For the first time, my family and I celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister and brother-in-law's home; almost 1,100 miles away from where I live. Since the holiday road trip was such a major undertaking, I was diligent about creating my packing list, so I didn't get 16 hours away only to realize I missed something important. Clothes, snacks and my 10-year-old Labrador were obvious must-brings, but another one of my Thanksgiving travel essentials may surprise you: an iQ Sense smart thermometer from CHEF iQ.
I love hosting dinner parties, but I used to be scared to death to cook anything with meat. I would catastrophize that I would end up food poisoning and hospitalizing all of my friends with undercooked meat. Now I feel differently. With the iQ Sense, my brother-in-law and I confidently cooked the Thanksgiving turkey perfectly. In short, this smart thermometer works so well that it was a necessity for my cross-country Thanksgiving holiday. It happens to be on sale now, even after many of the Cyber Monday sales have ended.
The iQ Sense is worth the price tag -- and with the gifting season well underway, it makes a great present for the home chef in your life. For more, here are the best kitchen gifts for home cooks and our favorite smart home gifts. What makes this product even better is that you can now get three probes for less than the price of two,
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I love the ease of the iQ Sense
iQ Sense is an unlimited-range, wireless cooking thermometer that connects with your phone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity to alert you when your dish is ready to be removed from heat.
It comes in three variants -- 1-Probe set, 2-Probe set and 3-Probe set -- to satisfy any of your cooking needs. If you really only cook for yourself, go with 1-Probe, but if you're like me and you enjoy hosting dinner parties or cooking multiple steaks at once, the 3-Probe may be your best bet. Now you can get three for less than the price of two.
Here's a breakdown of the deals:
For context, the 2-Probe is currently going for $150 at Amazon but you can get it for $140 at iQ Sense's website (although your shipping costs may be higher).
No matter which variant you choose, you can feel confident that you won't be serving up undercooked or overcooked meat. Each probe has four internal temperature sensors to monitor the ambient temperature, within one degree of accuracy. As much as I love the accuracy of the iQ Sense, I love the ease and convenience of it even more.
I also love that I don't have to constantly open the oven door and stick a probe into the meat and check the temperature every few minutes. I can simply pop it in once and leave it to work on other dishes until I'm notified that it's ready to go. When I say "notify," I truly mean it, considering it comes with a built-in speaker for audible alerts. It's like having a sous chef that perfectly cooks meat in your kitchen at all times.
Why iQ Sense makes a great gift
When you think of great kitchen gifts, you may automatically think about a coffee maker or a quality set of pans. I'd make the argument that you'd get more use out of a smart thermometer. Every time you cook meat, either for yourself or others, you'll use the iQ Sense. For me, this breaks down to daily use, making it well worth the higher price tag compared to analog meat thermometers.
With the iQ App, you can also browse over 700 guided cooking recipes from CHEF iQ's in-house culinary experts and follow along to hundreds of videos that break down recipes in simple instructions. If you have a home chef in your life looking to expand their skills without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on cooking classes, then the iQ Sense is an ideal gift.
Best Cyber Monday deals, according to CNET readers
Will there be more deals on CHEF iQ?
CHEF iQ's line of intelligent kitchen supplies is not the cheapest compared to nonsmart supplies, so it's good to keep an eye out for discounts on the website -- and this Cyber Monday period is the best time of year to score CHEF iQ products at a discount. The iQ Sense is also available on Costco.
The iQ Sense is currently discounted in all sizes, but so is the iQ Cooker, a smart multicooker that also offers the same ease and intelligence to users.
For more great gifts, here are some viral finds on TikTok that are actually worth giving. If you're looking to drop more cash on that special someone, these are our favorite gifts under $300 and gifts under $500.