3 Low-Tech Cookers Worth The Money

If you have a stovetop you're all set, so why buy extra cookers? 

Well, because the following 3 appliances do their jobs of cooking their specific food better than pots and pans on top of a stove. Plus they're low-tech and super cheap, which makes their respective ease and efficiency worth considering. Let's take a look:

1) An Egg Cooker - When I first saw egg cookers on the market I thought how ridiculous to buy a special gadget to boil eggs, but I've changed my mind! The reason is you can cook either hard, medium, or soft boiled eggs perfectly every time. Not so in a pan of boiling water on a stovetop, where the results of getting the eggs cooked just right can be mixed. Cooking time is less using the egg cooker also because you use far less water. You pour a small amount of water into the egg cooker which quickly brings the water to a boil. A see-through cover lets the eggs steam until the water disappears which activates an alarm telling you the eggs are done. To clean, just raise the parts with tap water as they get steamed, not dirty. 

Egg cookers come in mini, small, medium, and double-decker sizes corresponding to how many eggs you need to cook at once. They'll also make a custard, though I don't plan to utilize this function.

2) Rice Cooker - Again initially I thought what's wrong with just simmering rice in a pan on a stovetop? Nothing ... but a rice cooker steams the rice perfectly every single time and you can serve it in the very same cooker. I selected the Progressive Prep Solutions Microwave Rice Cooker over a pug-in-a-wall option. It makes up to 6 cups of tender flawless rice and can be tossed in a dishwasher. The rice is as fluffy as using plug-in models. Six cups of rice is enough for many recipes, but if you need to cook more rice, bigger units are also sold.

3) Mainstays 12" Nonstick Electric Skillet - I made Salisbury Steak with mushroom and onion gravy for 4 people in the skillet and it turned out just like it does on a stovetop. I let our dinner keep warm by lowering the pan's setting to 150 degrees F while we ate our 1st serving. You can sauté, sear, roast, braise, and steam family-sized meals in the 4 1/2 quarts pan. The skillet is ideal for entertaining as it sits on a countertop and is easy for guests to help themselves to seconds. Best of all, the electric skillet and its tempered glass cover top are dishwasher safe minus its easily removable temperature control component.

After a neighbor's fire in 2019 left our entire NYC apartment building without cooking gas for 8 months, an electric skillet would have come in handy for making one-pan dinners. We got tired of snacks, cold cuts, and eating out, which also got costly.

Wow, 3 economical simple cookers to make home-cooked meals better and more convenient. From cooking to serving dish to dishwasher!

🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪🍔🥖🥪

👺Just for fun, here are 3 gadgets that tend to be a complete waste of money: 1) a George Foreman grill, 2) a sandwich maker, and 3) a breadmaker as you'll rarely reach for them. Tasty hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, and a loaf of bread can be made as easily or consistently on a stovetop or inside an oven without special gadgets -- the reason you'll stop using them. I had a small George Forman grill. It grilled burgers no better than a frying pan on a stovetop, but I had to wash a special catch-the-meat-juices tray that is placed under, in front of it, so I gave it away. I never bought a breadmaker as I knew from experience you don't need one, and the devices seem to produce small loaves. When I bake bread I like sandwich-sized slices.

Bon Appetite at home!🍷

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Stuff I Don't Bother to Buy Anymore

Zebra Plant

When I started working and earning wages there were a few commodities I always bought that I don't value or bother with anymore. Here are 5 of them:

1) Scented hand and body lotions - For years freesia was my signature scent. Today I've replaced all scented body and hand lotions with drugstore brands, namely CeraVe and Cetaphil Moisturizing Creams, and use them as all-purpose (from face to toe) moisturizers. I love both dermatologist-formulated, fragrance-free brands, so much that I don't need to buy anything else. I mainly stick with these two, although I like other drugstore moisturizers such as salves from Neutrogena, Palmers, and Aveeno to name a few. I've moved on from freesia also. If I want a scent, I dab on drops of genuine Bulgarian rose oil. 

2) Scented Candles - News stories warned us that synthetic fragrances usually contain phthalates that get released into the air as candles burn. Phthalates can be inhaled and dissolved into the skin. They get absorbed into the bloodstream to alter hormone levels and worsen asthma. Since it was reported, I don't bother buying candles. Then a careless hookah-smoking neighbor set her apartment on fire causing hardship and 4 maintenance hikes which were passed on to all the tenants in our building. Nowadays there's little joy in the thought of letting candles burn in my apartment.

These will stay on the runway.

3) Clothes - Although I continue my efforts to look polished, COVID has changed the world and me. I no longer aspire to be a fashionista. Apparel doesn't hold the same appeal or importance to me. Wearing coordinated and comfortable basics time and again is fine and dandy. No-fuss clothing I can machine wash, dry, and wear tempts me now.

Cute, but nope.

4) Shoes - Although I have shoes for every purpose: dressy heels, casual flats, supportive walking shoes, sporty sneakers, airy sandals, warm/rain/snow boots, and cozy houseshoes, my interest in new pairs only kicks in when something old wears out. 

5) House plants - One potted pathos sits in the corner of my living room. For a decade I also had an African Violet but after it died in its 10th year, I never replaced it. I also killed a Zebra plant, as well as, several Poinsettias over the years. At Christmas, I don't buy Poinsettias anymore. I'm fine with my only thriving greenery, a Golden Pathos.

A golden pothos 

Hmm, am I becoming an old fogey? Are there things you once bought regularly but over time seem to have grown out of bringing home and fooling with them?

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Don't Buy Too Far Into The Future

I wrote a post nearly 4 years ago about a habit, namely stocking up, I wanted to break. I'm happy to report: I changed! My new purchasing pattern is to Buy One Plus One for many common commodities. You can replace an old habit with a better habit, maybe not suddenly, but one step at a time. Not buying more t-shirts, soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners, or body balms than what I need has not caused any shortages or hardships.

Even when an old favorite is discontinued I've never had to go without. A new and often better product takes its place. Nor have I had to overpay for soap, shampoo, conditioner, or t-shirts because I didn't buy a dozen during a sale. Aren't these the two main reasons we tend to stock up?

In fact, I can think of a few instances when buying a stash of everyday products resulted in a waste of product and money. 

In the late 1990's I loved the Bath & Body Shop's Freesia Scented Body Cream. When the shop's sales manager told me freesia was being discontinued, I bought up a supply to use for when I couldn't buy it. Big mistake! Despite being sealed, scented body creams have a short shelf life. They go bad after 2+ years. The fragrance vaporizes and the ingredients in the cream separate. Moreover, skincare has improved by removing drying agents such as alcohol and adding essential ceramides to restore our skin barrier.  Although I loved smelling like freesia I never understood why I had dry skin until after I stopped slathering on my freesia body cream in winter. The alcohol in the body cream I thought was moisturizing my skin was drying it! 

After I'd bought far too many t-shirts at Express, a newer cut and fabric launched at Old Navy that I prefer. 

Bars of soap from various retailers have been replaced by less messy liquid soaps, as well as, post-Covid hand sanitizers. Yet to this day, I'm still going through my bars of soap, sometimes putting one in a soap dish on the kitchen sink or laying them on shelves inside my wardrobe ... because what else do you do with too many bars of soap? The world has moved on from solid bars of soap!

Often buying a stockpile of a product during a sale is not as cost-effective as just buying one plus one as needed. Our needs are always evolving. What you need today may change tomorrow. So buying too far into the future repeatedly leads not only to clutter but to a waste of product and money. We end up with products after we've moved on from valuing them. 

We simply need enough of an item so we don't have to run back to the store every time we turn around. Usually buying one plus one is the right quantity. I'm happy I nipped buying too far into the future!

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5 Reasons Not To Buy Cartier Love Bracelets

All photos: Courtesy of Cartier unless noted. I like this design because the diamonds hide scratches that show on the smooth bangles. It's also less common than the plain ones, although I approve of common when cheap. :)

The Cartier Love Bracelet was designed in 1969 by Aldo Cipullo and recently popularized by television personality and makeup entrepreneur, Kylie Jenner, who is known to stack her multiple love bracelets up and down both arms while filming her family's scripted Kardashian reality show. 

Back in 1969, the original Cartier Love Bracelet was gold-plated sterling silver selling for $250. It was a plain bangle with the familiar bolt design that came with a vermeil screwdriver to unlock the bracelet to put it on or take it off. The inspiration for the bracelet was a medieval chastity belt, and ideally, customers like Kylie Jenner are supposed to wear it (or them:), 24/7. 

Soon after promoting the bracelets, Cartier dropped sterling silver and made the bracelets out of 18-carat gold. In 1979 the retailer added diamonds to the design. Today the Cartier Love Bracelet Collection has grown to about 50 variations selling from $4,450 to $62,000 depending on the width, gold, and gemstones you buy. For unknown reasons, white gold costs more than yellow or rose gold at Cartier. The bracelets weigh between 30 grams and 38 grams. On the resale market, yellow gold retains more of its value due to its greater demand.

I won't lie ... I like the chic solid bracelet ... rose gold and sparkly 3 rows of diamonds would be my choice, yet I will never in a million years buy one. 

Here are 5 reasons why I don't think you should buy it either:

1) It's not good value for the money. You spend a huge markup to own a status bracelet. You're not paying for the value of the gold or diamonds, you pay for the Cartier name, and the concession isn't good value for the money.

2) There's nothing unique or special about the bracelet, which is often the natural criteria along with demand for driving up the price of an item. It's as if the bracelet is mass-produced! Every luxury influencer, wannabe, and Kardashian wears a Cartier Love Bracelet. You are spending a ton of money to join the flock of over consumptionairs.

3) The bangles don't stay pristine, but scratch and break easily, so you will make several trips to Cartier for repairs. After charging double-digit-thousands, why can't Cartier design bracelets that don't scratch up and locks that don't loosen or break?

4) It's a hassle to take the bracelet off and on. You'll always need the help of another person to unscrew it, not to mention, do you want to leave on an expensive piece of fine jewelry 24/7? One that scratches easily?? Really, do 'ya???

5) A slew of Cartier Love Bracelets always end up on the resale market. What does it tell you? 

Photo: Pinterest

1. Too many customers have regrets after parting with a heap of moola: The allure of owning the bracelet sometimes exceeds the love of wearing it. 

2. You need not buy a new bracelet at full price: If you must own a Cartier Love Bracelet save a few thousand bucks by perusing the reputable resale markets. 

 

Frankly, I wouldn't pay the still-inflated prices for a pre-loved Cartier Love Bracelet. But I'm a value shopper, and it's a hard habit to break. 

If a buyer were to choose a non-staus, fine jewelry bracelet, she could get an equivalent bangle (sometimes with more gold and diamonds) for less money that fewer people own, for example, the Roberto Coin Love in Verona bracelets - plain or with flower diamonds or pave diamonds. Moreover, you don't need a key to take it on and off! That said, whatever brings you happiness is not to be judged. Logic doesn't always win. Personally, I like the Cartier Love Bracelets, but think consumers can find beautiful similar pieces for significantly less. Same joy + a car ... or some retirement money.

Roberto Coin Love In Verona

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