Preparedness for when

siegemode

Ok, so I have a dilemma:o
A little off topic admittedly but I know someone will help.
I have on hold a Kenwood Chef Classic at Sainsbobs for the princely sum of £119 down from £299.99 and as excited as I am it is a huge sum of dosh. I could get it with savings and a little juggling with the food shop. I have the space (just) and it would be well used as I love baking but have probs with hands and wrists and limited energy. The question is do I need it, like really need it or am I being too extravagant on one item. The possible attachments are £40 upwards and the other thing making me hesitate is the fact it has a plastic bowl (not a lover of plastic bowls). I have always relied on my trusty wooden spoon and shunned mixers unless I am forced to unearth an old hand mixer. Trouble is how long can I rely on my health. Another thing, it's electric instead of calorie powered and will likely increase the consumption of calories. Oh dear sorry to waffle so much but what would you do. It is connected with OS and prepping in a way, honest:o

maryb

I use my food processor much more than my Chef and I have a powerful handheld mixer which I find does nearly everything I need. (It struggles a bit with large quantities of cake mix but then again, with the Chef you have to keep stopping to scrape down the bowl). So because I don't have room for the Chef and the processor, the Chef sits in the utility room and I tend to have to remind myself to use it. I think it's very good for bread dough but as I have a breadmaker that doesn't affect me. One attachment I use a lot is the mincer which is very good. You can also get an ice cream attachment for it which people rate.

The point of this rambling is that it is very versatile but that is only useful if you need that versatility. As I have a breadmaker and a food processor I don't. But if you haven't had many electricals up till now, this could be a good place to start if you think you will need them going forward.

ETA, just realised, the reason I use my food processor so much is that it has a sealed bowl which means I can also use it as a liquidiser. If I couldn't I would definitely use the liquidiser attachment on the Chef

GreyQueen

siegemode, we wander all over the preppersphere and prepping to make cakes when the wrists are losing strength is valid. Plus they have dough-hooks in there for bread.

Mum bought a K Chef when I was about 12 off an ad in the newagents window. We always thought the woman who sold it must've been on her uppers because it's not normally the kind of thing you sell on. I'm fast approaching 50 and the K is still working, and still using a plastic bowl. If memory serves correctly, it's only had one plastic bowl replacement in all those years.

I don't know if these are items which can be sourced 2nd hand or whether a decent KC 2nd hand is like a decent van 2nd hand - as in, if it was any good it wouldn't be for sale.

As to whether the new price is worth it, only you can ultimately answer that. How often would you use it? Would it enable you to keep on baking in ways you'd otherwise have to give up? Whatever you do, good luck.

jk0

siegemode wrote: »

Ok, so I have a dilemma:o
A little off topic admittedly but I know someone will help.
I have on hold a Kenwood Chef Classic at Sainsbobs for the princely sum of £119 down from £299.99 and as excited as I am it is a huge sum of dosh. I could get it with savings and a little juggling with the food shop. I have the space (just) and it would be well used as I love baking but have probs with hands and wrists and limited energy. The question is do I need it, like really need it or am I being too extravagant on one item. The possible attachments are £40 upwards and the other thing making me hesitate is the fact it has a plastic bowl (not a lover of plastic bowls). I have always relied on my trusty wooden spoon and shunned mixers unless I am forced to unearth an old hand mixer. Trouble is how long can I rely on my health. Another thing, it's electric instead of calorie powered and will likely increase the consumption of calories. Oh dear sorry to waffle so much but what would you do. It is connected with OS and prepping in a way, honest:o

Go for it. I'll be using all the labour saving devices I can find when my body starts giving up.

Have you any Nectar points you could redeem? I just paid £1.60 for £35 worth of shopping by redeeming mine. (Purchases at BP and Ebay helped.)

nuatha

siegemode wrote: »

Ok, so I have a dilemma:o
A little off topic admittedly but I know someone will help.
I have on hold a Kenwood Chef Classic at Sainsbobs for the princely sum of £119 down from £299.99 and as excited as I am it is a huge sum of dosh. I could get it with savings and a little juggling with the food shop. I have the space (just) and it would be well used as I love baking but have probs with hands and wrists and limited energy. The question is do I need it, like really need it or am I being too extravagant on one item. The possible attachments are £40 upwards and the other thing making me hesitate is the fact it has a plastic bowl (not a lover of plastic bowls). I have always relied on my trusty wooden spoon and shunned mixers unless I am forced to unearth an old hand mixer. Trouble is how long can I rely on my health. Another thing, it's electric instead of calorie powered and will likely increase the consumption of calories. Oh dear sorry to waffle so much but what would you do. It is connected with OS and prepping in a way, honest:o

I have a Chef, alongside food processor, mincer and hand mixer. If I was starting again I'd buy the Chef and then add the slicers and mincer instead of the food processor and separate mincer. The Sainsbobs price is fairly close to what they often go for second hand (regularly around £100)
The plastic bowl works well, I have three, one is over 20 years old, I also have a stainless bowl, (this Chef came with it) which gets used for meringues (easier to degrease) but I used to make meringues in the plastic bowl.
Though I can and do make bread by hand, increasingly the Chef does the donkey work. There is a need to relearn some recipes as the Chef does make a difference, but you already know the look and feel of your own recipes and that's the best guide to adjusting to the Chef.
There is a replacement flexi-K blade available, (mine came with it) that saves a lot of scraping down bowls - though adjusting the height of a K blade correctly makes a big difference anyway.

Sorry if I'm waffling on, I had my last Chef 15 years and it was only replaced as Herself bought me a new one for Christmas, both were used for wedding catering last year and then the old one was rehomed with a friend.

HTH

DawnW

I paid just under £100 for a Chef about 3 years ago, and I still love it. It came with a plastic bowl like yours, but I managed to get a pyrex (?) one for £2 in a charity shop a few months ago, so now I have both. It is quite handy to have 2 bowls, and of course I can use them as regular mixing or food prep bowls as well.

It sounds a good deal to me, which would be of use to you for years to come

You also see attachments on ebay, and can sell unwanted ones - I never used the liquidiser that came with mine, so sold it, still boxed, and got back around 25% of what I paid for the whole thing

westcoastscot

Hi, haven't read back so apologies if anyone else has posted this
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/record-view-holyrood-should-proud-3107270
The end of the bedroom tax in Scotland!

A more balanced view from the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/03/scotland-extra-15m-bedroom-tax

Cheapskate

Frugalsod wrote: »

Far from it. While you are not adding to GDP because you are not working and might even be detracting from GDP because you are not employing a child minder it does show the problems in national accounting.

In some ways you are educating your children to be more self sufficient and getting them better prepared for the world in terms of being able to cook and not dependant on ready meals. So health wise you could be also saving the NHS a fortune as well.

Very true on both counts. I've only been out of the regular workforce a few months, but do work for DH's business (general dogsbody for £200 a month!), it's just enough extra cash coming in to keep us afloat, and just enough for me to do. Having bad depression that comes and goes, doing bits for DH, and little things for mum who has dementia, means I do work at things, just not traditional stuff at the minute. Hope I didn't come across earlier as critical of anyone, NOT my intention, but always feel defensive when RL peeps ask why I don't work!

A xo

maryb

SpecialBrew wrote: »

I don't think I wanted a fast-forward button much, but there were many times when I wouldn't have minded a mute button or even just a volume control

You REALLY want the mute button when your precious little angel turns into a lippy little teenager:rotfl:

mardatha

Westcoastscot - thank god for Wee Eck! He is approaching sainthood in this house lol