Since the season of gift giving is upon us, I wanted to share some of the kitchen gifts I turn to day in and day out to make feeding my family easier. I’m a big fan of giving things that are truly useful and that can be used again and again.
Best Kitchen Gifts for Busy Parents
This roundup of kitchen appliances and tools includes some of my very favorite must-haves for feeding a family. These are the things I use again and again—the things I’ve found to be totally worth the investment.
These would be great kitchen gifts for any busy mom in your life…or for yourself!
It took me a few months to really sing the praises of the Instant Pot, but I now love it. It’s perfect for making big batches of beans and grains, and it’s my favorite way to cook dinner when I have to run around picking up the kids from evening activities.
You can cook meat from frozen, use a delayed start, and generally transform a pile of ingredients into a delish dinner. I prefer the Ultra model with more cooking options (which is around $150, though there’s one with fewer bells and whistles that’s closer to $80).
Have your coffee ready and waiting in the morning AND keep it warm while you take care of the kids in this coffee maker from Cuisinart. The stainless-steel carafe seriously keeps the coffee warm for hours and hours—even if the machine has turned off.
I love the size of this food processor and that it has an insert to do smaller jobs. If you have a parent in your life who doesn’t have a food processor (and has the storage space), this would be a really amazing gift.
You can use this amazing countertop appliance to fry foods without oil, or you can use it like a standard toaster oven—so versatile. This would be a great gift for the more adventurous cooks in your life.
This is actually on my own list this year…I’ve decided I’ve waited long enough to get one!
This pan, which I use for roasting veggies a few times a week, is my favorite. They are nonstick, cook foods evenly, and make sheet pan meals so much easier. They’re also a great kitchen gift for anyone who likes to bake homemade cookies, granola bars, roasted veggies, or granola!
Whether for whipping cream, blending salsa, pureeing marinara sauce right in the pot, or pureeing black bean soup, we love ours and the accessories (especially the cup) that make using it for big and small jobs super easy.
We use our kettle 2-3 times each day and it’s so much faster than a stove-top kettle I mean like crazy fast. It’s also how I heat water to thaw peas and soften grated sweet potato for muffins, hummus, or quesadillas.
This one has auto-shut off, variable temperatures, a keep-warm feature, and more and is usually priced under $50.
A few years ago, I saved up and bought a Vitamix for myself and I use it at least once a day. It’s amazing for smoothies, but I also use it to grind oat flour, to blend up muffin batter, to blend up soups, and so much more.
It’s a workhorse that will last you years and years. The “refurbished” ones are less than the brand-new ones, which is helpful, too.
Whomp whomp, not exciting gift… right?! But let me tell you, these towels are awesome! My goal is to only have these towels in my kitchen since they are FAR more absorbent than any others and just making cleaning up and drying hands a little more efficient.
Budget kitchen gifts for the win! (12 of them are about $25.)
Old muffin pans can cause any batter to stick, even when the pan is greased, so it’s a good idea to replace them occasionally. I love having traditional 12-cup Wilton Standard Muffin Pan and Wilton Mini Muffin Pan on hand so I can adjust the size of the muffins I’m making depending on the occasion and who’s eating them. Plus, they’re just about $10.
Whether Mama’s a coffee or tea drinker, having an easy way to keep her beverage warm through all of the delays that motherhood inevitably brings is gold. Choose the size that would work best (I have a 16-ounce that I use daily) and the color she’ll like and your gift giving is done!
I never thought I’d use this as much as we do, but it’s perfect for keeping pancakes warm while you finish the batch and for heating a big stack of tortillas and keeping them warm at the table. We use ours 2-3 times each week!
Related Recipes
What’s your favorite gift to give busy moms (or yourself!)? I’d love to know, so please comment below.
This post was first published November 2019.
