Or for eating local!
When you’re eating and cooking local food, you’re doing A LOT more food prep than the typical convenience food requires. Having the right kitchen equipment can make that food prep a lot easier.
Christmas is a great time to give one of these kitchen items to help someone better enjoy their local CSA, or to put one of these items on your wishlist!
Here are my top 12 gift ideas–to get or to give–and there are options for all budgets! They are in no particular order–just the order I thought of them!
- Debbie Meyer Green Bags $16+
These plastic bags are reusable and help keep your veggies fresh longer! - Salad Spinner $33
Use this after you wash leafy veggies to spin them dry. - Chef’s Knife $15-194
This is a great knife for all around use, but especially for chopping veggies! Cutco is a great brand if you can afford it, but we’ve also loved our Calphalon knives that can be found at places like Marshall’s! - Wood/Bamboo Cutting Board $28
Wood and Bamboo are naturally antimicrobial, plus you don’t have to wonder what’s happening to all those microscopic bits of plastic from a plastic cutting board. They can also be sanded down and oiled again and again when your surface gets too cut up! - Blending Stick/Immersion Blender $55
This is great for pureeing tomato sauces, greens into dips and pasta sauces, soups, and even for making homemade mayo! We love that you can blend things without having to transfer it into a blender or food processor! - Food Processor $220-320
These are great for slicing, shredding, and pureeing veggies! And there are lots of other things you can use them for to make homemade meals easier to make! - Mandoline $130
This is a tool that can slice veggies or make them into matchstick shape. It can be adjusted to make slices of various thicknesses, unlike the food processor. Be sure to use the handguard to protect yourself from the very sharp blade! I would recommend this tool for someone who already loves to cook, already has a food processor, and wants to do more. - Instant Pot $70-200
This is an amazing small kitchen appliance! At first, I was very skeptical–do I really need another kitchen appliance? But an Instant Pot can be a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, a yogurt maker, an air fryer, a saute pan, and an oven! There’s probably something I have forgotten too! So far, I have mainly used mine to make the most amazing, gelatinous chicken broth, but I have also used to to cook a meal of chicken for dinner. - Dutch Oven $270-650 (Le Creuset–comes with warranty if damage occurs)
There are many varieties of dutch ovens, but we love using our enameled cast iron one! We also have two smaller cast iron dutch ovens that come in handy often.
Dutch ovens are great for cooking things that need sauteed before going into the oven. Make sure you get a lid with a knob that can stand up to oven temperatures.
We also like to use ours to make broth in the oven. You can do it over night and not have to worry about spills or catching anything on fire!
The benefit of the enameled cast iron over the regular cast iron is that you can cook acidic foods like tomatoes without damaging the surface. - Carbon Steel Pan $100-120
We discovered carbon steel pans 8 years ago and these have become our wedding gift of choice! Chances are, if you’ve invited us to your wedding since 2017, we’ve given you one of these pans!
These are amazing pans that develop a natural, non-stick coating–a little like cast iron pans, but they really are non-stick even for eggs! And you don’t have to worry about ingesting teflon!
- Cast Iron Pan $40-50
We cook so many veggies in our cast iron pan! I can’t even begin to tell you how much we love cast iron! It provides a great, even heat. You don’t have to worry about damaging the surface with a wire whisk (which you can’t use in enameled cast iron), so it’s a great pan for making sauces and gravies. This is the way to start many amazing meals! - Slow Cooker $54
Where would we be without the classic Crockpot? Well, we actually don’t have one, so take this with a grain of salt! But I know CSA members who love to make dinner in these, so this can definitely be a great tool for getting those CSA veggies on the table for dinner! You can also use them for making homemade broth, which is very important to do when you’re trying to make nutritious homemade meals!
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