9 Must-Have Real Food Kitchen Tools
Today I’m sharing 9 must-have real food kitchen tools to help you cook healthy food from scratch!
I’ve had an interest in real food cooking ever since my teen years. It all started with a book about whole foods that my dad gave me. That, and the weekly trips to the health food store with my mom.
One of the first skills I acquired was learning how to make my own bone broth (which I now make in the Instant Pot).
From there, I moved on to grinding my own grain, making whole grain bread, fermenting food, making sourdough bread, and other from scratch cooking.
Real Food Kitchen Tools
Cooking from scratch and making nourishing, traditional food requires some special tools. Today I wanted to share my 9 must-have real food kitchen tools.
Some of these tools are newer additions to our kitchen, and others have been around for 20 years!
Here are my favorite kitchen tools.
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Berkey Water Filter
One of my main must-have tools would be our Berkey Water Filter. We’ve been using a Berkey for over 20 years.
To me, having clean and safe water to drink makes this a non-negotiable item in our kitchen. With seven people in our home, our Berkey sees a ton of use!
We have the Royal Berkey size, which works well for our family of seven.
Vitamix Blender
We bought our Vitamix around 15 years ago during a time when my husband was dealing with some health issues.
In an effort to heal his gut, we bought the Vitamix, and it’s been seeing almost daily use ever since!
Our whole family uses the blender to make smoothies and other healthy concoctions, so it is used all the time. It’s been very durable and one of the best purchases we’ve ever made.
Grain Mill
Out of all the kitchen tools mentioned in this post, our grain mill is one we use a lot.
We bought our first grain mill when I was pregnant with my second oldest daughter, and she’s now in her 20s!
Early in our marriage, I had read that grains lose many nutrients and become rancid shortly after being ground into flour. Therefore, to preserve the freshness and potency of the grains, a grain mill seemed like a good idea.
We didn’t have a lot of money in those days, so my husband looked around and found a used grain mill for about $70. It was owned by a family who ran a mail-order health business, and it had been gently used.
Since then, we’ve upgraded and I use my grain mill to make my own fresh flour.
We buy wheat berries and other grains from our food co-op Azure Standard and grind our own flour whenever we need it.
Bosch Mixer
We’ve had our Bosch Universal mixer for 20 years, and it’s still going strong!
It’s made so many loaves of whole grain homemade bread through the years! I love that I can make 6 loaves of this recipe at a time with this mixer to knead all that dough.
Since my mixer is 20 years old, it looks slightly different than the updated design of the Bosch Universal here, but it works the same way.
Stainless Steel Cookware
Years ago we switched out all our non-stick pots and pans with stainless steel ones. We bought a basic set of high-quality stainless steel cookware (similar to this one), and they are in use on a daily basis.
My favorite piece of stainless steel cookware is my 12-quart stock pot. I love it and use it often for making homemade, nourishing soups and stews.
Cast Iron Skillet
Our cast iron skillet is another item that’s been with us for many years, and it will probably be here forever.
I just love the durability and classic look of cast iron!
Instant Pot
I’ve had my Instant Pot for a few years now, and it has quickly become one of my favorite real food kitchen tools.
With this one piece of equipment I can make boiled eggs, bone broth, a whole chicken, apple butter, elderberry syrup, and so much more!
We have this Instant Pot.
Mason Jars
I use Mason jars for everything! My mom gave me several boxes of the half-gallon size and I love using them to organize the pantry.
In addition to organizing, I also use Mason jars to store bone broth in the freezer, for fermenting, and so many other things.
We even use the smaller 8 ounce jars as drinking glasses!
These are definitely essential in my kitchen!
Fermenting Accessories
When I first started making sauerkraut, I didn’t even use any weights. I just followed the instructions in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. And it worked just fine!
But since then I’ve discovered a few fermenting accessories that make the whole process simpler.
I love these fermenting weights and these airlock lids for making all sorts of fermented foods.
I enjoy making homemade fermented pickles, water kefir, and other fermented foods.
A Few More Must-Haves
I didn’t list these above, but I still love having access to them in my kitchen!
Ice Cream Maker: We’ve had this Cuisinart ice cream maker for over 10 years now, and it makes homemade healthy ice cream so much easier!
Food Processor: My mother-in-law blessed me with a food processor which worked fine for a few years but finally broke down. We then replaced it with this food processor, which we really like.
Glass Food Storage Containers are another must-have for kitchens.
Shop Real Food Kitchen Tools
I’d love to hear what your list of must-have real food kitchen tools would include!
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Nice list. I use the mason jars, cast iron skillet and stainless steel cookware. I will have to catch up on some of the others. TFS with #omhgww
Mason jars, cast iron, and stainless steel are definitely so useful! Thanks for stopping by, Clearissa!
I didn’t think of mason jars to organize the pantry but I like that idea! My favorite things in my kitchen are my instant pot (One month old and I love that thing!!), my stainless steel pans and my ninja!
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Thanks for sharing your favorite kitchen tools, Mireille!
You have quite the arsenal here.
I do love my canning jars, and I also use them for everything!
Canning jars are the best and most versatile!
Vitamix, InstaPot and mason jars are staples at my house. Love them!
They’re so useful to have around!
Living off the grid my list is a bit shorter, but cast iron and stainless steel pots and pans, and mason jars are on my shelf. – Margy
Awesome that you live off the grid!
Great post! 🙂
We love our Berkey water filter too. A dear friend gave it to us 7 or so years ago and it has seen daily use since. One of the things I love best about it (other than great tasting water), is because it holds so much, you don’t have to constantly refill it like the smaller filtered pitchers. We used those for several years before we go the Berkey and boy, was it a pain to always be filling it everytime you wanted a drink.
Thank you, Katie! How nice that your friend gave you a Berkey! I agree, it’s so convenient to not have to be constantly refilling it.