Men have their gadgets. I’ll grant you, that’s a generalization, but many men really like gadgets. Well, I think women do too, but we call them different things and often rationalize our desire to own and collect them. I guess we feel we have to.

I am happiest if we are out and about, looking at kitchen stuff. This week we perused Kohl’s on Wednesday because my husband could have gotten the senior’s discount. So, I happily made my way to house wares to fiddle with the pots, pans, appliances and gasp…gadgets! Just for the record, we didn’t buy a thing. But, I had a frenzy of looking and comparing!

My own kitchen probably has too many gadgets. I have 4 Crockpots®. Yes, they are Rival so they are truly Crockpots®.. And they are all different sizes. I use them for different things. My largest is usually used for a pot roast with lots of vegetables and potatoes so I can make 2-3 meals. My next largest holds a whole chicken with a few vegetables, again enough for a couple of meals. The second to the smallest is great for beef stew, chicken broth, or ribs. The smallest is fabulous for meatloaf, small pieces of chicken, or vegetable broth when I have a few vegetables on hand and can’t use them for anything else. I don’t use one of the tiny ones for dips – I guess if I entertained a lot it would come in handy, but at this point, I don’t need it. Up until yesterday, I had 5 Crockpots®.. I took one away – it was a weird story, but I bought one at a garage sale and wound up being gifted with another one. I used to have one at school so my total did ring up to six at one time. I gave that one away. I figured, why not share the joy!

Up until a few months ago I owned a bread machine until it wore out. I have a coffee maker, a microwave, a tabletop grill, a food processor, a mixer, and a countertop oven. I also have a blender and bright shiny toaster. My husband gave me that toaster for Christmas a few years ago because he watched me covet it at the store. Some women like shiny jewels; I like shiny gadgets.

Now comes the rationalization…I feel I use most of these items frequently. The blender is probably the least used. The coffee maker is definitely employed the most. The counter top oven is large enough for a casserole dish so I utilize it when the days are hot and steamy so I don’t heat up the house. I operate my mixer for my bread making as well as cakes and other things that need to be mixed or kneaded. The food processor handles lots of shredding and chopping that makes my life a little easier. Why buy frozen hash browns when I can use the fresh potatoes that are in my pantry? I can then chop some onions and put them in the hash browns…yum! Plus, I like zucchini cakes…run a zucchini or two in the food processor, mix with egg and bread crumbs and sauté … well, you get the picture.

As for my herd of Crockpots®. …well, I use them. A lot. Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but I think a slow cooker is mine. Last night I made chicken broth. Quite a bit of it, in fact, so that I could cook some fresh green beans in it for supper tonight. The extra I will freeze for use down the line whether to use for soups, more green beans, and casseroles…the list goes on. I try to watch how much salt we use and my broth does not have added salt or preservatives. I put ribs in my slow cooker for tonight. It’s nice to use when the temps are hot so it doesn’t heat up the kitchen.

So, I have gadgets galore. Hopefully I won’t have to attend a meeting for my gadget addiction. If I do, maybe I’ll whip up some snacks beforehand!