Kitchen appliance recommendations

[Trvlmedic]

Wonderbag. Crockpot or slow cooker replacement. Cook something on the stove for 15 minutes in the morning, put in bag, sail all day, eat. No electricity needed, saves propane. Love mine, use it for rice too. Read the story on the website, impressive.

Wonderbagworld.com

Don

[sparrowhawk1]

Correction I can can 5 pint jars at a time in my 6-quart Fagor pressure cooker.

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by No Sprogs

I would love to hear about everyone's favourite and go-to kitchen appliances they use on their boats. I have been scouring the message boards and chasing up conversations but haven't found a thread that consolidates what people appreciate most in their galleys. Also, many posts are older so maybe there's a new, cheap, super-efficient gizmo on the market that you've recently discovered... We are making out a list of things to kit out our 42' cat so we'll have a fair amount of space to play around with. We've never kitted out a boat before, so I'm sure we'll make mistakes with regard to space vs usability, but I'm trying to be as forewarned and forearmed as much as poss. Also, I'm sure that there are numerous items that people with far more boat cooking experience than I use regularly but haven't even occurred to me yet!

We be living aboard and and the general plan is sailing around the Caribbean/Med with our 13 year old, but will periodically need to provide food for up to 8. We will have a plancha out on the deck. So please, shower me with your tales of espresso machines, bread makers, pressure cookers, etc. – tell me what you love and what you regret. (In your galley. Not in your love life or career choices. )


Thank you very much for your thoughts and experiences.


Maz

Good advice so far.

As you have a largish cat, you probably have a decent galley with lots of space. You'll probably use the same utensils and gadgets on your boat that you use at home (and probably want to prepare the same dishes).

There is a site that basically deals with all aspects of boat galleys - from shopping, storage, organization and recipes- which you might find informative:

https://theboatgalley.com/

If you have the space (and I think you will), a pressure cooker is quite handy for dried beans and grains. It can also double as a large pot for boiling lobsters and crabs (without the lid) or even pasta. I use mine quite a bit. I'd love a crock pot or a slow cooker, but the energy budget won't allow that...

BTW, congrats on your new cat!

[TheOffice]

This was heavily promoted at a recent boat show:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXUM4AS...v_ov_lig_dp_it

An instaPot for gas stoves. I have not used it, but I've spoken to owners who swear by it.

[Copacabana]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

This was heavily promoted at a recent boat show:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXUM4AS...v_ov_lig_dp_it

An instaPot for gas stoves. I have not used it, but I've spoken to owners who swear by it.

Looks like the perfect solution for boats.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Can't say we we've focused on appliances -- although we do have a coffeemaker, a combo microwave/convection oven, a portable ice maker, an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot), an electric slow cooker, and an electric toaster on board.

Oh, and an electric blender somewhere... but I don't think I've used that in 15 years or so (any drink that needs more than two ingredients is beyond my patience limit these days... and ice is an ingredient).

We're an all-electric boat (aside from the portable propane grill), so all that might not suit everyone...

FWIW, I spend more time selecting cookware (Magma/Cuisinart nesting set), knives (Henckel), dinnerware (Corelle), "glasses" (plastic, several shapes), and various tools (spatulas, ladles, etc.).

And there are several sometimes long threads here on most of those categories -- pressure cookers, slow cookers (and methods), knoves, etc. Try the Advanced Search option...

-Chris

No glass or Corelle in our galley. I once dropped a Corelle plate and it exploded. It looked like someone had thrown a bowl of white sand all over the galley. Scared the hell out of me. Corelle was gone from the boat within an hour.

[No Sprogs]

Thank you swampbush, sparrowhawk, ranger42, Waterford, TheOffice, Suw, Trvlmedic, The Hottest Spot North of Havana, boatpoaker, et al. – I'm not going to clutter up this thread by posting individual replies to each of you, but I so appreciate everything everyone has passed on. Terrific resources, thoughts, advice, and learning experiences. I am extremely grateful and my supply list is growing, but in a good way. Now I seem to be better able to put thoughtful items on it, with a focus on multi-use and the ability to take advantage of our solar power. We want to run as green a boat as possible, and I'm new at this – so really, every little morsel of info helps me. Thank you, everyone. And yes – I am very, very excited about our new cat!



Maz

[CaptTom]

A decent solar setup seems custom-made for an Instant Pot. Ours runs very happily on the inverter, either from the mains underway, or from the house bank at anchor. This really reduces the genset running time. (No solar yet, unfortunately.) Add the convenience, versatility and not heating up or steaming up the galley, and to me it's a must-have.

[Pizzazz]

One more recommendation for the Instapot. Get the smallest model (3L), it is only 700W. Plus, it is not on all the time, just enough to maintain the pressure. It is very efficient with electricity. You can make rice in 8 min, steam most vegetables in 5, lentils in 12 min. If it is on 1/3 of the time (will measure it next time) it takes approx. 4-5Ah per meal. Not bad at all.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

One more recommendation for the Instapot. Get the smallest model (3L), it is only 700W. Plus, it is not on all the time, just enough to maintain the pressure. It is very efficient with electricity. You can make rice in 8 min, steam most vegetables in 5, lentils in 12 min. If it is on 1/3 of the time (will measure it next time) it takes approx. 4-5Ah per meal. Not bad at all.

I purchased the 3L 700w model since we have a 6L model already for the house. I'll be taking it to the boat soon. A couple of tests at home measured between 0.12kwh and 0.22 kwh. Two large chicken breasts (.12) cooked to perfection and bone in pork ribs (.22). This should be easily handled by my solar setup.

Assuming it holds up in the marine environment, this should be a nice addition to the galley.

[rbk]

One appliance we use a lot at home is out Kitchen Aid immersion(hand) blender. Stores small, can make sauces, soups, batters, crush ice and can chop veggies etc (with practice). i have never thought about bringing one on board but would be a great substitute for a traditional blender with a fraction of the storage space.

[No Sprogs]

Originally Posted by rbk

One appliance we use a lot at home is out Kitchen Aid immersion(hand) blender. Stores small, can make sauces, soups, batters, crush ice and can chop veggies etc (with practice). i have never thought about bringing one on board but would be a great substitute for a traditional blender with a fraction of the storage space.

Thank you! Good thought. I will do some research. I was contemplating some sort of mixing device if there was room, but this might just tick all the necessary boxes.


Maz

[WingRyder]

Lurking this thread... some great suggestions here. I am particularly fond of pressure cookers, but have been using a rice cooker a lot lately. the Instant pot sounds like a 'must-have' item.

[Sojourner]

We got a decent amount of solar and wind power, so we hit the electronics hard in the kitchen:

Instantpot: Love it, but not instant. Best things about it are spillproof, autonomous cooking to some extent, multifunctional, collects a lot of the steam and you can vent it outside after cooking.
Rice cooker: Instantpot has this function, but we cook loads of asian so it's easier to break out the much smaller rice cooker. Good for other grains and stuff too like farro, google recipes.
Bread machine: Great fresh bread and almost as good, unlimited fresh yogurt!
Egg cooker: a tiny little thing, works great
Electric skillet/fryer: about 35cmx 35cm square, 10cm deep.
1 burner Induction cooktop: minimum heat in the kitchen, love it
Kettle: for french press coffee, tea, instasoup
Food processor, midsize: I cook a lot of asian which has a lot of chopped chicken... I could chop it by hand, but zip zip and it's done so
Coffee grinder: self explanatory, and utterly vital

All of this backed up with the old propane/butane Force 10 stove, but that's used for it's gymbals more than cooking these days!

[JanetGroene]

Hand blender, yes, and I'll also put in a vote for the toaster oven as a cheap, lightweight appliance. They are available in many sizes and types. They broil, bake, toast and some air-fry. I'm a big fan of the combo convection-microwave if you have room for the size and weight Mine has an overboard exhaust hood, a real plus.