We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. The holidays are officially ON. The fun has begun! With Thanksgiving being late this year, you might be feeling a little rushed. (I know I do). Gift guides to the rescue! Earlier this week, Anna shared her guide to our favorite books for kids and caregivers on building healthy relationships with food. Click here to read the post and order some wonderful books!
Over the coming weeks, we’ll share 2 more gift guides with our favorite cookbooks and more of the best books for supporting healthy relationships with food and body image.
Are you looking for great gifts for both new and seasoned cooks?
I love kitchen essentials. Many of these items were actually given to me as gifts over the years, so I can attest they make great gifts!
The links in this post link to items at Amazon.com. We are members of the Amazon Affiliate program which means we receive payment from Amazon when our readers purchase items from links in this post.
If you like to keep butter at room temperature and don’t go through it quickly, this little French butter dish is the answer! Fill the bottom of the dish about 1/3 full with cold water and your butter will stay soft and room temperature. No more having to microwave your butter to soften it. This holds 1 stick of butter.
Stainless Steel Cookie Spatula
I love this stainless steel cookie spatula. It’s great for baking. And it’s great for young kids to use because it’s easy for small hands to manage.
This paring knife makes just the right gift. While I was at my mom’s last year over Thanksgiving, I used her ceramic paring knife. I loved it! Guess what she gave me for Christmas last year?! It’s my go-to paring knife.
I use them for so many tasks. They’re great for making peeling shrimp easier, cutting herbs, opening bags and boxes of food – like those beans that come in boxes? I can’t open those without scissors despite the perforrated top!
I’m not sure what I used before I owned this! I have two of these. One I use for grating parmesan cheese and the other I use for zesting citrus peel.
This peeler rocks! It is by far the best peeler I’ve owned. You want this in your kitchen! You can even peel butternut squash with it.
A friend gave me this many years ago and it’s one of my most used utensils. It can reach the bottom edges of pans, so when you’re cooking and whisking (like making mac and cheese) bits don’t get stuck in the pan. 
Silicone Spatulas
These spatulas are nice to have in a number of sizes. The small one is great for scraping out the last of the peanut butter out of the jar. The benefit to silicone spatulas is because they can withstand heat, you can cook with them.
Silicone pastry brushes are nice because they’re easy to clean and they don’t shed bristles.
Use this when you’re cooking fish on your stove top and need to turn it over before moving it to the oven. It’s a very thin spatula so it’s easy to get underneath the fish. 
A cherry pitter isn’t essential, but you’ll have fun pitting cherries. Kids will especially enjoy using this tool!
A really good pepper mill makes such a nice gift. Chad’s aunt gave us this one a few years ago and we love it! Add a jar of whole peppercorns to the package to complete the gift.
Silicone Microwave Safe Dish Covers
These silicone covers come in a variety of sizes and fun designs. I use these when I reheat food in the microwave or to keep bowls covered in the refrigerator. No waste! I also love the bottle stoppers they make.
Anna’s husband Dan has a cutting board similar to this one that Anna’s sister gave him. I love these animal shaped cutting boards. There’s a cow, a pig and a rooster-shaped board too. In addition to being a cutting board, these work well for small cheese or charcuterie boards. I’m going to put this chicken-shaped board on my list this year. Maybe one of my family members will get it for me?!
Are you looking for tips for navigating the holidays?
Just before Thanksgiving I shared a post with 3 Things You Can Do Today to Keep Your Holidays Free From Diet Culture.
Last year we wrote this post on self care during the holidays. We can get so busy, we forget to make time to do the things that help us manage stress! How do you manage stress this time of year?
What gifts are you hoping to get this year?! We’d love to hear from you!
These are great ! We have a Kyocera ceramic knife and love it!
Thanks very much!
I love these! I am going to add a few things in this list to my kitchen ! I cannot believe that I don’t even own one microplane grater/ zester! I’m a big fan of tongs as well !
Thanks! Which tongs are your favorites? I’ll include them in my next post on kitchen essentials!