Thrifty Thursday.........

One way I save money is by using other appliances rather than my regular stove/cooker. I just purchased a new toaster oven back in July and I wrote about it here. It has two shelves so I can cook two things at once; and as there is generally only the two of us it works a charm.

Another small appliance I cannot do without is my crockpot/slowcooker.  That is worth it's weight in gold.  It uses very little electricity and it cooks the cheapest cuts of meat until they are melt in your mouth tender.

I wrote a post a while ago about  the benefits of using a crockpot here. In that post I mentioned I put together a recipe book for the kids using the crockpot while they were in university.  If you would like a copy; it's on a word document, please leave a separate comment with your email address in it, I WILL NOT PUBLISH IT, and I will email it to you.

One of my favourite recipe books for the Slow Cooker, is the "Fix It and Forget It."  Lots of good recipes in there.

My other favourite money saving small appliance is the microwave. The carrot soup recipe I feature on my blog is a favourite of ours and is made entirely in the microwave.  I am lucky enough to own a couple of great Marks and Spencer's Microwave recipe books that I brought over with us when we moved to Canada.  Another recipe from one of those recipe books is sausage risotto, which is really tasty and one that only the British could love, Baked Bean Lasagna!!

Do you have a favourite small appliance in the house?

For more Thrifty Thursday post pop over to Angela's at Tracing Rainbows.

All dancing, all singing, bells whistling, new toaster oven:

I got ourselves a new toaster oven last week as my Betty Crocker one was having issues.  It's handle had dropped off on the glass door, and the door itself wasn't too happy to open.  It was at least 15 years of age, so it had paid for itself over the years time after time.

We use our toaster oven a lot, as its a lot cheaper to run than my main stove oven and with there only being the two of us at home its ample big enough.  So I picked up this one:

This on was on sale at Canadian Tire for $59.99 and is smashing.  It not only toasts, its a convection oven, a grill/broiler and a rotisserie.  I must say though I am not used to a convection oven and how fast things cook in there, so things tend to look a bit over done at the moment..........

I cooked a quiche in there on Monday morning and I think when I poured the filling in it, it only took around 20 to 25 minutes to cook.  So all in all it is worth it's money.

On Saturday I went with dd and surrogate dd to a local store that was having it's summer sale.  Surrogate dd saw these glasses and liked them, but for some reason didn't buy them.  So me and dh went on Sunday to get them along with the napkins and the tray.  It's coming up to her birthday so will make an ideal gift for her. 

By the way I took the photo before I washed the glasses.  Her house is very modern, so they will fit in perfectly there.  I was actually things they would make lovely dessert bowls as well.  I could see my Wibbly Wobbly Pudding in them.

Irons, kettle and hoovers......

are all items that I go through on piece in our house.  I don't know what it is, but they need replacing on a regular basis with me.


Irons are the worst one usually lasts only a couple of years......if I am lucky.  Followed by kettles, which are always iffy, although my dad and step-mum seem to go through them more than me.


Now my Kenmore hoover which is only a couple of years old is on the fritz.  I think the power head has gone and the performance indicator light is permanently on all the time now.  Mine is similar to this one:

However I am considering splashing out for a Dyson one in the future, any thoughts?  We mainly have hardwood floors in the house, but we have a number of rugs and they get covered in Molly's dog hair, so I need a one that works well on rugs, plus we have carpet on the attic stairs and will have carpet on the main stairs eventually.


Nothing seems to be built to last nowadays though does it? What wears out quickly in your house?