Budget Gift Ideas for Foodies: Used Cookware

me people turn up their nose at the idea of giving used items as gifts, conjuring up images of thrift stores as smelly, crowded places that serve as breeding grounds to bacteria.

Other people know that one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure and that, more than most items, a good piece of cookware can be deceiving. I was lucky enough to score two restaurant-grade pots from one of the thriftstores on this list and that find–reduced to $2 for both because the salesgirl felt bad for me, buying these dinged-up babies–have seen me through many a caramel, sugar syrup and doughnut-frying session.

If you’re low on cash and need a gift for the foodies in your life, begin hunting the thrift stores early and have some ideas in your head. A favorite items I find regularly at thrift stores is the humble cake plate. A cake plate says sexy, fancy, I worked my ass like Martha Stewart on this one, baby.

Other good options I’ve found myself? Cast iron cornbread molds. Miniature copper doo-dads. (copper anything you should nab). Old knives (because every knife has a story to tell). The Gourmet cookbook vol. 1. Scores of cake pans, muffin tins, springform pans and the like, all in serviceable shape!

Give thrift stores a shot and you just might find the perfect gift for the foodie in your life.