The Holiday Kitchen: The cooks kitchen gift guide

Whether it be for Christmas, birthdays, or just because, if you are looking for a gift for the cook in your life stay tuned! I am going to give you some fun and functional gift ideas that your cook will love. I am going to do my best to include budget friendly and some more extravagant gift ideas.

1. KitchenAid Stand Mixer

    No holiday list is complete without the KitchenAid stand mixer. There are different price points for this but it is a more extravagant gift. These mixers not only come in either tilt head or bowl lift styles but also come in all sorts of colors. My favorite is the pistachio. If I didn't already have one this would totally be on my list! This one comes with a price point of $450 on Amazon. 

2. A great cookbook

Cookbooks have somewhat gone by the wayside with the invention of Pinterest. However, there are those of us that love a good beautifully put together cookbook. Any of the Half Baked Harvest cookbooks are beautiful and have lots of good recipes to try. Another favorite of mine are the Magnolia Table cookbooks (I have them all). Most cookbooks will run you from $10-40. This would be a good budget friendly gift idea. I suggest knowing your cook though. Do they like cookbooks or prefer looking up recipes online. Or are they like me and do both. 

3. A good set of knives

This can be both budget friendly and extravagant depending on brand. These Cuisinart knives are not only beautiful but they are relatively budget friendly. This set on Amazon runs about $30. I have similar knives from Pampered Chef that included a few more types of knives but mine were about $100 at regular price. 

4. Spices! 

             

New and sustainable spices are a great gift idea. My favorite spice company Burlap and Barrel offers a couple ways to give spices as a gift. They sell collections like this fundamentals box set. They come in 6, 9, or 12 set boxes. And the price ranges from $53-107. These spices come in glass jars, they are single source spices, and a lot of their spices are spices that are hard to find at the grocery store like my favorite spice Black Lime. The other gift option they have is a spice club. You can buy in a regular subscription for $45 or you can gift a 1-year subscription for $180. Keep in mind the regular subscription is a automatic payment quarterly. Each regular shipment includes 4 full sized jars of spices and new harvests of favorite spices. They also include new collaboration products, plus recipe and spice stories. The annual gift subscription includes 4 seasonal shipments with the above-mentioned products. Most of the time, these new spices come out to the club members before they are available online for purchase. This is something I would love to get as a gift personally. Their spices are amazing, and I use them all the time. 

5. Aerogarden

If you like having fresh herbs and produce all year long the Aerogarden is for you! Plants grow 5x faster in water instead of soil. Grow lights mimic natural light. Comes with plant food and 6 plant herb pod kit. This is a midrange cost at $50 and up. There are all types and sizes and even comes in a few colors.

6. Dutch Oven

A cast iron Dutch oven is a popular cooking dish. You can cook on the stove or in the oven. They come in various colors and sizes. It's a great dish for those one pot meals. This has a midrange price point depending on the size and brand. This 3 qt Cuisinart one runs about $43 on Amazon.

7. Pots and pans

This gift will depend on the brand and if you buy a whole set. A real nice set can be in the hundreds or you can get a midrange set like the Ninja foodie nonstick set for a couple hundred dollars. Or you can buy a single pot or pan and it is much more budget friendly. These KitchenAid pots and pans are between $20-50 per pan. 

8. Local food basket

Something like this could be a unique gift. Especially if you know certain items your person would love. You can make it as big or small as you want and you can spend as little or much as you want. You can do a theme basket like: wine, cheese, chocolate, baking, vinegars and oils, etc. This would involve a little more thought and work into putting it together but could be a big hit. You could even do a snack basket for the kids!

9. Kitchen utensils and gadgets

This is another thing you can buy sets of or find some really unique utensils like this fish spatula found on Amazon for under $10. Or, you can find some fun kitchen gadgets like this cute egg separator also under $10 on Amazon. This popular meat chopper can be found on Amazon for under $10 as well. 

10. Coffee cups

This is another gift where the price can vary depending on the brand and size. There are so many varieties as well. You can even make these into a basket by adding some things like gourmet coffee or hot cocoa bombs for the mugs.