Whole Food, Plant-Based 101

KITCHEN APPLIANCES YOU NEED

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For health reasons, environmental reasons, or ethical reasons (or a combination of the three), you’ve decided to try the WFPB lifestyle. This means, despite how you learned to cook and have eaten your whole life, you’re trying to limit or eliminate animal products, oil, sugar, and salt. Relearning all of that can be a challenge! You may be wondering which appliances will make cooking this way easier.

First, let me emphatically say that you don’t need ANY fancy tools to cook this way. If you have a budget of zero dollars, don’t let that stop you from embracing a whole food, plant-based diet. You can easily make simple meals of canned beans, brown rice, and veggies, oatmeal and fruit, large salads, and whole wheat pastas without any fancy gadgets. Over time, if your budget and your desire to diversify your menu increases, you can start adding some tools and appliances to your kitchen. Don’t feel you need to immediately invest in an air fryer, pressure cooker, Vitamix, and whatever else other people use. When I began three years ago, I had a Vitamix and that was it. I slowly accumulated more appliances over time. I love them, they make my life easier, and they help me make more complex recipes, but I don’t NEED them to eat this way.

In this post, we’ll look at my top 6 picks of kitchen appliances and tools that will help you stick to a WFPB diet, in order of importance, to help you decide which items to consider adding to your kitchen (and how to save some money on them).

1. CHEF’S KNIFE

As soon as you have the funds, buy yourself a good chef’s knife and keep it sharp!! This should go without saying, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve cooked at someone’s house and been horrified to learn that they’re using steak knives for chopping veggies or are using extremely dull paring knives for cutting tomatoes. Life is too short to spend struggling to slice tomatoes! Using a sharp chef’s knife is SAFER than using a dull knife and will make your prep so much faster and easier! I have the Cold Steel knife set and have been impressed at how well they’ve held up over the last 6 years. After you purchase your knife, I recommend buying an inexpensive knife sharpener. Sharpen your knives at least every month. After a while, you’ll start to notice when they become dull and need resharpening.

2. NONSTICK PAN

It took me about six months of being WFPB no-oil before I gave in and invested in a good nonstick pan. Using my old cast iron was becoming a pain, and making tofu in it was nearly impossible without oil. After a lot of research, I decided to go with a Scanpan. Scanpan is EXTREMELY nonstick, to the point of being hydrophobic, and uses a nontoxic coating that will not slough off (if cared for properly). Though I’m sure there are other options, the only brand I can recommend is Scanpan. I’ve purchased two thus far and both are in great condition after 2.5 years of daily use. Be sure to wash them by hand with a non abrasive cloth or sponge and, like all pans, you should allow it to come up to heat before cooking. With my Scanpan, I can brown tofu, saute onions, mushrooms, and other veggies without ANY sticking. Garlic does tend to stick, but it can be easily removed by deglazing.

3. HIGH SPEED BLENDER

This the most expensive item in which you may choose to invest: a high speed blender (preferably a Vitamix). Vitamix is BY FAR the best high speed blender on the market. It’s incredibly versatile, and is powerful enough to grind flour and coffee, make hot soup from raw vegetables through friction cooking, velvety WFPB “cheese”, nut butters and dairy-free milks, and turn frozen bananas into Nice Cream. Being WFPB means cooking a lot of things from scratch (since store bought options generally have oil and loads of sodium). With a good high speed blender, you can easily and quickly make oil-free hummus, cashew cream, “cheese” sauces, avocado crema, salad dressings, and more. To save on this blender, try putting it on your Christmas list (maybe all your family members can pitch in to get you one), looking for factory reconditioned models, and keeping an eye on sales at Costco. If, however, you don’t need or want such a multipurpose appliance, there are a few other brands of blenders I recommend.

4. INSTANT POT

By now, you’ve definitely heard of the Instant Pot. You might even already have one. I use mine for making beans (from dry or soaked), PERFECT brown rice, oat groats for weekday breakfasts, potatoes, soups, stews, chilis, and homemade soy yogurt. I use the saute function ALL the time while making soups/stews/chilis (it’s fairly easy to deglaze if things start to stick). The “keep warm” setting allows you to start making dinner when you have time, then will keep your dinner warm until you’re ready to eat (I’ve set a batch of chili to pressure cook at 2:00pm for a 6:30pm dinner). In general, the IP can speed up cooking times and lets you “set it and forget it.”

5. AIR FRYER

The air fryer was my latest kitchen addition and my only regret is not getting one sooner! It actually makes things crispy. Like flautas, Brussels sprouts, corn tortillas, broccoli, fries, and falafel. I can’t believe I struggled for years to make oil-free things crispy in the oven (to no avail, I might add). In addition to being more effective at crisping up oil-free food, it also reduces cooking time in a very magical way that I don’t understand. Things that take 30 minutes in the oven take 10 in the air fryer. Just…how?? How does it do that?? It also preheats incredibly quickly and doesn’t heat your whole house up like ovens do. We purchased the Cosori air fryer last year during a Prime Day sale and have really appreciated its preset functions.

6. FOOD PROCESSOR

Finally, I recommend a food processor because I don’t have one yet, but I plan on getting one. My Vitamix can do a lot of things, but it is not a perfect substitute for a food processor. Food processors are ideal for chopping things (versus pureeing, which blenders are designed to do). You can get a course chop (for things like easy pico de gallo) or a fine chop (for things like falafel or pesto). Food processors are also better at making nut butters and hummus, since they require no liquid to function properly. For more info on how food processors and blenders differ, check out this post. I’ve decided to start shopping for a food processor because I make a lot of falafel, pesto, salsa, and chimichurri and know a food processor will make my life a bit easier.

As a minimalist and cheapskate, it does pain me to recommend so many expensive items. However, none of my “toys” sit and collect dust. I use them all weekly (if not daily) and am thankful I have them. The cost in money and storage space in my little Brooklyn apartment is completely worth it to me.

Save money on some of these items by shopping on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace! You could easily find a used Instant Pot and food processor. Our country is full of people who buy lots of kitchen gadgets thinking “now I’ll cook” and never use them (I’m looking at you, Mom!). Shop for used appliances, keep an eye on local sales and Amazon sales, put them on your wedding registry, or ask for one for your birthday/Christmas presents.

Once your kitchen roster starts to grow, here are some new recipes to try with your new toys :)

For those of you starting out, I know how overwhelming this can feel. I hope this was helpful. Buy yourself a good chef’s knife (or sharpen your current one) and get cooking! Add kitchen appliances as desired and necessary, don’t feel the need to go on a huge shopping spree. Start small. Start today. You’ll be glad you did.

Happy Cooking,

Courtney