When someone dives into prepraredness, food storage is often the gateway drug. And in a someone’s zeal in stocking their pantry to the ceiling, they often forget key items – Spices, Water, Vitamins, and Power-free time-saving tools.
So today, I’m going to walk you through my top ten time-saving and effort-saving tools that make cooking without power possible.
We’ll take this as a countdown. Can you name the top 5 manual kitchen tools for a food storage kitchen? Or at least my top five?
5.) A GOOD whisk
As a food storage kitchen tool, a whisk is a must. It will allow you to mix sauces and dry goods with ease. Think of it as a manual mixer for batters that aren’t stiff. I keep two of these on hand. Please don’t skimp by choosing a cheap one. I love the OXO brand. This one is the one I own and highly recommend. I have also started keeping some smaller whisks on hand for small jobs.
4.) Butane Stove
You need a way to cook in the case you’re ever without power. If you have a gas stove, you have an advantage over those with electric stoves. Having a butane stove though is a good backup for those with either gas or electric stoves. This is one similear to the butane stove that we own. Ours is no longer available.
3.) Knives
There are other time-saving devices for chopping and slicing which will save you time, but the truth be told, focus here first. Make sure you have a good quality set of knives.
2.) Manual Can Openers
As much as it sounds like a no-brainer, make sure you have at least 2 manual can openers. If you’re snowed in and your can opener breaks, you can’t run out to the store for a second one. Make sure you have a back up.
After trying many kinds, this one is my favorite. Do make sure you clean it after each use though. It will greatly increase its longevity.
There is another type of can opener though which has two different common sizes. One is called a p-38 can opener. The other is a p-51 can opener. The upside to these can openers is the small size. These are great for 72-hour kits, for BOB cooking kits, or car kits. You NEED to practice using them though so you’re used to it.
Can you guess what #1 is without peeking?
Keep scrolling. . . .
1.) Hand Crank Coffee Grinder and French Press
While there may technically be life without coffee, coffee makes life so much sweeter – even without sugar!
We have a bad track record with coffee makers – mostly due to the extremely hard water in our area. We use a Berkey water filter. While a Berkey filters 99.99% of bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and more, it doesn’t filter out minerals, which is a blessing. Our bodies NEED these minerals to function properly. For us though since we have very hard water, we still ruin coffee makers at a furious pace.
So while we took some time to research the best coffee maker for us to get, we decided to make coffee without electricity. We used a french press. I love using it, and the coffee does taste fresher. The downside is we have a large family so it takes 2-3 batches in the french press to provide our whole family with coffee.
This is the one we have been using, and we really love it. If you look at the reviews, there are only four and they aren’t good, but I’ve been using this for over a year now and love it!
You also need a manual coffee grinder so when the power goes out you can still have a little spot of heaven. We’ve been using this one for about a year as well, and we love it!
Which ones of these items did you guess? What other items would you say belongs in the top 5?
There are links in this post. The links in this post may be affiliate links. My promise to you is that I will only recommend the most economical version of the best quality of items to serve you. These are the items that I buy for my own family. You can feel free to use my affiliate links, of which I will get a small amount in compensation, or you can choose to search out your products on your own.
