Food preparation is more efficient when the kitchen includes certain appliances. In this post, we list those which we have seen to be most helpful, and why.
Large Freezer
Having a large stand-alone freezer confers these advantages:
- It minimizes the number of time-consuming trips to the store. A large freezer has the advantage of keeping every-day staples available, such as meat, frozen produce, fish, and baked goods. In addition, a large freezer makes it possible to take advantage of sales on freezable items.
- It enables one to cook and bake large quantities of soups, stews, compotes, baked goods, and freeze the surplus for future meals
- It allows us to bake and cook ahead of time for Shabbos , Yomim Tovim, and Simchas.
Recipe for Marinated Fish straight from the freezer
Recipe for Rhubarb Compote straight from the freezer
Recipe for Instant Sorbet straight from the freezer
Crock pot
Most families who own crock pots use them only for making cholent. This is a pity. This appliance allows a working parent to prepare and refrigerate a dish in the evening, placing it the crock pot the next morning, before going to work. On returning home, the food is ready to serve.
Crock pots come in different sizes, ranging from 1.5 quarts to 20 quarts. While the standard household size is 6 to 8 quarts, the miniature 1.5 quart version is great for couples. Ideally they should have a programmable timer and three or four temperature settings. The removable insert can be filled in the evening and refrigerated.
Crock pot cooking allows children to participate in food preparation by peeling and cutting vegetables or fruit. They may invent their own recipes and cook them safely in this appliance. In addition, crock pots are invaluable on a hot day, since they give off very little heat and allow one to bake roasts, for example, without having to turn on the oven. There are many cook books devoted to crock pot cooking and the internet is a great resource for recipes.
It is a good idea to try out a new crock pot while one is at home and able to supervise the cooking, since crock pots vary in how fast or slow they cook. Moreover, the earlier crockpots cooked much slower than later models, making recipe cook times potentially wildly inaccurate. For example, a recipe for cooking a whole chicken was meant to take 6 to 8 hours; in fact, it was overdone in 4 hours on the low setting.
Recipes for: Crockpot Baked Chicken, Crockpot Chicken Stew, Crockpot Beef Stew
Instant or near instant starch side dishes to accompany the above.
Food Processor
Food processors speed up the tedious preliminaries to actual food preparation such as chopping, slicing, grinding and mixing. Food processors are often used to prepare salads. However, they are invaluable for many other purposes including preparing sandwich spreads, fruit sorbets, chopping nuts and dried fruit, and mixing yeast and pastry dough.
When purchasing a food processor, make sure that it has the right capacity for your family, and also that it has a wide feed tube.
Instant Cabbage Salad, Instant Daikon/Radish Salad
Immersion or Stick Blender
The advantage of these portable blenders is that they save the trouble of transferring the content of a pot to a food processor or blender. Immersion or stick blenders make it possible to puree soups or vegetables right in the pot where they have been cooking.
Stand Mixer
Few people would dispute the necessity of this appliance in any kitchen. Most bakers would consider it unthinkable to beat egg whites or whip cream by hand. The challenge is to find recipes that require the least involvement of the housewife to produce the maximum results.
A hand held mixer can do the job of a stand mixer, with some advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, a hand held takes up much less space than a stand mixer. Moreover, it can be moved from one bowl to another, rather than having the cook repeatedly clean out the mixer bowl or keep several bulky (and expensive) mixer bowls. It can even be used in a pot. And hand held mixers cost a fraction of the price of a good stand mixer.
On the other hand, the cook is tied to the mixer if it’s a handheld: a problem when whipping eggs for five minutes at a time. Stand mixers are also more powerful than hand helds, an important factor for mixing yeast dough or other stiff batters.
Bread Machine
If you have ever wished that you could wake up to the aroma of baking bread, knowing that you are also saving money and time, this appliance is for you.
Bread machines are available from $49.00 to $252.00. In our experience, price does not correlate with performance. My low end machine which I have been using regularly for the past 15 years compares favorably with my friend’s top of the line. The only drawback for large families is that, so far, most machines have a maximum capacity of 4 cups of flour. This produces a 2 lb loaf, but one can bake several loaves during the day and even during the night. However, a new machine is now available that can bake a 3 lb loaf.
Features to look for: delayed start, dispenser for add-ins, dough cycle.