More stuff you don't really need

by Ellen Slattery, Posted Feb 23rd 2008 @ 12:00PM

Every time you turn around, there's a new brightly-colored, cleverly-named kitchen product adorned with google-y eyes and baring a twenty dollar price tag. We've all come across these products, smiled, cooed, and handed over our Visa, only to get them home and dizzily wonder, What the heck was I thinking? The utensil then sits unused, in your junk drawer, until, in a furious bout of spring cleaning three years later, you stumble upon it and have absolutely no idea what it is.

Don't feel bad. We've all done this. It's awful fun to peruse these items at stores, play with them, and make them into little puppets in order to entertain/freak out your other customers (in fact, the latter is one of my favorite pastimes). So in an effort to dissuade you from buying these little gadgets in the future, we've provided some of them here, so you'll know 'em when you see 'em.

Now, for the record, I understand that these products do serve some purpose, however insignificant. And if you happen to own one of these products, more power to you! I am simply suggesting that there are, perhaps, other ways to accomplish the same kitchen tasks that these products purport to execute...

Now, without further ado...

Kitchen gadgets you don't need(click thumbnails to view gallery)

Movers and Shakers Self-Shaking Salt and Pepper Set

Filed Under: Magazines, Trends, Stores & Shopping
Tags: gadget, kitchen, product, stores-and-shopping, tool, utensil

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-23-2008 @1:19PM Michelle said... Now, wait just a cotton-picken minute. Tater mitts are the best things ever created!
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2-23-2008 @1:19PM Stef said... I was a bit taken aback at the presence of biscuit cutters, because as a pastry chef, the things are so darn useful ... at work. I now think of my home set of biscuit cutters, lonely in the pantry, awaiting the day I take them to work, I guess.
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2-23-2008 @1:35PM Fran said... I like Eggy, and I don't already have an egg slicer... so if I decided I needed one, that might not be too bad. But otherwise, yea I probably don't need the rest of that stuff.
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2-23-2008 @4:47PM calamari said... How many empty tin cans do you have lying around, that you have one handy to cut biscuits? Some of us don't eat that much canned food, and keeping a tin can around the house surely takes up more room than a biscuit cutter. (They've been around for decades, by the way.)
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2-24-2008 @1:15AM Lydia said... The easiest way to cut biscuits, which I like better anyway because it means less handling of the dough, is with a knife into squares, rectangles or even triangles (and actually much easier, but somewhat less functional, are drop biscuits)!
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2-24-2008 @1:15AM laurie said... I gotta agree - biscuit cutters are old school useful. I like to use mine for regular ol' round cookies. Yes, of different sizes than "tin can".
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2-24-2008 @2:15PM jschwartz805 said... We love our can crusher. It's 14 years old and still works great. The bag holds several pounds more cans, cutting down on trips to the recycle center.
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2-24-2008 @2:15PM Colin said... We always had a can crusher in the garage when I was a kid. It hung on the wall over the recycle bin and made for a much more compact curbside present for the garbage men.
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2-24-2008 @9:19PM Kitt said... Oh good, others think dissing the biscuit cutter is crazy. Though yes, you can also use a drinking glass in a pinch.

And I have an avocado slicer, though different from the one shown here, that I really love. Yes, I only use it for avocados, but it just slices beautifully and efficiently.

Oh, I just found a picture of it in action, from a post on guacamole:
http://kittbo.blogspot.com/2007/04/guac-talk.html
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2-24-2008 @9:20PM love2cook said... I thought the lettuce sac kept the food fresher longer? I want the tater mitts SO bad, it seems so much easier if you have problems with your hands.

http://organicandnaturalmom.blogspot.com/
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2-25-2008 @11:40AM shark said... have a look at this bad boy - the eat me crunchy cereal bowl - crunchy cereal all day long - for some people its a must have kitchen toy - it removes the mush...

http://www.eatmecrunchy.com

i have one and it is great!

cheers
shark

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