Cooking Essentials For An Alkaline Kitchen

You’re ready to jump into the alkaline life, but do you have the essentials in your kitchen to make alkaline meals? Don’t worry if you don’t. Getting your kitchen prepared to enjoy alkaline dishes isn’t expensive and if you were already an avid cooker, you may already have a lot of the supplies you’ll need.

Since the alkaline diet is about getting away from processed foods, this means you’ll be buying more whole foods, which also means you will have to do more cooking from scratch.

Again, this isn’t hard to do, as long as you have the right tools. Most stuff I make from scratch takes 5-10 minutes. The longest part is waiting for dough to rise and planning ahead to make sure that you have enough bread, buns, nut milk, etc. made to last you throughout the week.

So let’s get into the essentials that every alkaline kitchen should contain.

Water filters for clean water

You need clean water to drink and cook with, which is why you need to invest in a quality water filter for your kitchen.

This is probably the most money you will have to spend for your alkaline kitchen. I personally use the Berkey filter, which cost me around $275.

The filters last a year, so all I have to worry about hereafter is replacing them. You don’t have to buy the same thing — there are plenty of great water filters out there — just make sure that they remove fluoride, chlorine, prescriptions and VOCs. You won’t find these sold in your local stores, so check out Amazon and do Google searches to locate some.

Items you need to cook from scratch

Again, you’re going to be doing a whole lot of cooking from scratch, so you’re going to need certain supplies to make your job easier.

Buying whole produce is cheaper than buying it already chopped up, so having a cutting board and quality knives is important. Or you can go the easier route and buy a device that will chop up your onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc. quickly.

Making your own sauces and purees is also a part of the job description of an alkaline meal chef, so you’re going to need a food processor as well. This device I use more than just about anything else in my kitchen. I use it to make my chickpea patties and hot dogs, nut butters, avocado taco sauce and more.

Since dairy is out of the question, you will also need to start making your own nut milk. To do this, you will need a blender and a nut bag to strain the milk.

You should also be fairly consistent with your daily high-nutrition smoothies, which you will need a good blender for as well. I have the Ninja blender and food processor, which works excellent for chopping up my fruits and nuts with ease.

Chemical free cooking

You want to stay far away from cookware that is going to leach poisons into your body. This is why I recommend that you only use stainless steel or clay pots and pans.

I have yet to try the clay ware because it’s more costly, but I definitely plan to make that transition. I currently use 100% stainless steel pots and pans for all of my meals.

They are non-coated, which is very harmful to your system over time. So avoid non-stick cookware and just do it the old-fashioned way — oil. Just make sure you’re using alkaline oils like avocado and walnut.

It’s also a good idea to invest in a steaming pot, so that you can steam your veggies rather than boiling them. This will ensure that they retain as much of their nutrients as possible.

I have a large steaming pot that comes with multiple inserts that have different depths. This too is made of stainless steel.

Baking from scratch

I love to bake a whole lot, but rather than going for all of the expensive baking supplies, I simply use a more hands-on approach — rolling pins and my hands.

But if you aren’t comfortable with that, you can invest in a bread maker, mixing bowl and noodle maker. You will also need a bread pan and baking sheets, preferably stainless steel or clay.

You can make a mean stone pizza from scratch using a baking stone. This is another item that’s on my shopping list. I hear stone and clay cookware make dough taste really fresh and delicious.

Preserving foods

Since you aren’t buying processed foods with preservatives, you need to be more careful about how long you store things.

Everything you cook will need to be refrigerated as soon as you’re done or placed into the freezer. Anything you want to last a long time should be kept frozen as well. Having a deep freezer is ideal if you like to do large shopping.

Another option is to dry out certain foods, such as fruits and veggies. If you like to eat dried fruit, you can make them at home using a dehydrator. One other device you could use is a vacuum sealer for your frozen items to keep them fresh longer.

With these kitchen items, you can whip up all sorts of delicious alkaline meals, including pasta, pizza, tacos, cookies, cakes, bread and so on. You will pretty much be able to make whatever you like — so who needs prepackaged foods when you’ve got all the ingredients you need to make healthier alternatives?