How old are you and have you always had these things in your house growing up?

[PaperDoIIs]

Things like can opener, knife sharpener, potato peeler.

I'm late 30's but grew up in a different country and we didn't have these in my house until I was late teens. My grandparents in the countryside never had them. I learned at a very early age to just use a knife for all these things and I can do it well , so bar the potato peeler (and even that one took me a while) I just stick to what I know.

OH is early 50's and English so he always buys /uses these things . It's a thing in our house because he moans I make the knives blunt, but then sometimes sheepishly asks me to open a can for him if there's no pull ring and the can opener broke again.

We were talking today and he said he always had these things growing up , so it made me wonder.

Riveting conversation... I know.

Very late 60s and we had all of these. The knife sharpener was a steel, the spud peeler a Lancashire one, the kind with string wound round the handle for grip, and the tin opener (can is American) the stabby kind with sickle-shaped piercing point.

Ah I see. Still I don't think there's much in it. A can opener is like £2 and in my experience they don't break often - I'm currently on the second one I've ever owned. It's not exactly revolutionary new technology. Each to their own.

We used a knife, not a peeler. I own a peeler but can't really use it. I still use a knife.

In my 50s.
Stabby tin opener growing up. You got adept at avoiding the jagged edge of the lid as it pinged up. Still got one in my camping kit I think.

I remember not being able to use one of those butterfly tin openers at Guide camp - I'd never seen one before. IMHO they are a bit rubbish and the pointy bit that gets dragged through the lid isn't really up to the job. And they break.

We have Brabantia one that has a metal discs/cutting blades on the business side and a sturdy winder. That's lasted at least 20 years.

Mum used a knife for peeling potatoes etc. I don't think it ever saw a sharpener. I was left handed and struggled with knives and the blunt right handed style peeler. A Y/D shaped peeler was a revelation and won't use anything else for choice.

We had a steel as part of a carving set - I don't recall it being used on anything except at Christmas. I have a little gadget that does the jobs and keeps my knives sharp. Loathe a blunt knife.

I discovered we do have a whetstone- and happily did all the garden shears /secateurs in the spring.

Blimey - big ol trip down memory lane there!

Late 20s. Not knife sharpener but yes potato peeler and can opener. And a cheese slice! Much to my friends' bemusement years ago when we went away self catering and I was looking for the cheese slice. They were baffled and had no clue what I was on about thinking I meant a knife. I was indignantly saying no a cheese slice, a cheese slice and had to Google to show them! Neither had ever heard of it in their lives 😂

I'm 35 and we had all of those when I was growing up.

Never had a microwave or dishwasher and my parents still don't. Dh and I have a microwave now though.

I'm 50, the can opener and peeler yes, I remember when no tins had a ring pull and all had to be opened by hand. I don't remember a knife sharpener but I got one when I moved into my own home

I think I’ve used my can opener once this year.
It’s now in the basket of “single purpose” utensils, like melon baller and chestnut piercer, at the back of a cupboard.
But I have three swivel peelers.

I'm in my 40s and had a peeler and tin opener. Our knives were mostly serrated so no knife sharpener until I was 40 and got a set of posh knives. What a revelation! Although our local butchers does offer a knife sharpening service.

Mid 30s, we always had all three at home. I don't have a knife sharpener now because we mainly buy pre chopped frozen veg (I find chopping things uncomfortable)

I've realised we have 4 blade sharpeners...

A massive block for axes etc
A pocket one for camping
A traditional long steel type that came with pur knives
And a countertop one DH bought recently as 10yo DD likes a sharp knife for cooking so DH thought that was safest for her.

What is a chestnut piercer like? I just use a knife.

Me too. He had sharpening blocks as well - I still have some of them, as well as his compass with an extender bar and other bits and bobs.

46, and we did have a potato peeler and can opener growing up. No freezer though, just the tiny freezer compartment in the fridge. I kind of miss blocks of ice-cream in cardboard and how it was always soft when you ate it because the freezer compartment was crap at keeping stuff frozen.

65 Always had a can opener, potato peeler. The Knives were sharpened on the granite front door step every Sunday morning ready for lunchtime.

I am old and my best ever is our old Mantel clock that boings out all the time, reminding me of time. It's part of the family

I've never owned a potato peeler. My ex husband bought one once, but I got so frustrated trying to use it that I chucked it and got my favourite knife out instead.

I am sure the veg peelers are in a drawer somewhere. Haven't peeled anything for years. I also have a potato masher but not sure where it is. Have a couple of tin openers too. I do use these if there is no ring pull on the cans.

Similar. Like this:

We had all of those. I am late 40s. However, my Orcadian aunt never had a potato peeler and still doesn't, she uses a knife. She is left handed and I wonder if it is partly because peelers used to not work for left handed people so she just stuck with a knife. She was the first person we knew with a microwave and electric shower so she was keen to use the latest tech so I think that peelers just weren't functional for left handers when they first came out.

@EBearhug This is mine.

@limefrog for some reason I just can't figure them out. We had a metal one that looked a but like a torture device and I kinda got on ok with that one, no idea what happened to it though.

It feels so strange to me that people haven't heard/never seen of a knife being used but it makes sense if can openers was a fairly common thing in most households even like 50/60 years ago.

We always had a potato masher.

Another thing I just thought of, what about mortar and pestle? And was it ceramic in a set with a bowl or wooden one with whatever bowl was around?

Yes, always had a pestle and mortar - like this one. Parents had one like this, and now so do we. My memory going back 40something years. Parents were 70s hippy types so probably used it to crush spices for veggie lentil dishes or similar.

44 and have always owned both tin openers and potato peelers.

I am slightly embarrassed by the fact that, in spite of having otherwise very good knife skills (very keen and able cook) I've never been able to peel potatoes with a knife.

My father tried to teach me for a while, then very politically bought a veg peeler and advised me to 'use my other talents'. 😄

We used it mostly for garlic. Still do, mine is a wooden one that I brought over with me when I moved countries 14 years ago. Love a garlic based sauce.