Tuesday, March 26, 2013

How essential is the food processor to a minimalist kitchen?

I know that at first this seems like a petty and unimportant question, but I think it fits into a larger discussion about how we can be thoughtful about our actions as consumers, how we make our spaces more efficient, and how we can prioritize products that earn their keep over the long haul.

Rehabbed store bought pie crust, Chicago, IL. 2013

I don't have a food processor.  I keep going back and forth on whether I should buy one so I can make hummus, tapenades, and so many other things.  Then this morning I had a run in with a broken up store bought pie crust and Susan mentioned a future solution employing the food processor that made me think a little more about adding this mechanized tool to my arsenal.  I think in the past I would have considered it obvious, yeah just get a food processor, or one of those mini ones if your kitchen is small.  But I'm trying to be a super thoughtful consumer these days, so I'm wondering what you guys think about the usability and versatility of the FP.

I am trying to keep my kitchen ultra minimalist (i.e. manual tools like a moka pot instead of an espresso machine etc),  I'm doing this partly because my space is very tiny which I like for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I want to acquire as few material things as I possibly can so I can spend less, add less to landfills, and have a less cluttered/hopefully more efficient living space.

Obviously, if I want to make a large majority of my food at home though (which I do want), I'm probably going to have to make at least a few concessions.  But before I make these concessions, I want to make sure I'm choosing tools that are super versatile and can get used often enough to justify the space they take up in my small cocoon of prep/storage space.

So my questions are:  Do you use your food processor often?  What could I make with an FP that I'm not even considering yet?  If you could only have 1 or 2 mechanized kitchen tools, would you make the FP one of them?