Food for thought..

[Kayelle]

I got to thinking about all the conveniences we now have relating to food. From there, I was thinking of some of the food related inventions on the market in just my lifetime, such as "Baggies"........see the vintage commercial.

Classic Baggies Television Commercial

So, my question to you is this....."What's you're favorite food related invention that has been created in your lifetime, or your parents lifetime"

 

[LPBeier]

Good topic Kayelle!

Has to be without a doubt the convection oven! In my line of work it is truly indispensible - 60 perfect chocolate chip cookies in 6 minutes. I can't tray them that fast! And that is just one of the wonders it can perform!

 

[MSC]

LOL lots of things come to mind that since introduced, could hardly do without.
Two of the best for me are the ziplock bag and the immersion blender.
Look forward to reading about what cooks can't do without.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Off the top of my head i'd have to say the food saver... Being single this really helps in keeping food costs down for me... I too can go to Sam's club and buy bulk meats and veggies, come home and food save the day away...

 

[kadesma]

I'd love a food saver,but my DH has a big thing about the freezer or stored things in the pantry. He is convinced that freezer food is gonna go bad if it's in there for than a week. Every Monday I have to make sure he doesn't clean out the freezer for the garbage truck!!! I do love my mandolin and my immersion blender plus my f/p, my hands cramp so bad at times these things are life savers for me.
kades

 

[Chef Munky]

I'd be so sad without my panini press, and pasta maker. The creative meals that come from both of them. Neither one is limited.

Munky.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Silicone tools. I love the things!!!

 

[Phaedra]

There were no gadgets at all when I was a young child - I still remember the excitement when my parents first had a refrigerator.

There were no such thing as "baggies" - no clingfilm - no aluminium foil - no gadgets or small appliances at all.

Actually, as food was strictly rationed there wasn't much of anything for which a modern appliance could have been needed.

Now I'm not so young, have to use a wheelchair, and food related things that might be considered as "convenience" items are, for me, just things that enable me to prepare and cook food for myself.

 

[Margaux]

Well--going back to my parents' lifetimes--how about "sliced bread"!

 

[Andy M.]

I had a hard time coming up with something that really was significant to me. I thought about things like the microwave, toaster oven, food processor but rejected them all because while they are convenient, I could easily live without them.

I'd have to say the dishwasher and garbage disposal. I hate to wash dishes and can't stand the smell of garbage.

 

[Kayelle]

Some really interesting answers....

"the best thing since sliced bread' is quoted for a reason. lol thanks, Margaux.

Like Phaedra, when I was a kid the only thing we had to wrap up a anything was waxed paper....does anyone still have a roll of the stuff, and why? Forty years ago my little boy was watching puppies being born, and he was so excited that the "babies are born in Baggies".......

I know that my mom was raised with an "ice box".......she always called our modern refrigerator the "ice box". Geeze, what a pain that must have been. My uncle was an "ice man" who delivered it.

I remember the "garbage man" Andy. I think he had a pig farm. Remember those metal garbage cans with the lid that would dang near gag us kids who really had to empty the "garbage"? I think we are close to the same age.

It can all really boggle the mind.

 

[Margaux]

hi Kayelle--I have wax paper! I use it under things like crab cakes or hamburger patties when I put them in the fridge to chill--(of course, I'm the type that has 3 kinds of plastic wrap, 2 aluminum foils, parchment paper, etc., I could go on . . . .)

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I keep waxed paper for between hamburger patties I shape for DH. If I don't set things up for him he eats junk.

 

[Kayelle]

Come to think of it, there were some real dud inventions too. Two that come to mind are the electric can opener and the electric knife. Both of them ended up in my trash.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Come to think of it, there were some real dud inventions too. Two that come to mind are the electric can opener and the electric knife. Both of them ended up in my trash.

AWWWWWWW K don't be a raggin on the electric knife... Although not used very often, when used it's genius... (well when in the right hands lol lol) The electric canopen was made for monkeys, did no one tell you that my love...

 

[babetoo]

i grate cheese, eggs for salad, to shape burgers. or just under whatever to season on waxed paper/ saves a lot of clean up. it is also cheap. if that makes no sense, i am under the influence of drugs for pain in my hand.

 

[Claire]

Yes, I, too, remember when Mom would rinse and hang bread bags to dry because baggies were not yet invented. Not only wax paper, but what we then called tin foil. Brown paper grocery bags were always recycled, as was the tin foil (which was comparatively expensive), which we wiped down and let dry, folded and re-used. I lived my pre-teen years overseas, and some of what was available here in the states we didn't have.

I, too, grate, julienne, etc, on to a bit of wax paper. And there are times when you want to cover or wrap something loosely and wax does better than plastic if you want some air circulation. Nowadays you always hear about people using oiled parchment paper for baking, but mom always lined cake pans with wax paper.



Yes, I could live without a microwave, but having a kitchen that is not air conditioned, it sure is handy. One of my favorite uses is to heat or partially precook items so I don't have to have the stove on as long, or for items like potatoes that take longer on the grill than whatever else I'm cooking. It allows me to finish all of the meal at the same time. Baked potatoes in the microwave so not taste "baked", but in a pinch, in a hot kitchen or on the grill, you can microwave them until almost done, then toss in a very hot oven for a short period of time (or toss on a grill) to get the skin crisp and flavor really baked rather than steamed.

I don't have now, but I know many of my friends couldn't live without ice cube makers, dishwashers, and garbage disposals. People take them so for granted that they might not mention them. There are only two of us, so I don't miss them, myself, but my sisters (all with kids) think I'm insane to even try to live without those appliances, or without air conditioning in my kitchen.

To me, though, the thing I most appreciate is the relatively ready availability of foods and ingredients that I couldn't get some places I've lived in my younger days. Ethnic ingredients, bagged, pre-washed salad greens, many different kinds of pasta and rice. Even when I first moved to small-town Midwest USA only 8 years ago I couldn't get many ingredients that are now at my small-town grocery store.