25 Best Gifts for Home Cooks: Practical Kitchen Gifts They’ll Actually Use
We all know people who love to be at home cooking in the kitchen. While new gadgets are always fun, often times the person behind the stove wants something that makes cooking, baking, and feeding people a little easier—or simply makes time in the kitchen more enjoyable. As someone who cooks a lot, I’ve compiled a lot of the basic favorite ideas of things I use in the kitchen all the time. Things like a digital scale, proofing containers, chicken shredder, and goggles for cutting onions that make my kitchen run smoother all made the list. Whether big or small you’ll be sure to find things that the home cook in your life will love (and use!). So, what do I think are the best gifts for home cooks? Take a look below.
25 Gift Ideas for Someone Who Loves to Cook
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So what is a good gift for a home cook?
Best gifts for home cooks are something they may not always buy for themselves. Quality cookware, useful kitchen tools, baking supplies, pantry organization, and food-preservation equipment are all practical but sometimes people have a hard time pulling the trigger. For instance: if someone bakes rolls and buns but is still trying to use towels to cover the dough as it rises, then they’d be a good candidate for the proofing boxes. They may not want to spend the money or think it feels frivolous to buy but I promise, they’ll really like it.
Or someone who is trying to cook things for their family but is also a little time crunched may love the bread maker. Great homemade bread without the hands-on time.
If you think about filling in gaps in their life or buying something they won’t pull the trigger on, you’re heading in the right direction.
Why I love these items:
- Onions Goggles – If you’ve cut enough onions in bulk, you’ll know why. These keep the tears away and allow you to chop as many onions as you want.
- KitchenAid Mixer – Mixers are so useful not only just for baking, mixing, etc. but having the option to use so many different attachments make this invaluable. The uses are endless.
- Sheet Pans – My favorite way to use these is for sheet pan dinners. Put veggies on one and meat on another. Or use a big one and put everything together. But sheet pan dinners are delicious and easy. Not to mention baking cookies, bagels, pizzas and more.
- Large Mixing Bowl – We’ve all been in a position where we needed a bowl just a little bit bigger. Having one large stainless steel bowl helps for tidying scraps, straining stocks, and marinating.
- Ice Cream Scoops – 3 different sizes. I particularly use these for cookie dough.
- Bread Maker – This makes bread while you sleep….One of the items I would recommend the most if someone wants bread at home but without the commitment of paying attention to dough.
- Countertop Fryer – As someone who doesn’t love cooking with oil on my stove, this countertop option is much more user-friendly.
- Glass Baking Dishes – I love that they nest into each other so they don’t take up a lot of space and can be used for a lot of different things. Space saving and useful! 🙂
- Meat Chopper – I’ve had mine for years and still love it. A wooden spoon is fine….but this takes such little effort and breaks the meat apart evenly and quickly.
- Parchment Paper – I particularly like this for when you’re trying to freeze things like pre-made hamburgers separately. And cheese slices.
- All-in-One Mandolin – Chop, slice, and cut! The mandolin part is one of my favorites. Just be careful!
- Reusable Fruit Preservers – Ever tried to store a half of a tomato, lemon or avocado? It doesn’t always seem right to just throw it into a ziploc bag. These help protect fruits and veggies to keep them fresher longer and without the funny container choices.
- Large Cutting Board – Whether for cutting or a charcuterie board, having a large board like this is a handy tool to have.
- Chicken Shredder – This may sound silly, but I love it. We use it all the time when shredding chicken. It stays on the countertop without any issues while you twist to shred. This is great for those days you cook chicken in a crockpot dish or do a slow cook on the stove. Take the breasts out to shred and then add back into the pot cook. I highly recommend trying this.
- Reusable Vacuum Sealer System – Can’t go wrong with reusable. The vacuum seal creates a nice tight seal around the food to keep it fresher, longer.
- Dutch Oven – Great for braising, casseroles, soups, chilis and more. You can even bake bread in a heavy dutch oven.
- Drying Stands – These are great for reusable bags (or ziplocs you washed), bottles, and gloves. Those can always be tricky to get to dry so these are super helpful.
- Pizza Peel and Stone – Pizza Friday wouldn’t be the same without it! The pizza stone gets a really nice bottom on the pizza and using a pizza peel is a lot of fun!
- Expandable Cooling Racks – Space saver to the rescue again. Whether you have a small or large house, having the cookies stack up instead of across the counter is ideal.
- Salt and Pepper Mill – Who doesn’t love fresh cracked black pepper and salt? Nice quality salt and pepper grinders give a nice finishing touch to so many meals.
- 3 Pack Glass Measuring Set – Baking and canning food wouldn’t be the same. These are also microwave safe so melting butter and measuring are made easy.
- Dough Proofing Container – So long to the towel covering the bowl. While that work, having the dough covered with a dedicated top keeps the environment consistent, there won’t be any pesky fruit flies that may show up, and they’re stackable.
- Digital Scale – Sourdough lovers will especially love this. With so many bread recipes in grams, we would be lost without it.
- Oil Dispensers – Not only are these pretty but if someone buys oil in bulk they’ll want something to transfer it into for daily use.
- Fridge Organizer Bins – Good organization always feels good. It also helps to reduce food waste because if you’re able to separate a lot of the fruits and veggies you won’t get stragglers in the back corner of the drawer.
Hopefully you were able to find some of this list helpful to maybe find a gift but perhaps spark an idea for something else that better suits your home cook. Happy hunting!
Want to learn more about preserving and stocking a pantry?
Does the person in your life want to learn more about preserving food? Have them take a look at some of the posts here at Vintage Preserving. Thanks again for coming!
