Like speciality items? You know, like bowls with the word “Salsa” painted on them. Bowls that could not possibly hold cereal or even some tortilla chips.
Nah, I didn’t think so. I’m kind of fond of household items that serve a number of purposes, and I’ve observed that thrift store donators seem to feel the same way. Because there sure are a lot of odd single use or Unitaskers items that clutter up the Goodwill shelves. For example:
This bowl is for popcorn. Popcorn only. Nothing else!
Chicken soup? Lentil soup? No, TOMATO SOUP ONLY!
Finally, I no longer have to be stumped as to where to keep my melted butter and corn on the cob. (My doctor recommended that I ingest a daily cup of melted butter. At least he said he was a doctor.)
Not one, but two pans dedicated exclusively to the incredibly difficult art of boiling up some pasta. Finally! Now. . . what will I use to cook soup?
You know what I hate about my multi-purpose vegetable peeler? It doesn't take up enough space, has too few finicky parts and is too easy to keep clean. However can I solve this dilemma?!
Please people, stop buying this crap! Take the pledge — No more unitaskers! Please.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. The kitchen should have only one uni-tasker, the fire extinguisher.
I’ve never thought about this before. I’m almost ashamed. But hey, I know now. Thanks.
How about the unitaskers that clam they do many tasks, but the reality is they’re good at one thing?
I think we need to remember that just because a bowl says “Popcorn” it doesn’t mean you can’t use it for any and all bowl-related tasks. I have a pie plate that says “Cherry Pie” on it and I use it all the time, although I’ve never made a cherry pie. Don’t be intimidated by your kitchen ware!
Fight the power!
Katy
Alton Brown, who is the hottest Food Network star in my humble opinion, detests unitaskers! I have to agree.
Also, there are some unitaskers that are actually pretty handy when you want to do a particular task that is relatively difficult to do otherwise. My cherry-and-olive pitter isn’t exactly a kitchen workhorse, but it’s sure easier to pit 2# of cherries with that than a knife or paperclip. Do I do that every day? No. But I do it once or twice a year, when I’m freezing local cherries for using later in the year. It doesn’t take up a lot of space in my drawer and I’m always glad I have it when I need it. More space-consuming, but still awfully nice to have for the 2x a year I use them, are my ice cream maker and pasta machine.
I think your cherry pitter can qualify as a task specific tool, rather than a “Unitasker,” which takes a simple task and tries to make it complicated.
Katy
I generally think these are bad ideas, especially the serving unitaskers! I do have an old stove-top popcorn kettle (with the little spinner thing) that I love, even though it’s sole purpose is making my little evening indulgence. In the past I just used my biggest kitchen pot, but because we like to eat sugary kettle corn, I would inevitably burn the bottom layer of popcorn. My thrifted unitasker cooks it to perfection.
I am guilty of owning a ceramic dish shaped like a potato. We use it once a year on Thanksgiving. Only.
Katy
I think that might have just made my day 🙂
😛
We have an electric popcorn popper. It’s HUGE and takes up too much cabinet space, but it makes THE BEST popcorn imaginable. My husband says I’ve ruined him. We both now think microwave and movie popcorn are vile!
You recently turned my uni-tasking vegetable steamer into a multi-tasking vegetable steamer/pasta boiler when you posted about yours. Saved!
Happy to have been of service. 😉
Katy
Love this post. I will tell you my MIL had an electric potato peeler, and with raising 6 boys she used it almost daily….she said it was a great gift and when she made mashed potatoes she made a LOT. I do have a manual apple peeler, corer, slicer, a gift but it’s great for prepping apples for cooking.
I would have fun and be goofy and get a goodwill soup bowl specifically to be my breakfast cereal bowl, or something 😛 Uni-taskers can sometimes be fun, or required, like a passover seder plate or a potato masher– It doesn’t do much else, and not much else mashes potatoes well. In general I do agree, though! Just careful not to generalize too much? great post! 😀
Hey, now! Potato mashers aren’t unitaskers! I use mine to mash up avocados for guacamole! 🙂
And apples for applesauce!
I use mine for mashing beans for refried beans. My potato masher is used for everything except mashed potatos…family is not crazy about mashed potatos.
My mistake, then! I guess we don’t make much guacamole or applesauce. 😀
I have a lasagne dish, my mum got me from a charity shop. I use for everything because its the perfect size for lots of things…chicken pies, pasta bakes, etc. I found it so funny…not chicken soup in a tomato cup…outrageous! Next women will be wearing jeans like men…oh wait…
My mom just snagged a plastic corn on the cob holder from a thrift store because she needed a drip tray for her george forman grill. Its all about thinking outside the box; which many people cant do. 🙂
My mom in law kindly purchased me a tuna fish water drainer that fits over the can top and I can’t imagine why anyone would need it. Don’t most people just open the can 3/4 of the way and use the can top to drain out the water? Why take the lid all the way off and replace it with a tuna strainer thingy? I also inherited tiny little ceramic dishes from my grandma that hold used teabags when company comes over. She also brought over about a gazillion holiday themed salt and pepper shakers. Thanks.
I have a tuna drainer. It keeps the mess of tuna juice off your hands. It also keeps it from spilling out over the sides of the can as you’re draining. This is actually important to me because when we open tuna, we put the tuna juice in little bowls for our cats. They would be horrified if we wasted any of their precious tuna juice! 😉
I don’t think I own a single unitasker! I feel so smug!
I do have an apple peeler/corer, one of those old fashioned ones that attaches to the counter top and has a crank handle. It comes in handy during October when I put up many pints of apples for the freezer. My husband is peeling impaired when given a knife or a vegetable peeler, but he does just fine with the apple peeler.
I own a unitasker made by my dad in shop class, maybe 1932? It’s a ladle – the handle is about 8 inches long and the spoon/ladle part itself is about 1.5 inches long and about 3/4 inch in diameter. It’s to dip into the top of the un-homagenized milk bottle and ladle out the top milk/cream for your coffee. My only unitasker, never used by me, but precious.
what about the little corn cob holders, the little prongy things that get stuck in each end of an ear of corn to keep fingers from being burned – I never use them for anything else, but I use them a lot in the summer… they live in the very back of the silverware drawer
I do have a set of corn cob holders, which we use once a week or two in the summer.
Katy
Okay, as long as we’re confessing to unitaskers, I have a pasta pot. I’m guessing it’s the same idea as the one in the picture – pot with lid and close-fitting basket inside – but in stainless steel. I got it from a thrift store, natch.
We only use it for pasta, but we make a lot of pasta (yes, my husband and I both learned to cook from Italian forebearers), and I do like it – it’s the right size, and I like being able to lift out the basket, dump the water from the pot, them put the basket back and put the lid on to keep the pasta warm for a few minutes while we pull the rest of the meal together – without worrying about the pasta sticking to the bottom of the pot if the pot is on the turned-off burner, because the pasta’s elevated in the basket, you see! Of course, there is not reason why you couldn’t use the pot without the basket as a regular old cooking pot, although I have a different big pot that I do soup and such in (I inherited that pot).
So that’s my uni-tasker confession. Oh, yeah, and I also have an apple corer, but I think it was decided that that counts as a one-purpose tool? The pitcher that says “cream” gets used for any liquid (and sometimes for rooting plant cuttings), while the pan that says “apple pie” that was my grandma’s gets used for making any kind of pie we feel like using it for – so there!
My husband and I were just discussing that two of our favorite souvenirs from our Europe trip are a big bowl with a spaghetti recipe on it (from Assisi, Italy) and a pitcher that says Sangria (from Toledo, Spain). 🙂 However, they will be used this Easter Sunday to hold a fresh green salad and iced tea.
Oh unitaskers. I just got rid of a “grapefruit knife.” Sure… it was serrated, thin and pointy… but the cover never stayed on it and I ALWAYS cut myself. Hazardous unitasker went away a few weeks ago.
I also have the corn cob knobs (but got rid of the butterer), have cookie cutters in certain shapes for certain holidays (though I’ll make dog biscuits out of any of them whenever), and have bowls that hook on to one another that I use only for breading and dipping purposes.
I’m ashamed! 😉
There is nothing wrong with grapefruit knives and cookie cutters. In the old days we used the grapefruit knife at least once a week. What I think is wrong with America is an item like the Hot Dogger, which was made about thirty years ago and is still available at garage sales.
No more unitaskers! I can make that commitment (how do you spell that word?). Done. Oh – I hope to get by to pick up my book this week – PLEASE don’t give it away. My boy started baseball two weeks ago and I forgot how your life stops being your own when your kid starts playing baseball…and I need something good to read while I’m waiting for him at practice!
Actually, one of the things that I have on my list of items to keep an eye out for at thrift stores is a bowl to keep at work that I can make popcorn in (I pop plain popcorn in the microwave, then toss it with butter and salt in a big bowl). I wasn’t specifically looking for something that said “Popcorn”, but nonetheless maybe I should head over to “your” Goodwill and see if they still have that!
When we downsized to our apartment I got rid of our humongous “fajita maker.” Never used. Should have done that years ago.
You know, a fajita maker, like native Mexican people own . . .
Katy
I loved the Rotato when I was a kid, thought it was fun to peel potatoes. I’m sure my mom loved it too because it was safe for us kids to peel the potatoes and really simple. I used it on apples and kiwis too. My one unitasker (that I have used ONCE but they are so stinkin’ cute!) are these cute matching banana split dishses….I love them, and they don’t take up a lot of space so they can stay there in my cupboard until I come to my senses :]