kitchen tools

KITCHEN TOOLS
First, please mark on your calenders that tomorrow is a guest article. Please only leave butt sucking comments so as not to scare off one of my few remaining writers willing to share for free. Second, although this should be obvious stuff no one really listens to me. So I give you links to other authors telling you the same thing. In this case, that resource wars are normal and soon your asparagus patch is going to be violently attacked. http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication_details&id=2876.
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I was inspired to write this from reading the Three Amigo Survivalists at www.tslrf.blogspot.com . Thanks, guys, for plugging the Bison. Do you have the necessary tools in your kitchen for when food no longer comes in cans or frozen cardboard packages? In many cases, a lot of food is actually cheaper prepared by the Mega Ag companies. Or, even if not it is a huge hassle making your own. Like ketchup or chili. Unless you eat a lot of it and have special set ups such as an outdoor screened room for summer canning. I'm not discounting the self-sufficiency aspects of the hassle or the higher prices. Just that the bulk of us are urban dwellers and pretty much rely on the grocery store more than we should. And factoring in that most of us work full time jobs. In a lot of ways our high tech, high "leisure" society is more like a wage prison. We went from working a few hours a week killing game and hunting roots and berries to working sunup to sundown eight months a year farming to working sunup to sundown eleven and a half months a year in an office cubical. Granted, office sitting is easier than plowing but we have surrendered almost all of our time to it. And our taxes are a lot higher than what farmers paid ( even factoring in church payments, and accounting for all our hidden taxes added to our payroll deductions ). Going back to full time farming should actually see less time worked, as long as French Intensive/organics/etc. is practiced. Not saying you won't work harder physically, just that you won't be a round the clock corporate drone.
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As I keep harping about, get your grain grinder. A China made cast iron grinder is still $25. They are designed for corn, so wheat needs to be run through three times on rough, medium, fine settings. Buy your grinder through my Amazon products page at www.bisonpress.com . If you don't, I promise you that you will feel poorly and chastise yourself soundly. You will feel like a bastard coated bastard with creamy bastard filling ( thanks, TV's "Scrubs" for that gem ). I'm only concerned for your mental state. Without a corn grinder you limit yourself on what you can store. You will spend far more than you need to. For instance, 200 pounds of white flour will cost you $72. 200 pounds of wheat kernels ( which is a lot healthier for you, can be sprouted into nutritious veggies, and will last for centuries ) plus a grain grinder will cost you $85. The grinder is paid for with your next purchase. Next, I would at least get a stainless steel thermos. Better to get a pressure cooker, but a thermos should suffice for some items. You can really reduce your cooking times. For instance, I boil potatoes for twenty minutes on the stove. With a thermos, I boil them for five minutes and throw them in the thermos to continue cooking. You can get four times the fuel use with the thermos. Unfortunately I have not had any luck with rice, and not for lack of trying different techniques. I really like fried corn mush, but I haven't had any the last year being off grid. You need to crock pot the wet meal for three hours, then cool overnight, then fly the slabs. Yummm! I haven't tried in the thermos, fearing being unable to get the slop out. But I'm sure a pressure cooker would do a great job. And work great for reduced rice cooking time.
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You need a strainer. But don't get one of those crappy metal wire types. Get a solid piece of metal with the holes poked in it. That will last you your life time. Knives shouldn't be total crap, but a dollar butcher knife will carve up the animal flesh. You just need to sharpen it a few times during use. I've used a Chinese dollar special slicing the many convoluted layers of fat from a giant beef brisket. It was a pain, but not as painful as spending twenty bucks for a knife. Get extra cheap pots for boiling. The handles will eventually fail, get plenty at the thrift store. And cast iron. They can be a bit of a pain to keep seasoned ( and by the way, I've been using safflower oil that is three years past expiration with no ill effects- not saying it was smart, just saying expiration dates aren't cast in stone ), but will last forever. A one time expense. Teflon is a continual replacement item, with dubious health effects from the peeling finish.
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There are plenty of doo-dads you can buy, but they can be worked around. A wine bottle for a rolling pin, for instance. Hand cutting dough rather than a pasta machine. I think I've covered the very basic items that will be hard to duplicate primitively ( a battered aluminum pot is far superior to a hand formed clay pot-use the unglazed clay for water filtering ). If not, I'm sure you'll share in the comments.
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