The best time to upgrade your kitchen is ahead of Thanksgiving. To clarify: I am not telling you to knock out that interior wall and add the dreamy butcher block island. I see your future and you won’t be impressing your mother-in-law with a newly renovated open-concept kitchen. You’ll just end up roasting your turkey in a construction site.
Instead, do as my parents told me and dream small. Take a look at your tool drawer and use this hosting challenge as a chance to improve it. If you skinned your knuckles on an old Microplane recently, take note. If you have an avoidant attachment style with the dull blade of your food processor, prepare yourself to make a change. You wouldn’t run a marathon with worn out shoes, and you shouldn’t do the marathon cooking event of the year with tools that are well past their prime. Here are a few inexpensive replacements you should consider to set yourself up for Thanksgiving success.
Skip straight to replacing…
Microplane
You need a Microplane to shred ginger into your cranberry relish, or to grate cheese on the top of a potato au gratin. You’ll certainly use it to zest citrus that lends brightness to all of the heavy Thanksgiving fare. A sharp Microplane will mean that these tasks aren’t incredibly frustrating. A Microplane’s teeth go dull, and they unfortunately can’t be sharpened. We recommend replacing the blade every year or two depending how often you use it. You can get a new one that pops onto your existing handle at a restaurant supply store, or order one online.
Flour sack towels
You can’t be precious with your kitchen towels. They have a job to do. Feel free to dry your clean hands on that ironic Etsy towel that says “It’s not drinking alone if the dog is home.” When it’s time for the real work, bust out these utilitarian flour sack towels to use and abuse. Fold them over several times to pick up hot pans. Use them to squeeze and strain liquid out of vegetables you want to make into crispy fritters. Use them to wipe spills off platters and make them presentable for the table. And if you’re already doing all this? It likely means your towels are…disgusting. Stained, burned, and holey. Treat yourself to a new set simply because you deserve to use something fresh—but also to avoid judgment when family members inevitably hover while you cook.
Your food processor blade
Have you ever replaced your food processor’s blade? Have you ever even thought about replacing your food processor’s blade? I hadn’t either. Turns out, it’s possible to order a replacement blade for that Cuisinart you got on your wedding registry 15 years ago, and it will chop a whole lot better when you do. Just make sure you check that you’re getting the right replacement blade for your specific model—most are available on Amazon, and I’ve linked a few popular ones below.
Y-peeler
There are a couple of ways to approach peeling apples for your pie this Thanksgiving. Hand your ancient, dull peeler to a family member you secretly hate, or replace it with a brand spanking new one. Peeling endlessly is never the best part of Thanksgiving but it’ll be better with a fresh, sharp peeler. Kuhn Rikon makes our favorite.
Sheet pans
Even if your sheet pans are in okay shape, you could always use an extra pan or two when you’re cooking a bazillion dishes in one day, as you are at Thanksgiving. If you have enough sheet pans, you won’t have to play sheet pan musical chairs. You can prep ingredients for various dishes, cover them, and put them in the refrigerator right on the sheet pan you’ll use to cook them, because you won’t feel its loss.
Paring knife
Investing in a chef’s knife is a great idea—it will sharpen well and last you for years. A paring knife, on the other hand, is much harder resharpen. Each time you do it will shave off a little bit of the already small blade. For that reason, we recommend a similar approach that you’d take with your Y-peeler. Buy a $5 one from Kuhn Rikon, which arrives sharp out of the box, and simply recycle and replace it when it goes dull. If you do want to invest slightly more in a paring knife, we like the options below from Made In and Opinel—they arrive sharp and can be sharpened for a few years. When you’ve worn away too much blade to sharpen them anymore, they’ll look stylish on a cheese board and be plenty sharp for that purpose.