Saturday, January 14, 2012

Gadget love

Anyone who has tried to feed more than a couple of people knows it can get expensive. Most will also know that the less processed the product, the cheaper it's going to be (more often than not). So when my step-dad was talking about how useful and money-saving his Kitchen Aid Meat Grinder attachment was, I borrowed it to give it a shot.

 I bought about 3 joints of stewing beef weighing about 3lbs each. I can't remember how much they each cost, but bought at Aldi, I know they were almost $1 per pound cheaper than the ground beef. Once home, I chopped each joint into rough strips to feed through the processor, after trimming off as much fat as possible. This is another great bonus - I'm pretty sure that this ground beef turned out leaner than the supermarket "lean" for less money.
It feeds through the processor twice: once on the coarse blade, then on fine. It was supremely easy, kinda fun (even the kids could do it and enjoyed the process), and did I mention cheaper? It's also nice to know that my Kitchen Aid isn't just a one trick pony, but can actually do some real labor. I don't really have enough room in my kitchen for gadgets that don't pull their weight, and my Kitchen Aid has never let me down.
Has anyone else ever used any other attachments that have been excellent/a total waste of time? If you could get one, which attachment would you add and why?