Prepper's Pantry: Manual Kitchen Tools

One of the things my wife and I try to prepare for is loss of power. Whether that's by having a generator, solar panels, flashlights, candles, oil lamps, or a combination of options, we have plans. If the outage is extended, some of those alternatives may become issues. For example, how much fuel do we have for our generator?

Since the triangle of immediate survival involves food, potable water, and shelter, those are the places to look for energy savings. A relatively easy one can be in our food prep tools. Our grandparents or great grandparents got along with few, or even no, powered kitchen tools. We can still learn something from their example.

The basic categories of ingredient preparation are cutting, chopping, slicing, grinding, and mixing. All of these can be done with basic tools; however, there are still labor saving options that don't require electricity.

Cutting is the easiest to address, as everyone should have a selection of kitchen knives. In a bug out situation, we should still have a few knives in our preps. Though I have quite a few cutting implements in my kitchen, the two I find myself using most often are a 3.5" paring knife and an 8" chef's knife.

The Author's two favorite kitchen knives

Though somewhat limited to firmer foods, a chopping alternative is a hand-powered vegetable chopper. These can allow for quicker dicing than most people are comfortable doing with a knife.

The Author's KitchenAid brand chopper

A Mandoline works quite well for rapid slicing of vegetables and harder cheeses. It has more cutting options than the chopper, though with greater risk of injury if used improperly.

A basic Mandoline with blades and hand protector

Along similar lines, but safer, there are graters and shredders of various types. I prefer one of the self-contained units with different cutting inserts.

The Author's food grater

When grinding and straining cooked or soft foods, like tomatoes, nothing in my experience beats a hand-cranked food mill. Some, like mine, are very basic units, but others come with replaceable disks for different output sizes.

The Author's vintage Foley Food Mill

An old-fashioned manual meat grinder, while heavy and often relatively expensive, can handle practically anything that fits down its gullet.

The Author's classic meat grinder

Finally we have the classic egg-beater type mixer, a fixture in 1960s TV sitcom kitchens. Despite its age, it's very useful for its intended purpose. Anything from dry baking mix, batter, and puddings, to sauces and even eggs, fall within its capabilities.

A modern, but traditional, Egg-Beater

There are numerous other manual kitchen tools, but this selection covers all of the basic operations for ingredients preparation. While these items can still be purchased new, keep an eye out at local thrift shops and yard sales where they can frequently be found for pennies on the dollar. That's where I bought most of my kitchen gadgets shown above.

Good luck, and good eating.