The most useful kitchen gadget?

Fruball

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread...do you mean you cook the bacon, saus and pots in the actifry and leave them in there overnight?

I have just got one and I love it even though I have only used it for chips and stir fry up to now. I kind of wish I got the 2in1 but that is far too much to spend!

I have thought about doing homemade kfc style chicken using the takeaway secret recipe but then I would need to keep that warm while making fries to go with it!

Sorry, i've only just seen this. Yes, as it is winter and my kitchen isn't particularly warm, I just leave it in there. Not died yet

If you wanted, you could always tip them into a bowl into the fridge and get back out in the morning but I don't bother. I might if it were hot in summer though.

jackyann

Not sure if OP is still following this thread, but I would suggest that you aim to take a few days - maybe a weekend to cook your way through some of the suggestions on here.
Once you have the "home cook" mindset, it gets easier: you start thinking "I'll pot-roast in the slow cooker - the left overs will make xyz..." and you think "I'll double - or treble - that basic mince, then I can very quickly do sauce / lasagne / chilli etc."

Start doing just one thing and then add another, and it all soon starts to fall into place! Good luck

furball

You probably know this already, so feel free to ignore. When using a stick blender I don't press the on button until it is in the pan and make sure it has stopped running before I take the stick blender out.
I have had some lovely messes all over the wall, but more importantly burnt myself by not doing this.

Eliza_2

It might be worth reading the slow cooker vs pressure cooker thread again, I'm definitely on the side of the pressure cooker! The other morning when off work I made 3 different types of meals, all stashed in the freezer in single portion sized tubs ready to be chucked in a pan, reheated and veg added after a busy day at work. I couldn't get on with a slow cooker (it would've taken 3 days to do those 3 different lots of foods) so gave it away. So a morning's effort and lots of meals done and dusted.

The other useful gadget is a stick blender, cheap as chips, great for blending soups, gives a quick and easy choice of smooth or chunky soup.

However the most useful gadget is yourself. Was the voucher a gift for yourself or your family? If yours, then it really should be spent on something that really spoils you and helps get you back to tip top health which is how you will be most useful to your family. If a family gift, then something that encourages them all to do more in the kitchen or around the house is the way to go. However it doesn't work like that in practice, if my husband had been given a voucher, he would have spent it on something entirely for him (hobby equipment etc) and the kids the same. I would probably have bought a carpet shampoo-er - we're all fools to ourselves aren't we!!!!!