It’s 4:30, you’re just getting ready to begin supper for the evening, and the power goes out. Without calling for pizza delivery, how are you supposed to cook dinner without your favorite mixer, your microwave, your electric stove, and all of the other modern conveniences you’re so used to?
We’ve talked before about how to wash and dry your clothes during an extended power outage (or for an off-grid, power saving lifestyle), but what about your kitchen? That seems a more daunting task!
Let’s assume that you don’t have a generator and you do not have gas or propane as an energy source as most Americans in suburbia find themselves.
off-grid alternatives to everyday kitchen tools
The following recommendations are meant to help you in case of a power outage. I will add more to the list as I come up with new ideas, but feel free to leave a comment and let us know your ideas too!
Coffee Maker
Because most of us cannot start the day without a steaming cup of jo’. Options to your trusty coffee maker include a percolator or French press.
You could also go truly simple and just put ground coffee into a coffee filter, placed in a strainer over a coffee mug, and slowly pour hot water through. Of course the hot water is made from your tea kettle you can put on your camp stove or grill or fireplace, right? Because you know the hot water heater won’t be working, either.
refrigerator
Root cellar is the best option for your refrigerator. This is a natural way to keep foods cool. Make a small one with a trash can buried in the ground, bury a fridge or dig out a full sized one on your property. Or you can also create a pot in a pot refrigerator.
Oven
A Dutch oven on a grill, camp stove or fire are some options. Another is to invest in a Sun Oven – or homemade equivalent. You can make bread and casseroles easily this way. An alternative would be a wood-burning oven you can make yourself. We opted to use our gas grill when we went without power for two weeks, which is another option.
Microwave
Fire, grill, or propane camp stove are all options. Of course with a power outage you might not have much left that is frozen, but if you do you can use a pot of simmering water to help thaw items before cooking on the options listed.
Blender
Use an old fashioned egg beater to do many of the tasks a blender or mixer does for you. There is a hand-crank blender on the market that is pricey, and some hacks you can do to
Mixer
Use a hand blender/mixer/egg beater, manual mixer system, or a really great large spoon or whisk!
Stovetop
You can use a camp stove, Kelly Kettle or rocket stove. Having a gas grill with a stovetop on it can also be a lifesaver.
Vacuum Sealer
Zip top bags and a straw or water basin. You can also try one of the many hacks to make your own that are found on YouTube
Coffee or Spice grinder
A manual old-fashioned grinder will do the job There are also more modern non-electric grinder or mortar with pestal.
Toaster
A cast iron griddle, pie iron or camp stove toaster
Waffle Maker
There are a few cast iron version for waffle makers like this one or this camp version. Or, you can just stick to pancakes on your griddle.
Electric Griddle
Easy switch out to one of my favorite cast iron pieces – the cast iron round griddle. You can use a double sided version of this that is grill pan on one side, griddle on the other..
Can Opener
There are many manual can openers available.
Slow Cooker
Dutch Ovens work really well as a slow cooker over a fire. A Wonder Bag (or homemade version) is another good alternative.
The most important part of this is to understand how you can have alternatives (backups to your backups) to the powered appliances we all rely on today. Playing with the alternatives during times of plenty will allow you to be better prepared to survive in times of need.
This is one of the reasons that we built a fire pit in our backyard. We wanted more options for cooking should we need them. What other appliances do you use that are ‘off the gird”?