Good gadgets you wished you had bought sooner.

I’m thinking of getting an Airfryer - would you recommend yours Vishirl;- I am on my own ..

Without a doubt Airfryer.

I agree about the air fryer but I still have friends who either bought them for themselves because they always go with trends, or have had them given as gifts who have never used them even once.
I have been unable to convince them.

I also use my Airfryer most days hardly ever use my oven anymore. I cook most of my meals in it apart from a stew or casserole. My daughter also uses it most days as we live together but I resisted buying one for ages thinking it was just another faddy gadget but it’s certainly the most used gadget I’ve bought.

A brilliant tool from Amazon for opening champagne and other fizzy wine bottles. It clamps either side of the neck of the bottle and a lever gently pulls the cork out.

That’s good to know V3ra. Anything for an easier life.

I also cheat and now buy chopped jarred garlic. I found the garlic cloves would dry out in my cupboard, or start growing, so jarred is less wasteful.

I have a little offset spatula that gets a lot of use! Link for reference. I bought it years ago to ice a cake, and find I reach for it all the time while cooking. Good for lifting cookies off the baking sheet, flipping pancakes or crepes, etc.
www.amazon.ca/Oxo-Good-Grips-Icing-Spatula/dp/B00004OCNM/ref=asc_df_B00004OCNM?mcid=2d0971d4588837f394fd91cc00a7c360&tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=706736437842&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=481090093425064393&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001590&hvtargid=pla-382953245640&hvocijid=481090093425064393-B00004OCNM-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1&th=1

I use Lazy Garlic from a jar.

Hey, check out this product www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/314691518/?icid=ghsandapp_ghs_pdp_share

This frozen chopped garlic is my choice nowadays, they also do frozen chopped ginger.

You do have to trim off the ends, and with the garlic chopper, you do have to rinse it under the cold tap as soon as you have used it, or little bits of garlic stick to the inside of it ( and large cloves do need to be cut in half for the blades to get at them to cut them)

Heading there now. I was having a moan about garlic only the other day and saying surely someone could come up with a good garlic peeler 🙂

Lathyrus3

Lakeland???

Amazon.

If you can call it a gadget I would say my air fryer has been the most useful. I use it most days to cook the same sort of meals as I used to in the oven for twice the time and cost. I read that the majority of owners only use them for frozen chips, but not me.

Another well-used item is the Zyllis easy pull manual food processor, as used by the Hairy Bikers.
Zyllis easy pull

Was just going to say that about minced garlic, SueD and it's instant.

One of the gadgets I would hate to be without is my jar opener and the other is my meat thermometer.

I’ve got Joseph Joseph salt and pepper grinders. They seem very sturdy. I buy ready minced garlic nowadays. V labour saving.

Lakeland???

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202510/medium-34qkbn-garlic-peeler.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202510/medium-2de11i-garlic-chopper.jpg

I bought these two little gadgets at the same time and use them whenever I need garlic. You trim the end off the cloves of garlic and put them in the plastic sleeve (£1.99), then roll it back and forth on the work surface. When you tip out the cloves they are naked.

Then you open up the green gadget (£12.99) and put the cloves inside, close it up and roll that gadget back and forth on its green wheels. The sharp blades inside chop it up - the more you roll, the finer it is chopped. If you then use the handle of a teaspoon to scrape out the bits, you don't need to touch the garlic at all.

I also have a stand mixer tucked away in a cupboard never used but I am a coeliac and gluten free baking is not easy or always successful. However if someone took away my pressure cooker I would be devastated!

A few years ago I treated myself to a kitchen aid mixer.
It was on offer at Curry’s and was only on limited colours.
It was about £300.
It has been used about 4 times.
I stopped baking when my H died, I have no interest at all.
Sorry that doesn’t answer your question but it made me remember.

Kitchen aid cordless chopper with rechargeable battery (the red one shown in this picture)

www.kitchenaid.co.uk/recipes/no-bake-chocolate-coconut-raspberry-cookies

I spotted Prue Leith using one a lot on her TV cookery show and tracked it down. Absolutely love it and use it nearly every day.

I retired my grande famille food processor when it became terminally ill; the kitchen aid is a perfect size for household of 2.