I am about to recommend a product to you that I now find indispensable. But I want to include a couple of caveats before I do so.
The first is this post’s unfortunate proximity to Mother’s Day. I can (sigh) imagine some people (not you, but I bet you can think of the type of someone I mean) reading this post and leaping up and shrieking, “That’s it! That’s the perfect gift for A Mother!” And while yes, I love it because it is extremely useful, and while I do in fact use it during the execution of tasks that are often left exclusively to mothers, I would argue vehemently that products which make it easier/simpler/more efficient/better for a mother to execute her duties should NOT be given at Mother’s Day gifts, but instead should be considered legitimate business expenses, and items required to do the work of a household, and should be categorized with things like cleansers and mops rather than lumped into the gift category. Just as an office would not consider an ergonomic chair or a wireless mouse to be GIFTS for the person using them, an air fryer or a new washing machine or a new zooper should be considered tools that make it easier or more efficient for a homemaker to complete the work of running a household. Not. Gifts.
I know – I KNOW – that sometimes a big extravagant purchase like a washing machine can put a strain on a household budget. And yet I would still argue that it should not be re-categorized as a gift. Unless and only if the washing machine is also counted as a gift for Father’s Day as well.
So I am not recommending this as a gift. Maybe – maybe – I could see it as a stocking stuffer, IF multiple people of multiple sexes and familial roles received it all at the same time.
Okay. So that is the main caveat.
The second caveat is that this is a single-use item. At least in my household. I see that the product manufacturers/marketers have tried valiantly to come up with alternate uses, but please note my Raised Eyebrow of Skepticism and Uh-Huh, Sure. I don’t usually like single-use products, but I like this one. It is so effective at its one job (and so small and easy to slip into a drawer) that when I somehow lost mine, I immediately ordered ten more. (To be fair, I ordered ten more only because it comes in a pack of ten.)
Anyway. All caveats aside: the product is a pan scraper. It is made of a stiff plastic and it is about the size of a credit card. I use it to scrape the egg off of a pan when I have made scrambled eggs.
I do not particularly LIKE eggs, but I eat them a lot. And the egg never fails to form a thin veneer across the top of the supposedly non-stick coating of my pan. A veneer that is so adhesive, it’s a wonder that the folks at Elmer’s haven’t patented it.
I use a stiff-bristled scrubber to clean my dishes. But my scrubber does not work well on the egg veneer. Sometimes, after several soakings and applying lots of elbow grease, it will come off. But then the egg transfers to the bristles of the scrub brush and refuses to come off. REFUSES. It pains me to admit that I have thrown away more than one scrubber due to stubborn egg scraps.
Even the miracle that is Dawn Powerwash has little effect on the egg veneer.
But the scraper clears the egg in a few seconds! It is magic! You just… scrape the egg off, rinse the pan, and you’re done. No soaking necessary. Because I like to hand wash things as infrequently as possible, I drop the scraper itself into the dishwasher and I am done. MAGIC.
As I said before, this scraper is small enough that I tuck it inside the front face of my kitchen tool drawer. It is very unobtrusive and waits patiently until the next time I make eggs.
The scrapers come in a pack of ten, and they are ten for $9.99 right now. NINETY-NINE CENTS FOR A RELIABLE AND USEFUL TOOL IS SUCH A DEAL. I have already gotten far more than my money’s worth out of this little product, and I measure that by number of stiff-bristled scrubbers I have NOT had to throw away, which are apparently $7.99 apiece, and also in minutes of grumpy scrubbing.
The first scraper I got was from a friend. I went over to her house to pick up Carla from a playdate, and she said, “Here, I have a pan scraper for you.” I was skeptical, and yet it has been one of the most useful products in my kitchen. I use it way more than I use my Instant Pot, that’s for sure. If you bought a ten pack, think of how you could casually hand a few out to friends, and BLOW THEIR MINDS with this tiny unassuming powerhouse?!
Okay, and now I want to know if YOU have any little heroes in your house that I have been overlooking.
Ooh! I second your recommendation. I have a similar item called the lil’ chisler which is the best $5 piece of plastic that I ever bought. It’s one of those things that you don’t think you need until you get one and then wonder how you ever lived without it.
Oh! This is interesting. I use a lot of those stiff-bristled scrub brushes for dishes, maybe this is the thing I need. I like your recommendations. A long time ago you recommended the Scrub Daddy and IT IS AMAZING. I also like the Scour Daddy, but more for the bathroom.
I have two of these pan scrapers (from Pampered Chef) and LOVE them. They are so handy!!!
Also highly recommend.
I don’t think about how often I use this, but it is often.
I also really love the Vileda green scrapers that are safe on all surfaces. I can get a pack of 4 for $1.25 at the DollarStore and use these every. single. day. They’re great for cleaning off pots and pans, scrubbing out the bathtub (I use a different scrubber in the bathroom – hopefully that point goes without saying), cleaning the top of my stove.
I think we’ve been given half a dozen of those pan scrapers and they get used for the same purpose in our house – cleaning out the pan we use to make an egg-based dish. It’s funny how they’re sort of all over our kitchen and I don’t think either of us has ever purchased one!
I wrote about two pet-related products in Elizabeth’s blog comments earlier this week, but I’ll briefly mention them here, too. The FURminator is the best pet brush ever. We use it on our long-haired cat (her fur is glossy and luxurious) and our short-haired dog with an undercoat (so much undercoat comes out with it). I’ve essentially replaced ALL other brushes with this one. The ChomChom roller is great for getting fur off rugs and furniture – so much better than lint rollers and the like. I know you don’t have pets, but maybe someone can use these recs.
This sounds amazing. I can’t think of any products that you might not be aware of, but I would say that I use a lot of super glue. I especially like the bottles I bought recently that are in separate little tubes and have their own little, tiny canister? thing with a lid in order to keep it from drying up.
I have the same problem with eggs! Sometimes the simplest and most unobtrusive tools are the most useful.
I had to really hard to come up with a tool recommendation, but for me it’s our kitchen scale. We often buy meat in larger packages – like 3 pounds of ground beef. And since I am very anal about things, I weigh it out to split it into 3 1-pound packages! And I use it when making burgers to make sure the patties are of similar weight. Again – most people would just eyeball it and call it good enough. But not me! So for anal retentive people who need precision, I highly recommend a food scale! I also used it last night to weigh the envelopes with the cards for my mom/grandma and the card Paul made them to figure out postage, so it has other non-kitchen uses, too! it was not $0.99, though! But I think it was likely $20 or less so pretty inexpensive considering I’ve used it for years!
I validate your endorsement. I have several (from buying Pampered Chef products in the past) and use them in SO many different ways. They truly are an essential for the home.
I also agree that things that make household chores are not gifts…unless it is SPECIFICALLY asked for (but even then, the men in this family have been trained too well and will not buy it).
Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is the O Cedar Spin mop & bucket system. I HATE mopping floors but this thing makes me hate it just a smidge less. The floors dry in a flash and the mop head detaches and can be tossed in the washing machine.
I have that exact scraper – it is so useful!
My tool recommendation is a new pan to cook the eggs. Mine were doing the same thing, and on a whim one day I bought a new pan at Wal-Mart. It is small, just 8 inches (since I’m cooking eggs for one) and it was around $6. It’s a ceramic pan, which works better for me with eggs than traditional nonstick, and it’s their Mainstays brand. I was flabbergasted (I love that word) when I used it the next morning and my eggs just slid out of the pan!
Well, that’s a very useful and handy recommendation, thank you very much! 🙂 But I agree wholeheartedly, household items are NOT gifts, unless specifically asked for, for any women – mother or otherwise.
Oh I could definitely use this! This is an excellent product recommendation!
I think one of my favorite kitchen products I use is Reynolds parchment paper pop-up sheets. They are pre-cut so all I have to do is pop out the piece and I have a perfectly sized parchment paper for my cookie sheet! It’s not a big deal to have to cut a piece of parchment but there’s something about these pre-cut sheets that makes me feel like I am LIVING IN LUXURY.