A sharp knife. If that doesn’t count, my knife sharpener then.
Dishwasher. I hate washing dishes by hand.
Maybe not the most glamorous thing—I mean, there are people out there who take their specific kitchen knife or stand mixer really seriously—but in terms of the actual improvement to my life, I have a hard time saying that anything else competes.
electric kettle
Gotta be my cast iron pans.
But for the unexpected item I can no longer function without: it’s the boiled egg slicer.
I love my “As Seen on TV” egg cooker. Up to 14 perfectly boiled eggs every single time with minimal effort.
I have to agree with cast iron pans, especially old ones. They’re versatile, durable, and I don’t have to worry about Teflon flaking off.
I’ve heard carbon steel is great too, but I love the properties of cast iron so I don’t feel the need to get anything else.
- Blender
- Electric kettle
- Garlic crusher
what garlic crusher? i have one, but still chop them by hand, because it takes longer to wash that device, and you lose quite some amount of garlic.
My blender, I love that thing.
Fridge. I’m always using it.
but the differences between fridges can be spectacular. i had a fridge where carrots go brown and become rubberlike within 2 days, and now they are kept fresh for a week and longer.
don’t be cheap on your fridge!
On the flip side some of the cheapest refrigerators have the most reliable compressors. LG freezer on top iirc where their more expensive french door models and what not are absolute trash.
for appliances, probably a tie between kettle, rice cooker, and air fryer.
for gadgets, my phin filter (it’s a vietnamese coffee brewing tool, cost me like $2 and i have used it every morning for over 5 years!)
The best gadget are bowl scrapers. I use them more often than knifes.
My hand made for me chef’s knife.
Same. It was absolutely worth the money.
Food processor. I have issues with my hands and the ability to slice, chop, and blend items with minimal hand use is just fantastic.
$25 breadmaker I got at a thrift store. I buy local fresh wheat flour in bulk and make two delicious loaves a week for my family. Total cost is like 15 minutes of labor and less than 50 cents in ingredients. I’ve made well over 200 loaves in this thing by this point and have saved at least a thousand dollars in crappy storebought bread.
Actually, as much as I love my breadmaker, I think the best answer here might be my Instant Pot. I use it almost every single day for basically every hot meal under the sun, and its magical ability to fully cook dry beans in less than a half hour is such a huge money and time saver on top of everything else it can already do.
(NOTE, however, that kidney beans are still mildly poisonous when cooked this way in an Instant Pot - they need the full, extended cooking session to become fully safe to eat. We usually just use the Instant Pot for pinto and black beans.)
Garlic press. I love garlic
Me too! I use a helix garlic press because it’s easier to press and does a better job.
Like this one:
Also, if you don’t have one of these silicone garlic peeler tubes, get one! It makes peeling garlic super easy.
I’ve never seen that press before, but my other press did come with a silicone tube like those. I use it 50% of the time.
Toaster oven.
Sink with running water, not having to go pump water.
