I’m a tricky person to buy for. You see, when I want something I usually just buy it. I realize this is a luxury. But I’d rather save my husband the trip, buy that sweater when I see it and have Christmas morning be about the kids and their homemade gifts to me.
However when it comes to my kitchen, I do not treat myself to new things. I desperately need a new stock pot to replace my current one that has become a mysterious shade of brownish/red (soon to be rust) and has probably been emitting toxic chemicals into our soups. Gross!
We’ve been married since 1999 and safe cookware has come a long way since our wedding showers. We didn’t know about all the chemicals in cookware then, the affects of non-stick surfaces or that cooking with aluminum pots caused Alzheimer’s disease. Now we know stainless steel is best, cast iron is tried and true, that putting food in plastic is bad, and that my black coated Calphalon set of pots was a poor choice for our wedding registry.
So when family asks this year what I want for Christmas, I’m telling them to look here. Because really, I’m writing this gift guide for them, and other moms like me who don’t see the fun in buying their own pots and pans. I by no means expect to get all this stuff. But a gal can wish.
To read more about safer cookware, the Environmental Working Group is a good place to start – on Teflon, about PFCs and safer cooking options.
Gift Guide for Safer Cookware
A Le Creuset stock pot for soups, pasta and so much more. The turquoise blue is so much fun it makes me want to throw on a ruffly apron and cook something.
A Le Creuset 9 inch skillet is a basic must for our kitchen. For frying pans, I read here that Le Creuset wins the test for frying up eggs and other things that stick easily to cookware. The pans come in varying sizes from 6 1/3″ to 11.75″. For us I think we can get away with a 9″ for most things – from eggs, to kale, to brussels spouts to fried okra (which is what we’ve been doing a lot of lately).
A Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Stainless Steel Saucepan seems to be a good middle of the road choice for saucepans. For saucepans I think the important thing is that they are stainless steel with no coatings. So you have options. I love All-Clad but they are super expensive.
An Adagio Teas Glass Water Kettle to replace mine with the melting plastic stopper on the spout. And this one is so, simply, beautiful.
A replacement toaster over of my same old, very much loved grimy Hamilton Beach combo toaster and mini oven. A toaster oven is a great alternative to the microwave and it saves energy when heating small items verses warming up the big oven for a few kid’s chicken fingers. I’ve pined over a larger one by Cuisinart in stores before. But ultimately I always opt to save my counter space.
A set of stainless steel measuring cups, because with three mini helpers in the kitchen there never seems to be enough of these. And I’d like to ditch the old plastic ones that have taken too many accidental trips down the garbage disposal.
A set of glass mixing bowls to replace our plastic ones that have migrated over to the, ahem, sick closet after the last simultaneous kid’s stomach bug. (In the moment a mom does what she has to do, right? I’m sure you understand.)
A giant stainless steel mixing bowl because I’m sure I could use it for a thousand things. We do, after all, feed five mouths here.
Some Bamboo wooden mixing spoons so I can toss out the last of the plastic ones lingering around but still in use.
And if you really want me to keep going – I recommend glass storage containers. I love the Pyrex brand because they can go from oven, to table, to fridge, to reheat mode. I even use the small round ones to send things in lunches for the foods my girls reheat in the microwaves at school.
To avoid putting hot soups and foods in a plastic food processor (because most of them are plastic unless you use a glass blender) I can’t say enough awesome things about my Bamix immersion blender. It’s great for pureeing just about anything, from soups, to potatoes, to baby food – and it’s worth every penny. There other brands available for cheeper, but like any good blender, you get what you pay for. And if I was going to splurge for one (I did have a gift card) I was going to make sure I got one that worked. This thing rocks!
That’s my wish list for me, and little bit for you. Now I’m signing off so I can get cooking!
