I love kitchen gear, but only to an extent. I don’t like having many items that only serve one purpose. My goal is to have a well curated collection of things that I use constantly. These are a few items missing from the rest of the internet’s kitchen gift suggestions that I use daily. I did link to specific examples, but I’m not married to any brand for these (except the pot, because that’s a sale item). There are lots of options, so look around.

Canning Funnel – Don’t can? You still need this funnel. Funnels in general are awesome. I do use this one for canning, but I reached for it so much I moved it out of the box of canning stuff and into an everyday drawer. I use it constantly for transferring things that are not straight liquid into containers (beverages! soup! granola! flour!). Definitely get metal, best for hot uses.

Mesh Produce Bags – I keep a bunch of these in my grocery bag and use them for buying produce and bulk items so I don’t have to get a plastic bag for every kind of fruit or vegetable I buy (which can be many….).

Kitchen Scale – These babies are life changing. I use them for measuring dry goods for baking (just zero after every ingredient! so exact! fewer dishes!), truly knowing I have 6 oz of mushrooms when that is what the recipe calls for, and just being more exact in general because weight is always more reliable than volume. And maybe every once in a while I weigh mail to see how many stamps I need.

Cast Iron Dutch Oven – In my ideal world, I would have a beautiful set of vintage Le Creuset pots in a snappy color. Unfortunately every other cook has this same dream. New ones are prohibitively expensive for most, and used ones are still pricey. I was trolling West Elm because I had a gift card and found this gem on sale. No, it doesn’t have the vintage warmth of a Creuset, but it is a beast of a pot and $49.99 for 5.5 quarts is amazing (just for the black). In my other ideal world (slightly less ideal than the Le Creuset world) I would have gotten white or red, but paying an extra $30 for a color is a level of crazy I thankfully am not. My one complaint about this pot is it is so heavy I can’t lift it with one arm, but that means I just need to do more push ups.

Look! Using two of my favorite things together! (Putting away some mushroom soup)

PS – Do you hate gift guides? Even this one? These could be more your taste: Gift Guide: Foodies and Gift Guide: Witches and Wizards