Hip and Healthy Holiday Gift Ideas

With only a week left until Christmas, the time is ticking to get those remaining gifts bought. Whether it’s a gift for your parents, kids, sibling or significant other, kitchen items are great gifts to give. Slow cookers, grills, and Keurig machines are passé, and besides, many kitchens are already filled with one or more of these items. The following kitchen ideas are sure not to be re-gifted, and great for getting a head start on new years resolutions.

Cast iron cookware. This cookware has a couple benefits. First of all, it uses less oil than other similar standard cookware, like pans. Cast iron cookware can also add iron to your food. For those looking to boost iron content, or reduce fat in their diet, a cast iron frying pan or casserole dish, is the perfect gift. If you are to give this gift, do remind the recipient that handling and washing cast iron cookware is different from other kinds of cookware. You’ll likely pay a little more for this type of pan or dish, but it’s well worth it, as it lasts a lifetime.   

 

 

‘Healthy deep fryers.’ Yup you heard that right! There is such a thing. The newest frying machines can fry, or perhaps the better words are mist and mix, foods like fish, stir-fries, and veggies with little to minimal oil. Some can even cook up to two pounds of crispy French fries by using one tablespoon of oil. That’s about four servings of fries, each with less than a teaspoon of oil, and having three percent fat (a far cry from the regular deep fried French fries of about 43% fat).

Silicone baking ware. Traditional pans often need to be greased with margarine or oil before, whereas silicone does not. For the baker or loved one watching calories on your list, consider purchasing some silicone baking utensils or cookware, like muffin cups and pans, liners and molds, circular and rectangular pans. Muffin cups and molds have the added bonus of being good for the environment as they are reusable.  

 

Kitchen scales. Scales have officially moved from the bathroom and now into the kitchen. There are many small portable scales on the market which serve the purpose to measure food weight. What’s convenient is that many food servings (including the food guide) are also illustrated in weight. That makes this is a neat gift for those looking to improve eating habits and prevent disease. Using a scale can keep food portions, the weight of your food, and body, in check.

Plates. Nine inches to be exact. In the past few years the size of average dinner plates has grown to about twelve inches. Nine inches is actually the size of today’s salad plate. It’s clearly demonstrated the larger our plates the more food we’re likely to put on them. Smaller plates plus small portions, equals healthier waistlines and saved food costs for the new year.

Oil misters. Fill these with canola or olive oil and mist away. Use them instead of measured spoonful's of oil, and pouring oil over a pan, and save, save, save. Save in oil yes, and calories even more so. Even if healthy oils are used in excess, they can increase weight as oils are very caloric. Consider the fact that a tablespoon of oil has around 120 calories. On average, oil spritzers and misters will pump out about five calories a spray.

Bento style lunch boxes. Presentation is everything. This is essentially a box containing small compartments for different food items, ultimately keeping lunch items organized and separate from each other. This is a great gift idea to help promote healthy food choices and increased fruit and veggie servings for the picky child, or perhaps adult on your list.

As seen in The Telegram December 17, 2012