Tablecraft color-coded Grippy Cutting Boards. Photo courtesy of Tablecraft.

There are a lot of food and festivities that occur during the holidays and it’s helpful to be prepared in the kitchen and around your establishment.   Here’s a list of 10 essential items to help you avoid last minute scrambles and make the holidays a success!

Cutting Boards:  When we think of the holidays, one of the things that comes to mind is holiday parties and lots of food.  Whether you’re preparing a bigger meal for larger groups or serving up plenty of tasty appetizers, you’ll have a lot of chopping to do and cutting boards are a necessity.  A set of color coded cutting boards, like Tablecraft’s grippy cutting board kits, make it easy to keep vegetables and meats separated.

Chef Knife:  A good chef knife will go a long way year round.  During the holidays it’s a workhorse for big feasts and cooking for lots of people.  It will help you chop, slice, and dice just about anything you need it to and provide you with an easier cooking experience all around.

Portable Burners:  These are ideal for catering all those holiday parties and for cooking on site to make a more festive occasion.  Vollrath’s Mirage® induction ranges are a precise and durable option, with two different models to fit your needs.

Chafing Dishes:  From holiday feasts to catered events, these pans make serving large quantities of food a breeze.  Many prefer a stainless steel option since they are not only durable, but elegant as well.  They add both style and function to the room.

Mixing Bowls:  Mixing bowls are essential because they are needed for so many different things—for mixing up a side, a dressing, baked goods and much more.  Having a few stainless steel bowls in a few different sizes is great since they hold up well to the constant use.

Sheet Pans:  A necessity for baking plenty of holiday goods! The holidays just wouldn’t be the same without an assortment of treats and sheet pans will be your best friend when baking.  Make sure you have enough so that you can prep for the next round while others are in the oven.

Decorating Tips and Pastry Tubes:  Impress guests with beautiful presentations.  With all of the treats around the holidays, you’ll have plenty that will need to be filled, piped, and decorated.  August Thomsen/ Ateco offers great selection in size and style of pastry bags and tips to match your decorating plan.  Canvas pastry bags are great for thicker products in which more applied pressure is necessary to squeeze it out, since they are more durable.  Plastic coated works well with oily or warm products since the plastic acts as a barrier to stop it from soaking through.        

Photo courtesy of Libbey.

Candles:  Ambiance is important and the soft lighting of candles provides the warm and cozy feel of Christmas.  Candles are an inexpensive way to create an atmosphere that invites guests to stick around longer.

Champagne Flutes:  Everyone is in a celebratory mood during the holidays.  You’ll want to be passing out the champagne in these glasses to keep the toasts coming and the good times rolling.  Depending on the environment of your establishment, disposable flutes can be an easy option for these types of events.

Anti-icing Agent:  Don’t let the frightful weather stop business from coming through your doors.  If you’re in an area that gets snowy weather, making your entrance accessible and safe is essential.  Quest Specialty Liquefire is a non-toxic anti-icing agent that melts snow and ice and prevents it from bonding to surfaces.  It’s a great non-corrosive alternative to rock salt.

How many of these essentials are you stocked up on already?  What other items can you not make it through the holidays without?

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