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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Inventions that may be utter bollocks...

60 replies

Arlanymor · 19/10/2025 18:49

... Salad spinners - I mean, why? Wash your leaves, blot them. Why the need to take them on a 60-second merry-go-round?

Am I missing something? Are there other examples?

OP posts:

Talltreesbythelake · 19/10/2025 21:18

soupyspoon · 19/10/2025 20:01

Avoid all bags of salad stuffs

Replace with a bag of oven chips

Show quote history

This made me laugh. Either you are a Tesco picker or have just been let go from Weight Watchers.

BoarBrush · 19/10/2025 21:11

My dh would say the veg peeler, only because he can't figure out how to work it.

My mum bought me a veg chopper thingy for my birthday last month, I was so unexcited about it that I don't even know what exactly it does or where dh put it. Surely chopping all the veg is part of the fun of cooking? (must say I do have a hand tremor so she's probably seen me be near lethal with a knife and thought it was an excellent purchase).

TwinklyStork · 19/10/2025 21:08

Lex345 · 19/10/2025 20:13

Those stupid contraptions you load dog poo bags onto that never work and just make a disgusting job about a million times worse

Dryer sheets

Horizontal blind dusters

Oh, they're hopeless. I use dog poo bags to scrape cat food leftovers into so the bin doesn't smell so bad, and the dispenser on the ones I've just got was so useless I just tear them off the roll and to hell with how messy the kitchen looks because they're not in a neat little tube.

sesquipedalian · 19/10/2025 20:19

Nourishinghandcream · 19/10/2025 19:30

Salad spinner is great.

When we chop & wash a whole iceberg lettuce, it tends to go brown after 1-2 days but drying it in the spinner makes it last 3-days (or longer).

Why would you wash a whole iceberg lettuce? Just take off the outside leaf or two if necessary, and use. The end. No salad spinner required.

Lex345 · 19/10/2025 20:13

Those stupid contraptions you load dog poo bags onto that never work and just make a disgusting job about a million times worse

Dryer sheets

Horizontal blind dusters

GinToBegin · 19/10/2025 20:07

Our salad spinner gets a fair amount of use… our electric steamer, on the other hand, sits in its box, gleaming and untouched by human hand.

Egg poacher pouch things. They all promise perfectly poached eggs, and they all, without fail, deliver either something that could stun a rampaging bullock, or a dollop of goo you could suck between the gaps in your teeth.

TrickorTreacle · 19/10/2025 20:07

re: salad spinners, I just buy "little gem lettuce". They come in pairs for about a quid readily washed. Just cut them up and throw it together with chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions etc into a dressing.

TwinklyStork · 19/10/2025 20:03

Non-touch soap dispensers. You’re literally about to wash your hands.

soupyspoon · 19/10/2025 20:01

deeahgwitch · 19/10/2025 19:59

You are not alone.

Also with all the recalls of prepared packs of lettuce and spinach lately, it seems it’s beat to wash your own.

Show quote history

Avoid all bags of salad stuffs

Replace with a bag of oven chips

deeahgwitch · 19/10/2025 19:59

AhBiscuits · 19/10/2025 19:35

This thread has made me want to buy a salad spinner.

You are not alone.

Also with all the recalls of prepared packs of lettuce and spinach lately, it seems it’s beat to wash your own.

Doingtheboxerbeat · 19/10/2025 19:58

All I'm gleaming is, so much clutter and I'm envious of how much kitchen space people have compared to me 😫 . My friend loves buying kitchen gadgety stuff , but he loves finding new and inventive ways to spend his money and has no savings or pension.

soupyspoon · 19/10/2025 19:57

A prickly spikey grating plate. Bought at a food festival for about 12 quid for a small one. Later saw them in Spain for 2euro

Either way, they simply grate my fingers.

CluelessAboutBiology · 19/10/2025 19:55

Mondaytuesdayhappydays · 19/10/2025 19:25

Never wash lettuce these days ..

I never eat lettuce!

Shitmonger · 19/10/2025 19:49

I once saw a “golf ball sweet spot finder.” Should have bought it as a white elephant gift. 😂

saltandvinegarchipsticks · 19/10/2025 19:49

PevenseygirlQQ · 19/10/2025 19:02

Recorders, especially when children (mine) can’t play them and won’t stop playing them, usually leaving an adult (me) with a massive headache

I can still hear the sound, and it’s been years. Never leaves you.

Mysterian · 19/10/2025 19:48

Bugkiss.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bugkiss-Little-Lips-Bug-Lovins/dp/B0CKWHS5M4

Some might say this isn't useful. Probably because no bugs fancy them.

Rozendantz · 19/10/2025 19:46

Crimpit. The 1st time I used it I broke a rib granted I'm clumsy and accident prone, but still

Juicers - those things where you chuck random fruit in and it extracts the liquid from the pulp to produce fruit juice. Fine in theory, but almost impossible to clean the fruit from the fine mesh, no matter how much you scrub it.

TheExcitersblowingupmymind · 19/10/2025 19:42

Reminded me of the K-Tel adverts in the 70s.
And remember not available in store's.

boulevardofbrokendreamss · 19/10/2025 19:39

Garlic peelers
soup makers

soupyspoon · 19/10/2025 19:37

MargaretThursday · 19/10/2025 19:03

You can use salad spinner to help dry small items like tea towels too. My granny did - no tumble driers back then.

What? How big is this salad spinner for gods sake?

AhBiscuits · 19/10/2025 19:35

This thread has made me want to buy a salad spinner.

Unescorted · 19/10/2025 19:33

Salad spinners were essential for spinning handwashed bras and knickers at uni. Saved a full wash.