the price for the most useless household item goes to...

[greenelephantscarf]

... the gravy boat

• always drips
• never big enough
• alwas at the wrong end of the table
• a pain in the drawer as it's not stackable

I'm moving house. gravy boat will stay behind.

I definitely couldn’t live without a salad spinner, garlic press or gravy boat.

And I love my stick blender that has been efficiently blending for me for 18 years... until one end of it mysteriously disappeared. How is that possible?!

As for useless items, I vote for the pineapple slicer; numerous egg cups (wedding presents, used about once); and the juicer which isn’t dishwasher safe and takes hours to clean. Oh, and silicone muffin cases.

Rice cooker and slow cooker with the wrong plug for the country I live in. Keep meaning to buy a plug but cba I also have a deep fat fryer unused despite having made chips 3 times since having it lol

Potato peeler- we have a little sharp knife that does the job much easier!

Bread maker & food processor, had both bought me & they are gathering dust as I don't use either.

I bought silicone muffin cases only last week @PantTwizzler and I love them.
Muffins stay lovely and soft in them (I hate crispy edges) and you don't have to chew on any paper case residue which sticks to the muffin.
I'm also the proud owner - and frequent user - of a spoon rest, a used teabag dish, a stick blender and even, an electric carving knife for slicing the Sunday joint.

A standard sized gravy boat would probably serve 2/3 people which given the size of our family and our passionate love of gravy wouldn’t go very far. We use big milk jugs and have 2 or 3 circulating the table for a roast dinner. A friend has just given me pens that you are meant to use to write names on wine glasses but I am planning on using to label the gravy jugs as vegi/meat gravy.

I am quite ruthless when it comes to utensils and gadgets, if they don’t get used they go straight to a charity shop but I couldn’t be without a rice cooker and after reading this thread I am going to Lakeland tomorrow to buy an egg slicer to use on mozzarella.

@joyfullittlehippo 😂😂😂 hope you cleaned it

Haven't bought them, because they are beyond hideous, but I saw some Santa boot chair leg socks - who/what/why????

How do people remove the water from washed lettuce, spinach etc without using a salad spinner?

I know some people say put it in a clean tea towel and whirl it around. I tried this once and the water went everywhere and the leaves still came out dripping wet.

Or do you just have to put up with watery salad?

My useless gadget is the pizza cutter. Have recently learnt to use scissors instead. Genius!

Silicon baking moulds. They stink. Even the expensive ones, make every bake stink of plastic.
Getting ahead of myself and replacing my baking accouterments with silicon before I used one was the worst (baking) mistake of my life. Trying to get the damn baked muffins out from something that is so bendy and the need for another tray to steady the bloody thing from collapsing between racks convinced I’ve been a victim of baking fashion.

greenelephantscarf. I hate Dysons for EXACTLY this reason. I feel like Bridget Jones every time I empty the damn thing. And James Dyson can F off from my telly. Campaigning for Leave and then taking his factory off to Singapore

What’s useless in my house? My BBQ bucket. Same effect as emptying a Dyson only with more lung cancer.

Every tea pot I've ever owned. Never make pots of tea
The cupcake stand
Pizza slicer
Spiralizer
Fondue set

Off to google and probably purchase wine glass drainer and biscuit press.

Oh and the bloody Nespresso machine. Used to have a $300 one. Worked fine.
Upgraded to a $700 one. You try and put a capsule in the piece of shit and it won't close. Try to change the capsule bin and it won't go back in. Milk doesn't heat properly, Nespresso pains in the ass to deal with.

Plus - when people come over you're standing there making 10 bloody coffees and refilling the milk frother. I can't wait til it breaks the next time I use it and drop it on the floor so I can in future say 'sorry everyone, instant coffee today!'

Are we allowed to post about most useful gadgets?? Mine is a Jar Key, a little plastic thing that pops the pressure thingy on jar lids and makes them really easy to open. Also cover mate (I think it's called) - like those plastic shower caps you get in hotels but for covering food - reusable and washable. I haven't had them long so not sure how long they last, but definitely reducing cling film usage so far.

I was thinking of getting silicone muffin cases but I don't like the idea of cakes smelling of plastic!! Maybe I'll give them a miss...

Silicon baking trays make fantastic ice cubes.
One really big one per G&T. looks great and takes ages to melt so your drink doesn’t go all watery

Obviously I mean the muffin ones not the loaf ones😂😂😂

I have silicon cupcake cases and they don't smell at all.

An extravagant Lakeland gadget used to fill cakes with treats, such as Smarties. The cake just collapsed, leading to birthday disappointment.

The little cardboard mask included with a game of pin the tail. When three children in a row pinned the tail in exactly the right place, we started the game again, and this time a scarf was used: the children couldn't see to pin their tails then.

As for vacuums, we have an old Vax cleaner which is so loud that DH wears ear defenders while using it. However, he won't dispose of it, because he often bemoans the disposability of modern appliances.

Whinge glasses! I want some!! 🤣🤣

Mine is/was the ice cream scoop. It sat in a drawer unloved and untouched for years, as we just use a big spoon to serve ice cream. I threw it away a few weeks ago, only for husband to come home with a pack of cornets and want the stupid thing. 😳. I am gonna have to rebuy one but haven’t seen them in any shops so far so will have to order online.

A cucumber screw so you can make cucumber into spirals. To decorate trays if sandwiches and buffets. Used once for the novelty factor now it just lurks in the drawer to stab unsuspecting fingers. That point is sharp .

Does DP count?

I may go to Lakeland today to see if I can find a more useful one.

I love silicone bakeware - though never put it in tbe dishwasher as I think that's what makes them smell! They're great for pprtioning stuff in the freezer. I have a silicone ice cube tray that makes 5cm cubes which is perfect for freezing caramelised onions, pizza sauce, chilli etc in handy portion sizes.

I retired my mandoline after getting a cut that could easily have been so much worse (finger slipped off the guard). I now have a brilliant stick blender with a grating /slicing attachment which is very handy.

We do have an icing gun/biscuit press - it is a bit of a faff but a good way to make biscuits (particularly with a small child!)

Oh, and for gravy I'm team pyrex jug all the way!

I'm not surpriseed gravy boats are insulted. I love my 2 ! And they are a far nicer shape than the Tesco Christmas one. We are a real gravy family.

Ditto tea pots. Have 3. One for just me (I don't use tea bags, just loose leaf tea). One for 2-3 people and a bigger one for me. And none of them drip. It has taken decades to find non drip ones though.

Most useless gadget is an electric steamer, 3 tier thing. Takes up a mahoosive amount of space. Takes forever to cook veg and they end up harder than when they went in!