You’ve got too much money if......

paddyann I'm fascinated by smart meters. DD has one but it's currently charging them £1800 per day. I know they're a bit extravagant but even so!!
Needless to say it's to be changed.

Jane10 we just had a smart meter installed ,my OH is obsessed by watching it go up an down when things are switched on or off.Do you know the row of 6 lights on our drive cost just over 1 penny an hour ...BARGAIN.
Since the cooncil installed the awful new lights we really needed these.So happy they dont cost an arm and a leg to run and will now petition my neighbours to have them installed to.Then we will all be able to see where we're going.

I just poach eggs in a small frying pan, with water. Not even vinegar. I don't mind untidy edges.

'Best' unused gadget I know of was a friend's rice cooker, which sat in its box on their landing for at least 5 years! It was offered to me (no space for it and anyway I can cook rice fine in a saucepan) and to a dd, same response.
I don't know who they eventually palmed it off to.

However I can understand anyone who cooks rice every day using one. Though the one sitting in a BiL's huge holiday home can only do 10 or so,portions - not much use when there are regularly 18+ to cook for.

Re useless gadgets, my late friend would only buy gadgets second hand from jumble sales and charity shops. That way she quickly found out if they were useful or not and she either donated them back , passed them to friends to try if they wanted or used them until they fell apart and then bought a brand new one. Saved a lot of expensive mistakes!

Re too much money. I was surprised yesterday to read a serious post on Facebook by a young friend who was saying how she plans to save electricity - by switching off lights in rooms she's not in and switching off the TV if she's not actually watching.
Ground breaking innovations!

youtu.be/uJ1aP_1RvYk

Here is a demonstration.

Someone I once knew (admittedly, she was American) had one as an attachment to her kitchen mixer. She said it was only any good for tiny, even-sized potatoes, though. According to Amazon, KitchenAid and Kenwood both do one.

I remember those BradfordLass my aunt and uncle had one and we considered it a treat to be allowed to turn the handle !!

If I remember correctly the potatoes came out with a sort of textured outside - we thought it was very trendy!!

I always wonder, when I see all these fancy gadgets, why no one has made a domestic-sized potato peeler.

Many moons ago, I had a hand-cranked one which seemed to be lined with sandpaper.
You filled it with spuds, and a bit of water, whirled the handle and in seconds you had enough potatoes peeled for a family of 4.

I eat poached eggs occasionally, and use a pan with four little dishes, though I only ever use two since DH died.
My one and only gadget mistake was to buy a pineapple corer. It does a good job, but is such a faff to use and clean that I usually just open a can if I fancy some pineapple.
Now that I cook only for myself my meals rarely take more than 20 minutes to prepare, and sometimes only 10. I don't enjoy cooking, and am not that interested in food.

Reminds me of an episode from my favourite comedy show:

Jack looks up from his catalogue. Victor raises his paper up and returns to reading.

JACK: Hmph. (Jack chuckles) Look at this.

VICTOR: What is it?

JACK: It’s the shite you get as well. The Eggmaster 3000. This is aimed at wankers. What it does is, you stick two eggs in it the night before..

VICTOR: Uh-huh.

JACK: ...and it boils them for you before you wake up!

VICTOR: Haha!

JACK: And if you order it before the end of the month you get the Toastie soldier companion!

VICTOR: (Laughing) Eggmaster 3000!!! Gies a look at it.

JACK: You can read it when I’m done wi’ it.

JACK: (CONT’D) Eggmaster 3000 What kind of windae licker would part with his money for that?

HARD CUT TO
Winston is on the phone. He is holding a Futuroo catalogue open.

WINSTON: Yes. The Eggmaster 3000 please.

Winston licks his thumb and rubs a mark off his window.

WINSTON: (CONT’D) And am I still eligible for the Toastie soldier companion? You dancing bear. That’s great, thanking you. Would I like expedited delivery? What does Expedited mean? Quicker. Aye gies that, Hen. Cheerio now.

Greyduster

I have to have one of those! I still have a space on my worktop to house some hugely expensive, useless white elephant that I will only use once! That would fill it nicely!

I had poached egg on toast this morning....as always I used my milk pan...a dash of vinegar....and left for 2 minutes...perfection. If you want it perfectly round..just trim the frayed bits!!!!

I’m very interested in how long you cook an egg in a cup in the microwave. I live alone and that would really suite me.

Can you explain the exact procedure for poaching an egg in the microwave please?

Maybe if you ran a B&B it might be useful. I don't like lots of gadgets because we have a galley kitchen and gadgets take up too much space in my opinion.

As has been said, I view some people's expenditure choices as extravagant but no doubt they would view some of mine in the same way.

What about useful gadgets? We have a citrus juicer from Lakeland which was fairly inexpensive and which we have used every day for about the last 4 years and it is brilliant. (But it appears they no longer sell it so I hope it never breaks down!). I also like my Karcher window cleaner.

Eggs cooked in the preformed tins are not Technically poached. Poaching takes place in liquid.

I love gadgets? but don’t see the point of £99 for an egg poacher! I have a small pan with a metal insert and little plastic cup things which you crack the eggs into and it works just fine?

Sage products are very expensive but also excellent quality. I have their food processor and they gave away a slow cooker with it worth £100.00. As we get older however we use fewer gadgets and have simpler meals. I thought I would have used the food processor more than I do. The slow cooker will probably get used in the summer when the AGA is switched off. I didn't use it last year, I think I had forgotten about it. A perfect egg poacher sounds lovely but I get an excellent poached egg by using one of those tiny individual frying pans. It would cost very little to buy more than one if I wanted to make more poached eggs to serve all at once.

I’ve a small saucepan to both boil and poach eggs. There are too many “time and effort” saving must have gadgets on the markets nowadays.
My husband and I spent ten years touring Europe in touring caravan and because he hated eating out, I cooked all our meals using just a mini oven and two gas burners, few pans and a couple of sharp knives. Even made marmalade in Seville and a French woman was amazed at my blackberry gateau..

Silicone Poaching Pods I bought a few years ago at Lakeland they are really good, no mess, I think they cost under £10 for both.Does anyone really pay £ 170 to poach eggs? Vinegar in water, then in with the eggs, works well if I dont use my silicone pods

Nannyinthekitchen , I loved that tip from Jamie , but brace yourself , you can buy them ready made from Lakeland , I think they’re called poachettes ??

Like like coffee filters , but you pop your egg in !

You’d have to REALLY like poached eggs though to speak £169 on poachettes lol !

To be fair, this machine doesn’t just poach eggs. It lists steaming and sous-vide cooking amongst its other uses, so you could enlist it it to help you practise the skills of a professional chef. Who knows - you might soon be polishing your first Michelin star ... At the moment, though, there’s only one review of the product, from a new user, so faith as well as determination would be needed.

Well I was saved from being an idiot and buying one because the vendor on Amazon doesn't ship abroad. We never eat poached eggs anyway.