Genius inventions we no longer use

[Grumpypants78]

Inspired by a chat with a friend after struggling back from the corner shop yet again with the mountains of stuff my family can't survive without. My gran in the 70s used to have a little shopping trolley on wheels she'd take with her. You never see them anymore but what a brilliant idea. They sell them in Amazon, I'm going to buy one and be like my gran only without the curlers and housecoat 🤣
What else do you remember your DPs/DGPs use I can be inspired to invest in?

Doesn't have the pointy bit to dig eyes and other bad bits out, that bit is important, or a handy hook to hang it up to dry. The perfect vegetable brush is simple, yet multifaceted

Huh? The pointy bit to dig eyes out is to be found on a vegetable peeler, nothing else makes sense

No way, need to dig out as you wash as you don't always peel potatoes but you always wash them! Or you peel them after cooking.
I don't think my peeler has a pointy bit actually.

The hovercrafts still run between Portsmouth and Ryde, I believe there a hovercraft museum in Gosport.

We used to have a hand operated mincer that you clamped onto the kitchen worktop/table.

We had plastic bunny moulds but my nan had an aluminium one.

I miss the telephone that had the dial that whirred and clicked back to the beginning in a very satisfying way. The bit you held was solid and somehow reassuring. Reminds me of my nan.

@PathOfLeastResitance have you seen the latest Minions movie? It's set in the 70s and there's a scene where Gru gets to make a phonecall but it's a long number so it takes ages to do on the dial so it's like 2 minutes of awkwardness.

I’ve seen it but don’t remember that but. May have been negotiating snacks with the kids.

They were great! I used to go to my dad's (government) office as a kid and fool around on the bakelite phones dialing with a pencil in the holes. I used to ring: The time (at the first stroke it will be .. ), weather, cricket scores & whatever else I could find. Then fart about with the Dyno tape gun.

I've returned to this thread to announce.

I've just made jelly in my rabbit mould, he's in the fridge setting 😂

We've had Sunday dinner (we don't have dessert after Sunday dinner) so hopefully he will set in time for Sunday supper. Cuppa tea slice of cake for me, and jelly and whipped cream for DS with a hot chocolate.

Good luck! Hope you made it a little stronger than the packet instructions said, or you're liable to end up with a (delicious) jelly cowpat when you turn it out.

Jelly sounds like a good first choice - we did pink blancmange - so it looked like this skinned mangled baby rabbit on a patch of green jelly grass.

Good luck with the unmoulding - sometimes it does go smoothly.

Yeah I've basically only used enough boiling water to melt the cubes and as little water as I could get away with top him up. I'm in a rush for him to set so he's more jelly than water 😂

God that sounds delicious. My grandma used to let me eat jelly cubes when I stayed round there

Sounds appetising!

I was thinking if he goes well, to do chocolate blamange and lime jelly grass for Easter maybe 😂

DS loves jelly, so who knows may branch out on jelly moulds and do different ones each week. I mean it's a pretty cheap dessert, 80p for sugar free jelly cubes and water.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream if you want a bit more.

I made before but just in a bowl, orange jelly with tangerine segments in it and topped with cream with the zest of the peel then. That was quite nice.

Ooh, could we have a photo? When he's ready obviously.

Well I've just checked on him, and he's just starting to set, give him another 2 hours and he should be fine to turn out fingers crossed. Ready for supper time 😬

Watch him be a big blob now, but I'll take a picture for entertainment purposes 😂

Thank you, I've never successfully unmoulded a jelly. They either fragment or blob or both, so no judgment from me.

I have a couple of jelly moulds (not retro ones 🙁) but I have never figured out how to get the jelly out without it just turning into jellyblob.
Hope it went to plan @CaptainBarbosa .

We used to have a hand operated mincer that you clamped onto the kitchen worktop/table.

I've still got one, though I've not used it for ages (decades, probably).

I once bought my DM a new sholley from the factory shop which appropriately enough is in Clacton. The streets there are full of sholleys and mobility scooters.

Don't quote me on this as I haven't tried it myself but...
A liberal squirt of WD40 to the mould before you pour the jelly in will, almost certainly, loosen the jelly (and possibly your bowels).😃

Apologies all but a executive decision was made to give retro bunny another day in the fridge to hopefully ensure appropriate setting 🤣 so he will be used for dessert tomorrow. I will take pictures though!

DS8 was not happy with this, has now decided he lives in a "dictatorship" and flounced off to continue Lego building to ironically be the dictator of his Lego empire. 🤣