried fruit, fruit leather, yogurt drops and jerky as snacks. I also dry vegetables and herbs to use in cooking and other preparations. You also have the option to experiment with other foods to create backpacking (just add water) meals.
All of these appliances feature a ‘set and forget’ aspect, which is why I love them. Often you will find all of these running at the same time in my kitchen. So yes, it is possible to preserve last night’s leftovers, make fresh bread and hearty homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, and be drying snacks for tomorrow’s lunches all while you’re enjoying time with your family or folding your laundry.
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