Kitchen Gear Recommendations

[JudyJB]

And frozen strawberry daiquiris? It's been years since I've had one of those.

I'm thinking of ditching my old, heavy and bulky blender for one of the smaller ones. Maybe not quite single-serving, but at least sleeker, smaller, and lighter. Saw a couple at our local Meijer's tonight.

[BarbaraRose]

I didn't know you can freeze watermelon!

[Bethers]

I use ice for my margaritas (like the blended ones) and frozen fruit all the time. Mine works great for both. I've learned to pulse it - not run it steady - and it does it even better then.

[Colliemom]

Lots of neat ideas flowing here. Giving me some ideas of what to stock in my RV too, since I haven't got all the stuff you folks have. Course I don't use some of that stuff in the house so might not need it in the RV. Do need a new chopper and might get a little blender though.

As to coffee. I'm a non coffee drinker too. I do have a coffee maker in the house in case of company, but it hasn't brewed anything for almost a year now. Do keep coffee on hand as well. But as for the RV, nada. No coffee maker going in there. When my friends come up from downstate, which has been two years since they have last been here, they like instant coffee and sometimes bring their own little coffee bags with them. So when time comes to unload this house, the coffee maker is going into the garage sale. Unless I donate it to the park for our staff use. But with my boss gone now, I don't know how much coffee will get made anymore. Non of th rest of us bother with it.

[JudyJB]

OK, you have all freed me from my coffee guilt--I will not take any coffee pots with me for the sole purpose of serving an occasional guest who cannot find a Starbucks! Any coffee I bought would be no doubt stale anyway!!

I do like the idea of the small blender, and will be looking for one and will celebrate tossing the huge thing I currently own and takes climbing on a stool and moving stuff to get out!

I will take a tea pot because I love to make strong tea in it for ice tea. That's my drink of choice anyway.

JudyJB

[Bethers]

I just was looking and found the old egg cooker thread and the old fasta pasta thread - just thought I'd post links again:

Fasta Pasta The Microwave Cooker

Nordic Ware 64802 Microwave Egg Cooker

And I went looking at Amazon and they carry my little Hamilton Beach Blender (mine is white, but this one is $3 less - so who needs white haha):

Hamilton Beach 51101B Single-Serve Blender with Travel Lid, Black

And this looks like my little chopper:

Proctor Silex 72500RY 1-1/2-Cup Food Chopper

But this one is less expensive and probably just as good:

Black & Decker HC306 1-1/2-Cup One-Touch Electric Chopper

Same with this one:

Oxo Good Grips Mini Chopper

hahaha - I went on Amazon for a couple things - and got carried away - only have 2 things in my cart - but no where to send them yet - hmmm - going to call Lori and Ernie and see if I can have them sent there

[BirdbyBird]

And I just picked up the egg cooker at Kroger's this afternoon......about the same price. It just jumped into my cart.

[Bethers]

Don't you just love how things jump into carts? At Walmart night before last 2 pairs of lightweight capris jumped in my cart. Now, I have told myself over and over "NO NEW CLOTHES" - but these jumped in my cart anyway. Now I will find 2 pieces of clothing to get rid of, minimum - the others are in the Walmart bag until I do so. And they'll be perfect for work this summer. (Can't wear all my sundresses most days - will need to wear their tshirt.

[Liz]

And they'll be perfect for work this summer. (Can't wear all my sundresses most days - will need to wear their tshirt.

Oh well, see, you needed them! No wonder they jumped in your cart.

[JudyJB]

After soft boiling three eggs this past weekend and overcooking them, I decided to order the microwave egg cooker and also the Fasta Pasta. Since I needed a couple more dollars to get free shipping, I found this collapsable funnel that looked neat. I don't currently own a funnel, so i do need one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JNTGHI

[Bethers]

That is neat. Not sure I need one - but put it on my possible list for later.

[AlmostThere]

I've had a funnel in my kitchen drawer for over 35 yrs and perhaps used it twice. It's now gone and not missed. In a pinch I can always add contents to a baggie and snip the corner and use that as a funnel.

[JoanE]

After reading this thread, I will probably have more equipment than I need but I am taking my big blender, juicer, pressure cooker, electric kettle anyway...plus my cast iron fry pans. My rig has a convection/microwave but I have no experience with convection. Can anyone tell me how to adjust cooking time for it otherwise I'll try to find a manual online. Beth, are you making toast in the convection oven? I just bought the small Foreman grill for my occasional meat and to grill the veggies.

[khenrie]

We decided not to bring our blender or our coffee maker. So far, so good.

We have individual french presses and we bought an old fashioned percolater. We also have a cup top brewer, which I haven't used yet.

I have plenty of cupboard space and room to add things as we go along, rather than carrying around stuff we may never use. So we have a can opener, a wine opener and that's about it for gadgets