I’m about to let you in on a little secret – I bought a mandoline that was a waste of money. Given how often I blog about saving money, and how I rail against wasting same, it’s only right that I should tell you this story.
I have been known to waste money on kitchen gadgets.
Not all the time, mind you. And many of my gadget purchases have been worthwhile, judging by how often I use them, the fun I have with them, and the food I make using them.
But here’s a purchase that gave me fits yesterday. This post could be subtitled “the anatomy of a bad impulse buy.” The offending gadget is often advertised by its French name, mandoline. The one I got came in a swanky box, but used thankfully didn’t compound the insult with fancy terminology. Instead it was labeled simply “5-in-1 Chopper and Slicer.”
I should have known better, but it was so sleek looking with its white and black handle. And so many attachments! The box pictured vegetables so alluringly sliced and diced – how could I resist? And then the price caught my eye. It was on sale at TJMaxx for $12.99, with the come-on to “compare at $20.00.”
Problem #1 – The color
White plastic for a gadget that is going to grate vegetables that stain, really? As soon as I put a carrot on the grater, the pristine white plastic slider and all the other plastic parts the carrot touched turned bright orange. With scrubbing, I got them back to a sickly looking pale yellow.
Problem #2 – The design
The gripper that pushes the vegetable across the grater (so you don’t rip the skin off your hand) designed to look nice, did not work well. I ended up with nicely shaved carrots for my coleslaw, but no thanks to the “handy” gadget that I kept having to wrestle with.
Problem #3 – Clean-up
Now frustrated as all get out, I discovered that this plastic gadget with metal only on the blades, did not come apart for easy cleaning. It also didn’t fit into the dishwasher.
Are there lessons here – for me, if not for others? I hope so. I should be embarrassed to call these lessons; they are reminders of things I know and chose to ignore as I strolled through the store the day I bought this gadget.
Lesson #1 –You get what you pay for
If it’s cheap, there’s probably a good reason. Enough said.
Lesson #2 – If a gadget is not going to sit on the counter, pretty doesn’t count
Who was going to see the sleek design and the beautiful white and black top?
Lesson #3 – Often simple is best
I have a box grater and a simpler version of this gadget, both of which work just fine. They don’t have the fancy blades, but I can julienne carrots, potatoes, turnips and zucchini perfectly well by hand.
Now that I’ve bared by impulse-buying soul, I’m looking for a 12-step program to reform my bad habits. Anyone have a suggestion? Are you in the confessional mode? If you are, do tell – what’s been your most wasteful kitchen gadget purchase?
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