Large Family Kitchen Essentials + GAPS Diet Must Haves

Serving nutrient-dense meals (like those on the GAPS diet) for a large family requires a solid plan and system, especially if you do not wish to spend all day in the kitchen! I WISH I would have known some of these best time-savings tips, tools, and efficient kitchen systems and supplies 10 years ago! I hope these shares are helpful for your family, too.

Why Create Home Systems?

Behind every successful business, school, workplace, volunteer organization, farm, etc, is a good system. A system is simply an organized set of procedures or method of how something is done. Why not apply this same principle to running our homes? Every new season requires a new or adapted system if we want to have organization and balance. A few examples of our family systems include: meal planning, cooking, homeschooling, cleaning/organization, capsule wardrobes, entertainment rotation, seasonal travel, and home-based business operations.

Ideally, once a system is in place, ANYONE can follow that system (think children, husbands, household helpers, etc.) and generally the system generally has useful tools to help support the task at hand.

How a Kitchen and Cooking System Saves Time and Money?

With a few daily use tools and a plan, such as doubling a recipe and freezing it for a future meal, our family has saved literally thousands of hours and dollars. For inspiration how you can systematically change your eating habits, meal plans, and pantry staples over time, check out my free e-book here.

Requirements of Kitchen Tools

As a large family minimalist, if a kitchen item does not meet these 3 requirements, we do not have it in our home:

1. Must have multiple uses/functions.
2. Used daily/weekly without breaking or wearing out easily.
3. Be non-toxic (preferably free from lead, aluminum, plastic, and other chemicals)

My Favorite Kitchen Tools & How We Use Them

Each of these tools are great for large families or large quantity cooking and food prep. They are also durable; most of these items we have had 10+ years!

Best Food Prep Items

• Stainless steel bowls with non-slip silicone bottom. I mainly use the extra large sizes, as we make several servings to eat fresh plus freeze for future use. I use these bowls multiple times every day for:
  1. Mixing dessert batter
  2. Holding chopped veggies for soups
  3. Blending ingredients with an immersion blender, like smoothies, soups, homemade mayo
  4. Serving salad, watermelon, and other bulkier food items
• Stainless steel jelly roll pans and these oven and freezer safe glass 9×13 pans with lids.
  1. Roasting veggies and meats
  2. Baking cookies and desserts
  3. Cooking large quantities of hamburger patties
  4. Cooking bacon, side pork, porkchops in the oven
  5. Dehydrating fruit leather on parchment paper
• Sharp chopping knives. Once you have good knives, you will never be able to go back. Eating nutrient dense foods can require chopping tons of veggies, fruits, cutting meats, etc. When we travel or plan to prepare foods outside the home at a family member’s house, I bring these knives with me every time! This is my favorite brand and also very affordable.

Best Storage Containers (For Fridge, Freezer, and Travel)

• Glass Pyrex storage containers. We prefer glass over plastic as it lasts longer, can be used in the freezer and oven, and does not leach chemicals into food. We have several sets of these rectangle shaped ones as well, as they stack well in the freezer and fridge, unlike mason jars.
  1. Storing leftovers in the fridge
  2. Baking cakes
  3. Freezing soups, smoothies, kefir and yogurt
  4. Transporting larger quantities of fruits, veggies, or a dessert pan for social gatherings (we usually use the 9×13 pans with lids so they can go right from freezer, to oven, to fridge, to travel, etc.)

• Pint, quart, half gallon mason jars with no leak lids for:
  1. Storing lemonade, tea, smoothies, broth/stock, soup
  2. Drinking glasses at home (and with a lid for travel water)
  3. Canning applesauce, bone broth, fruits, meat, veggies
  4. Storing raw milk and homemade kefir or yogurt
  5. Fermenting veggies
  6. Storing bulk orders of honey

• Chest freezer. This is definitely an investment, but over time saves a lot of money and pays for itself. A few examples of foods we have in our chest freezer are:
  1. Meat: we buy a whole cow and pig each year, butcher our own deer meat for storage, and raise or buy chickens in bulk. Buying directly from a farmer helps ensure higher quality, healthier meat, and convenience of having these cuts of meat ready to use in the freezer. Often the price is more affordable as well.
  2. Produce abundance: we store our garden produce or seasonal sale abundance in our chest freezer.
  Fruits like berries, apples, and pears can be picked in abundance and frozen for smoothies and desserts
  Veggies can be blanched and frozen as well, unless you ferment them.
  3. Ready to go meals and desserts: cookies, fat bombs, smoothies, soups, and spaghetti sauce are great to freeze for quick meals, travel snacks, and breakfast options on busy days.

Favorite Bulk Cooking and Time Saving Items

• 5 gallon stock pot (stainless steel). I use this weekly to 2x, 3x, 4x meals and freeze them for later use.
  1. GAPS meat stock
  2. Soup
  3. Spaghetti sauce
  4. Meat and veggie casseroles
• Immersion (stick) blender. This is one of those items I don’t know how I survived so long without. It speeds, simplifies, and uses many fewer dishes than a blender! I often use this alongside the stainless steel mixing bowls or pots listed above for:
  1. Smoothies
  2. Homemade kefir and yogurt
  3. Blending soups
  4. Blending homemade creamer into coffee
  5. Making frosting and fat bombs GAPS desserts
  6. Healthy homemade avocado mayo

• Stainless steel cooking pots
  1. Cooking veggies
  2. Making GAPS chocolate and vanilla
  3. GAPS fat bombs
  4. Re-warming leftovers or a freezer meal
  5. Boiling eggs

Favorite Healing Desserts and Sweet Treats Items

• Slow masticating juicer. If you are on the GAPS diet, you are likely already familiar with the importance of fresh pressed juices. The health benefits of fresh pressed juices are astounding, and our family has been juicing for about 10 years to date. The kids love helping make the juices, drinking them fresh, freezing them into popsicle molds, and adding to smoothies.
• Ice cream maker. This is the ONE and ONLY item we have in our kitchen that cannot be used for multiple different things. However, we use it for the one thing, ice cream, all the time! Simply use yogurt, coconut cream, or cow dairy milk or cream as a base. Then add fruit and/or honey to create hundreds of delicious and healthy ice cream variations for your family.
• Silicone mold for jello, fat bombs, chocolate, caramels

Favorites and Must-Haves For Children

Oh, the things I wish I knew about sooner or had a brand recommendation for when we had our first couple children! These are our well-used favorites that have stood the test of time without wearing out or breaking easily:

• Extra large silicone popsicle molds: after buying several kinds over the years, I like these best because they are:
  1. Easy to pour into
  2. Have a flat bottom for easy stacking
  3. Hold the largest amount of liquid and make the most amount of popsicles at one time (10 per mold!)
  4. The popsicles slide out extremely easily (no hot water or time thawing is needed)
  5. We’ve used these weekly for several years and they are still in great shape
  We have 2, so we make 20 popsicles at a time from smoothies, teas, lemonade, etc. and freeze the extras in the chest freezer as we make more. I love these for a healthy snack and to keep little hands and mouths busy when needed. 😉

• Silicone squeezy pouches: These non spill, drinkable pouches can be used for almost everything, every day. We have had these about 8 years and they haven’t broken or worn out yet!
  1. We use these for travelling in car seats, eating in the high chair, packing for older children at events (the 16 ounce size), storing in a stroller for a walk.
  2. The pouches can carry water, smoothies, applesauce, baby food purees, fresh pressed juices, tea, lemonade, yogurt, kefir, and just about any puree or liquid.

• Kid safe knives. We are a huge proponent of raising capable children, and empower them to help with tasks starting around age 2. I love that these kid safe knives teach gross and fine motor skills, foster a feeling of inclusion and community in family tasks, and it actually is super helpful to have help with veggies and fruits- even if they all come out different sizes. This is a great way to keep a busy toddler busy as well- ha! I have also found when kids help in the kitchen, they are more grateful and less picky eaters, as they were a part of the creation.
• Stainless steel cups with silicone sippy cover lids. These are durable, do not break when dropped, and do not have plastic parts. As the kids grow out of the need for a sippy cover, we continue using the stainless steel cup bottoms for everyday drinks. The silicone lids also fit over 4 oz mason jars (like the kind used for jam), which is convenient if the other cups are in the dishwasher, etc.
• Glass baby bottles with silicone nipples. Again, no plastic.

Having effective kitchen tools and systems will foster a feeling of efficiency, rather than overwhelm in the kitchen, and make the meal planning process an enjoyable part of the week! I’d love to hear- what are your favorite kitchen tools and systems?

Resources

Posts

What is the GAPS Diet? An Easier Explanation
Healthy Homemade Avocado Mayo
How to Make Fermented Carrots (That Picky Eaters Love!)?
How to Make GAPS Diet Meat Stock?
GAPS Diet Desserts
Healthy Homemade Paleo Chocolate and Vanilla Cake -GAPS Diet Approved
GAPS Diet Fat Bombs

Free E-book: 10 Steps to an Easier Diet Overhaul – A How To Guide For Families With Picky Eaters

Shop This Post

• stainless steel bowls with non-slip silicone bottom
• immersion blender
• stainless steel jelly roll pans
• oven and freezer safe glass 9×13 pans with lids
• sharp chopping knives
• glass pyrex storage containers
• rectangle shaped glass pyrex storage containers
• 9×13 pans with lids
• pint, quart, and half gallon mason jars
• mason jar leak-proof lids
• chest freezer
• 5 gallon stock pot
• immersion (stick) blender
• stainless steel cooking pots
• slow masticating juicer
• ice cream maker
• silicone mold
• extra large silicone popsicle molds
• silicone squeezy pouches
• kid safe knives
• stainless steel cups
• sippy cover lids
• glass baby bottles

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