Bits and Pieces II

 

Appliance Parts and Cooking Tools

This post is about the different appliances that will be necessary to have to make life more comfortable.  We will be living without electricity if the power grid is down.  So let’s look at the necessities in the kitchen first.

Kitchen gadgets, tools, and food preparation equipment.  -  Can openers, are super important items to have but make sure the can openers you buy are quality hand crank can openers.  I suggest Swing Away brand as they last for years and years being used every day.  I always hated electric can openers because they always got dirty and would have to be taken apart to wash the cutting mechanism and then the rest would have to be wiped off plus they took up space on my small countertop.  You do have to wash your can openers because food bits build up and can get bacteria in your food as you open the cans.  I suggest that you keep a stiff brush to scrub the cutting mechanism and soak in bleach water once in awhile to disinfect.  I also take a metal skewer to scrape around the blades and such to make sure all the crud is removed.  By the way you can buy a wall mounted Swing Away Can Opener at Amazon for $21.00 plus shipping if you are interested.  My mom had one when I was a kid but I prefer the ones you can put in the drawer because they are easier to clean and while I have electricity I can throw them in my dishwasher once a week to sanitize them.

Next item I think will be very important is the cast iron cookware.  It is practically indestructible if you keep them seasoned and learn how to season the new ones.  You can also buy old rusty ones and scrub them down and start from scratch on the seasoning.  If you can get Grandma’s cast iron skillet that is well seasoned you are going to be a lucky person.   There are sites on the internet that will show you how to season them.  Cast iron can cook on any heat method available with the exception of a microwave.  Study up on cast iron cookware and the different styles of cooking that can be done with them from making your soups and stews to using as a deep fat fryer and even as an oven to bake your cakes and breads.  Wonderful for when we have to cook over a fire or propane or a rocket stove after the stuff hits the fan.  Make sure to buy a few small cast iron trivets to put in the bottom of your cast iron dutch oven. They will be good to put your bread pan or cake pan on so the heat can circulate all around your breads or cakes.  You don’t want to put your pan directly on the bottom of cast iron or they will burn on the bottom and not cook evenly.

Number 3 on my list is good knives.  You will be using your knives for butchering, skinning, chopping, peeling, slicing, etc.  Get some good carbon steel and or stainless steel knives and a good whet stone to sharpen it with.  A steel to add a good edge is a good idea as well.  Just ask any chef and he will tell you his most prized possessions are his knives.  This is another time you should look up on the internet how to sharpen and care for your knives.   

Next let’s look at grain mills.  There are many kinds of grain mills but I would suggest you get one with a large hopper so you don’t have to spend so much time filling them over and over again.  Also you should have a hand crank grinder since there is always that possibility of power outage which will be temporary or semi permanent.  If there is ever a CME/EMP then it will be relatively permanent for up to several years. I am afraid that is even an optimistic assessment of what will be happening.  Of course it all depends on how widespread the CME/EMP effect will be.   I have a Country Living Grain Mill and love it but they are expensive and I had to save for over a year to buy it.  I also bought the corn and nut auger to make it more versatile.  I also bought the extra parts that they offer so that I would have replacements to keep it operational even it I broke a part.  So look at the very best that you can afford and think about replacement parts on anything that could break on it.

Pressure canners will be important if you want to preserve food without refrigeration.  Dehydration in the drier and warmer months is an options but food  spoils in a very humid/wet climate before it dehydrates.  My first choice for most foods is to can/bottle them.  If you hunt you will have lots of meat to preserve.  If you have very cold climates that stay below freezing for a few months then you could hang your meat in a shed or garage to freeze.   Otherwise you will be back to the canning process.  There are many brands of pressure canners.  I have a Presto, Mirror and All American canner and I will bet you can guess which one is my favorite.  My husband bought me a 921 series All American for my birthday this year.  It doesn’t have a gasket so I won’t have to stock up on extra gaskets for it and it hold 2 layers of pints or 3 layers of the small half pint jars.  This is going to be a great year of canning for me and I won’t have as many hassles doing it!  I still need to buy a few replacement parts for it to have on hand like bolt down handles and the pressure weight.

Meat grinders are probably going to be very useful items.  It my husband has a chance to kill a deer I will be able to make ground meat and cook my normal dishes with it.  I would miss ground meat if we ran out of my canned ground meats.  It would take way too much time to chop the meat finely by hand to make spaghetti sauce or chili. 

Hand cranked food processors are also a time saver.  I have two of them and I can make cole slaw in a flash or slice onions, potatoes, or carrots in a flash as well.  It also grates cheese finely or coarsely as well.  Love it! Also make sure you have one or two good box graters as well.  They sometimes come in very handy.

Air tight containers would be very helpful to keep bugs out and freshness in for things such as flour, sugar, coffee, and corn starch.  You can keep butter on the counter if you keep it in a container with a tight fitting lid.  Butter will last for about 2 weeks if kept in a cool dark corner.  Salted butter lasts longer than the unsalted variety.  I am getting ready to home can some butter with my new canner.  I will can it in half pints.  If the butter is kept sealed in these containers with the rest of the vegetables and meats in a dark cool pantry it will last for a year or more.

I am sure there are many more handy little gadgets like potato peelers, French fry makers, citrus squeezers, zesters, garlic presses and lots of other things.  If you have them already and use them then keep them and continue to use them.  Otherwise you could probably live without them if necessary. 

Coffee makers are an item most people can’t live without.  Yes, you could just boil your coffee in a pot but most people prefer drip coffee now-a-days.  You can buy non-electric coffee makers both drip and percolators.  I found a stainless drip coffee maker at Lehman’s for $90 but I found a speckleware percolator at a thrift store for $20.  I have made a makeshift drip coffee maker by putting a strainer on top of a pot put a coffee filter and the coffee in the strainer.  Then I poured boiling water in the strainer and let it drip.  It worked great.  You might come up with a better idea yourself if you think about it.  The last thing I would suggest is for you to stock up on whole coffee beans in bulk and buy a hand cranked coffee mill.  I have read that whole beans will last for years and won’t go bad. 

The last couple of things I want to suggest are toasters and mixers.  You can buy camp toasters which you put near a fire and then flip the bread to toast the other side. Works good but has to be watched closely.  The last thing is the mixer.  Without electricity you might consider buying a good new egg beater for mixing batters.  Whisks will do most other jobs.  Buy a few good wooden spoons for mixing stiff doughs and batters.

I guess that is about all for this post on “Bits and Pieces”.  Check back for other things later.