These are my from scratch kitchen must haves for our large family on our homestead. I use each of these items daily and find they make my day-to-day life much easier and more functional.
We are a family of 7 on a small-scale homestead where we grow and preserve a lot of our food. Cooking from scratch is one of my top priorities in our home. I want my children to grow up eating real food as much as possible. While also learning alongside me on this journey.
Food sustainability and preservation are two major components when cooking from scratch on a homestead. Having the right tools at hand can make all the difference in your success at cooking from scratch.
Many of these kitchen must haves have taken me years to accumulate. Do not wait to start cooking from scratch in your kitchen if you do not have these yet. In my experience, you’ll just appreciate these items much more when you do finally have them.
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Kitchen Must Haves
I have broken this list down into three main categories:
- Appliances: both big and small
- Gas Stove/Range
- Bosch mixer
- Food processor/Blender
- Immersion blender
- Instant pot/Slow cooker
- Baking & Cooking
- Glass bakeware
- Baking sheets
- Cast iron
- Stock pot
- Cutting boards
- Knives
- Utensils
- Mixing bowls
- Glass jars
- Sustainable Accessories
- Cloth towels
- Cloth napkins
These are the very basic of my kitchen must haves that I would recommend. These items are what I have used to get started on my cooking from scratch kitchen journey. Over these past several years and have found success with.
Kitchen Must Haves: Appliances – Both Big and Small
Gas Stove/Range
First and foremost, I can’t recommend a gas stove/range enough. While I realize that this may not be obtainable for everyone, it is my top priority for a reason. Cooking on a glass top with my cast iron is scary and just loves to get scratched. Been there too many times unfortunately.
I have also found cooking on a glass top harder to control the temperature with. The glass top takes longer to heat and cool than the gas stove. I like having that extra bit of control in my cooking.
Gas ranges are also much safer to pressure can on. Some glass tops are now rated for a certain amount of pressure canning. Glass tops still cannot take as much as a gas stove can. Meaning you would need to do more small batches to stay in the rated weight range.
Bosch Mixer
I absolutely love my Bosch mixer. This is very specific for those who do large batch cooking like I do for a large family. I learned the basics with my Kitchen Aide mixer, but it wasn’t working well enough for our large family. The amount of ingredients I needed to use to make the recipe work just wouldn’t fit well in the mixer. If you have a smaller family, to make extra for the freezer, you will need a larger mixer to do so easily as well.
Food Processor/Blender
This is an either-or situation, or if you’re like me, a both situations. You could get by with just a food processor, but I have found the blender to be very helpful. Especially with food preservation and utilizing that food.
An example being that we preserve fruit such as strawberries and blueberries from our garden each year. We freeze them and use them in smoothies and baking over the winter months. While you could technically make a smoothie in a food processor, it would not be ideal.
The food processor does some shredding and chopping, making cheese grating very quick and easy on your arm muscles. This is probably how I use mine the most to be honest. I prefer to not buy the pre shredded wood pulp infested cheeses. I buy the block cheese and shred as needed or shred and freeze for easy use later on.
The ones I have are the Ninja food processor and blender. I have had these for quite a while and they’re still working well. However, I do dream of the day I can afford a Vitamix blender. Whatever your budget can afford, at least one of these tools is essential in my kitchen.
Immersion Blender
Probably more useful than a food processor or blender. This is used in many aspects around my kitchen. From food preservation, cooking or even DIY household items (soaps for example).
Instant pot or slow cooker
I’m sure most everyone has heard or even used a slower cooker or instant pot at this point in time. This should come as a no brainer almost. What better multipurpose tool than one or both of these? I can tell you that they have been a life saver to me since I started cooking from scratch and the more kids I continue to add to our family.
At this moment I have just had our 5th child, he is 7 weeks old. By the time dinner rolls around I am feeling done for the day and the baby and other kids are in their “witching hour” it seems. Having the ability to prepare dinner in the morning or early afternoon is such a blessing.
Other things to use these for are making bone broth, applesauce and in the instant pot you can hard boil farm fresh eggs.
Kitchen Must Haves: Baking & Cooking
Glass bakeware
I absolutely love my 9×13 glass bakeware that even comes with a super tight sealing lid. I use them all the time for various meals and have several of these OXO ones and cannot imagine my kitchen running as smoothly without them.
They have been used them for oatmeal, marinades, casseroles and sometimes serving dishes.
Baking sheets
There are numerous types of baking sheets out there. I personally have the cheap aluminum ones and make sure to put things between my food and the baking sheet. But I would highly recommend investing in stainless steel baking sheets to bypass the probability of toxins transferring to your food.
I use mine for cookies, bacon and even pizzas from time to time.
I also have stoneware and cast-iron baking sheets. These are very nice and versatile but very heavy. I don’t feel comfortable putting these directly onto my counter at all.
Cast iron
These are the cornerstone of my kitchen. I use them in almost every single meal. From breakfast to dinner and to baking dinner or cinnamon rolls. These skillets are super tools to me. I bake bread and soups in my dutch ovens.
Cast iron does have a bit of learning curve to care and cook with. It can seem time consuming and almost tedious at first, but soon you will see how easy it all it. It will become second nature.
If you’re just starting out, I would highly suggest buying a 10-12″ Lodge cast iron skillet. These are the more affordable yet still dependable brand I’ve used. There are quality differences when you do decide to spend more on higher end brands like Finex and Le Creuset. The higher quality ones are lighter and easier to maintain in my opinion.
Start where you can and work your way up if you desire. Just start learning to cook and care for cast iron. It is a skill that will take time to master.
Stock pot
A good large stock pot can become a multifunctional tool. You can use it for soups of course, but then you can also use it for food preservation purposes. I am able to use it to make applesauce, tomato sauces, jams/jellies and more.
I have two different stock pots., a very nice stainless steel All-Clad 16 Qt and then I have a very large “cheap” off brand that I use as a second water bath canner or overflow with my large batch cooking.
If you have a large enough stock pot, you can use it as a water bath canner. You can either save money by not purchasing a water bath canner or buy one to use at the same time or have the stock pot as a backup for extra-large canning batches.
Cutting boards
I highly recommend buying wood cutting boards in various sizes, shapes and even with the trough to help keep liquids from running off the board. Wood is known to be antibacterial in nature. You don’t need to use soap on it unless you’ve cut raw meat.
Studies have shown that bacteria get caught in the plastic cutting board crevices and is dirtier than a toilet seat in some cases. I don’t know about you, but that does not sound appetizing to me. I do have many plastic cutting boards from over the years. These are my backups if I am in need and cannot for some reason use my wood ones.
Knives
Any homesteader or from scratch cook will need at least one really good sharp knife.
I buy meat in bulk and to save money I don’t always buy the meat trimmed or in the form I will need it in to cook.
An example of this is buying beef chuck and wanting to cut 1-inch cubes for beef stew. This can be a fatty tough cut of meat. I’ve tried breaking it down before with a dull knife and my hand was very sore before I could even finish the task.
Buy a good quality knife and then keep the maintenance of sharpening up with it. This is a skill I am still in the process of learning personally. You can also take your knives in to be sharpened professionally. However, this would not be a sustainable option. Learning a skill is always the best sustainable option when able.
Utensils
Cooking utensils are a very important accessory in a from scratch kitchen. I personally use stainless steel utensils, wood/bamboo utensils, and silicone utensils.
Each type has a different purpose and capability. For example, the stainless steel is not advised to be used on cast iron because it will diminish the seasoning.
I do not recommend using plastic utensils as those typically have chemicals in them that will be released when cooking from the heat. They also tend to break much faster than the others.
Mixing bowls
Mixing bowls in different sizes and with lids are invaluable in my kitchen. I absolutely love my Pyrex glass bowls with lids and use them constantly for dough. Then I do not have to use plastic wrap when it is rising. I simply place the lid on and let it go.
I also love my handmade ceramic mixing bowls. But that is more for looks and style than anything else honestly.
Again, I try to stay away from plastic containers like Tupperware or Glad products. Studies have shown that heating up food in these containers leaches chemicals into the food. Also, you’re able to warm up leftovers in the oven with glass containers as opposed to the plastic.
Glass jars
What can I say about how much of a glass jar addict I have become. I have mason jars coming out of my ears from canning and preserving. Then add in the 1- and 2-gallon jars for bulk dried goods.
Glass jars are not just practical, but they can also be a decorative style in your kitchen. To me that is multipurpose and a win in my book.
When we had goats, I used half gallon mason jars to store the milk in. If we had a cow, we would be using the gallon jars from Azure Standard that I use for flour, dried food and more.
Kitchen Must Haves: Sustainable Accessories
Reusable items
In my pursuit of less waste, I have switched our kitchen to paperless. We have a basket on the counter with a stack of different towels in varying sizes. We also have a drawer full of cloth napkins that I use to wipe the children after meals.
This alone has cut our waste down significantly. It is an economical investment as well. It is not costly to buy a couple dozen tea/dish towels and rotate them. These towels are what we have that are the larger size. I also have these towels and they are smaller and easier to use for cleaning the counters and such.
What is a must have for you and your kitchen today?
Let me know in the comments below what a must have in your kitchen is. I always love to hear what works best for others.
