Stumped on what to get someone for the holidays? Heck, just need to get someone a gift period? Get them any one of these kitchen tools anytime and then get prepared to taste the deliciousness they concoct for you, hopefully. I know if you bought me any of these things I would be making you multiple meals and I promise they would taste good. <—–I hope haha. I won’t make this any longer but hope you can find some inspiration or send some hints to people for what you want for Christmas. I personally use each and everyone of these toys in the kitchen and I love them all. Especially those bacon T-Shirts at the end. Oh yeah, and I also realized that probably none of these gifts will fit in your stocking, but the name was still fun.
10. Spiral Slicer – This thing had redefined my view on the pasta I used to miss. You can’t go wrong with this thing when it comes to making tons of different noodles. From cucumbers, to zucchinis and to my favorite, sweet potatoes they are all simple and timely. I have not even gotten into the realm of playing with apples and other fruits but will get there eventually. If you have one, what kind of dishes have you made with it?
9. Crockpot – The single most important kitchen tool you will ever own. From meal prep to simplified cooking, you can never have enough of these. When I say that I mean it since I used to have 7 crock pots. I did some spring cleaning and narrowed it down to my favorite 4 and I use them often. Sometimes there are 3 going at a time and I would not have it any other way. Plus my website and Cookbook are loaded with Crock pot recipes.
8. Chef’s Knife – Your saving grace. Master the use and care of a quality chefs knife and you will have it for life. I used to be that guy that would buy the cheap knives or huge block sets thinking I needed them all and never knew how to take care of them. I never realized how often I was going through knives or how bad mine really were until I actually invested in my Wusthof’s. One day of meal prep with my Chef’s nice and I was hooked for life. I can not emphasize the importance of a quality sharp blade enough, but trust me, you will thank yourself once you invest.
7. Cast Iron Skillet – I have to be honest, I used to be scared of cast iron skillets. Every time I used one all my food would stick and it would take me forever to clean. Well, that’s because I never took the time to educate myself on them. Lucky for me one of my best friends took the liberty of educating all of us and after that I was hooked. You can check out Nom Nom Paleo’s post HERE. Not to mention, I honestly think these are the best deals on Amazon EVER. How can you go wrong with buying a pan that will last you for generations for $19. Exactly, enjoy.
6. Kitchen Aid Mixer – I am going to rant and rave about the Kitchen Aid mixer, because I have the one pictured above. But you can use any stand mixers I am sure and get the same results. Some of the other options are Cuisinart and Breville. Nonetheless, I have used this thing to make my brownies, cookies, soups, mashed everything and even burgers with the meat grinder attachment. So to simplify it, this thing is extremely versatile and from what I hear will last you a lifetime. I have friends that are still using theirs from 20 years ago. Sounds like a great investment to me.
5. Dutch Oven – This is another one of those tools that I thought I could live without. I used to just use pots, pans or skillets and try and make large batches of chili or soups and always ran into problems. After I got my first dutch oven from Le Creuset, I was hooked and I haven’t looked back since. I now have a collection of about 4 of them and I look forward to cooking in them 30 years from now just as I do today.
4. Indoor Grill/George Foreman – This one is a special for all my apartment or condo dwellers that can not have a grill or smoker. I have had one of these from Westbend for about a year now, and it is an awesome tool. Skillet on one side and grill grates on the other with a controllable temperature. Makes grilling easy and mess free. Or even better, keeps you warm when it may be snowing or a frozen tundra in your backyard.
3. Food Processor – Now I have to say, a food processor is not a necessity in the kitchen but it is one of the most welcoming tools you can have. That is unless you like spending hours doing prep work for big family meals or having friends over. As much as I love using my knives and chopping vegetables, if I am making a meal for 4 or more and I have a daunting pile of onions and peppers, I whip out my food processor and let it do all the work for me. Then I have a guest do the dishes, haha. Now I know this one has a hefty price tag, but you get what you pay for and when you are still using it in 5 years you will know why you bought it.
2. Blendtec with Twister Jar – This is a brand specific recommendation because I swear by Blendtec. I have used a vitamix in the past and it has been no where near as amazing as this tool. Plus, once I found out that Vitamix lost a patent infringement suit for stealing Blendtec’s design, I knew who the best was. Too bad it cost them 23 million to figure it out haha. There is just something sexy about making soup in like 7 seconds or nut butters in that twister jar in under 20 seconds. I used to make nut butters and stare at my food processor for 12 minutes before I got nut butter. With that twister jar alone it has probably already saved me hours I can spend eating delicious food instead of making it.
1. Bacon or Bacon TShirts – I will keep this one short since it involves a shameless self plug. First off, my awesome friends at Cook Pigs Ranch will start offering shipping everywhere come January and they by far have the best Pigs I have ever met and eaten. Those pigs get better treatment then I do and that means a lot. I spent a whole day on that farm and will be going back often to work and eat bacon so make sure you check them out. Oh yea, and my SICK new t-shirts and tank tops that are pictured above. Funniest shirt I have ever seen, not really but since I thought of it I love it. Hope you do too.
Perfect Paleo Pancakes
this is a great list! i am lucky to have a lot of things from here, though i never knew the thing about vitamix vs blendtec! i have an older, used vitamix that i bought from my friend’s ice cream shop after he was forced to close when he lost his contract bid to aafes :[ though the blendtec looks (surprise!) very similar so i wondered, how do you make nut butter in it? i refuse to make anything that’s not at least 90% liquid in the vitamix, because it doesn’t have a removable bottom so it seems like a lot of the food gets wasted at the bottom! i use my cheap, $20 black & decker blender to make guac, tahini, hummous, nut butter, pesto, tomato sauce, etc since when i try to make them in the vitamix pitcher, i can’t get everything out from the corners and under the blade. is there something i’m missing??? some trade secret? please share :D
Kat I have a special jar that blendtec makes specifically for nut butters, hummus, guac, etc. It is called the Twister jar
I asked santa for a food dehydrator so we can make our own snacks. I tried apple and banana chips in the oven and failed miserably
I did too but I don’t have a Santa :(
Did you ever get your Dehydrator if so which ones would you recommend?
I prefer the Excalibur, which you can find here
the key to making them in the oven is to get the idea of multitasking out of your head :[ you have to sit and watch the oven like a hawk! for a LONG time :[
that said, unless you are making a huge volume of snacks and stuff, the excalibur 4 tray dehydrator is around $100, low wattage, and great if you don’t have time to think about nothing but watching your oven all day :S and excalibur has great customer service, they always have cool deals, and they carry all of the replacement parts for their machines in case something wears out. i have the 5 tray one with a shut-off timer, i think it cost closer to $200 but we have used it for everything from drying potatoes to making fruit leather to incubating yogurt. it does take up a decent amount of counter space though, and it’s too big to put into any of the cabinets in our ultra-tiny galley kitchen, but it has been worth it so far! my next project is knockoff “chunks of energy” (from the bulk bin at whole foods) :S
good luck (to both of you!) in getting a dehydrator from your chosen gift giving idol ;)
This is to funny. I have pretty much the exact items you have listed. I love my 80th anniversary kitchen aid candy apple red mixer with glass bowl and I did have the wustof icon knifes but I gave them to my sister and got a set of shun kramer’s. I also love my 12″cast iron skillet (well seasoned with bacon grease) and my cuisineart food processor. The food processor is HUGE but it makes quick work of anything I put in it.
One other item I would say you missed is a food dehydrator. I just bought the nesco fd-61 and I have a batch of chipotle London broil. Minnie, my dog, ate 2 lbs of eye round black angus that was raw and unseasoned that was defrosting on the counter. It was the nicest
Piece of meat lol
Oh that is a good call, I still need a food dehydrator
Love the list. I’ve had my KitchenAid now for 30 years, and it’s still going strong. I do need some new knives though. As for the cast iron, I can’t use it on my glass top stove. I really need a new stove. HATE glass top.
My entire wedding registry was filled with Le Creuset stuff. I only got a couple of pieces, but I cherish every single one of them. I also agree with every toy you have up there. They would all be fantastic gifts!
I bought the spiral slicer a few months ago after seeing you rave about it on Facebook. I’ve done great things with making my own sweet potato fries, but I’m failing at making zucchini pasta. I tried to sautee them in a pan and they became a wet mess. How do you cook the zucchini noodles without making them mushy?
I do not cook them Jenny, zucchini is the one I eat raw for the best flavor and consistency
I’m going to try that, thanks George!
You are so welcome Jenny
Jenny – Another option is to salt your zucchini and let it sit for about 15 minutes. It will purge a lot of the water to prevent sogginess. Then rinse and wring them out in a towel. Rinsing doesn’t add much water back. Then cook gently. Not too long or they’ll be weird. You still might prefer raw, but this method works much better than unsalted zucchini. I do the same with eggplant noodles and they’re great.
I need new knives. My chef’s knife looks like a rutted road and my vegetable cleaver, well, I rounded the point off it with improper technique. Yeah, need new knives.
Oh definitely sounds it
Be still my heart. How did you get my list??
I am good like that Beth haha
Nice list George!
I have Montel Williams Health Master blender, 2 crockpots, one indoor grill that I purchased from PCH a few years ago and it works fine. I also have a Griswold chicken fryer skillet with lid that my friend was going to put in a yard sale she had. That was in 1979 She sold it to me for $6! Griswold was the best but do not make cast iron skillets anymore. I made out on that deal! Lodge has taken over and is a good brand..I have their grill skillet. Do not buy cheap cast iron skillets, the ones made in Korea, China, etc. Buy the ones made in the USA! I have a cast iron dutch oven, also. Love it!
My food processor isn’t the best but it works just fine. And, being a cook in the Food & Beverage trade for over 20 years, I have some good chef’s knives..boning knives, paring knives and more. What I am really wanting is the Kitchen Aid mixer. My funds are limited because I am Social Security so I doubt that I’ll ever get one. I do not use any charge cards..too easy to bite off more than I can chew. I do have an old Sunbeam stand mixer but it doesn’t do much but mix ..nothing but beaters with it, no other attachments.
I’m saving up to buy your ebook, George. Wish I could have gotten it when you lowered the price after Black Friday but after I paid my bills, bought groceries, just couldn’t spend the money. Eventually, I will get it, tho.
Love getting your newsletters and all the recipes!
Great list! My next kitchen purchase would be the food processor. What food processor do you recommend? Thanks!
Christine I am partial to the one pictured, if you click on it you will see the one I have and use. If you don’t need the 12 or 14 cup one you can go through that link and get a smaller one like an 8 cup. Cuisine art hands down wins though
Thank you George!
Love your list. I have a Breville food processor and love, love, love it. It far surpasses the Quisinart in so many ways. It is costly, but like you say, you get what you pay for and it will last forever. It has all the blades you would want for shredding, fries, a slicer that you can dial up or down for larger or smaller slices, and much more; all in a neat carrier device. It is the best! I have had a Vitamix for several years; purchased before I read about the Blendtec. I agree that Blendtec seems to be the better unit, but until my Vitamix dies, I’ll live with it. Merry Christmas.
What exactly is the difference between a dutch oven and a crockpot? Where does one work better than the other? Thanks.
A crockpot is used electrically plugged into the wall so everything is regulated for you. A dutch oven has to be used in your oven or other heating source like your stove top. The benefits of a crockpot are you don’t have to monitor them, you can just set certain ones to cook and the time and let it go. You also do not need to worry about heating up your house in the summer months using a crock pot as they emit no heat
A KitchenAid stand mixer is the next thing on my list! I think the spiral cutter would be cool too but I usually us my julienne peeler or the julienne blade in my food processor to do veggie pasta so I’m holdin out for the mixer ;-)
Great list!
Could list ur favorites crockpots? I’m in the process of choosing my first one ever…. Thanks to u! I used to think that only “old” people used those! LOL!
I have 3 of the ones in the picture Meivy, that is my favorite
Yay! Ok, that’s the one I’m getting!!!! Thank you!!!
I agree COMPLETELY with your list! I’m going to need to save up for a Blendtech, but in the mean time I have a Villaware blender that gets the job done. I’ve been using it for about 4 years, and it works very well, but is it weird that I’m already planning ahead for the day it breaks down? It may take me another 10 years… :)
That’s awesome, I am always planning for my next kitchen purchase :)