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say no to electric can openers! - Page 2

post #21 of 46
6/22/05 at 5:42pm
We never had an electric one growing up. I never even considered getting one. DH's family uses them and he automatically thought we'd have one... :LOL That was one of the first things I 'over-ruled'! I think they are dirty and gross and WHY do you really need one? It takes just a few seconds to use a manual one. We have one of the 'fancy' manual ones that doesn't leave any sharp edges... I love it AND I can throw it in the dishwasher!

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post #22 of 46
6/22/05 at 5:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaraMama
I think they are dirty and gross and WHY do you really need one? It takes just a few seconds to use a manual one.
Can you also imagine the gross /germs/stuff left on the electric ones? Yuck!!
post #23 of 46
6/22/05 at 6:41pm
We always used a manual can opener when I was growing up. When I got married, one of the things I registered for and got was an electric can opener. Biggest waste of money ever. I used to get impatient and would just always pull out the manual one. :LOL DH would still use it though, but when it broke we just never replaced it.

However, my mom now uses an electric can opener now b/c of arthritis in her hands. So I won't say "never again" b/c in that instance I could see myself getting another one.
post #24 of 46
6/22/05 at 6:49pm
I had one growing up...I've used them in my own home...but I gave up on them because every single one I've had has lasted for about a month and then broke for one reason or another. So now I have just a manual one that I use. I had the one from Tupperware...I hated that #$%@%&* thing so bad I threw it away. The one have now is super big and bulky and works great.

jen mom to seven : wife to Rich 16 yrs
post #25 of 46
6/23/05 at 12:37am
I agree completely - I only have manual, but... I seem to be having a run of bad luck with them, because they are getting harder to use! I bought a KitchenAid opener about a year ago. It kept skipping so that I had to go around and cut again those small areas that it would skip. Finally, I had had enough, and bought an Oxo opener. It was a bit different than my older and trusty Oxo, but it worked great...for about 3 months. Now, I am having a hard time getting it to grip the can.

I detest electric openers and haven't ever owned one, but I'm currently ISO a manual opener that is going to work well for longer than a few months. Does anyone have a recommendation?
post #26 of 46
6/23/05 at 9:59am
We bought a Henckels can opener several years ago from Chef's catalog. Its a bit more than your average manual one but it stays sharp and is of good quality.

It was at one of their big sales which happen all the time.
post #27 of 46
6/23/05 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinnamon
Most of those electrical kitchen gadgets are totally unnecessary and useless. And on top of that they waste energy.


I have a couple of manual can openers, a set of knives, a hand mixer (electric, but compact) and a hand grater. My grater is a nice one that fits onto a box lid, so the box neatly holds the grated cheese or veggies. I think I might have a food processor packed away somewhere, haven't needed or used it in years!! I want to get one of those manual egg beaters that looks like a mixer, but winds with a crank rather than electricity.

I do have and use a blender, slow-cooker, and toaster oven. I have a microwave built into the wall, but I try to use it as little as possible.

I'm very glad to be free of my bread maker (I have mixing bowls and hands!!) and rice cooker.
post #28 of 46
6/24/05 at 5:35am
Oh thank goodness for reminding me! DH won't let go of the stupid electric one we got. It doesn't work! In his determination to keep it (he hates throwing anything out), he spent about five minutes (maybe more) opening a can with that stupid thing just so he could say "See, it opened it, you can't throw it out." Well, as I predicted, he since has forgotten all about it, so now I can sneak it into the trash . He is such a pack-rat .


Quote:
I have 7 cats, and they all come running whenever they hear the manual opener!
Four here, and the same thing! Heck, they come running with the peel-back topped cans! :
post #29 of 46
6/24/05 at 10:04am

I do love my food processer- We are on our second one. We buy whole blocks of mozzella cheese and shred them and freeze. So its ready whenever we need it. Also it does a great job on chopping!

I hand do my pizza dough unless we plan on grilled pizzas since the processor makes a tougher dough which is needed to grill pizzas.

I got a bread machine for my 21st birthday (many many years ago!) and went thru 2 of those as well. The second one sat in the pantry until my declutter and someone who works for dh wanted it. I just love hand kneading my own bread so no need for that gadget.

As far as the microwave- its not for cooking! Its for reheating etc. We used to only cook popcorn but now we do it right on the stove. It tastes so much better and I use organic corns.

We also never installed the ice maker. We have ice cube trays that work just fine. We have 3 stacked in the freezer and when one is empty, we put water in and stick it at the bottom.

Then only big time gadget is our coffee bean grinder. Its a very expensive gadget that we use every morning. Also our maker/pot was a hefty price but it should last 20 years or so. We also roast our own coffee so we are a bit of snobs for coffee- fair trade/organic blah blah blah. We have coffee every morning and iced lattes (soy for me) at least 4 times a week in the afternoons. If we went to a starbucks or something for our habit we estimate it would be about $1000 annually. But now its a little under $200 a year in the end.
post #30 of 46
6/24/05 at 12:39pm
We have never had one, nor do we want one. I have a hand held one from Pampered Chef that I love We did have an electric one growing up, but neither one of my parents use one now. They had an old one that always worked right, then when that one broke, they never found a good replacement for it so they just gave up.
post #31 of 46
6/24/05 at 5:16pm
What a funny thread! I hate electric can openers too. I never seem to get them to work right. We have a manual one and it works just fine!
post #32 of 46
6/24/05 at 11:45pm
Nope, don't have one and wouldn't know how to use one ...no need for it.
post #33 of 46
6/24/05 at 11:57pm
I don't have strong feelings one way or the other. We had one growing up. When I got married we did not have the counter space and since the manual one works fine (Oxo Good Grip) I have no need for an electric one. The cat food comes with a pop top.
post #34 of 46
6/25/05 at 9:18pm
We got a handheld electric one for a wedding present and I really liked it, but it broke so I bought a manual one.
post #35 of 46
6/25/05 at 9:57pm
It is funny I was thinking about this just the other day. I personally liked our electric growing up. By the way, all electric ones cutting component comes off the rest for washing. Anyhow the thing I find interesting is the one we had growing up lasted for years and years, we maybe had two three tops my entire childhood through teenage years. I have bought three or four since being on my own over the past 20 years and every dang one broke in a very very short time....within months. I use a hand one now because it IS easier than a broken one and also because I hate the wasted counter space. I have one of the schmancy hand ones than makes the soft edges but I always seem to use the other one instead. I rarely open cans as well.

Bleu
post #36 of 46
7/1/05 at 2:17pm

We only have a manual can opener now

But when I grew up I din't know there was any such thing. Everyone in my family-- aunts, grandparents, everyone-- used electric can openers. When we moved cross country last December I threw ours out. Takes up space and didn't work well half the time anyway!
post #37 of 46
7/1/05 at 9:40pm
I have always thought electric ones were weird!
post #38 of 46
7/1/05 at 10:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by alicia622
I have always thought electric ones were weird!

Me, too! My aunt has one and I can't figure it out to save my life.

I hope these people that use electric openers also have a manual in case of a disaster and the electricity is out for days and the only food left is canned!
post #39 of 46
7/3/05 at 12:10pm
My rule of thumb:

If there's a choice, I would always go for the simpler, more basic version, which, in this case, means the manual can opener. (I am extremely minimal with electrical things of all sorts.)









That being said, we eat the more basic versions of food, too. We don't eat canned anything.

post #40 of 46
7/3/05 at 12:30pm
If you are left-handed (which I am), manual can-openers are so much harder, because they are designed for right-handed people.

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