Basic MUST HAVES for the from-scratch cook! MY ESSENTIALS LIST

hey everyone it's lisa from the blog farmhouseonboon.com and today i am going to be doing a from scratch cook's kitchen essentials now i did a video like this back when i first started my youtube channel so years ago and i've been having some requests for doing this type of video again if there's any updates also some of you just didn't see that video because it's been a while and a lot of you are more newly following along so there are a few things that are different and i'm just going to dive in now i divided this into must-haves and nice to haves so if you are just getting into cooking from scratch and the list is overwhelming there are a lot of things you just simply don't have to have but they would be nice so you could start there start with the must-haves and then work your way through it you can get by with very few tools making food from scratch so make sure that you remember that and don't feel like overwhelmed these are things that i've collected over about 12 years now as i have grown in my cooking abilities and trying to cook everything from scratch so a lot of this has been collected at thrift shops as gifts and then just things that i purchased over the years so let's dive into the must-haves first on the list and if you follow along with me you're probably like i know i've heard it a thousand times is cast iron it is so versatile in the kitchen i use it daily it is the most essential essential that i have on this list as you can see i keep my collection of cast iron out on the stove at all times the proper care for cast iron does require that you dry it thoroughly between each wash and to also not really wash it that much so oftentimes i'm just wiping it out and leaving it out on my stove now i have two 10 inch skillets and two eight inch skillets now these are just ones that i've acquired over the years i really don't need more than four because i only have four burners i do get four skillets going at a time and there are the occasional time where i will make like a chicken pot pie i'll make two of them and we'll only eat one and i'll just put one with foil over the top straight into the fridge and so sometimes my cast iron is out of commission because it does have a leftover in the fridge and so i guess there are a few times when i could use more than four but really honestly four will do and if you aren't quite confident enough to run four burners at one time like when i'm making crepes or pancakes or sourdough english muffins i will have four burners going at one time and that way i can make a large quantity for my family but honestly i would start with one skillet probably either the 10 or 12 inch and then eventually two would be really nice but you can get by doing almost anything with that now i have this as the next thing on my list a cast iron dutch oven i use this for soups and broth but i also use it for baking sourdough bread now you are going to need some kind of large pot to make soup in and going back i would probably just go straight to cast iron because then you can use it dual purpose for also baking really beautiful loaves of bread now for many years i used my stainless steel pot and honestly i still do but if i could only have one i'd probably choose the cast iron now there are times when you almost want to use stainless steel as opposed to cast iron because such liquid heavy things um do better like for example i strain my milk kefir into this large stainless steel pot it's the perfect size to put my strainer over and just strain the milk kefir grains straight in here so you will need something large to make soup with this is really large so i like it because i can fit more in it stainless steel would also be great and this is also dual purpose for straining off kefir grains so that being said obviously also a strainer is a must-have now going back to the pots category something to cook smaller things now this is actually new i always up until recently just use a stainless steel honestly either one is perfect this you can see is well used we use this to make popcorn pretty much exclusively it's too small for soup or pasta for our larger family but it's great for popcorn and so that's what we use this we're also good if you're doing like a small sauce or just something anything small like i'm picturing a jam or a sauce for ice cream i don't know anything that you don't need a large quantity of one small saucepan is really good for that whether you do stainless steel or copper and then also obviously popcorn the next thing on the list is large bowls i have them in stainless steel and glass now currently i have my largest glass one sitting here on the stove making sourdough bread and then my favorite stoneware bowl currently has the compost in it because we just use whatever bowl is sitting around and that's the one that's on the counter so at first you'll need at least one large bowl for mixing for making a batch of sourdough bread or whatever kind of bread you'll need to obviously allow to rise so for that my first preference is stoneware or glass i do also like my stainless steels for certain applications but i prefer the glass and stoneware over them the next thing on my list is funnels i don't know why but if you're doing a lot of from scratch cooking you will find the need for funnels i am using them all the time i will be making kefir and have to put some prepared kefir into a jar and then fill it back up with milk and so i'll use the funnel for that or if i'm canning like applesauce this wide mouth one comes in really handy i am just constantly putting things into mason jars and using funnels for it i can't even think of all the ways but i do know that i use them all the time okay the next one and i debated on whether i should include this in the nice to haves or the must-haves but i'm going to go ahead and include it here in the must-haves because of a few reasons and that is the instant pot now i know you can totally get by without an instant pot many of you probably don't have an instant pot but i find it so useful for a few things one is yogurt i've never found an easier way to keep milk at the proper temperature for the proper amount of time and in such large batches yes there are a lot of other ways to do it trust me i've tried them all but to make a large batch a gallon of yogurt at a time the easiest way that i have ever found is with an instant pot so for yogurt alone i would own one and then the second is for bone broth yes you can make it on the stove i've done it for many years this is why it could move down to the nice to haves because it is totally possible to make yogurt bone broth without it it just does make your life easier and i get it it's a large appliance it's not pretty but it really has saved me so much time the next one on my list is the berkey water filter i've talked about this so much on here i did a whole review on the berkey water filter i've shown you how to set it up you all know i love the berkey for making things like ferments and sourdough it's important that you have a water source that isn't going to interfere with the good bacteria that you're trying to cultivate and the best most economical filter that i have found is the berkey now berkey does have a bundles deal which includes the fluoride filters and the regular filters so i will leave a link for that down in the description box below we've had ours for 10 plus years now and we love it all right the next one on the list is a blender now when i originally did this we had a different blender we've since upgraded to the ninja now the top isn't on here because it is currently sitting in the refrigerator with smoothie which is where it is most the time because we make daily smoothies and a lot of times we'll make way more than we need just so that people can throughout the day get a little bit more smoothie so kefir smoothies is the main thing that we use it for but i also found that i use my food processor a lot less once having a blender that has more blades on it and can handle more applications so in my original video the food processor was really crucial but i actually can use this for a lot of things i would otherwise use a food processor for except things like chopping veggies i'll get more to that later for sauerkraut so i do still keep my food processor for that but it did move it down to the nice to haves now of course there's other brands like the vitamix that people really really rave about i haven't tried it but a good blender is going to be crucial even a cheap blender you're just going to need a blender smoothies are a great way to get in probiotics and nutrition we have them every day and so they're pretty crucial the next one on the list is wood cutting boards i have my cast iron dutch oven sitting on it because i don't sit cast iron directly on my countertops they make rust rings so i'll put this back shortly but a good cutting board i have three wood cutting boards that i use all the time just for everything if you're cooking from scratch you're going to be cutting up onions garlic and potatoes and carrots pretty much every day the base of every meal that you cook will always be fresh vegetables that you chop so you're going to use them constantly and with that being said the next one on the list is good knives now i get asked all the time what i recommend for knives and then i also get people who tell me that i'm sharpening my knives which is true but i have never spent a ton of money on knives i do have a few really nice knives that i've acquired from thrift shops and sometimes i do just need to sharpen them so a knife sharpener and just some sturdy knives now you can buy a set again i have just picked mine up over the years at thrift shops i just pick ones that have pretty handles that feel nice and substantial i have a few that are pampered chef and cutco but they actually did just come from thrift shops and they can be sharpened but you'll you will need a nice set of knives or a collected set of knives okay the next one on the list is wood spoons i just find these usually at walmart somewhere cheap it really i haven't found that it really matters necessarily where i get them just so long as i take care of them we use them for everything just serving potatoes sauerkraut anything stirring i'm always using my wooden spoons they serve me really well and they last a really long time the next thing on the list is stainless spatulas and silicone i find it really strange that i still don't know which one of these is called a spatula i googled it apparently nobody knows so either a spatula or bowl scraper or a spatula or a turner you are going to want some stainless steel turners i have two here i don't know where this one came from and i get asked about it all the time i love this small one this one is the pioneer woman one from walmart i thought it had a pretty handle but we always choose this one so unless this one is dirty we are always just using this one because something about being able to have the control of a nice short handle we all love this one and prefer it but this one is also a great option now the thing you want to avoid is a plastic turner i've been at airbnb's on vacation or at friend's house where i've had to use one like that and they wouldn't be good for cast iron because they'd probably melt with how hot it is or maybe they're probably heat resistant but still they just feel flimsy and like you can't get in there and so that's why i prefer stainless steel and then i have this pampered chef silicone one it's been used a lot but i do find that i use it all the time it's just one i don't have any more than that eventually i should probably replace it but i love using this because i hate waste and so anytime we're at the bottom of like a bowl of waffle batter or something like that i will scrape it with this so i find it very handy and essential the next one on the list is half gallon mason jars i use these things all the time we use them to get our milk pick up but i also have a whole lot more that i use for other things so the number one way i like to use these is for fermenting i always have kefir going on the counter in this sauerkraut wide mouth mason jars will serve you so well so the half gallon is really good for large quantities of things like kefir i make that at a half gallon at a time also water kefir is good in a half gallon jar but i also like to fill in with quart wide mouth jars and pint wide mouth jars that way the special lids i buy fit all of them they're also good for like the quart ones i use for my smoothies with the straw lid and the pint ones are just good drinking glasses without any lid at all i like how they're all interchangeable and so i keep just a stash of wide mouth mason jars i also keep the straw lids and the reusable straws this is how i serve smoothies to the kids we don't really have any sippy cups that work very well for smoothies and so we'll just use some of these and even for daniel just put these on with the ring and the smaller wide mouth jars and that's a perfect way to serve smoothies another on the must-have list is a cheese grater i no longer buy pre-grated cheese i haven't for many years you will find that if you're switching from shredded cheese to the black cheese and try to get yourself it is such a difference they coat it with something so it doesn't stick together it just doesn't melt right i could never use it after switching over to this and so i use this thing daily i'm always grating cheese it also allows you to find a nice source for cheese so if you find a nice raw organic cheese you will most likely have to grate it i also use this side for parmesan i use the really tiny side for lemon zest you'll just need it all the time okay the final thing on my must-haves are glass storage containers for leftovers we are a leftover eating family even if there's just a small amount with the amount of time and effort you put into cooking foods from scratch you're not going to throw any amount away at least i'm not and so i will put them in the refrigerator in a glass storage container with a silicone lid and then we'll have a leftover day where we just eat little bits of what we've been eating all week obviously separate but i can put those all in the oven since we don't have a microwave pull it all out and everybody can just eat a little bit of whatever they liked the best from the week okay now we're going to dive into the nice to haves so first one on that are all of these sourdough bread baking supplies this was not on my original list but i really fallen in love with making sourdough bread it is just so good and healthy and it you can almost be artsy with it too creating beautiful designs and the bandit baskets are great for that now the reason why this is on the nice to have is you can use just a glass bowl with a tea towel to shape your bread you do not have to have one of these but they are nice and they are also pretty so they can sit out another is the bench scraper these are also nice for baking sourdough bread but again you can use something else to scrape it off the counter you do not have to have it and then i have the razors to make the designs so again just nice i like having my sourdough bread baking supplies and if you get into sourdough you might eventually want to but you do not have to the next one on the list is a mixer since my last video i have started making a no-need sourdough bread so i don't actually use the mixer to make my bread which is how it moved down to the nice to haves but i do use the mixer for lots of things i still like it for baking things i like to you know make cookies and to whip cream or make a meringue it is nice to have a mixer it's also nice to use for the pasta roller cutter attachment so i have the kitchenaid and having that roller cutter is actually really nice because i can make pasta from scratch pretty easily but there are other ways to do it again it's just nice and i do like having the kitchenaid because it looks pretty on my counter now i used to recommend the bosch and honestly the bosch is still a nicer mixer people are like what's wrong with the bosch nothing it's actually such a nice mixer i actually gave it to my aunt she bakes for a living she caters things like that and i just wanted a pretty mixer on my counter at all times the bosch i always stashed back away so i wanted something that could stay out and i felt like the kitchenaid was pretty enough to do that and so i actually do end up using it even more because i don't have to lug it out and it really is a nice thing to have in your kitchen the next nice to have is fermenting weights and lids you can see i'm currently using those both here behind me to make sauerkraut it does make the process a little easier and they are pretty inexpensive you could also use rocks inside of a ziploc bag a folded up cabbage leaf a loose lid instead of this lid that allows gases to escape so you don't have to have it but it is something that just once you start doing something a lot it starts to become quite beneficial to invest in the right tools so you know maybe just make ferments for a while before investing make sure you like it but once you're doing it a lot and it saves you a ton of time it usually makes sense to invest because whenever something saves you time that means that you'll have more time to spend time with your family or cook more things and pretty soon a purchase does outweigh the cost and the benefits do outweigh the next is ice cream maker i love having an ice cream maker now it's not necessary i don't even make ice cream that often but when we do have access to a lot of fresh cream or in the summer it's nice to have it is not something i use a ton it's stashed away most the time but i do like it and i wouldn't get rid of my cuisine art ice cream maker i will be leaving links all down description box so if you're curious about exactly which item i have that i'm talking about there will be links down there all right the next on the nice to have list is a grain mill and five gallon buckets with gamma lids for storage so if you decide that you want to start milling your own grains i just made some this morning to put some whole wheat flour in my sourdough bread i have the nutri mill i've had it for many years i eventually would like to upgrade to the mock mill again i'll leave a link down below because it's so pretty it wouldn't need to be stashed away it can just sit out on the counter so that would be really nice but my nutri mill is still going so well that i'm just going to continue to use it i've had it for probably 10 years now eventually it does save you money because you can buy grains in bulk i buy 25 or 50 pound bags of wheat and corn and kamut it really is such an easy thing you just put the grain in and put this little thing in and let it go through and you have your own freshly made whole wheat flour so it is something that i would never not have in my kitchen and it does end up saving money also as far as grain storage food grade 5 gallon buckets and the twist off gamma lids make all the difference it makes it really easy now i do have a whole video on the subject of milling your own grades i will leave a link to that down in the description box below so that if you're brand new to that you want to hear more about how we store and what we mill and what i use it for you can visit that video okay the next on the list is an immersion blender this is so useful for making sauces or pureeing a soup you can use your blender for this which is why this is not on the must-haves list but it is really nice it's like 20 bucks and it's way less dishes so i use my blender for so many years because i didn't want to buy one of these but this is so cool because you you can make hardly any mess after you blend something you literally just wash this versus your whole blender with the blade it's just a lot more to do plus our blender is almost always sitting in the refrigerator with a smoothie from breakfast so i would have to pour it into another glass and wash the blender pour the soup in from the pot put it back in the pot versus just being able to blend this so i keep this right here in a drawer by the stove i have an outlet in my stove and then close to the stove and i do find that i'm using this all the time the next one on the nice to haves list is a food processor it got moved down because i can make so much with this now that i couldn't do in my old blender the one reason that i still like my food processor is if i'm making a large batch of sauerkraut now if you're making a small batch it's really not that hard just to cut it up finely actually last time i made sauerkraut i just had a couple heads of cabbage that i needed to use up and so i didn't want to get out the food processor i just cut it up you could always do that you wouldn't have to have a food processor especially if you have a nicer blender so that's why it's on the nice to haves you might find a few applications for it but unless you're doing a large batch it's really not even worth it to get it out and wash it now of course it also does have a cheese grater attachment so you could use it for that but such a mess i find it's just so much easier just to do it really quickly okay the last one i'm throwing on my nice to haves list are these danish dough hooks my mother-in-law gave these to me recently i think she saw a facebook ad and thought it looked like something i would like i find these so handy for any application that you use a whisk for and they're also really beautiful so they sit here by my stove i'm using them all the time but again you could get by with just a fork or a whisk you do not have to have them but they are pretty fun all right i've been thinking about this list for a few days so hopefully i didn't miss anything let me know down in the comments below what are some of your from scratch cooking must-haves what do you think that i missed maybe you will tell me something that would really be life-changing for me in my kitchen maybe you have something that is just so useful save you so much time i'm always open to hearing about that i'm all about cooking from scratch but i'm not necessarily about making life harder for myself or wasting time so let me know what it is that saves you time and makes your from scratch cooking life a little bit easier again visit the links down in the description box below to find out some sources and things and i hope that you enjoyed this video if you are brand new to my channel please hit that subscribe button i make two new videos every week on food from scratch natural living and a handmade home thank you so much for stopping by the [Music] farmhouse

Channel: Farmhouse on Boone

Views: 115,331

Keywords: kitchen essentials, must haves for the kitchen, kitchen must haves, kitchen essentials for new home, kitchen essentials for cooking

Id: Wba9s_QdyFc

Length: 24min 46sec (1486 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 27 2021