General Chat

my husband is gadget man so far he has had a popcorn maker used once a juicer used about 4 times a pannini press used about twice a george foreman grill used once very messy a sandwich maker dont know howmany times he used that a metal detector never used coming up to its 6th birthday and not even beenn out of the box (think will buy it a cake ) a bike 2 years ago never used. He is now banned from going shopping alone


Jackie

I like my gadgets..

Microwave, Kenwood Frothie, George Foreman, George Foreman bbq ( fab), electric knife, foot spa, hairdryer, staighteners ( could not do without), grater / slicer thingy but it takes longer to set up than to chop an onion by hand. Also got a George Foreman Rotisseri still in it's box in the attic.

Alyson

I have a microwave which was bought over 25yrs ago for over £300, used only for defrosting, part cooking baking potatoes,warming up left overs... dau uses it to heat up baked beans.
I have an electric knife which is used at least twice a week ( almost as old as the microwave .lol)
A Mouliux multi blender which gets used fairly frequently for chopping steak /beef to mince and slicing potatoes into very thin slices for cooking
and little hand blender /mixer that will fit into a cup.
Got rid of my coffee percolator and now use a cafeteriea.
Still have my old Kenwood hand mixer..dau uses it for making cakes.
Been thro a few sandwich makers, love toasties!

Things that get used all the time:

Hot air popcorn maker
Smoothie machine
Garlic press

Things that don't get used often:

Bread maker
Food dehydrator
Electric knife

Deb

Just remembered we had a chocolate fountain bought us , never been out of the box. also foot spa never used,
I love my steam bags,must try some of the recipes I got with the last lot I bought, thought they were only for veg, but seems you can do quite a few things such as an omelette,3 mins in the microwave......

I love going to the Denby Pottery Shop. There is a kitchen emporium where sometimes James Martin gives demos. But the tools and gadgets are brilliant. Best choice I have ever seen. Usually go there in the winter months, for two reasons, a) summer months in the garden or garden centres, b) the restaurant does a bonzo vegetable soup, in which they put everything EXCEPT the kitchen sink, I hope. Will be going again about September to stock up things, have a list on the go, though it is only about 4 miles from here.
Julia in Derbyshire

best gadget ever - my Bamix hand mixer - had it since 1972 and use it regularly - brilliant for whipping cream, mixing cakes and blitzing soups etc. Best thing about it is the fact that you can use it in a cup or in a bucket and so easy to clean - just run it under the tap. They are quite expensive but well worth it, and Lakeland sell them still - Swiss made and obviously made to last. Were anything to happen to it I would immediately get another

I don't use a microwave much but our old,basic one was on it's way so O/H,without consulting me,went off to Tesco and came back with a combi oven,grill,microwave.

Well I can't use it much but have had to look up the basic bits which are all I need anyway.I really don't know if he can use it but I don't suppose so.

I have a tiny balloon whisk which came in a set from a pound shop and I wouldn't want to be without it. It does cuppa soups,my culinary limit,every time and small amounts of gravy or anything else that only needs a little container.

I have a combi oven I wouldnt be without. Use the fan oven part to make scones, do casseroles and shepherds pie, and mashed potatoes in the microwave bit. Never use the grill, so messy to clean, use a George Foreman with grill bags.

I use my breadmaker a lot and my slow cooker quite a bit.
I have a good old trusty Kenwood Chef.
I mostly use a little mini oven for most of my cooking as it is so much quicker to warm up and much more economical than the big oven.

In our caravan I use a Ramoska and I think that is a wonderful gadget though not cheap.

I've hardly ever used our fondue set though I really love cheese fondue. We have an electric carving knife but I think it has only ever been used to cut foam rubber to size LOL.

My husband like gadgets and one of the most useless ones he decided we had to have was a thing to boil eggs in the microwave! I think I gave that away to a charity shop.

Sue