There are some great hand powered kitchen tools that you might want to consider for your homestead kitchen. Why hand powered kitchen tools in this modern age? Well sometimes your vintage skills are going to require vintage muscle! 😉 These hand powered kitchen tools are classics that have been used in kitchens for decades (some longer). You’ll work your cooking for scratch skills and your arm power too!
Hand powered kitchen tools are more sustainable and are a great option to have available when electricity is not…
Hand Powered Kitchen Tools
Here is my list for the Top 10 Hand Powered Kitchen Tools that should be in your home!
Biscuit Cutters – if you like perfectly cut, even biscuits, you’re going to want a set of these. I have been known to use these on cookies too and I’ve cracked and egg in mine to make a perfect egg sandwich.
Crank Flour Sifter – if you’re a baker you might already have one of these. I used to “sift” flour with a small mesh drainer. This tool makes sifting WAY easier.
Meat Grinder with Pulley – if you’re raising meat ( like meat rabbits ) or hunting, you need a quality grinder for ground meats. I
recommend steering clear of plastic parts as much as possible.
Stove or Fire Coffee Pot – Ok, this isn’t exactly a hand powered kitchen too; but it isn’t automatic either. I read a fictional prepper book a couple of years ago and decided I needed to know how to make coffee without a auto-drip. Once you go peculator, you won’t go back! We use this exact model every day.
Hand Mixer – I know they call these egg beaters but that is a misnomer…these can beat up a lot more than eggs. This model is nearly an extract replica of the one my grandmother kept in her kitchen. I love using these things!
Butter Churner – nope not the one with you sit next to with the wooden handle but this model does the job with a hand crank.
Truth be told, if you really want to get a “hand churned” butter you can do that with a jar and a lot of shaking!
Cast Iron Dutch Oven – again this isn’t exactly a hand powered kitchen tool but I dare you to say it doesn’t take some muscle to use it! A solid cast iron dutch oven is an indispensable tool for your homesteading kitchen (or campfire kitchen). This was the crock before the crock pot. Great for slow cooking, deep frying…you can even bake in these beauties. Take care of your cast iron and it will take care of you!
Steel Mixing Spoon – call me crazy but I think a good mixing / serving spoon is an essential hand powered kitchen tool. You need it for whipping up your homemade goodies and serving them up (maybe you need 2). Nothing cheap and bendy – something with
staying power! Don’t forget to add a good set of wooden spoons too (but avoid cross contamination with these).
Heavy Duty Grinder – a good quality grinder will be able to handle milling your grain, corn, nuts and coffee beans. If your homestead faces a time without electricity, by choice or circumstances, you’re going to really need this hand powered kitchen tool.
Manual Can Opener – I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory; but you’d be surprised how many homes don’t have one of these on hand for emergencies. I am not reaching for my manual can opener first, truth be told, but I am glad to have a good one when I need it.
I hope my list of hand powered kitchen tools helps you start to build your vintage / prepper kitchen. I can’t stress enough the importance of having such tools, but using them regularly so you are familiar with them. If a more sustainable, smaller foot print life is your goal, then these will be assets to your homestead.
I’ve got to have my pastry blender, my piano whisk, my pour over cone/funnel, and my hot water kettle as well as all the above.
I’ve always loved the hand crank tools, I personally have 3 different meat grinders, but my flour sifter died a few years ago, I also have a cast iron Dutch oven, and what they call a mandolin, which slices and dices, at least as well as the electric ones, I’ve been taught through many a year, don’t quit using the old things, unless their broken. Thank you.
A Dutch oven is just about the most perfect, multi-use tool, we can own! The tools from the past are usually so well made that they can be used for decades, not the stuff today.
Had left a reply, then it disappeared without so much as a we’ll check it out. Thank you
I have an old egg beater. Plus most of the other items mentioned. I have a kitchen aid mixer, but rarely use it. And I do make homemade bread. And I knead it by hand. I thought it would take a lot longer than it actually does. We love homemade bread. Hubby can eat a whole loaf in one sitting. LOL
It must be amazing bread Deborah! I do love those old-fashioned tools!