How much "Housekeeping&q uot; clutter is too much?

We're off to the Ideal Home Exhibition tomorrow (free tickets wouldn't bother otherwise) and made mental note not buy any gagets there. In the past bought many a thing that looks fabulous there, but get it home and it's rubbish. Eg magnetic windows washers, rubber broom, water sprinkler and more I can't think of.

love my veg peeler i use it to destring celery, peel veg and fruit wouldnt be with out it.

I have two favourite, cheap, gadgets. A long insulated pair of tweezers to get toast out of the toaster, I also use it for removing teabags from mugs.
Two bright green , small insulated grips , they fit over the pan handles ( not the long handles- the small loopy ones?) brilliant from kleeneeze

You can buy spiralized veg in M&S (and probably other places too), probably cheaper in the long-term than buying a spiralizer and using it just a few times
I did resist buying one of those.

I do fancy an icecream maker though but it wouldn't be good for my diet .....

Spiralizer - why did I bother? If the veg aren`t exactly the right diameter and consistency it just chops them into little pieces. And I`ve never been able to cook "courgetti" that doesn`t make any source watery and horrible!

My best ever buy was the ice cream maker from Lakeland last October. Hubby is now on a special liver disease diet (from being diabetic and alot of pain medication over many years) He has to eat 6 times a day and has been put on a high carb/high protein diet.

Its working however Lakeland made a fortune out of me last year. I decided to replace alot of my kitchen equipment as alot of it was getting on a bit and with the adult youngsters no longer at home, bar 1 of 4. I have just about managed to keep away from duff buys, bar 1, though it's hard.

My duff buy was a soup stand: I bought it for making soup in advance to freeze. You can put your freezer bag in it, to put your soup in the bag without it spilling. It's more hassle than it's worth. Cost £14-99 and well I guess it will go to the charity shop when I am sick of it taking up room in the cupboard.

My best buy was the ice cream maker. My Hubby loves ice cream. After seeing a program on ice cream (I thought I was buying decent for my Husband) we were totally put off the shop bought.

There was only Haagan daz that came out looking like ice cream when it was melted. The others looked like well bowls of snot. Given my husband has ice cream everyday Haagan Daz was going to cost £20 per week.

I went out and bought an ice cream maker (£58-00 originally £73-00 as it was in the sale) It paid for it's self in less than 3 weeks.

It is quick to make the mix. 10 minutes tops. Then chill overnight in the fridge. Put it all in the ice cream maker and 40 minutes later you have gorgeous ice cream.

The gadget I used daily was the Nicer Dicer which made perfect cubes or sticks of fruit or vegetables for salads, stews and soups and particularly for even-sized chips. I say "used" because they have now changed the design.

The old one worked by pushing the blades down onto the food, but the new design pushes the food through the blades and it's not as good. As my old one has broken, I can't decide whether to replace it with one of the new ones or not.

It's funny how one woman's daily used gadget is another woman's dust collector.

Forgot to add my hand mixer as another regularly used gadget ?

Hello everyone,
Been reading this thread with interest. Like most of you, I've got some gadgets that get lots of use and others that barely see daylight but keep them "just in case" ?
The ones in regular use and which I'd replace (and indeed have in one case) are my bread maker - used every week, my slow cooker, used regularly in the cooler months, and my dyson cordless which is whipped out every day. Dust gatherers include a juicer, a coffee machine and a deep fat fryer!

I make bread daily, the bread mixer is a must.

Oh the Lakeland oven shelf soaking tray! So useful as a toddler's paddling pool, pot plant soaker, freezer defrosting tray - not had a shelf in it yet!

Chewbacca Have a look on ebay. There are lots of Moulinex products on there.

I love my karcher window vac it does save a lot of time but yes have bread maker I don't use and also spiraliser only used a couple of times! I do like my soup maker though just throw in some rough chopped veg and stock and it ,ales soup in half an hour while you can go off and forget it for a bit as it switches off and keeps it warm

Enjoying this most informative thread. My life saver is my combination microwave oven. I never use the main oven now, it's the combi on convection every time. Just DH and me to cook for though.

We are on our second Breadmaker and we never waste any bread at all. When we bought the first one, a Panasonic, our daughter said 'Mum you're wasting your money, you'll never use it', but we always use it. Love it!
A garlic crusher only needs to be basic as cloves need to be peeled, halved and the shoot removed, unless you really don't mind 'garlic breath'. Surprisingly many people aren't aware that it's the shoot that causes the breath to smell.

jayanna bumped the 'making bread in
slow cooker' food thread its now on active list

Never use sandwich toaster, only very occasionally us breadmaker and also the slow cooker I nagged and nagged DH to buy for my birthday. Hes a bit cross as I so rarely use it but when I do a casserole I put it in the oven on a timer with jacket potatoes so it would be a waste to have oven and slow cooker on. I think Im doing something wrong as I cant think what to use it for that I cant do equally well in the oven.

Forgot to mention my Easy Yo yogurt maker, which is basically a large plastic vacuum flask. I find if I make up the mix according to instructions but using a tablespoon of live yogurt mixed in warm milk ( not the makers packet mixes, expensive and powdery taste) then put the whole flask inside another gadget, the wonder bag which is essentially a beanbag with a drawstring top, that maintains the heat more efficiently and next morning, lovely homemade yogurt.
Must admit though, it is a bit of a faff.

I now have a bread maker cluttering my under stairs cupboard and it isn't even mine!
My daughter passed to me on permanent loan and although I've tried it a few times with different recipes I haven't yet had a really successful loaf.
I've had three steam cleaners and they all stopped steaming after about a year, on occasional use too. Think the heater just stops heating the water enough.
Halogen oven great.
Ditto Karcher window vac, that's brilliant.
Gtech cordless vac, wonderful.
Ninja smoothie maker, fabulous.
Slow cooker, couldn't live without.
All in all I'm happy with my gadgets and they genuinely make life easier.

Jayanna go on to forums at top of page (I'm on a pad) click on it then scroll down to food thread .
I have checked its right at the bottom under thread about icing.
I am very sorry I cant do links
Perhaps another GNer will be able to help

My best little Lakeland gadget is a ring pull can opener. I no longer have to worry about spilling the can's contents while I struggle to get the lid off. Not to mention nearly cutting my fingers off when a lid gets stuck half way.

I use my bread maker and slow cooker all the time. The slow cooker will even do things when you sling the ingredients in frozen solid if you give it enough time!

But my very favourite kitchen item is my see through, conical measure. I had one years ago and after the foot broke about five times and I had to throw it out I tried to replace it. Nothing doing. I could only get a tin conical measure or a plastic see through jug. Imagine my joy when I found an exact replacement for my original measure in a junk shop. I foolishly paid a tenner for it and have never regretted my folly.

I bought a food mixer with a detachable liquidiser many years ago and it got a lot of use. But now I'm widowed it sits on the top of the fridge gathering dust - I don't use it very much these days but I don't want to throw it away.
Good sharp knives and my little bamboo chopping board (it's light enough to lift easily) are the things I use the most.
I couldn't live without my washing machine, steam iron or sewing machine.

Desdemona We do this all the time. It works a treat. Those dishwasher cleaners are expensive, and the dish washer tablets keep going up in price too have you noticed? Wouldn't be without mine though. Best thing we ever bought apart from the washing machine.

If there is a simple option use that. For example when a French chef wanted to crush a garlic clove he smacked it with a small pan! A rolling pin is just as good I find. No need for a fancy gadget.

Common sense is the answer. If you can do without don't buy it. You could fill your cupboards with all this unnecessary stuff.