(Natural News) If you’re living on a homestead, you might want to invest in off-grid appliances like a solar dehydrator and a manual washing machine so you can cook and clean even if the electricity goes out for several days or weeks. (h/t to AskAPrepper.com)
Here are nine off-grid appliances that you might need on your homestead.
Composting toilet
A composting toilet is best suited for preppers who love camping or going on long RV road trips. You can also benefit from having a composting toilet if your off-grid home is temporarily out of running water.
When installing a composting toilet, include a vent and a fan to help ventilate any odors out of the room. Connect the vent and fan to a solar panel so they can run even without electricity.
A composting toilet is a comfortable restroom alternative. As a bonus, you can use the collected compost for your home garden.
Gas-powered lamps
When the power goes out, you’ll need gas-powered lamps if you prefer using light sources that run on fuel instead of flashlights. Unlike flashlights that need extra batteries or constant recharging, you can light up your home with gas-powered lamps even without electricity.
A gas lamp hooked up to gas can provide up to 11 hours of light.
Manual food processor
You can use a manual food processor to blend, dice, grind or mince raw or cooked food for easier meal prep. Since this appliance is manual, you only need elbow grease to operate it.
Most manual food processor models have a crank that needs to be turned to rotate the blade inside the processor. Some models come with a cord that you pull instead of a crank.


Manual-powered washing machine
A washing machine is a very convenient appliance to have on your homestead. But when the grid goes down, you won’t be able to use a regular washing machine.
Fortunately, you can keep your clothes clean and smelling fresh with a manual washing machine. Once you’re done with the laundry, you can just hang everything to dry on a clothesline in your backyard.
Using a manual washing machine is better than doing the laundry by hand. You can look for larger, solar-powered washer-spinners if you have a big family and need to wash more clothes.
Propane-powered stove
With a propane-powered stove, you can cook complete meals for your family when SHTF. You can also get a stove that runs on other fuels, such as butane, if you like.
For big families, get full-sized stoves and ovens that run off of propane, so you can easily cook big meals. (Related: 13 Essential non-electric kitchen tools for your off-grid homestead.)
Alternatively, you can get wood-burning stoves so you can keep your home warm while you cook.
Solar dehydrator
You can use a solar dehydrator to preserve excess crops from your home garden or raw meat from the animals you’re raising. While a traditional dehydrator uses a lot of electricity, a solar dehydrator can help you save a bit of money on your electric bill.
Dehydrating food offers many benefits:

• It allows you to storing fresh fruits and vegetables for use when they are not in season.
• It can be used to create healthy and delicious snacks from fresh produce.
• You can save money by drying and storing your own produce instead of purchasing foods out of season.

• Apples
• Bananas
• Beans
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Garlic
• Mangoes
• Onions
• Peas
• Pumpkin or squash
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

I would add a generic table top manual meat grinder like you see in the sporting goods section at Walmart around deer season to that list.  It's a good extra to have as a spare in addition to any other manual or low power electric food processors/grinders; if for no other reason, it's a good barter item.  A Country Living grain mill is a must have for milling everything from corn/coffee to wheat/oats.  Both of these items can generally be clamped to a table and run off either elbow grease or belt driven by an electric motor if available.