Room for Small Appliances

Over the years we have acquired many, many, small kitchen appliances. And by many, I mean we could almost open a small restaurant. Most bought at thrift stores. Living in an area where rich people like to have second homes, the thrift stores here are treasure troves of last year's out of fashion stuff.

Our latest appliance is an immersion blender stick. Still in the box, all packaged, never used. There has numerous items like that. If only we could get ourselves out of bed earlier, I'm sure we could find even more.

I say this not to brag about the amount of kitchen appliances (and gadgets) we have, but to explain why we need a bigger kitchen. I have chosen each appliance for certain reasons. They have to have at least 3 ways to use them and they have to make being organic easier. What? How can an appliance make it easier to be organic?

Two Examples:

Kitchen-Aid professional food processor. We got that, with all attachments, for only $30 at the thrift store.
1-make our own butter using raw milk
2-make coleslaw/sauerkraut
3-make mayonnaise and other dressings
and so on

Cuisinart ice cream maker w/ extra freezer bowl. Only $8 at thrift store.
1-make ice cream using organic ingredients
2-make ice cream with far less sweetener than store bought ice cream
3-make frozen yogurt with homemade yogurt
__________

But then there has been appliances that we just decided were so valuable that we went ahead and bought new. Again, the same rules applied.

Examples:

Blender
1-make smoothies
2-make smoothies
3-make smoothies
We love smoothies

Dehydrator
1-save produce when we find them on sale
2-make organic jerky
3-dehydrate sprouted grains for homemade flour
4-make fruit leather
I enjoy using the dehydrator!

_________________

Then we have appliances that were either gifted to us or given as cast offs. Like when my parents went into assisted living, I got some of their kitchen stuffs.

 Examples:

Champion juicer, gift back when I was juicing. Giver wanted to support my efforts.

Slow cooker, we got in-laws extra slow cooker when Joe's dad passed away

I still want to get a pressure cooker/canner. That would be great to be able to can our own homegrown vegetables! Right now we either freeze them or dehydrate them. To have yet another way to keep our homegrown goodies edible. I have mason jars all over our kitchen. I have two cabinets, a drawer (for lids) and a shelf over flowing with canning equipment. The latest are amber mason jars. They block up to 90% of the light. They will help with sprouting. In the past, I have put a tea towel over the jars when sprouting. With the amber jars, I don't need to.

At the end of the day, I have counted up at least 15 different small kitchen appliances. That is a lot, to be sure, but then we have the gadgets. So, my, the gadgets..

We need a bigger kitchen.

Peace!


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