Supporting the delusion that by spending money on things for the kitchen (see cook books blog), is the urge to buy shiny new appliances and gadgets that will turn me from a “ready-meal” kitchen slob, to a Delia Smith/Mary Berry chef extraordinaire! If it has a plug on it, it must, therefore, do something that I don’t have to do myself, or it will do it far quicker than any other method. If it is in shiny chrome, and looks stylish on the worktop, then that’s a bonus! (Not that it is allowed to live on the worktop, as everything has to be put away)! These devices usually have good intentions, and are, on the whole, very good at doing what it says on the box. There are, however, a number of very good reasons why most of these items never get to fill their full potential. Firstly, they lurk at the back of a cupboard, usually with other articles in front of them preventing them from being easily extricated without taking everything else out. Too much like hard work. Secondly, they are, in the majority of cases, a bummer to clean! The “George Forman” griddle/grill is a prime example. True, you can pop in a nice steak, sausage, salmon, etc, but the nightmare of cleaning the filthy black plates on a device that is far too big to fit in the sink, means that it hasn’t come out of the cupboard for the past two years! The normal grill pan is easier to clean – especially if you line it with foil. Finally, they often have to be used with recipes that require some planning! Breadmakers, slow cookers, food processors/mixers/blenders, fall into this category. They need ingredients/shopping/planning – I refer, once again, to the Cook book scenario!
None of the gadgets I have in my cupboards have managed to stop me coming home from work in the evening wishing I had planned something, and resorting to desperately rummaging through the freezer to find something that will defrost / cook quickly. OK, so twice a year I get organised enough to put the slow cooker on in the morning and come home to a lovely casserole in the evening, but putting it all together at 6.30am in the morning is not something I wish to do very often!
Devices/gadgets that I really need to bid farewell to:
- George Forman griddle/grill
- Panasonic bread maker (with nut dispenser)
- Food preserver – plug-in glass dome thingy, which is supposed to stop food going bad by sucking air out…. Never used…
- 3 of the 4 mixer/blender/chopper devices
- Electric carving knife
- At least one of the 2 slow cookers
- Jamie Oliver “Flavour shaker”
- Potato ricer
- Gravy separator
- At least SOME of the multitude of cheese choppers/slicers/graters
I have purged the kitchen of some useless articles over the years (electric steamer, sandwich maker, bread slicing device, very-large-all-singing-and-dancing food processor (as if I had a clue what to do with it!). We have also purchased, and ditched, any number of coffee machines over the years – in the main, too much hassle to prepare coffee and to clean up afterwards.
Two gadgets that I actually DO use fairly frequently, and so deserve a mention are:
1-The Nespresso coffee pod machine – very quick and easy to make (and tastes great) using the pods, and, more importantly, very easy to keep clean. The pods also come in lots of shiny colours too!
2 Food Saver. I do actually buy meat/fish in large quantities at times, and use the device to package them nicely into little protected bags. Brill!
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