A year ago for Christmas, we gave our grown four children's families a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker and they LOVE them. A month ago, we finally purchased one for ourselves. It is super...nothing to be scared of. We bought their cookers because of their busy lifestyles and short times to prepare meals which led them to picking up fast food all too often. With a brief steam build up time and 30 minutes they can have a complete tasty meat, potato & vegetable meal for a much less cost than eating out.

I do a lot of cooking and own a kitchenware store... needless to say I have access to a lot of gadgets but I prefer to pay good money for a quality product (spatulas, mixers or otherwise) that are going to last me...

Too funny! We used to buy my MIL cookbooks, but they never helped her much! She wanted to cook fancy and we wanted to eat plain. To answer, I store my cookbooks in a small kitchen cupboard. We got rid of most cookbooks during our last move. If I want a recipe now, I check out the Internet. Times sure have changed!

My son got us a hot Chocolate maker that is supposed to make it frothy ? ? ? I think we have used it 2 times in the last 8 years... its gotta go, and so is the Quesadilla maker, it doesn't allow much room for the thickness of every thing we want to put in... so its going too, I use my Black Iron Skillet more. One I do use is the Smoothie maker because we don't have a Good Blender.. and my favorite is the mini chopper I use only for nuts...

I agree with the shreader attachment for our kitchen aid. I never use it. Use everything else we own. I will never buy another, but I bought a spritzer bottle, that you put your own oil in. Well it clogged up after a couple months. So I bought another more expensive model, and the same thing happened. I volunteer at our local thrift store. The most usless items we get on a regular basis are, electric vegetable streamers, the slap chop, sandwich presses, single expresso makers, and egg cookers. We can't even sell them, nobody wants them. We used to give our retired parents delicious food hampers. We filled it with items we knew they liked. Jam, pickles, mustards, canned fish, crackers, cheeses etc. The loved it.

I never used the nice Cuisinart food processor I bought. I found it easier and faster to just cut things with a knife. And no machine to clean up. I also bought a 6 quart Nescoe cooker years ago, have not used it once. Still have it though. One thing I bought and did not like was an electric stir fry pan. Never worked right. I do have a Keurig coffee maker though, and would not give it up for the world. It has made me somewhat of a coffee snob. LOL! I bought the little cup thing that you can put your own coffee in. The coffee comes out thick and tastes like mud. So I only use the K cups now. When on the road I bring my coffee with me or get it at a coffee place.

I've been guilty of the same thing, although my DH is the one who used to buy all the various gadgets that came on the market; thankfully, because of very little room and very little money, that has stopped.

I LOVE cookbooks and really have a problem getting rid of any of them. I have the complete set of Southern Living annual cookbooks going back to 1979 and use them a lot. I also buy regional cookbooks when we travel, and I simply can't resist church and guild cookbooks. I counted one time and had close to 200 before I managed to donate a few to our church rummage sale! I really enjoy cooking, but don't buy or use a lot of gadgets.

What drives me crazier is now that my daughter is living with me again, I can't find anything. I've always like everything in its own cabinet/drawer. The plastic ware gets its lids put on before going into cabinet, I hate looking for them. She was raised like this, and at her home, she keeps things organized but not at mine. Our heads are getting ready to butt, really hard.

I used to have or want every gadget out there, but as I've grown older I've downsized considerably. The two kitchen gadgets I could not live without are my Salad Shooter and my Veg O Matic. I also have a George Foreman grill but did you know a waffle iron works just as well? Hehe a chicken breast looks odd when you take it out but tastes just as good!

Cari

I am going through my kitchen stuff and will be putting it out on Easter and invite the adult kids to take what they want/can use and will donate the rest. I still have boxes of kitchen stuff to unpack so I need to have space and some of this stuff I will never use again (used to make cakes for church functions so I have a collection of 9x13 pans, have too many knives, and have too many dishes that I collected over the years). When we down sized we marked what we wanted to keep and the kids came and grabbed more stuff than I thought they would -- didn't even have enough for a garage sale. I did not have the energy to go through the kitchen stuff, but am doing it now. I can't find what I need because I have too much stuff I don't use.

I went through and donated a BUNCH of kitchen stuff a few years ago, but I still have several things I don't really use. A brand new food processor, still in the sealed box. A NuWave oven that I like, but it takes up waaay too much room. A punch bowl with oodles of cups that's been used once in 30 years. A food dehydrator. A vacuum-sealer. A panini press that's only been used a handful of times. A blender. A doo-hickey for making flour tortilla shells (the only thing I could make with it was a mess!). A mortar and pestle. A set of fine china that my mom bought me. It's pretty, but it has to be washed by hand. As crazy as things are around here, I'm lucky to find time to load the dishwasher! :p

I do have quite a few things that have earned their counter space, though. :) A KitchenAid mixer, toaster oven, microwave oven, coffee pot (used for both tea and coffee), and three CrockPots (large, small, and a rectangle one that's awesome for making lasagna). I had a Vidalia Chop Wizard for years until it finally broke. Loved that thing. I need to buy another one! It was a huge time-saver. :) I also have a bread machine that I use more for mixing biscuit and pizza dough than I do for making bread. LOL!

is it electric or for stovetop use? Everyone around me has new electric ones but I've stuck with my stove top model. Ribs, chicken, pot roast (fork tender in 50-60 minutes), round steak unbelievably tender.

I have been using my pressure cooker for 46+ years. We might have starved without it. Practice using it with veggies like carrots or beets. Short, quick cooking times That might build your confidence. Carrots in 1/2-1" slices takes 5-6 minutes @ 10 # of pressure.

Plainpat mentioned she got rid of a hamburger press. My hamburger press is two teacup saucers & 2 pieces of waxed paper!

Pressure cookers scare me, too! As a kid, I remember my grandmother's pressure cooker sounding like it was going to explode! :shock: I'd try to stay far, far away from her kitchen when she was using it. :D

I love gadgets, but the older I get, the less I really want/use. I think we accumulate so much "stuff" it just becomes a bit overwhelming.