Need to make bread? There’s an gadget for that. Want to have homemade ice cream? There’s an gadget for that. Grind your own coffee beans? There’s an gadget for that.
The list goes on and on. Nowadays, there’s pretty much a kitchen appliance or gadget for every cooking or baking task. And they don’t have to be electric-powered, either. Could be a garlic press, a mandolin slicer or an apple corer. Truth is, we’ve becoming super-lazy when it comes to cooking.
I’m willing to ‘fess up to having quite a few gadgets in my kitchen. In no particular order:
– Manual chopper: Think Slap Chop, but different brand, 7 or 8 years old and minus the prostitute-beating spokesperson.
– Apple corer: I love this thing, especially in the fall. Managed to slice my finger pretty deep with it, though, because I’m a klutz like that.
– Ice cream maker: Who wouldn’t want one of these? Only makes about 2 pints of ice cream at a time, but that’s plenty.
– Countertop grill: Better than the two-sided George Forman grill. It has a drip pan and cooks foods like an outdoor grill.
– Food processor/blender: This does double-duty, but I hardly use it.
– Small food chopper: I think my dad got this electric chopper through the old Marlboro Miles program. He had a lot of miles from the cigarettes.
– Toaster: An absolute necessity in our house, since I think I live on English muffins, between topping them with butter and strawberry jam and using them for sandwiches like taylor ham, egg and cheese, and hamburgers.
– Microwave oven: I’ve been wondering how much we really need one of these. It’s good to reheat leftovers, but I don’t use it all that often. Much prefer to use a pan to cook taylor ham (see a theme here?) or heat up tortillas. And Mr. Saver is fond of just picking up or spoon-scooping cold food out of the plastic containers in the fridge.
– Stand mixer: Another must-have in my kitchen, for all of the baking I like to do in the winter months.
– Hand mixer: Electric, but relegated to the bottom shelf thanks to the aforementioned stand mixer. May it rest in peace in its box.
– Breadmaker: Received as a much-wanted wedding gift, but yet to be removed from its box. Perhaps I’ll put it to use this weekend, because it deserves to see the light of day after seven months.
– Coffeemaker: Mr. Saver didn’t even know we owned one until a few weeks ago. Hardly used, up on a shelf. I’m a tea kind of gal.
– Crockpot: Not often utilized. I don’t like to leave it on if I’m not home, so that pretty much KOs its use during the week.
– Showtime Rotisserie: Set it and forget it! We made a few meals in here, and forgot about it, all right. Now sleeping on the pantry floor.
– Salad spinner: This one makes me laugh, because I hate salad. So why did I buy it?
Sounds like a lot of crap – and it is – but I’m going to call out other people I know who own far more: pasta makers, deep fryers, deli slicers (that’s going overboard), electric carving knives (huh?), electric can openers (lazy?), meat grinders, sausage stuffers (needs a better name).
Exempting those who cook ALL THE TIME, do we really need this stuff? Granted, a lot of it makes life easier and is used on a regular basis, but seems like a lot of wasted money.
Oh well – at least we received most of our kitchen gadgets as gifts.
