When you can’t eat out at all, you eat in! That means we spend a lot of time in the kitchen making healthy, gluten-free, Jason-friendly meals. It has taken us a long time to figure out a sustainable diet that doesn’t require much imported food items, either from import stores in Shanghai or carried in our suitcase during our annual visit to the U.S.
The key is to make everything from scratch and acquire the right kitchen gadgets!
Over the years, we’ve acquired quite a number of kitchen gadgets. Our kitchen is running out of space! But we’re happy and able to eat very well, healthy, and cheaply too! We’ve come to realize how much restaurants in Shanghai charge premium prices for authentic western food, just because Chinese or non-authentic western restaurants can’t get things right (pizza, hamburgers, spaghetti, sandwiches, cheese cake, burritos, etc…).
If we could eat out, we’d be willing to pay those prices! But since we can’t, we make them ourselves and for only a fraction of the price!
Here’s a few appliances occupying our tiny kitchen space.
VitaMix
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The Vitamix is our most precious (and most expensive) kitchen appliance! We use it to make many things!
This machine is definitely a life-saver! Despite the ridiculous price tag (over $1000 USD) for a 220V model, we actually ended up saving a lot more because pre-made gluten-free flour mixes are very expensive both here and in the U.S., not to mention a glass of 100% fruit juice/smoothies at restaurants! |
Omega Juicer 8003
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We acquired the Omega Juicer earlier this year. We use it mostly to make vegetable juice. Every week, we get a basket of organic vegetables delivered to our house. We use the juicer to make healthy (but kind of disgusting) drinks. A glass of pure green juice a day keeps the doctors away! Aside from juicing vegetables, we tried making peanut butter and pasta once. The peanut butter attempt was a mess. It’s much easier using the Vitamix! As for pasta, rice pasta is quite cheap at Carrefour, so we didn’t bother making them again. |
Braun Food Processor
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The Braun food processor is our second most used kitchen gadget. We use the food processor for the following tasks.
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Braun Juicer |
We use this juicer to make citrus—orange, lemon, and grapefruit—juice. Not too much use out of this little gadget since packaged 100% orange/lemon/grapefruit juice is cheaper to buy! But we still use it occasionally to squeeze fresh juice when fruits are on sale. |
Westinghouse Hand Mixer |
Surprisingly, not many foreigners in China have a hand mixer. Most people don’t have an oven, so there’s no need for doing any kind of mixing/blending. But even those with toaster ovens still mix manually! It’s probably because it’s not easy to find hand mixers in China. Before the days of online shopping on Taobao.com, we had to scour the entire city looking for “special gadgets” like a hand mixer! A baker cannot live without a mixer! |
Philips 3-in-1 Sandwich Maker/Waffle Maker/Grill
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We bought this 3-in1 sandwich maker/waffle/grill a few weeks ago online from Taobao.com. Originally, we wanted to get a bread toaster, but instead, got a sandwich maker so that we can make sandwiches in advance and eat as snacks! Turns out that making sandwiches was too messy. Homemade gluten-free bread doesn’t always come in nice square slices! =( However, we’ve been using this machine to make yummy gluten-free waffles. Today, we tried grilling hamburger patties. They turned out wonderful! All the fat was skimmed off on the grill. |
Galanz Toaster Oven |
We had this toaster oven for several years now, before we moved to our home (with a built-in oven). We used the toaster oven much more before the move and when our built-in oven was broken. Now, we don’t use it as much except to toast bread in the morning. |
Braun Coffee Maker |
We don’t drink coffee at all, so the coffee maker has been hidden in a corner, collecting dust. Why did we buy it? We didn’t. Jason’s dad bought it last year when he visited us. |
Braun Blender |
Before we got the Vitamix, we had this nice little blender that occupied much less space. (The Vitamix is twice as big as this!) We made a lot of yummy smoothies with this blender. However, something got stuck on the blade and broke a tiny piece of plastic that connected the motor and the blade. So now, the motor runs (and quite well), but not the blade. This happened once before and we fixed it for 30RMB at Braun’s customer service office in Puxi. But the trek out there is too far of a journey for us lazy folks that already have THE king of all blenders (aka the Vitamix). If anyone wants it, go right ahead. Costs 30RMB to get it fixed and working again! |
Ozonizer |
You’re probably wondering, what the heck is an ozonizer? We heard about this technology/machine from a doctor in Hong Kong, so we ordered it on Taobao. The machine supposedly kills bacteria and disinfects various items including meat, vegetables, fruits, fabric, refrigerator, etc… It’s also supposed to “remove” synthetic chemicals injected into meat, like hormones and antibiotics. We use the machine mostly on chicken breasts. We place the meat in water, then insert the ozonizer tube into the water, and run the machine for 10-30 minutes. We did an experiment with organic and regular chicken breasts before. With the organic chicken breasts, the water remains pretty clear and clean after 30 minutes. With the regular chicken breasts, the water turns murky and there’s a mountain of foam on top of the water. We have to run the machine for another half an hour before “things” stop coming out of the meat. It’s quite disgusting actually. Since getting this machine, we are afraid to eat chicken that has not been oxidized. One of these days, we’ll get around to posting videos and pictures on our blog to gross all of you out! |
In addition to these kitchen gadgets, we also have a full-size built-in oven, a microwave, a dishwasher, a double-door refrigerator, two broken rice cookers, a bunch of pots and pans, and about a hundred Lock ‘n’ Lock containers!
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