Inventory your cupboards

[derien]

(From Pinesandmaples, although I'm reformatting to make it easier for me to read.)

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I wonder how many of the following languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards?


pasta machines
breadmakers
juicers
blenders
deep fat fryers
egg boilers
melon ballers
sandwich makers
pastry brushes
cheese knives
electric woks
miniature salad spinners
griddle pans <--every week, for tacos.
jam funnels
meat thermometers <--once a month at least.
filleting knives
egg poachers
cake stands
garlic presses
margarita glasses
tea strainers
bamboo steamers
pizza stones
coffee grinders <--I assume she meant powered/electric
milk frothers
piping bags
banana stands
fluted pastry wheels
tagine dishes
conical strainers
rice cookers <--twice a week, probably
steam cookers <--mines the tiny flying saucer type
pressure cookers
slow cookers
spaetzle makers
cookie presses
gravy strainers
double boilers (bains marie)
sukiyaki stoves
food processors
ice cream makers
takoyaki makers
fondue sets

to which I am adding, just because maybe I have some odd things, or maybe I'm odd because I don't use some thing...

sushi rolling mat
pastry rolling stone and roller <--more difficult to make pastries since going gluten free, but I don't know if I would ever have used it, anyway.
apple peeler/corer/slicer <--excellent help if Eor will let me use it when making pies, but he doesn't like the size of the apple bits.
mortar and pestle
hand grinder (for spices/coffee)
lobster pot
lobster crackers and picks
pizza cutter
waffle iron
electric grill
coffee maker (I have a Mr. Coffee, but only keep it for guests)
electric hand mixer <--barely once a year
chopping jar
soup tureen/punch bowl



I'm fascinated because it's interesting turning out my cupboards thinking about how often I use things. And remembering things I got rid of... or trying to. I know there were a huge number of things I gave away to neighbors when I was moving, but other than the waffle iron and the breadmaker I don't think a lot of them were cooking related, because we do a lot of cooking. I considered listing out some of the odder canning utensils, but decided maybe I'd added enough. :)

I do think the list is slightly unfair, because even if you use something only once a year it's not like you can go to the library and borrow it, you have to buy it. Which is kind of a shame; maybe there should be some kind of lending system or network! I could contact the library and let them know that if a request comes in for a slow cooker I don't mind lending mine out, so long as the next person who actually drops the lid and breaks it actually DOES buy me another. (I do not actually hold resentment, because in fact she was borrowing it in order to go cook a pot roast for my father. If I were lending to a stranger, though, the story would be different.)

Obviously, though, selling us things is how our economy keeps going, so we need to have those things we only use once in a great while or the nation will crumble. And then we need a bigger house to put them all in, as George Carlin pointed out. ;) Also, our relatives need something to get us when we get married or set up housekeeping. Or those odd presents for the hard-to-buy-for.

I know, I know, no content forever and then I bore you all with something like this.