You may have heard that raw food is a healthy option for helping you to lose weight and adopt healthy dietary habits.
Raw food is incredibly rich in enzymes and maintains all its nutrients at their maximal healing abilities.
Having said that, preparing raw food presents a different set of challenges than that of cooking and you can help yourself out a lot by stocking your kitchen with this helpful gadgets and appliances:
Dehydrator
In order for food to meet the guidelines of being raw, it cannot be heated above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). This means the oven, stovetop, microwave and most other commercial electrical cooking devices such as your slow cooker are off limits. And while it also realistically means that you won’t have the classic cooked foods like roasted vegetables and steaming soups, you can create other delicious options using a dehydrator. A dehydrator is where you can make crunchy things like crackers and dried fruit snacks and veggie chips, but where you can make things like bread, granola or muesli and even cookies! Get creative with this (maybe) unfamiliar kitchen gadget and you might be surprised with what you come up with!
Blender
This will likely become your number 1 kitchen go-to as you follow along your raw food journey. From smoothies to smoothie bowls, nut milks, to sauces, dips, spreads and pesto, you will likely find yourself using your blender several times a day. It blitzes up vegetables for you to add on top of your salad, purees frozen fruit for you to eat for breakfast, and blends nuts and herbs into pesto selections that taste amazing on raw pastas, or with your homemade dehydrator crackers. And of course, how could we not mention the endless combinations of flavors and ingredients you can use to create smooth, delicious smoothies, soft serve ice cream and summer time smoothie bowls!
Food Processor
You’re thinking: “if I have a blender, do I need a food processor too?” Initially, you can actually get away with just a blender, over a food processor, but long term, if you plan to do a lot of raw food creation, you will find a food processor to be very useful. It allows you to make raw energy bites, and bars using dates and nuts, is ideal for making nut butters, and nut milks and you can whip up things like raw hummus, or other legume based dips and spreads. In addition, you can purchase a food processor that has a blade attachment and this will make things much easier when it comes to chopping up vegetables for fermenting and shredding vegetables for raw salads.
Spiralizer
While you can totally get away with a vegetable peeler, a proper spiralizer will be a welcome addition to your raw food preparation tools. Use this device to turn vegetables into noodles and have your favorite pasta dishes without cooking any pasta! From carrots to zucchini, to sweet potato to beetroot, there are heaps of vegetables that bode well as sub ins for pasta. And pretty soon, after you have made pasta from vegetables long enough, you’ll probably never feel the need to go back to other noodles!
Sprouting jar
While you are on a raw food diet, it is important to focus on getting enough protein, as many of your typical protein sources are likely all cooked options. One way to do this is sprout legumes, nuts and seeds. Things like chickpeas, alfalfa seeds, buckwheat, peas and mung beans all do well to be sprouted and become a tasty, protein packed addition to any dinner or lunch. Simply set yourself up with a sprouting jar and some sprouting seeds from your local health food store, and you’ll be well on your way to having a hearty, protein packed addition to any meal!
By: Laura Peill
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