Though not things with lots of bells and whistles, when I took up sewing again last year I found that there are a lot of handy gadgets now that didn't exist when last I was sewing regularly.

Oh my gosh...all the cool things!  Like my husband and his tools...he has wrenches and sockets and from tiny to huge (for working on semis), I now have a rather embarassingly large collection.  I still have sewing things from when I was in high school and still use some of them but the new stuff out there...yeah, I need to try this out...and I need to try that too.  Since my girls and my son's girlfriend have little interest in sewing, there's gonna be a lot of good stuff no one wants or even knows what it's for when I'm gone.  Also, like my husband, I take very good care of my 'tools'...that's why I still have things that work just fine from the 70s.

And, I'm with @HappySkeptic on the clothes thing.  Since I no longer have to go to an office and follow someone else's dress code, I am in jeans and T-shirts the majority of the time.  I'm not hard on shoes or clothes so when I do get something new it lasts a long, long time.  I have shoes older than some of the people on this forum.

OK, on the clothes thing. It just astonishes me what some people pay for clothing. I understand that it can be a prestige thing if you're a millionaire and want to wear suits worth 4 figures. But even off the rack shirts and pants cost $100, $200 or more. Prom dresses are outrageous; thank goodness my girls are out of high school. I do have to buy some FR (fire retardant) clothing for work. That's for safety so no room to budge. An FR work shirt costs around $150 but its really durable and lasts a long time.

I love mangoes, and Walmart and Aldi's sell them cheap. So when I saw a mango slicer for sale at Aldi's, I grabbed it. Since then, I've been regularly buying mangoes a few at a time, but not getting around to slicing them before they go bad. When I do slice up some mangoes, I'm very happy, but I waste a lot of food buying them. And while I can eat them with the skin on, eating them without is better, which requires some deft skinning with a knife. So even though I waste a lot of mangoes, I'm considering buying a $3 fillet knife at Walmart to make skinning them easier.

My therapist referred to me as a gadget person, and I guess that's right. I try not to buy kitchen gadgets that are unlikely to be used, but nothing lights up my eyes like a new kitchen gadget. I just bought a 6-quart slow cooker, and upon discovering that it's too small for my large batches of stuff, decided to get a 10-quart slow cooker as well!

I made a list of my kitchen gadgets for another forum:

• Microwave popcorn popper
  
• Hinged vegetable chopper
  
• Lettuce slicing thingamajiggy
  
• Two slap-chops
  
• A 48-pin meat tenderizer
  
• Two meat thermometers
  
• An oven thermometer
  
• Collapsible colanders
  
• A handicap accessible cutting board
  
• An adjustable meat/cheese slicer
  
• A mandoline slicer
  
• 7 skillets and two pots
  
• Iron skillet
  
• Iron Dutch Oven
  
• 5-quart basket-type air fryer
  
• 25-liter air fryer
  
• 1.6 cu. ft. microwave
  
• A small wall clock with second hand (essential)
  
• A 10-cup rice cooker (digital)
  
• A 5-cup rice cooker (manual)
  
• A microwave rice cooker
  
• Two microwave steamers
  
• A Mickey Mouse toaster
  
• A 5-setting electric hot water pot
  
• A 4.5-liter electric hot water pot (3 setting)
  
• A 6-quart Multi-cooker
  
• A 10-quart Instant Pot
  
• An 8-quart stock pot
  
• A 12-quart stock pot
  
• An electric carving knife
  
• An electric pizza oven (Presto Pizzazz)
  
• Battery-powered salt & pepper grinder
  
• Pineapple coring tool
  
• Apple slicer
  
• An immersion blender
  
• A Ninja blender
  
• A Ninja food processor
  
• Two coffee grinders (conical burr)
  
• A drip coffee maker
  
• A K-cup coffee maker
  
• A vacuum sealer
  
• And a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer & thermometer
  

(September 17, 2021 at 12:38 pm)Angrboda Wrote: I love mangoes, and Walmart and Aldi's sell them cheap.  So when I saw a mango slicer for sale at Aldi's, I grabbed it.  Since then, I've been regularly buying mangoes a few at a time, but not getting around to slicing them before they go bad.  When I do slice up some mangoes, I'm very happy, but I waste a lot of food buying them.  And while I can eat them with the skin on, eating them without is better, which requires some deft skinning with a knife.  So even though I waste a lot of mangoes, I'm considering buying a $3 fillet knife at Walmart to make skinning them easier.

My therapist referred to me as a gadget person, and I guess that's right.  I try not to buy kitchen gadgets that are unlikely to be used, but nothing lights up my eyes like a new kitchen gadget.  I just bought a 6-quart slow cooker, and upon discovering that it's too small for my large batches of stuff, decided to get a 10-quart slow cooker as well!

I made a list of my kitchen gadgets for another forum:

• Microwave popcorn popper
  
• Hinged vegetable chopper
  
• Lettuce slicing thingamajiggy
  
• Two slap-chops
  
• A 48-pin meat tenderizer
  
• Two meat thermometers
  
• An oven thermometer
  
• Collapsible colanders
  
• A handicap accessible cutting board
  
• An adjustable meat/cheese slicer
  
• A mandoline slicer
  
• 7 skillets and two pots
  
• Iron skillet
  
• Iron Dutch Oven
  
• 5-quart basket-type air fryer
  
• 25-liter air fryer
  
• 1.6 cu. ft. microwave
  
• A small wall clock with second hand (essential)
  
• A 10-cup rice cooker (digital)
  
• A 5-cup rice cooker (manual)
  
• A microwave rice cooker
  
• Two microwave steamers
  
• A Mickey Mouse toaster
  
• A 5-setting electric hot water pot
  
• A 4.5-liter electric hot water pot (3 setting)
  
• A 6-quart Multi-cooker
  
• A 10-quart Instant Pot
  
• An 8-quart stock pot
  
• A 12-quart stock pot
  
• An electric carving knife
  
• An electric pizza oven (Presto Pizzazz)
  
• Battery-powered salt & pepper grinder
  
• Pineapple coring tool
  
• Apple slicer
  
• An immersion blender
  
• A Ninja blender
  
• A Ninja food processor
  
• Two coffee grinders (conical burr)
  
• A drip coffee maker
  
• A K-cup coffee maker
  
• A vacuum sealer
  
• And a 7 cu. ft. chest freezer & thermometer
  

You must have a huge kitchen with lots of storage!

Or maybe her garage is full of kitchen crap?

Mickey Mouse toaster? Seems like the oddball in the list. Is that decorative Mickey or does it put his face on the toast?

I noticed you have an apple slicer. Years ago we bought a device that peels, cores and spiral slices apples. It's totally manual and take like 30 seconds. It's basically just a spiral cutting/peeling device mounted on a wooden stand. At $30, it was a very good purchase. Still works great.

(September 17, 2021 at 2:11 pm)brewer Wrote: Mickey Mouse toaster? Seems like the oddball in the list. Is that decorative Mickey or does it put his face on the toast?

It puts the face on the toast. And it's red with a headshot of Mickey on the side. That's a general theme. I have a lot of red things, kitchen and otherwise. I'm more a purple person but red things are more plentiful so I settled on that.

(September 17, 2021 at 2:11 pm)brewer Wrote: Mickey Mouse toaster? Seems like the oddball in the list. Is that decorative Mickey or does it put his face on the toast?

They may have been sold out of Jesus toasters.

(September 17, 2021 at 3:40 pm)arewethereyet Wrote:

(September 17, 2021 at 2:11 pm)brewer Wrote: Mickey Mouse toaster? Seems like the oddball in the list. Is that decorative Mickey or does it put his face on the toast?

They may have been sold out of Jesus toasters.

I was once given a Harley Davidon toaster....

It charcoaled a shield emblem on your toast.


Piece of shit.


The old lady pitched it because " for some odd reason" it leaked oil on the counter top...