39 From Scratch Kitchen Essentials and Extras

In a from scratch kitchen, there are many items that can make life easier.

I tend to lean towards manual versions of some items so I still have the ability to work in my kitchen without access to power.

Providing meals for your family that are nutrient-dense, delicious and clean can be a little overwhelming at times. What do you really need in a from scratch kitchen? Are there things that are a must-have? Or is everything just a handy, helpful item, that we could possibly do without?

What is a From Scratch Kitchen?

A “From Scratch” Kitchen, is when you use real ingredients, rather than using “processed” ingredients or pre-made, packaged foods.

In my kitchen, I utilise real ingredients where possible. Sometimes this is fresh produce from our own gardens. Other times it may just be items I have purchased from the shop. Either way, I lean towards whole foods rather than processed ingredients.

Utilising items that I have preserved and made shelf-stable is also a priority over highly processed items. Obviously, as we are still new to this lifestyle, we don’t have a large stock of items in our pantry. But making good use of preservation techniques, I can make sure I have these items more easily accessible.

I live by the mantra of 80/20. Where possible, I do as much as I can within our means to live the simple lifestyle. No-one is perfect and if I am doing all I can, then that is enough.

Why I aim for a From Scratch Kitchen?

From scratch cooking is how I have always cooked. It wasn’t until the recent years, that I heard of the term “From Scratch”, and identified with it.

My own parents have always been great cooks, and made as much as they could from scratch. They always had a great range of ingredients on hand at all times. Being able to pull together a dish on short notice when friends or family visit. This is one of my favourite things about being at their house. There is always something able to be put out for us to all enjoy.

I just thought this was how every home was. But since becoming an adult, and spending time in other kitchens, I realised that it isn’t the norm for everyone.

Only Real Ingredients

For me, a from scratch kitchen is important as I like to know what is in our food. These days, anything we buy from the shop contains way more ingredients than necessary. This is to ensure that they are shelf-stable for long periods for them to ship widely.

Bread is a great example of this. At home, we are able to make bread from flour, water, yeast and salt, and sometimes not even the yeast. But when looking at the ingredients of a loaf of bread at the shop I can see easily 10+ ingredients. Such as flour, water, yeast, salt, canola oil, vinegar, soy flour, vegetable emulsifiers, added vitamins and processing aids, and more.

From Scratch Kitchen Items – Essential & Extra

The ability to cook from scratch does mean that you require certain tools and equipment. There are some that are essential to ensuring you are able to produce great food. Other items are just something that can give you an extra helping hand or help make things a little prettier.

Below, I have listed items that are essential, and then some bonus items that are a little extra.

Food Prep

• Wooden Cutting Boards: I have chosen to use only wooden cutting boards to minimise the micro-plastics that we expose ourselves to, but any type of cutting board that you can get your hands on is fine. Having a few boards is always handy, as when prepping your foods, it is best to keep raw meats separate from your fruit/vegetables, and the easiest way to do this is with separate cutting boards.
• Sharp Knives & Knife Steel/Sharpener: Good quality, sharp knives are highly useful in a from scratch kitchen. A variety of knife sizes and styles can also be handy, but at the least it is best if you have a large knife, a small pairing knife and a serrated bread knife. Maintaining your knives by keeping them well sharpened is important, as a dull knife is actually a lot more dangerous than a sharp one, in the kitchen. Storage of your knives is also important, as to keep them sharp, you want to not have them knocking around in a drawer. Storing them in a knife block or on a magnetic strip is what I would recommend.

Tools

• Grater: I have used a box grater my entire life, and always thought they were great. But I recently upgraded to a tabletop rotary grater (you can get one too here), and it has changed my life! Such a simple swap and now grating is so much quicker and less dangerous when the kids join me in the kitchen.
• Tongs
• Egg Flip/Turner: an egg flip/turner is a handier tool that you may realise. Yes, they can flip your egg when cooking, or remove them from the pan. But they are also really handy when cooking burger patties, flipping quesadillas in a pan, or even when making Sourdough Discard Pancakes for a special breakfast.
• Kitchen Shears
• Vegetable Peeler: you can always use a small pairing knife to peel your fruits & vegetables, but the right tool for the job is best. Peelers tend to leave behind more of the fruit or vegetable, than when using a knife. There are different styles of peelers, so choose whichever style you prefer.
• Can Opener
• Juicer: the amount of juice you intend to make will determine which type of juicer you need, but a good old hand juicer is more than enough for a standard home kitchen. In saying this, I have recently upgraded to an electric juicer after hand juicing 10 kilograms of lemons to make my Limoncello & Lemon Cordial. I wish I had purchased it before then, but at least I now have one ready for next citrus season.
• Colander/Strainer/Sieve
• Manual Meat Grinder: I have my Nana’s hand-crank, cast iron meat grinder, and I remember her using this all the time when I was little. This comes out multiples times a year. I use it to grind up left-over roast lamb to make Shepherd’s Pie and I also get it out when I want to make my delicious Mint Slice. I know there are attachments available to add to your food processors and stand mixers, but being able to have this on hand when there isn’t electricity is definitely a bonus.

Baking

• Mixing Bowls: bowls of various sizes can help in the kitchen. I prefer to use vintage ceramic bowls, but stainless steel or glass bowls are also great.
• Rolling Pin
• Loaf Pan
• Scales: I have both digital scales and “old school” analog scales. Depending on how accurate I need to be, will determine which set of scales I use. If “close enough is good enough” is how I am feeling, I will go with the old school ones.
• Flour Sifter
• Springform Tin
• Tea Towels: yes, drying your dishes with a tea towel is handy, but did you know that a good old tea towel has many uses? I utilise mine for steadying a cutting board on a slippery surface, doubling it over to grab hot items from the oven, and also as a replacement for my apron to wipe my hands on, when I forget to put one on.
• Whisk
• Baking Trays
• Measuring Cups & Spoons: measuring exact ingredients has never been my forte. This is why I don’t enjoy baking. I am more of a “measure with your heart” type cook, and this is not the way to get good results when baking. Correctly measuring when baking is essential to getting good results, and I have definitely learnt this the hard way. I’ve recently purchased these beautiful wooden measuring cups and spoons which fit right in with my country-style kitchen.
• Muffin Tin
• Baking Dishes
• Pyrex Jug: this of course doesn’t need to be Pyrex brand, but a glass jug with measurements is super handy. My Tasty Sausages recipe calls for you to add ingredients for a sauce, then top up to 1 litre with water. My large Pyrex jug (like this one) is my go-to in that instance.
• Pie Dish
• Cooling Racks
• Apron: I never knew how much I needed an apron until I started wearing one regularly. I was always that cook that just wiped my hands on the closest tea towel, or my clothes. Since wearing an apron, I no longer have to remove stains and stuck on foods from my clothes, and don’t need to change if needing to leave the house after a cooking session.

Cooking

• Wooden Spoons: I prefer to cook with wooden spoons, rather than silicone or plastic, as they don’t add micro-plastics to my cooking. There is also something that feels a little nostalgic to me about stirring a large pot of Roast Pumpkin Soup or Beef Stew with a well-used wooden spoon.
• Pots & Pans: there are a large range of pots & pans available for you to use in your kitchen. As long as you have a medium-sized saucepan, a steamer to fit on that saucepan, a large frying pan and a stock pot, you should have your general bases covered. Going with stainless steel over non-stick is a low-tox option for your kitchen, if that is important to you.
• Cast Iron Skillet: as far as I am concerned, you can’t go past a cast iron skillet in the kitchen. These things are so versatile. You can use them on any type of stove top, they can go straight into the oven & can also be used over an open flame if you go camping, or need to rely on wood-fire cooking during a natural disaster or similar. Keeping them well seasoned and learning how to maintain them is definitely a skill to master.
• Dutch Oven: similar to the cast iron skillet, an enameled cast iron dutch oven is versatile. The ability for it to start your casserole on the stove top & then transfer to the oven to finish off means that you keep all the rich flavours from the frying of your meat and vegetables at the start of the recipe.

Appliances

• Stand Mixer/Hand Mixer: handy for multiple uses in the kitchen including baking, shredding cooked meats & making whipped cream to top off your pancakes, you can choose to go with the simple hand-held mixer or upgrade to a stand mixer. The added bonus of a stand mixer, is that these days they come with so many extra attachments which are also handy. I have an ice-cream bowl and mincer attachments for mine. I am hoping to soon add a pasta attachment.
• Slow Cooker: especially handy for those of us who work outside of the home and feel like we are constantly on a time crunch. The ability to “set & forget” a slow cooker makes for producing quality meals a lot easier. Having a slow cooker that also has the option to sear directly in it ensures the flavours are not lost like when having to sear in a separate pan on the stove top. I am hoping to upgrade to a cast iron slow cooker eventually, as these are more low-tox, but utilising whatever you can get your hands on is better than nothing.
• Food Processor/Stick Mixer/Blender/Thermomix: all of these items are extremely handy in the modern day from scratch kitchen. There are endless ways to use each of these items, and depending on your style of cooking, you may utilise all of them, or just one or two. There are no rules on exactly what you need, but these appliances are each handy in their own way.

Preservation

• Dehydrator: I purchased my first dehydrator around 3 years ago, and it has made such a difference to my from scratch kitchen. Utilising my dehydrator, I now make my own garlic and onion powders, dry my herbs from my own garden & save large amounts of produce from going to the compost by dehydrating them when they are getting towards the end of their life. I love being able to dehydrate a bunch of vegetables, blitz them all into a powder and then add to as many meals as I can, to up the daily vegetable intake. Adding it to my Best Hearty Chicken and Celery Casserole with Bacon has always been an easy way to get more vegetables into our daily life.
• Chest Freezer
• Pressure Canner: my pressure canner is fairly new. I only purchased about a year ago and so far, have only managed to can a ready-to-go beef stew. There are so many different things that I would like to try with my pressure canner, including tomato sauces, canning shelf-stable beans & many, many more.
• Water Bath Canner
• Freeze Dryer: I am yet to add one of these to my repertoire, as they are a large outlay, but eventually, I am sure they make the money back in convenience & cost. A freeze dryer can do so much more than a dehydrator, and when stored correctly, the end results can be stored for many years on your shelf.

The main point to remember after reading this post, is that everyone does things differently. I am doing my best to provide the most nutrient-dense and delicious meals for my family that I am able to. The way that I do this, will look completely different to how you will do this.

Find your way of running a From Scratch Kitchen and enjoy the process!