Chapter 8

Getting Started in the Kitchen

Having the right tools in your kitchen can make a big difference when it comes to making food preparation fun and easy. The key is to start with the basics and add more as you see a need. In this chapter, we’ll share with you what we use and the brands we feel are worth the money. Of course, we want you to feel comfortable in your kitchen, so please use what works best for you.

If you’re on a budget, know that there are many ways to get kitchen equipment affordably: thrift shops, eBay, Costco, garage sales, and swaps are all wonderful opportunities to treasure hunt for the most coveted kitchen gadgets.

The Basics for Every Kitchen

• Cutting board. (There are many affordable bamboo cutting boards available online and in kitchen stores.)
• Peeler—removes vegetable and fruit peels with ease.
• Chef’s knife. If you only have one knife, this is the one to choose. It tends to be one of the most-used knives in any kitchen, and it’s great for chopping fruits and vegetables.
• Paring/boning knife—to remove meat from bones or do detailed cutting work.
• Stainless-steel or glass bowls with airtight plastic lids, so you can prepare food and store it in your refrigerator.
• Ball jars. These are a great low-cost option for storing food or making cultured vegetables. We especially like the quart-sized wide-mouth jars. You can usually find these by the dozen in grocery stores. Alternatively, you could save glass jars from nut butters, raw cultured vegetables, and other foods and reuse.

The Stars: Helpful Kitchen Equipment We Use Daily

— Food processor. Your food processor can save you a lot of time. In fact, ours are the most-used pieces of equipment in our kitchens because they slice, dice, puree, and julienne in seconds. We have had good luck with our KitchenAid and Cuisinart brands.

— Excalibur dehydrator. Cookies, crackers, and snacks can be made in a food dehydrator and it’s extra nice for people who don’t want to watch over an oven, as there’s no worry about things burning in a dehydrator. The nine-tray Excalibur food dehydrator is helpful if you have a family, or if you want to make a lot of snacks at once that you can then store in your refrigerator or freezer. There are also four- and five-tray options for smaller kitchens.

— Vitamix blender. Louise makes the best smoothies in her Vitamix each day. This is a high-speed blender that does more than an average blender and is worth the extra price. It is a workhorse that grinds nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices and also makes nut butters, smoothies, and soups. Look for deals on eBay or at Costco. You may even find one at a garage sale, like some lucky people we know.

— Slow cooker. Each of us has bone broths, soups, and dinners cooking daily in our slow cookers. They make life really easy and do all the heavy lifting of cooking with no worries about burning a meal. Heather swears by her Crock-Pot with a timer, which has lasted for more than a decade. It allows four-, six-, eight-, and ten-hour timed cooking options and goes automatically to warm once it’s done. (The most handy slow cookers will have a timer feature like this.)

Be aware that there are some concerns that ceramic slow cookers may leach lead into food. Many of the manufacturers, like Hamilton Beach, are aware of this and have models they deem lead-free. You can also look into other options, like Instant Pot brand’s IP-DUO or IP-LUX options (which have 18/8 stainless-steel bowls and pots and can be used to slow cook like a Crock-Pot; to brown, steam, or sauté; or to pressure cook). Or go to MiriamsEarthenCookware.com and ask about a lead-free clay insert for your existing slow cooker.

Other Appliances to Consider

— Coffee grinder—for grinding herbs, spices, or small seeds like chia or flaxseeds.

— Juicer. The juicer made by Jack LaLanne is popular because it’s easier to use and clean than the Champion Juicer. However, the Champion is incredibly versatile and can make smoothies, nut butters, pâtés, and other foods. Some say it’s one of the best and most versatile out there (and also easy to use).

— Braun immersion blender. At least 400 watts is strong enough to easily make soups and pâtés. This handheld blender also comes with an attachment so you can make smoothies, which is very handy if you want to make them while you’re traveling.

Kitchen Tools

Instead of running out and buying everything you think you’ll need, start preparing food and see what would be most helpful to you. Many of these pieces can be purchased in thrift shops or at garage sales if you like to treasure hunt for good deals.

• Glass or Pyrex baking dishes (avoid aluminum and nonstick bakeware)
• Stainless-steel colander
• Garlic press
• Box grater or fine grater (we recommend the Microplane brand). If you have a food processor, you may not need this often, unless you want to grate whole spices, lemon peel, or other small jobs.
• Stainless-steel measuring cups and spoons
• Glass or stainless-steel mixing bowls (avoid plastic). Get a really deep one if you will be using a hand blender. It might also help to get bowls with tops to store foods after blending them up.
• Pyrex glass bowls with plastic airtight tops for food storage
• Silicone baking dishes. Silicone baking sheets have many uses: If you have a food dehydrator, they are nonstick and can replace the toxic teflex sheets that come with the dehydrator. You can use them in your oven to line a cookie sheet or bake a bread or cake as well. There are also silicone waffle sheets, cake pans, and bread-loaf pans —all of which are very easy to work with and affordable.
• Salad spinner—to dry lettuce and vegetables after washing.
• Silicone rubber spatula—to scrape those last bits of sauce, batter, oil, and other goodies off the sides of bowls, your food-processor container, pots, and pans.
• Fine mesh strainer. Oxo and other brands make a fine, double-mesh strainer that is very helpful for draining soaked grains that could fall through the holes of a colander.
• Whisk—great for mixing things to a light and fluffy consistency.
• Stainless-steel spatula. This is a much better alternative than using plastic with hot foods, since plastic can leach toxins into your food.
• A good set of knives—consisting of a 5" serrated utility knife, 8" chef’s knife, paring knife, kitchen scissors, and a knife sharpener.
• Pots and pans. While all pots and pans have pros and cons, we end up going to 18/10 stainless steel the most. It’s lighter than Le Creuset (a really great option, but heavy!), affordable, and one of the least toxic options. Good chefs know you don’t have to buy fancy brands like All-Clad to get great stainless-steel pans; look for deals on Cuisinart and Winware three-ply pans and skillets. The types of pans we use most often are: a braising pan, a skillet, and a saucepan. If you don’t have a Crock-Pot, you will likely want a large stockpot for making bone broths and soups.
• Cook-and-serve stovetop ceramic pots/bowls. These are Ahlea’s favorite time saver. Heat up soup or leftovers on the stovetop, and then eat right from the same soup pot—less cleaning! Xtrema brand makes ceramic 16-ounce soup pots and sells them in sets of four.

Avoid nonstick pans, but still get easy cleanup: We recommend avoiding nonstick pans because they’re coated with toxic Teflon. You can clean up stainless-steel pans and skillets very easily by cooking low and slow. Even eggs come off easily if you cook them this way (which also makes them healthier and easier to digest!), and remove the eggs and allow the pan to cool a bit so you can safely touch it. Then use some hot water, dish liquid (we use Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps to wash dishes), and a scouring sponge to clean off the eggs. They should come off quickly and easily, especially if you didn’t overcook them. If you did overcook the eggs or used too high a temperature when cooking, add some soapy water to the skillet, put the pan with soapy water back on your stovetop, and put the heat on medium, allowing the water to heat up. Now use your stainless-steel spatula to scrape the pan and it should come right off!

Food Storage for Trips Away from Home

There are so many wonderful options these days for taking food with you to work or on trips or for carrying healthy sea salt, spices, and condiments to restaurants. We recommend looking for stainless steel, silicone, and glass wherever possible —although there are sometimes good reasons to use plastic containers, as long as you don’t use them with hot foods. Here are some of our favorites that you can find at Amazon.com or in camping stores:

— Silicone Go-Gear travel containers. These two- or three-ounce containers are great for carrying healthy oils or pureed snacks, like Louise’s Healing Asparagus Puree.

— Stainless-steel containers with lids. These come in a variety of sizes, from four ounces on up. The options with plastic lids are more airtight.

— Wide-mouth insulated “bowl” containers. LunchBots brand makes small wide-mouth insulated 16-ounce dishes so you can store warm breakfast, lunch, or dinner meals for hours on the road without any plastic touching your food. Carry burgers, soups, stews, grains, or anything you want to enjoy warm while traveling or at work.

— Wide-mouth soup and beverage containers. These are great for keeping soups, bone broths, veggie broths, and teas hot. Look for a stainless-steel or glass-inner container so that no plastic is touching your food. Some brands to check out are Thermos or Nissan, and for tea or broth, Klean Kanteen.

— Insulated lunch bag. There are many of these on the market today, and thankfully, some stylish ones as well. Heather’s favorite is the black Crew Cooler Jr. by eBags.com because it’s a professional-looking lunch bag with extra compartments for water, supplements, cutlery, and napkins.

— Spice jars. These are great for carrying sea salt and fresh ground pepper for meals at work or restaurants.

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