Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Kitchens are the hub of the home. They’re nearly always busy and so much of the daily chores are done there. From cleaning vegetables and eggs to butchering, baking, and preserving, there’s tons of work happening there.
To make homestead life easier, it’s important to have your kitchen properly equipped with the right tools. Unfortunately, many modern kitchen appliances and gadgets use a lot of electricity. Thankfully for the off-grid homesteader or those looking to save on their electric bill, there are some awesome powerless options.
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1. Percolator
Want the best coffee? Make it like your grandparents did. They’re super easy to use, can be used without a filter, and are good for making coffee on a stovetop, wood stove, or even on an open fire.
2. Hand Crank Coffee Grinder
On the subject of delicious coffee, freshly ground is always best. Hand crank coffee grinders are pretty lovely to look at too!
3. Hand Crank Flour Mill
If you make bread you’ll want a flour mill. Freshly milled flour is delicious and many flour mills are made to be hand cranked with off grid folks in mind. Plus many of the hand crank versions can even handle nuts, making creating your own delicious nut butters simple.
4. Solar Oven
Solar ovens can be used to bake anything you would in a regular oven but they don’t use electricity! They’re perfect for summertime when you don’t want to be baking in the house with a modern oven or wood stove. They’re affordable to purchase or there are some excellent DIY plans available.
5. Hand Crank Mixer
While mixers may not be an absolute essential, they sure do make life a lot easier. There are hand crank versions available of simple dough mixers, or some people choose to convert modern stand mixers into hand crank mixers.
6. Manual Food Processor
If you preserve a lot of your own food, a quality hand crank food processor can save you tons of time. Especially chopping many different ingredients when canning or preserving large batches.
7. Solar Dehydrator
There’s nothing like a dehydrator for putting up the harvest. They’re great for vegetables, herbs, jerky, and even mushrooms! Traditional dehydrators do take quite a bit of electricity though. If you have limited electricity or want to save money solar dehydrators can be a great option.
8. Pasta Maker
While homemade pasta is delicious, hand-rolling and cutting noodles takes forever. With a pasta maker, it’s easy to make large batches of pasta so you can even dry some for later.
9. Meat Grinder
If you hunt,`raise your own livestock, or purchase meat in bulk, a meat grinder is an essential tool for your kitchen. Hand crank versions are easy to operate.
10. Stovetop Waffle Iron
Waffles are awesome and just because you’re off the grid doesn’t mean you can’t have them. Check out cast iron waffle irons for delicious, electricity-free waffles.
11. Butter Churn
If you’d like to make homemade butter, a churn can be a great investment. While it is possible to make butter just by shaking a jar, a butter churn is less tiring to use. Plus butter churns really give that old fashioned touch to your homestead kitchen.
12. Hand Crank Blender
Hand crank blenders may sound weird but they do work! If you’re a fan of hummus, smoothies, or pesto you’ll need a hand crank blender to go electricity-free.
13. Kitchen Scale
While they may not see a lot of use in your average person’s home, homesteaders often require scales in their kitchen. They’re great for super precise food preservation recipes or projects like soap making. Digital scales are nice but you’ll need a lot of batteries or an electricity source. Opt for an old fashioned scale to save money.
14. Rocket Stove
While they’re not ideal for indoor use unless you build one into your home, they can be awesome for a summertime outdoor kitchen. They’re super fuel efficient and easy to cook on.
15. Popcorn Popper
Even if you still have a microwave, popping your own popcorn rather than buying the microwaveable bags can save you tons of money. Poppers are cheap and are fun to use especially over a campfire.
16. Tea Kettle
Tea kettles are important for more than just tea drinkers. They’re much easier to pour from than a pot and can be used to fill hot water bottles on chilly nights, heat water for washing dishes, or heat water for hot chocolate and instant meals.
17. Stovetop Toaster
Toast is a breakfast staple for many families. Thankfully, stovetop toasters are super cheap and can be used on campfires, stovetops, or wood stoves without needing an outlet.
18. Dutch Oven
Almost anything is great cooked in a dutch oven. The heavy lids and thick sides heat evenly and seal in flavor perfect for soups, stews, breads, pies, and more. They can also be used right in an open fire.
19. Egg Beater
Egg beaters are good for much more than eggs! They’re the go-to appliance for whipping homemade dressings, sauces, mayonnaise, and whipped cream.
20. Can Opener
Electric can openers seem to have found their way into everyone’s kitchen. Purchase a hand operated one, save electricity, and get a little arm workout.
21. Water Filter
A quality water filter can help ensure your family is getting clean drinking water even if you're sourcing water from a pond, stream, or well on your property.
22. Timer
Everyone is used to having a timer easily available on their oven or microwave, but when you’re working with powerless appliances it’s handy to have a small wind-up timer.
23. Mortar & Pestle
They’re beautiful and great for anything that needs to be crushed or ground. You can use them to smash up herbs or sauces/dips like guacamole.
24. Apple/Potato Peeler
If you do a lot of food preservation these peelers make work a lot faster.
25. Salad Spinner
For anyone who eats and grows a lot of greens, salad spinners are indispensable. When your greens are spun out well after washing, they’ll last longer when stored and dressings will stick better to leaves that aren’t too damp.
26. Root Cellars
Root cellars create a dry and yet cooler location for storing your items, including perishable foods. A quick way to create a root cellar is to take an old freezer or refrigerator and bury it underground, with the door facing upwards so you can easily open it and access the contents.
27. DIY Washing Machine
It’s easy to create your own DIY washing machine without electricity. You simply need a plunger, a lid, and a bucket. Use a knife to cut a hole in the bucket that can accommodate the plunger.
Fill up the bucket with warm water and detergent, followed by your dirty clothes. Place the lid over the bucket, and use the plunger to move the clothes around. Alternatively, you can pick up the bucket (if you can) and physically shake it as well.
28. Desert Refrigerator
Household refrigerators as we know them today have only existed for just over one hundred years. So how did people ‘refrigerate’ their foods that needed to be kept cool before refrigerators were invented? And how do people who don’t have access to electricity do it today?
One way to refrigerate food is to use a DIY refrigerator that you can build on your own. You’ll simply need two planting pots. Make sure that both are very clean before you use them.
Make sure that one pot can be placed inside the other, with about one inch of separation between the two. Fill this area with sand. When you add water to the sand, it will begin to evaporate. This action takes heat away from the inside pot, allowing you to store food inside the smaller of the two pots. Just cover the pots with a damp cloth.
Who needs electric kitchen appliances when you’re a homesteader? These 28 power-free gadgets will help you cook from scratch, put up your harvest, and put awesome meals on the table without spending extra money on an electric bill.
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You forgot a madoline for slicing things thinly.
Stainless steel tea ball.hotdog fork. Manual Popcorn popper. potato masher.
I love this list. Just plan or make sure you have a pantry to store it when not in use.
A bicycle, for transportation and for turning a blower attached to a swamp cooler. Or a myriad of other things that need to be “powered”. AND an old school ice cream maker! A must!
How do you use a toaster with no outlet???
You put it on a stove.
Camping toaster on a stove or fire pit grate!
I have a campfire toaster.
A Foley food and mill and a potato ricer.
A good portion of the things suggested here are no longer available. Best to check before sending out the e mail.
I have bought all of these things in the past 3 years. They are available on Ebay and thrift stores etc.
And always check at Lehman’s for off grid supplies. They supply the Amish community in my area, so nearly everything is off grid!!!
I have most of the things listed. Thrift stores are a great place to find some of it.
I found everything listed on Amazon and leamans.com
There is a store called Lehmans they carry all sorts of Amish off grid goods. If it has ever been made they have it.
No one mentioned pressure canner?
Cast iron cookware is a good choice. And water bath canner and tools to go with. I bought this thing called an ULU knife at an estate sale, wow it works for everything. Make sure you have some good sharp knives and a knife sharpener too
Many items are also available at Lehman’s Hardware Store on-line. Check it out – I won’t put the website here as I am not sure that would be appropriate. Anyway, Lehman’s has an on-line catalog and many things are for off-grid living.
Why did the old bicycle cranker go out of style? It’s a lot easier than hand cranking. Good exercise, to boot!
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