Great Prices Here » Kitchen

Good Neighborly Gifts – Welcome to the Neighborhood Gift Ideas

Nicole Price — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 10:28:34 +0000

We got a new neighbor recently – and the new people who moved in next door seemed rather nice so I wanted to start things out on the right foot by giving a nice welcome to the neighborhood kind of gift to them. If I were one of the ladies in Desperate Housewives doubtless I would cook up a storm and hand-deliver a hearty casserole or scrumptious homemade cookies in a pretty basket, but I am not so I didn’t. instead I thought of these welcome to the neighborhood ideas for a housewarming gift –

Now I like to keep a nice garden and would like it if my neighbor did the same. So for rather selfish reasons, I thought a garden gift basket such as this one would be a good idea. It includes a hand painted metal planter, a pair of cotton gardening gloves, Banana Boat sunscreen, and assortment of flower seed packets, a stainless steel spade and trowel, and key lime cookies. Not bad for $57 and free shipping.

As people move into a new house, they typically take time to settle in, set up a kitchen and get a regular cooking routine going. So in the meanwhile, a Snacker’s Delight Gift Basket such as this one can be a great and thoughtful idea, to give new neighbors something to munch and snack on as they settle into their new home. This $30 collection includes Feel Good Snack Mix, Cheddar Cheese Straws, Smoked Almonds, Imperial Tea Biscuits, Tropical Real Fruit Snack, Cheese Lover’s Pub Mix, Creme de Pirouline Cookies, a tin of Mixed Fruit Candies, Walkers Shortbread Fingers and Godiva Milk Chocolate Pearls.

For the health conscious giver/receiver of housewarming gifts, a Fruit Gift Basket such as this one would be ideal. This California Signature Fruit Gift Box includes a dozen different fruit, including apples, oranges, Mango and Kiwis.

Another food basket that I particularly liked the look and contents of is this Cutting Board, Meat and Cheese hamper, which includes a cheese spreader, plus Beef Salami, Camembert Cheese Spread, Gourmet Mustard, Toasted Sesame Crackers, California Herb Crunchies, and Torani Biscotti for dessert as well as a cutting board measuring about 12 by 8 inches.

I also liked this Home Cookie Gift Box, that works well for a housewarming gift because of its theme packaging and assorted cookies, in my view, always make for a great gift.

So go ahead and say Welcome to the Neighborhood in any way you choose!

Tea: A Gift of Warmth

Nicole Price — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:02:58 +0000

I have recently been reading up a lot of about tea, its health benefits, and it healing nature and getting to like the drink a lot too. Incidentally my significant other loves tea and I think a tea assortment would make a lovely, unusual and classy gift not only for him but for anyone really who enjoys tea and views tea drinking as part of social intercourse rather than the mere consumption of a beverage. And to be sure tea is not an easy subject to navigate: there is green tea, white tea, black tea, herbal tea, oolong tea, the list is seemingly endless.

At this online tea store I found some lovely tea gift sets, including samplers of different kinds of tea: green, white, black etc., and tea hampers that include a unique tea pot that strains tea for you.

This gourmet green tea set I found very interesting. It includes a 16 oz. tea pot and 4 1 oz sample tins of citron green, hojicha, green pekoe & white monkey gourmet green teas. As for the tea pot, when tea is ready, simply place it atop your cup. This will cause a valve at the bottom to release: clear tea flows down, while the mesh filter retains all the leaves. Easy to clean and dishwasher safe too. For $19 it is a good deal I thought.

This tea chest with an assortment of some 80 teas, I especially liked because it is available for a discount: $24.99 down from 56.99. These are kosher, Made in Israel teas which include 10 Nana (mint) teas, 10 Lemon teas, 10 Cherry teas, 10 Raspberry teas, 10 English Breakfast teas, 10 Earl Grey teas, 10 Chamomile teas and 10 Wild berry Nectar teas. And it comes in this rather smart looking wooden chest too.

This Ceylon tea chest in faux leather is also on sale down from 59.99 to just $19.99. Includes 108 teas, such as English Breakfast, Strawberry, Raspberry, Earl Grey, Apple Cinnamon, Cranberry, Ginger, Orange Spice, Tropical Delight, Peppermint, Lemon Spice, Green Tea etc.

They say iced tea retains its health benefits when it is brewed and then chilled, so I liked this sample pack of flavored teas. The set includes 4 packets each of China Mist Traditional, Fiesta Fria, Mango, Passion Fruit, Raspberry and Blackberry Jasmine Green for you to fresh-brew at home. For $30, this was an interesting set I thought.

So go have yourself a tea party.

Stylish Cookware

Nicole Price — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:11:20 +0000

I am of a mind to revamp my entire kitchen, and in for the kind of cookware that looks good and is pleasure to cook with. I did a post about this a long time ago and the subject can do with some updating I think. I think it is a good idea to go in for a cookware set, for several reasons; it is a matched set so it looks really good, the set usually comprises graded sizes so that you have a appropriate vessel for any kind of requirement and also since you are buying a set it will probably entitle you to a discount too!

This 10 piece non stick cookware set is available from Amazon for $74.12 which is down from $99.99; pretty good deal I thought. Six pans of different sizes and four of them have lids.

I found this omelet pan cum egg poacher really interesting, mostly because of its novelty value rather than because of any particular liking for poached eggs and for $14.99, not too expensive I thought.

I am a big fan of non stick cookware, however Teflon has got a bad rap recently, so many people prefer other alternatives to Teflon such as hard anodized, cast iron, stainless steel etc. so if I had to pick non-non-stick, I would pick this 12 anodized cook set which I saw on Target, and which is available for 79.99, down from 99.99. Just a word though, about it being a 12 piece set: 12 piece includes 6 pans, 4 lids and two serving spoons.

Now who doesn’t like the smell of fresh baked cakes in the house? Part of the reason I like to do my own baking is so that the lovely smell of baking lingers in my kitchen most of the day. So I liked this five piece baking set in different sizes and shapes, for just $15.99!

A must have for any kitchen is one of those bake and serve sets: check out this 17 piece bake and store set for just $49,99. These things are really useful when you want to cook up a storm when you have the time and then freeze portions for later.

Make Your Party a Roaring Success

Nicole Price — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:00:24 +0000

Have you ever thrown a party with a mixed group of attendees and had trouble getting them to interact? It can be a daunting task to get guests who have just met to mingle with each other. Yet, it needs to be accomplished since the success of your party depends on it.

I found a site that offers something that can be a great conversation starter. This site offers great wine glasses, beer mugs, coffee mugs, highball glasses, champagne glasses etc with small phrases and witty messages etched on them. The variety is huge according to the theme you may desire. Each set has four different phrases based on a theme, with the set of four of any variety available at $48. If you buy all three sets of any type, you are charged a discounted rate of $129 (a discount of $15 – thats just me, I have to look for discounts everywhere).

Here is a sample of some of the phrases on the etched glass – Drama Queen, Desperate Housewife, The Boss, Confused, Scholar, Big Shot, Hottie, Diva, Available, Taken, Chick Magnet, Gossip Queen, American Idle, Old Fart – you get the drift? You really must check out the site. There are a lot of themes including holidays, sports and even jewish.

You can even get a custom set made, but of course, the price goes up. Though that may not be necessary considering their huge collection. My favorite is their wine glass sets of the Fun and Flirty category. I think I’m gonna get some of those.

So get your guests to break the ice and make your parties a grand success.

Save on Groceries and Eating Out

Nicole Price — Sat, 17 May 2008 08:04:58 +0000

In all likelihood, when you go shopping for the big ticket items you do your research carefully, compare prices, look for the discounts and take your time making up your mind. Do you do the same for your everyday shopping as well, your grocery and other daily requirements? You should give that equal consideration, because this can also save you a significant amount of money, if you shop smart! Coupons on the internet give you the convenient option of simply printing out the coupon that you need.

There are many sites devoted to coupons and other rebates that are available online, so that at this rebate site, you simply fill in your zip code and press ‘go’ for all the rebates and coupons available in your area. So when I filled in a New York zip code I was redirected to this site which has coupons related to all manner of items: clothes, food and dining, groceries, home and garden, health, books, pets, travel, sport etc.

Restaurant.com is a site that helps you find rebates on eating out. By feeding your zip code, you find a restaurant of your choice within the given radius (one to thirty miles etc). You can also purchase and give dining out gift certificates, for $10 you get a $25 gift certificate. You can buy, customize and email or print and personally gift a certificate from this site.

Registering here claims to gives you access to over 70 deals and over $150 in savings! Sample offers on this site include, savings on frozen vegetables, buy a chocolate bar and get one free etc. This site offers links to all kinds of grocery coupons for little savings: $1 off on turkey bacon, $5 off on a floral bouquet etc. Cool savings is also a site devoted to saving you money, which will send you daily emails about their offers. Walmart, Betty Crocker, Target, Pampers are some of the brands that they offer coupons for. So next time you go shopping, remember to print some coupons and take along with you!

Kitchen Bargains

Nicole Price — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:51:01 +0000

The reason I am doing this post is because I want a hand blender; you know the sort that you can use to beat eggs into stiff little peaks and make a mean sponge cake (it is also known as a bar blender I believe)? Mine’s old and hoary and my four year old was clamoring for brownies, mummy style! It’s very flattering, the way she has no interest in cakes from the patisserie and devours everything that I bake with a “yummy mummy!”

So I said to myself let’s see what we can find by way of some smart bargains for the kitchen. Needless to say I got totally distracted by some really great finds on a lot of different sites! Ben’s Bargains is a very good collection of deals that you can find across the Internet for items such as a ten piece cookware set for under $200 at linens and things, and other such deals worth checking out.

Then there is Frugal Kitchen (I really like the name, my thrifty soul really warmed to it) where there is a very classy fleur-de-lis dinnerware set for $39.98 among other things and a great coupons sections that you should check out.

Then Smart Bargains is a site where I found some really desirable cookware, slow cookers, crock-pots, frying pans, grills and a whole bunch of other stuff. Something that really caught my eye is this 16 piece dinner set with a lovely mono chrome design for $59.99 and this really beautiful dinnerware set (see picture) for $19.97.

A site that is a must-check is Deal news. The items I found to be of really good value for money there, were the programmable bread maker for $34 (and free shipping), the digital food steamer for $30 (also with free shipping), the George Foreman indoor/outdoor grill for $44.99 again with free shipping and the 5 piece non-stick bakeware set for a mere $16 (again with free shipping!).

And what of the hand blenders I was looking for in the first place? Deal news has a very nifty Braun hand blender and chopper for just $ 23, smart bargain has this egg beater for $69.99 and frugal kitchen has this mixmaster stand mixer for $89.96. Needless to say I have my beady eye on the Braun, because I can mix up a milk shake, beat eggs or make a smoothie with this one. The fact that the offer price is just $23 may have something to do with it! I’ll be sure to tell you how my brownies turned out, Happy cooking!