Must have kitchen gadgets

justpeyton4now

Great thread and ideas, thanks all. A good set of pans is an essential for me. I spent more on them but they cook evenly, take a banging and scrub up well even when I stick something. I bought a cheap set to have extra pans when I needed them. After trying two of them, they've not been out of the cupboard since. Time to freecycle them.

Also check the charity shops and car boot sales for good quality cookware and baking ware. I got a lovely very heavy stock pot for a big 25 pence at a table top sale and it's brilliant. The kind that would cost £30 or more if bought new now. I've also gotten some great quality baking dishes, casserole dishes etc (pyrex etc) for mere pennies. A good scrub and you're ready to go.

D&DD

I would suggest only buying things you know you will use and that will either give you hours of pleasure using or save you lots of time or/and money

THEN!!! try for them on freecycle or in charity shops first before resorting to sales and shops and then only buy when on offer or with cashback and a discount voucher
Also a way to build up your gadgets is to ask for stuff as gifts or vouchers for the appropriate stores *Lakeland..dribble*

scotrae

Thanks to everyone for your ideas and experience.

rosieben

silvercharming wrote: »

... I guess what I'm trying to say is, OS is all about finding out what works for you, so anyone embarking on OS and looking for a starting point should really begin by looking at what they want to change. There's nothing that's going to save everyone money, and nothing that's going to be a waste of time for everyone. Not trying to criticise, but sometimes things on the OS board are painted a little too black and white, and some people feel that they don't 'measure up' because particular OS techniques don't work for them. ...

Absolutely spot on silvercharming :T OS is a very personal thing and what suits one might be a complete and utter waste of time and effort for another. When I was a newbie I found these boards a bit overwhelming but I eventually realised that I was trying to live my life, not someone else's.

[Deleted User]

I love my SC and actually have two, a round one that my DD was going to bin as it wasn't big enough for her large family, and an oval one that I bought a couple of years ago.(Ideal shape for a chicken) I have never bought a tin of soup since, and any veggies that look a bit 'sad' or just 'going over' get 'souped'
A bowl of soup as a starter streeetch's out a meal. Plus I have just treated myself to a Remoska and am very pleased with it so far. As I live on my own anything that cuts my fuel bill is good .I bought most of my little brown eathenware dishes at bootsales over the years for pennies.I can make a good half a dozen single portion sheppards pies for the freezer topped with my own cheesy mash for around a quid.I also bought some squre pyrex dishes in which I make lasagne's to freeze. One good bake up a fortnight is usually more than enough for me.I can take them from freezer to microwave to table within half an hour, or less if I take the meal out first thing in the morning.Then I only have the veggies to cook.
I do own a breadmaker that I was given as a gift about 2 years ago and as yet have not used it:o But I don't eat a lot of bread anyway, and a loaf lasts me almost a week as I portion that up into four slice portions and freeze.
I did treat myself to some of Lakelands soft soup bags as they are easier to store soup in when I freeze it. Just before Christmas I treated myself to some Lock and Lock boxes from John Lewis' as they were 20% off.Brilliant for storing stuff in and makes my cupboards look so much tidier and easy to store things in.

Pitlanepiglet

As said by others it is a case of working out what works for you as an individual and being realistic about what you are likely to achieve.

We batch cook as we tend to get one free weekend and then a couple where we are away so we have to do a lot of stuff on the weekends we have so we'll make a big chilli, bolagnaise etc and freeze it in suitable size containers (we use plastic bags rather than tubs - less OS perhaps (but see my first comments!) but we don't have storage space to keep tubs and whilst we have freezer space we find it easier to squish bags into holes in the freezer rather than having square boxes).

We also bulk buy meat from Costco and freeze it in the right sized portions so that there is always something quick and easy to cook - that avoids the "there's nothing to eat" trips to the takeaway!

I shop online and do one bulk shop every month or five weeks and then just top up locally, I find I spend much less that way but if you can get to a supermarket in the evening you'll find more in the way of whoopsies etc.

I love my Panny, we do make bread by hand but find that we don't have time to do it on a day to day basis as we aren't home in the daytime. So for us a breadmaker is an essential, it takes five minutes to set it up in the evening and then makes bread overnight. We also use it to make rolls and pizza bases.

My top tip would be "be realistic about your own skills, the amount of time you have available and work to your own weaknesses".

nannaC

For gardening start your own compost bin this year. This is a long term pay back but by next year you will have the start of your very own lovely compost.
Re slow cooker/breadmaker as in previous posts try the old way 1st.
Have never had a breadmaker/slowcooker/tumble dryer, the only kitchen aid I have is my trusty 30year old Kenwood chef.
I do have avery good fan oven, so am able to batch cook.
In winter clothes are dried outside or on my ceiling hanging maiden, tbh there are very few days when they are not put out. Again we invested in a LG 7kg load washingmachine about 6 years ago and must say that this has dramatically cut down the loads I do each week. The other added bonus is that as they are direct drive they are really quiet, it was expensive at the time but it has more than paid for itself.
My own rule of thumb is before shopping is do I NEED it or do I WANT it. If it is the former then I do thorough research for the best product/deal before buying. If it is the latter then I make myself wait for at least a month before I decide, which usually means the want has been forgotton.

Lalaladybird

What OS items around the house help you to save money?

I started using my teapot again yesterday because I always want a 2nd cup of tea and was reboiling the kettle and using another teabag (tut, tut, tut ). It got me wondering what other OS things I could use

Toonie

I use a dustpan and brush if I notice crumbs or a bit of dust in the corner/under the table. Far more energy efficient then the vacuum. I also use a teapot if I know I'm going to have a couple of cups of tea.

BizzyMummy

The teapot, the dustpan, good ideas that are great to use everyday..


plus the microfibre cloth under the sink, the hot waterbottles at bedtime..


but my best one is the food recycling caddy on the worktop - should we throw food away? it is re-used or recycled by all my boys they now hate food to go to waste - such an obvious way to record what you throw out.

BMxx