Shop Hop: Love Your Kitchen, Clean Your Kitchen

Because I am still (justifiably) terrified of setting foot in a restaurant for more than 10 minutes, I’ve cooked nearly every meal I've eaten in the past 10 months at home. Add to that some high-volume stress baking and all the cleaning up that comes afterward, and I can be in my kitchen sometimes four, even five hours a day. (I think I hit the 10-hour mark around Thanksgiving and Christmas, tbh.)

Sound familiar? If you, too, are spending more time than ever before baking, cooking, cleaning, sitting on the counter and eating Nutella straight from the jar while watching reality TV on your laptop in your kitchen, it's time to make that space what you've always wanted it to be. Or, at least, make it more enjoyable and/or less stressful. Here are three locally owned shops to visit (online or otherwise) to start you on that journey.

The Kitchen

Lord, I love a good kitchen supply store. Before the pandemic, I could spend an hour or more just staring at all the gadgets at The Kitchen in Belle Meade. (Their sprinkle selection is TK.) Thankfully, much of the shop's inventory is now available online for curbside pickup or local delivery, and if you have an annoying kitchen issue, they have the tool the fix it. Tired of mincing garlic? Same! Get yourself a garlic press  ($16.95) and never mince that shit again! Using old spoons and spatulas covered in cracks and tomato sauce stains? Replace them with stain-resistant silicone mixing spoons ($10.99). 

Throw out that old, stinky sponge and replace it with a couple of these wildly popular Swedish dishcloths. They’re dishwasher safe, machine-washable and one lasts for several months. They’ve helped me cut way back on my paper towel usage. And if you’re sick of scrubbing dishes, I highly recommend a Skrubba. I love this goofy little rag. It can get even the crustiest bits off my pots without scratching my nonstick pans and I know that sounds like an infomercial, but it is true and they did not pay me to say that. I really am just very excited about dishcloths and scrubbers! (I guess this is growing up.)

The Kitchen also carries a selection of good-quality ingredients and pantry items — yeast, chow chow, sauces, meats and cheeses — which may save you a trip to the grocery store here and there. 

Little Gourmand

You deserve to eat well. You deserve good mustard and great balsamic vinegar. Little Gourmand has it all, available to shop online and pick up curbside at the Green Hills or Berry Hill location.

Even if you’re tired of cooking and down to making the most basic meals, the array of condiments at Little Gourmand will make your sandwich, dry pasta or plate of whatever vegetables are left in the fridge feel indulgent. Throw some Strawberry & Champagne Jam (12.99) on that PB&J. Dip some apple slices in Chocolate and Pistachio Spread ($13.50). (Tip: Make sure you get every last bit in the jar with these silicone jar scrapers from The Kitchen). I’m a vegetarian, but I don’t think there’s a rule against forgoing the butter to grill your grilled cheese in pure duck fat ($14.50), right?

Little Gourmand has truffle honey, truffle salt, truffle mustard, truffle butter and truffle oil; it has blackberry honey, rosemary honey, oak tree honey, lavender honey, buckwheat honey and carrot (!?) honey. The shop also sells a variety of eclairs (chocolate! Vanilla! Raspberry! Salted caramel! Coffee! Pistachio!) if you want to skip dinner and just eat dessert. We’re still in a pandemic, there are still no rules!

The Mother of Pearl caviar spoons ($12.99) are currently out of stock, but I’ve been keeping an eye on 'em because I’d feel fancy AF using one to eat my way through a pint of ice cream when I'm too tired to cook.

The Good Fill

Admittedly, I've never been to The Good Fill, aka "Nashville's first zero-waste and refill shop" in East Nashville. They opened in the summer of 2019 and I didn't make time to visit before everything closed up and got weird. But now that I'm spending so much more time at home, I have a much better understanding of how much waste a household produces any given week. It's a lot! And my home is just two humans and a dog! The Good Fill aims to help Nashvillians cut down on single-use plastic by offering a wide range of refillable bath, body and house cleaning products as well as other zero-waste items, from beeswax wrap (to be used in place of plastic wrap) and compostable bandages. I did not know compostable bandages were A Thing!

The shop carries dish soap, hand soap and all-purpose cleaner (all made locally) so you can rid your kitchen of all those ugly plastic bottles while also cutting down on your personal contribution to the death of our planet. Good job, you! And The Good Fill also carries its own line of Swedish dishcloths.

Not comfortable going to the store to refill your products in person? The shop offers refills by mail using reusable pouches. Read more here.