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eG-Inspired Kitchen Gadget Purchases (aka The Enablers' Hall of Fame)

chromedome

By chromedome
in Kitchen Consumer

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BeeZee

BeeZee

Posted
Posted

Would have loved something like this in my dorm room. We were forbidden to have most appliances due to the electrical load (1800's era building) and the most anyone managed was to cook Kraft mac+cheese in a hotpot designed to (sort of) boil a couple of cups of water. Which had to be hidden when not in use😉

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"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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Smithy

Smithy

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, BeeZee said:

Would have loved something like this in my dorm room. We were forbidden to have most appliances due to the electrical load (1800's era building) and the most anyone managed was to cook Kraft mac+cheese in a hotpot designed to (sort of) boil a couple of cups of water. Which had to be hidden when not in use😉

 

That sounds very familiar. I had a hotpot like that, but the best I did with it was Cup-a-Soup or whatever that stuff was called. My best friend sneaked an electric skillet into her dorm room, and thanks to her we had lasagna more than once.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Would have loved something like this in my dorm room. We were forbidden to have most appliances due to the electrical load (1800's era building) and the most anyone managed was to cook Kraft mac+cheese in a hotpot designed to (sort of) boil a couple of cups of water. Which had to be hidden when not in use😉

 

Students here are in the same situation, although more out of fire and hygiene concerns than aged electrical systems but, I know, some students get round it surreptitiously. I have seen some appliances advertised as being 'dormitory' friendly but not, so far, rice cookers. Rice is virtually free from the college canteens; cooking rice is not something students crave.

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

Somewhere on this forum there was a short discussion on sealer things that you slide across the top of things like potato chip bags to keep the contents fresh.  I can't find it.  Anyone?

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Somewhere on this forum there was a short discussion on sealer things that you slide across the top of things like potato chip bags to keep the contents fresh.  I can't find it.  Anyone?

 

I think there are quite a few mentions of GripStix, going back some years.  Quite recently you may have read of @JoNorvelleWalker's dissatisfaction with them starting around here. 

I'm a fan!

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Somewhere on this forum there was a short discussion on sealer things that you slide across the top of things like potato chip bags to keep the contents fresh.  I can't find it.  Anyone?

 

 

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted

Re: dorm cooking. We could have hotpots and popcorn poppers, and that was it. You can cook a good deal in a popcorn popper - scrambled eggs, etc. I also learned how to make a creditable grilled cheese sandwich with an iron.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
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Posted (edited)

When I was in residence, (cough) years ago, the rumor was that one of my fellow students had succeeded in concealing a microwave in his room for two years by putting a doily and a pair of rabbit ears on top. I never saw this with my own eyes, but it was plausible enough to gain wide credence among us (both microwaves and TVs tended to be large brown boxes in the late 70s).

Edited by chromedome
unconscious repetition (log)
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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kayb said:

Re: dorm cooking. We could have hotpots and popcorn poppers, and that was it. You can cook a good deal in a popcorn popper - scrambled eggs, etc. I also learned how to make a creditable grilled cheese sandwich with an iron.

 

I wish I'd known how versatile a popcorn popper could be when I was in college in Wisconsin. When the heat went out in the dorm in winter I bought a funky old electric popper and took it apart to expose the coil. It worked to warm up the space beneath my desk. I'm guessing it was a dangerous fix, but it's too bad I didn't know I could scramble eggs with it as well. 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, chromedome said:

When I was in residence, (cough) years ago, the rumor was that one of my fellow students had succeeded in concealing a microwave in his room for two years by putting a doily and a pair of rabbit ears on top. I never saw this with my own eyes, but it was plausible enough to gain wide credence among us (both microwaves and TVs tended to be large brown boxes in the late 70s).

 

In the movie Three Stooges in Orbit, the boys go to great lengths to conceal their cooking in a motel room.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, kayb said:

You can cook a good deal in a popcorn popper - scrambled eggs, etc.


I do need more information on this !

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kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Duvel said:


I do need more information on this !

 

1 hour ago, heidih said:

And type of popper

Now, y'all, that's been damn near 50 years ago. I would suspect it was a Rival, or some other el cheapo. Just the pot part, heating element in the bottom, not even an on-off switch (you just plugged it in). Put butter in it, plug it up, let the butter melt, pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Occasionally it'd shut off before you got them as done as you wanted them, in which case, unplug it, let it cool down, then plug it back up and finish them.

 

You could also heat up various and assorted canned stuff in them. Again, you'd often have to go through a cycle, let it cool, and go through another one.

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kayb said:

 

Now, y'all, that's been damn near 50 years ago. I would suspect it was a Rival, or some other el cheapo. Just the pot part, heating element in the bottom, not even an on-off switch (you just plugged it in). Put butter in it, plug it up, let the butter melt, pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Occasionally it'd shut off before you got them as done as you wanted them, in which case, unplug it, let it cool down, then plug it back up and finish them.

 

You could also heat up various and assorted canned stuff in them. Again, you'd often have to go through a cycle, let it cool, and go through another one.

Thanks - I was just not familiar with anything but the luminum pot on a stove and oooh new fangled air popper in my teens. Hello Jiffy Pop - do they still make that stove top one - gotta chek. Childhood magic. Yup https://www.jiffypoppopcorn.com/

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, heidih said:

Thanks - I was just not familiar with anything but the luminum pot on a stove and oooh new fangled air popper in my teens. Hello Jiffy Pop - do they still make that stove top one - gotta chek. Childhood magic. Yup https://www.jiffypoppopcorn.com/

It's still being sold in these parts.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

In the movie Three Stooges in Orbit, the boys go to great lengths to conceal their cooking in a motel room.

 

 

I knew you were an aficionado. 

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted

No room for a double rice cooker? I mean those dorms are short on hiding spaces.

 

Came across this today. You may not be able to multiply but you can divide. 鸳鸯电饭锅 (yuān yang diàn fàn guō) Mandarin Duck Rice Cooker.

 

_20230708143801.thumb.jpg.632010f09e33feaf3283a12da5080614.jpg

 

 

Apologies for image quality. It's a screenshot from a video advertisement. I'll try to find a better image and replace but the inner bowl of the cooker is divided in two like this ...

 

yin-yang.thumb.jpg.7a2b0c646823b53be0cae80dc8b1c8f3.jpg

 

... but with the dividing barrier taking the traditional 阴阳 (yīn yáng) shape.

Stellaris-Yin-Yang.thumb.png.2a09e9135067ba71fa52464da6b3b76c.png

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Smithy

Smithy

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Here's one...the Hot Logic.  Cooks/warms to 165F.  Looks useful for travel.  If you plan right, 165 isn't a bad temp.

 

https://hotlogic.com/#howitworks

 

Wow. That is...tempting.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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palo

palo

Posted
Posted (edited)

@Smithy I know where Minnesota is, but you could check on Amazon US

 

Amazon CDN Prime Day:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Personal-Portable-Electric-Potlucks-Kitchen/dp/B07XJVP75Y?pf_rd_r=CGQ1763C4JXKBKT4FKEA&pf_rd_t=Events&pf_rd_i=primeday&pf_rd_p=2f9e664f-8639-49b0-8ba2-7c94fad929c2&pf_rd_s=slot-6&ref=dlx_prime_gd_dcl_img_204_3ce034b4_dt_sl6_c2

 

Considerably cheaper than "Hotlogic"

 

p

Edited by palo (log)
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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, palo said:

@Smithy I know where Minnesota is, but you could check on Amazon US

 

Amazon CDN Prime Day:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Personal-Portable-Electric-Potlucks-Kitchen/dp/B07XJVP75Y?pf_rd_r=CGQ1763C4JXKBKT4FKEA&pf_rd_t=Events&pf_rd_i=primeday&pf_rd_p=2f9e664f-8639-49b0-8ba2-7c94fad929c2&pf_rd_s=slot-6&ref=dlx_prime_gd_dcl_img_204_3ce034b4_dt_sl6_c2

 

Considerably cheaper than "Hotlogic"

 

p

 

and according to the photo, will turn ham into steak  🙂

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

How about a mini portable CSO?
 

Here

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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