Living the Lifestyle Monday January 29

gadgetgirlIL

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for January are:

Monday - GadgetGirlIL (Regina)
Tuesday - 88olds (George)
Wednesday - Beachwoman2006 (Cindy)
Thursday - Imastar2 (Derrick)
Friday - Jimb376mfp (Jim)

Today's Topic: New fangled kitchen gadgets - have you invested in an Instant Pot or an Air Fryer? If so, what types of things have you made with them? Have you found them to be worth the investment, both in terms of money as well as storage space?

Alternative question - what gadget, if any, did you invest in with great hopes only to now have it sit collecting dust?

gadgetgirlIL

I have a bread machine sitting in our basement collecting dust. Used it a few times but it takes up a lot of space. Honestly, I just find it easier to buy a loaf of GF bread at Trader Joe's.

Several of my friends invested in those spiralizers but again, for the amount of time I want zucchini to put my pasta sauce on, it is less expensive, and less work, to just buy the spiralized zucchini at the store.

Al_Howard

I have a spiralizer, which I haven't used for about 6 months (which TOL reminds me). Also a food processer and mandolin, which are gathering dust.
I do, however often use my submersable stick mixer, a few pretty good knives, and a toaster oven, with convection.

jasper60103

We still have a George Foreman grill that hasn't been used in years.
My son used it quite a bit when he became interested in cooking.

beachwoman2006

My Instant Pot was one of the best investments I've made in a while. I use it 2-3 times a week and am constantly looking for other ways to use it. I was able to get rid of my pressure cooker, electric frying pan, and crockpot. I do use my food processor quite often for chopping and dicing.

I've been thinking about an air fryer but I'm not sure I would use it enough to justify the cost.

I got rid of a mandolin when I moved a couple of years ago. Along with an electric quesadilla maker.

countcurt

We do not have an instant pot although my wife threatened to buy me one for the holidays. Since we have a slow cooker and don't have much need for pressure cooker, I convinced her to hold off.

We have had a magic bullet and a ninja. The former died after very heavy usage. The Ninja is at the tail end of its life, also the victim of regular heavy usage. I asked my wife to redirect her purchasing power to a Vita-Mix as that is a device I would actually use. A lot.

The spiralizer is quite a bit of work, so only comes out when we're working on a large volume. Again, the attachment to a KitchenAid is much more user friendly, but we don't have a mixer and wifey won't allow one. We do have a Cuisinart, circa 1985, which still works, but which isn't allowed to sit out. OR be stored in the kitchen. So it only comes out when there is a huge amount of work.

I do have a stick blender. Works great for some things, but it's not a do-all.

We also have a George Foreman grill. Which I really don't like. My wife does use it from time to time during the winter when we can't grill outside, but it's a space hog. Plus ours is old enough that none of it can go in the dishwasher.

88olds

Useful new gadget- egg separator. Dr told me to cut back the whole eggs. Don’t really know if that’s good advice. It’s an experiment as far as I’m concerned.

Gathering dust ( maybe at the Salvation Army where I took it.) - Air fryer.

Al_Howard

LOL, I forgot about the George Forman grill. It's on top of the fridge.

steve0mania

We recently bought an air fryer, not so much for me, but for my kids, who love when my wife makes "real" chicken-fingers and the like. She's made a basic roast turkey breast in it the other night, and it was really tasty! It reminds me of the typical WW/tracking problem: it's really hard to know how many points are for things that use some oil, but that don't soak up a ton. At the moment we keep it in an out-of-the-way cabinet, but my wife would like to put it out on the countertop. I'd rather not "burn" countertop space for that.

We have a Kitchen Aid that gets used all of the time. My wife makes fresh bread once a week. That does sit out on the counter.

I had some sort of a mini-blender to makes smoothies. I did that for a while, but eventually fell out of the habit and it's either gathering dust, or didn't follow us when we moved a couple of years ago.

beachwoman2006

Oh yeah -- I also forgot about the George Foreman grill. Also got rid of that when I moved. I got rid of a lot of things that took up space when I moved.

And the Magic Bullet -- Bought one when they first came out. About the only thing I ever used it for was making my "faux" Frosties. I didn't think it worked very well for chopping things -- more like pulverized them. That went to the consignment shop when I first moved to the beach.

@88olds -- Why would you need an egg separator?? Don't you know how to separate eggs? LOL I will admit that I *have* a Tupperware egg separator that I've had for YEARS. It's just a little plastic thing -- a ring that's open on the sides for the white to slide out and an indention in the center to catch the yolk. At least I *think* I still have it. I'll have to look in my junk drawer and see if it's still there.

myallforjcbill

I try and avoid the new gadget crazes. Lately we have invested in higher quality cookware etc. Though I have added small gadgets like garlic peepers, lemon juice, etc. We do have a small OXO hand spiralizer which we stopped using. It was a lot of work to do enough squash for 3-4 people. @beachwoman2006 Cindy I laughed at your post and turned around, opened a drawer and pulled out our little yellow Tupperware egg separator. I don't remember the last time it was used but it seems wrong to throw it out. It's like a family heirloom.

Rachel0778

Appliances I love:
1) Crockpot! I have 2 and I use them constantly.
2) Good knives.
3) Immersion blender- it has basically replaced my food processor for purees.
4) Spirilizer. It's small so it doesn't take up much space and I can buy a pack of zucchini for less than $2 and whip up noodle pasta for the whole week!
5) Bread machine. I only use it about 4 times a year, but since it was a hand-me-down from my Dad it brings up a lot of childhood memories so it stays in the love column.

Appliances collecting dust:
1) Panini Press. I use it once a year when I remember it's there. My SO talked me into it but literally NEVER uses it.
2) George Forman grill. My SO has owned this giant bulky thing for 7 years and hasn't used it for at least the 5 years we've been dating. I can't talk him into getting rid of it though.
3) My MIL just gifted me a Kitchenaid mixer. It's beautiful, red, and I know it's a bit of a kitchen status symbol. That being said, I have never owned a mixer before, my forearms have easily been able to conquer any baking I've done so far, and I internally wince when I think of how expensive those things are.
4) My individual blender. I LOVED it back in college for smoothies, but I haven't made smoothies in ages. I think I got burned out on them. I hesitate to get rid of it though in case I want to start making them again.

I haven't bought an insta-pot because I think my crockpot and oven get the job done just fine. I'm tempted by the air fryer but I'm worried it's a fad and will just take up kitchen space.

countcurt

I find the air fryer tempting; I have tried multiple ways to replicate the results in the oven (we have a good, full-featured convection oven) but can't.

OTOH, there just isn't enough cooking that I would do for just my wife and me to justify it. Plus, my wife would kill me.

Out_of_Bubblegum

Mmmmm - gadgets - I'm guilty of having quite a few. We try to keep only the ones we use though.

Crock pot - seldom gets used, but there are times when nothing else will do.

Pressure cooker (old school rattle top kind) - We use it all the time, especially the wife when making traditional Bulgarian foods.

Kitchen aid - Gets a fair amount of use. Having it there even inspires me to bake occasionally, which is fun.

Magic bullet - Gets used often for smoothies - we have this down to a science, and are on our 2nd one.
Immersion blender - Gets used when appropriate.. not super often though.

Food processor - We use a $10 cheap-o, and only use it for a few things like onion/garlic puree, fresh spices, etc... Definitely a time saver for the things we use it for.

Instant read thermometer - Pretty much every time I grill I pull this out... it's changed my grill game DRAMATICALLY.

Smoker - My biggest gadget... I use it several times/year, as I'm a big fan of slow smoked BBQ, but not a fan of most BBQ joints.

Newest one: Meat grinder attachment for the kitchen aid. The verdict is out on this one if it's a keeper or not.

misterhub

I use my crockpot about once every couple of months. I have an air fryer, which was given to me; I simply have not broken it out and figured it out, yet; but, I will.

I have a food processor that is older than God's Mother. But, it still work well, and I have made some awesome hummus with it.

I use my rice cooker quite often. I can cook rice very well on the stovetop. However, it requires me to pay attention. I can cook the rice in the rice cooker and forget about it until I am ready to return to it. I also use it as a steamer sometimes.

One of the main reasons I like the cookers, and a reason I may get an instapot/pressure cooker, is that I have no air conditioning, and cooking during the summer is painful. These tools help significantly.

beachwoman2006

@myallforjcbill -- LOL I have two -- a yellow one and an orange one. I think they must have been those little "gifts" they gave at parties because I can't imagine that I would have bought them. I also have the citrus peelers and STILL use them to peel oranges. They might just be the best little gifts that Tupperware ever gave out.

beachwoman2006

misterhub wrote: »

I use my rice cooker quite often. I can cook rice very well on the stovetop. However, it requires me to pay attention.

THAT'S the other thing I took to the consignment shop -- the rice cooker. The Instant Pot also has that.

And it's GREAT for doing large quantities of boiled eggs (they're actually steamed eggs I guess). I cooked a dozen when I needed to make deviled eggs for a potluck a while back. None cracked and the shells peeled off SO easily!

countcurt

beachwoman2006 wrote: »

misterhub wrote: »

I use my rice cooker quite often. I can cook rice very well on the stovetop. However, it requires me to pay attention.

THAT'S the other thing I took to the consignment shop -- the rice cooker. The Instant Pot also has that.

And it's GREAT for doing large quantities of boiled eggs (they're actually steamed eggs I guess). I cooked a dozen when I needed to make deviled eggs for a potluck a while back. None cracked and the shells peeled off SO easily!

The Instant Pot people should pay you for the endorsement.

misterhub

@beachwoman2006 Cindy, how do you do the eggs?

Jimb376mfp

@gadgetgirlIL
Interesting LTL!

Wondering where IS MY George Foreman grill???LOL

beachwoman2006

@misterhub Put about an inch of water into the pot. Place the rack that came with the pot in. Put the eggs on the rack. Put the lid on with the pressure vent in the sealed position. Select the egg setting, set temp on high. By default I think the time shows up as 10 minutes (can't remember for sure). Let the pressure reduce on its own (takes about 10 minutes). Remove lid.

minimyzeme

What a great topic! I'm learning so much about the past and the present!

No new kitchen gadgets. I mean literally! Most of our stuff is from the 2nd-hand store. Several of the folks at my meeting talk up the air fryer and they've definitely got my attention. However, counter and cupboard space is at somewhat of a premium and considering the cost, we haven't been able to convince ourselves we can't live without one.

As for old gadgets, I know we have a crock pot. It's industrial size and great for what it does! Mini George Forman grill often gets workouts in the Winter but now that I think of it, I don't think it has yet this winter.

imastar2

We'll we haven't bought many if any kind of gadgets. We did buy a new crock pot in the last few months but haven't used out but 1 time. We do plan on getting some.

SW 400.8
CW 320.4
Next GW 300.0
Final GW 185.0

80.4lbs Total lost

gadgetgirlIL

Thanks, everyone, for your responses! You all have reminded me that I have a Vitamixer that doesn't get used very often anymore. My old crockpot, which sat in the cabinet unused for many years, finally is getting used a lot more especially when I discovered how much easier it is to make homemade stock in it instead of having to watch a pot on the stove all day.

I also have an old, small George Foreman grill which is the right size to make a grilled sandwich or to quickly grill up a chicken breast. But it is a beast to clean since the grill plates aren't removable.

podkey

We have a new instant pot.