I’m not a person who is into things, but sometimes you find something that is so much better than the crappy thing you’ve been using for years, that you have to acknowledge it. Here are five things from our house that make my life easier.
- This set of three wooden chopping boards on a stand. For years, we have followed the standard food hygiene advice of having separate chopping boards for each type of food. Prior to our move we always had big plastic boards in a different colour for each food. These were fine but were hard to dry, so we always had a couple of chopping boards drying on our gas stove. The trivets kept the boards elevated so they dried thoroughly before we put them away. Now we have an induction cooktop, so there are no trivets to dry the boards. When we moved in I went to buy a cutlery insert for our drawer, and I saw this set of chopping boards. They are labelled for meat, vegetables or cooked food and stand separated in the holder so they dry out thoroughly. They seem well made, so I’m hoping they will last for many years.
2. My Microplane. This makes it so easy to get finely grated cheese, ginger, and citrus zest.
3. My Y vegetable peeler. When my mum first bought home (I think it might have been from Europe) a Y peeler I was blown away. They are much easier to use, especially if you are a leftie. For my fellow leftie you will know precisely how difficult it is to use a swivel peeler after a right-hander has had their way with it. Swivel peelers are banned from our house. I think I may have had this peeler since we were married.
4. Stainless steel pegs. I like to leave my pegs outside on the clothesline. Plastic and wood pegs do not do well under those circumstances. My stainless steel marine grade pegs were an investment but I think they will still be going strong in twenty years time.
5. Electric toothbrush. I switched to an electric toothbrush many years ago. This is my second one, and I wouldn’t return to a normal toothbrush. It always gives an excellent clean without too much effort and even has a timer to tell me when to move on to the next quarter of my mouth.
Do you use and love any of these things? Think a swivel peeler is better than a Y peeler? Have something you bought be a game changer in your house?
Comments
12 responses to “List # 10: Five Simple Household Items That Make Life Better”
I have a very similar vegetable peeler and I love it! I also love my wooden cutting boards but am not super meticulous about what type of food gets cut on them. I really scrub them with soap and hot water with each use, and I have not yet died, so I’ll just keep on (although I like your little labels and now I’m wondering if I SHOULD do that)
You’re probably more meticulous than me, although I think wood chopping boards are better interms of hygiene than plastic boards, which is kind of surprising.
Yes to all of them! I keep meaning to gift myself a “lemon squeezer” You know, that thing where you place a half a lemon between two sides, and it has handles so no need to overwork yourself lol Also, one day, a milk frother. Yes, mam, I am treating myself this Christmas!
Yes, I’ve seen those lemon squeezers. We just have one of those glass ones that are still pretty good, but you do need to use some muscle. We have a coffee machine so that also froths our milk, but yes frothed milk at home is a lovely indulgence.
I have silicon sheets I run through the dishwasher, but I never, ever use them for raw meat (if I have to cut raw meat, I hold it and use scissors?!)
Last week I thought I had lost my Y-peeler and I wanted to cry. They are the BEST things in the world and I absolutely love mine and was bereft without it for the two days it was lost.
We do have a milk frother and the kids love it for hot chocolate.
I have a magnetic silicone trivet from IKEA that I love. It sticks to the side of my fridge and then I just pull it down, stick it under a pot and my trivet goes with me since it’s magnetic. Love, love, love.
I’m not good about using my electric toothbrush recently. I’m lazy and want to brush for less time than it tells me to brush, but every time I use it my teeth feel so much cleaner. So, demerit to me 🙁
Scissors to cut meat, instead of knife/chopping board combination—that is something I haven’t seen done before.
I have yet to find a peeler, including the y peeler, where I don’t end up peeling my knuckles. No success in my world yet and I just try not to peel things. I mean, laziness is sometimes not a choice, but thrust upon us.
We’ve had a series of electric toothbrushes for at least a decade, if not more. I honestly feel like the quality declines every time we get a new model. I want my original Oral B toothbrush!!
I hope my toothbrush lasts as long as my previous one.
We love the Joseph Joseph brand in this house but for some reason we do not own these boards (yet). But the nesting bowls are great too. And the bread box.
I actually prefer the other type of peeler. Not sure why. Probably because I can work faster with them. I was not aware that the Y shaped one are not common in Australia…
I have never owned an electric tooth brush. My dentist is always amazed that I don’t. I guess why change a wining team…
My go to, never want to live without household item is probably my water filter. I hate to drink tap water. It always tastes of algae I think.
The Y shaped are common here now, just not when I was a teenager. We have really good water in Melbourne but our zip tap which has cold water has a filter.
I am very particular about my peeler (brought one from Europe as well) but it’s a regular swivel peeler…. I can see though why you, as a leftie, prefer the Y peeler (because the regular peeler is not for lefties). For me, the swivel is the crucial thing. I can’t work with a non-swivel peeler LOL
Another game changer in my house: a food/bread slicer. I grew up with one and I use it for so many things.
That is interesting that you need a swivel peeler. I can imagine the bread slicer comes in handy for your homemade bread