What is one of your kitchen/house tools from long ago that you still treasure today?

[dixiegrrrrl]

50 years ago I bought a stainless steel mixing bowl set for $8.00.

Somehow over the years, and you won't believe how many moves, I kept them.

Just made an apple pie, and a lunch salad using them, and each time I grab for one, I appreciate how long they have lasted, and how cheap they were even back then.

# 2 item has to be my ancient huge waffle iron, handed down from my Mom, along with recipe she used.

What's yours?

[FirstLight]

1. Actually it is still in my mom's kitchen drawer, buty I hope to inherit it ;)

An old metal crank-style nut grinder.... Also the old crank style mixer

[Lochloosa]

2. I have my mother's #10 Griswold frying pan. Makes the best fried...well anything.

I have about 15 cast iron pieces. Use everyone of them.

[hlthe2b]

3. My Mother's heavy duty wooden-handled spatula, bread knife, her red-handled potato masher

My grandmother's wooden antique bread bowl.

My Dad's favorite glass to drink his tomato juice from (only one of the set survived).

My Mom's small stainless roasting pan that serves as an ice bath for the yogurt I make twice weekly.

Special items that I'd never think of replacing...

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. I can feel the handle of that potato masher just from your description

My Mom had one...with red handle, paint chipped away from some parts of it. It had that nice thick metal zig-zag curvey masher that I like. Took me forever to find one like it.

[Siwsan]

4. I have a nice, heavy Wok that has traveled across the country with me

I bought it when I was stationed in San Diego. It's perfectly seasoned and produces a great stir fry.

And I also have a set of stainless steel mixing bowls that I use pretty much every single day.

[July]

5. My brother and I chipped in to buy a $6 hand mixer for our mother

for one Christmas in the late ‘60s. That was a normal price for the time, and 3 bucks apiece was all we high schoolers could afford.

I still have it and use it. Has to be the longest-lived appliance in my house.

[Duppers]

39. I have one of those!

$5. Incredibly cheap & it's incredible that it's still in use all these years!

[dixiegrrrrl]

51. Funny how the old made in America stuff lasts and lasts and lasts. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. A Melmac serving dish, an old aluminum colander

(the kind with little feet), some very, very old wooden spoons, and a 1943 edition of The Joy of Cooking.

[MuseRider]

9. I have one of those colanders too

and I love it.

[TexasProgresive]

7. 3 cast iron skillets, my favorite is a gently sloped side 10" chef pan.

It is perfectly seasoned for omelettes, scrambled eggs and fried eggs. Tilt the pan and they just slide on to the plate. Thanks, Mom (rip).
The other two are large- one deep and the other more shallow. None of them ever see detergent.

I look at cast iron in the stores but they all seem to have a rough finish. These 3 were machined smooth, not bumps.

[MuseRider]

8. An old style hand mixer.

The kind with the crank on the side. I looked for one for years. When I found one in an antique store in another state I was so happy. About a year later I found tons of them, lol. I use it a lot and it cleans so much faster and easier than dragging out something bigger and more complicated.

[BarbaRosa]

10. Back in the 80's,

K-Mart came to town. Once the initial crowds thinned out I went to check it out. I found a 4 piece Pyrex mixing bowl set. A two quart, a one quart, a two cup and a one cup. The price was right because I bought it, normally I go home and think about things like this until I forget about it.

These are still among my most use items I have.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. I see a lot of real Pyrex dishes for sale on Etsy

Lots of what they call "vintage", meaning things from the 1970's/'80's.

Today's Pyrex seems to be known for blowing up in the microwave.

sometimes vintage is exactly what we need.

[csziggy]

11. My pyrex mixing bowl/measuring cup

It measures up to two quarts, has a handle on one side and is my go-to mixing bowl for most things. I bought it at Goodwill when I was in college. It was scratched up when I bought it, and is not totally scored all over the inside.

My brother in law gave me a newer one - he was selling Pyrex on eBay but people only wanted perfect and the one he had is slightly scratched. It makes my old one look really scruffy, but I keep them both. For Christmas and Thanksgiving, when I am making pecan pies, they are the perfect size to mix one pie in each.

What I wish I had snagged out of my mother's kitchen was her little one cup measuring cup. It's the only cup measure she ever owned - a little beat up aluminum cup, with embossed measurements. It was probably meant for wet ingredients but she used it for both wet and dry. I meant to grab it while my sister was sorting stuff but forgot to pick it up. Next trip, it had been thrown away.

Mom had a set of Pyrex graduated mixing bowls, the kind that each bowl is a different color. They were so old, the color was nearly scratched off. No one claimed those, either.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. I have a set of those Pyrex mixing bowls -

they've been around so long that I don't know where they originally came from or when, and the color has faded off the blue one in particular.

[csziggy]

19. Yeah, if I'd had room, I would have taken them

But I am full up in the kitchen and would not use them regularly.

I did get the remains of my grandmother's Fiesta ware service - only a few plates, but I remember eating off them in her big kitchen.

[yellowdogintexas]

44. I have a set of those, a wedding present in 1969 Probably cost $10 at most

I priced an identical set about 5 years ago at Canton trade fair
Price $75

Mine are all those 1970s colors: avocado green, harvest gold, burnt orange and the brown that I can't remember the name of. My mom had the blue,red , green and yellow ones from the 40s - 50s

I sort of stopped using them for a while and then rediscovered how wonderful they are and now use them all the time. DIshwasher messed with the shiny finish on the colors but I don't care. I have not seen a set of them in a store in years.

My friend who collects vintage Pyrex has a whole wall of great pieces, and she uses them all the time. I wish I had taken my aunt's little square and rectangular pieces with glass lids. It was stupid of me to let those go.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

48. OK, that explains where I got most of them (I'd forgotten).

The orange and yellow ones must have been wedding gifts in the early '70s. The beat-up blue one was probably my mother's. I also inherited a couple of those square/rectangular pieces with glass lids, which I use regularly. Of course they aren't airtight like Tupperware but they're fine for a lot of things.

[Tikki]

12. My mother's silver pie server...has to be 80 years old. Hardly ever use it but am not going...

to go out and get a new one.
We have the New Better Homes and Gardens cookbook given to us for our wedding in 1967.
Great recipe for raspberry rhubarb pie.

The Tikkis

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. I am still using that old cook book!

It has a recipe from brownies that are perfectly chewy-crunchy, and choc. smudges all over the page, I've used it so much.

People are going back to the "old" recipe books because they used a lot of real food in them.

[yellowdogintexas]

66. my favorite cookbooks are the fundraiser books

where everybody submits their best recipes. They are a lot of fun.

I have some go-to recipes in those and a couple of them are getting a bit raggedy. One of them is a Homemakers Cookbook from Barren County KY; the last section of the book consists of the grand champion cakes from the Kentucky State Fair. I think it covers about 15 maybe 20 years, and one lady just dominates that list.

[Lunabell]

13. I have a rolling pin that was my mother's.

And her mother's before her.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Hands down, Mom's jar opener.

Not exactly a Gilhoolie, but I love it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. I have quite a few old kitchen tools like that

And I fret over who will be able to use them because no one in the family is interested. sigh.

[yankeepants]

15. 50 year old Oster Beehive blender that my mother purchased when

my autistic brother was punched in the face by a bully. His jaw was broken and had to drink his food while his wired jaw healed.
Also, my mother's beautiful oak rolling pin and her wooden handled, 4 inch metal spatula that is at least 60 years old and is so used you have to be careful not to cut yourself on the paper thin blade. These are all my go to kitchen tools

[virgogal]

17. Pie crust roller...haven't made a pie in 40 years.

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Is it like this?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. I used to have one of those bottle opener thingies

just like the one in the upper-left corner of the photo. I inherited it, but I don't know where it is now. Used it all the time way back when.

[dixiegrrrrl]

55. Another garage sale goodie.

I can't believe how light and easy to use it is. A favorite tool now.

[gladium et scutum]

18. In 1922 one of my Grand Mother's wedding presents

was a 10 inch Griswold cast iron frying pan. I still use that pan a couple times a week. The coating on the pan puts any Teflon coating to shame.
I handle it as I would a baby.

[lastlib]

42. Well-seasoned cast iron is worth its weight in gold ten times over!

I bought a set of Lodge skillets at an estate sale in the 1980s--two 10", two 8". Have no idea how old they were when I bought them, but I'm guessing they were about sixty years old. They were getting some rust spots, the seasoning had been coming off, so I had to re-season them, but after 35-plus years of proper use and cleaning, they are, like yours, WAY better than Teflon! And they give food a better flavor!

[gladium et scutum]

43. amen n/t

[LakeArenal]

20. A Wear-Ever standing juicer.

I also had my mom’s primary colored Pyrex nesting mixing bowls. They were stolen somewhere along the line in shipping to Costa Rica. Grrr

[Laffy Kat]

21. My mother's heavy stew pot.

I think it started out as a pressure cooker, although I only saw her use it as a stew pot. She got it when she married which was....um...1950 or thereabouts. I always feel like she's standing beside me when I use it.

[Wolf Frankula]

22. Pyrex dishes inherited from my mother.

They're from the early 1950s.

Wolf

[LAS14]

23. Cast iron frying pan. Actually, 3 of them. nt

[Totally Tunsie]

28. My Mouli Cheese Grater

I'm not sure of its age, but suspect it is from sometime in the '60s.

There's a whole bunch of them on Etsy, most in the $teens to $20 range. Most have either a red or yellow handle; the one I have has a black handle exactly as below. The only one on Etsy with a black handle is selling for $116.00, and mine is in better condition! Thanks, dixiegrrrrl - you may have directed me to a "rare find" in my own kitchen.

Hmmmm - now, about that old garlic press...



https://www.etsy.com/listing/696217004/vintage-mouli-grater-kitchen-decor-hand?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mouli+cheese+grater&ref=sr_gallery-1-42&pro=1&frs=1

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. I have that!

About 20 years ago, I picked up a boxfull of old kitchen tools, seller had no idea what they were, 5 bucks and they were mine.
That thing was in the box, I haven't looked at for years its been sitting in a basket. Gotta go dig it up tomorrow and check it out.

also have a couple very old thingies to open jars. One is a little hand tool with sharp points at the end, you insert it under a jar lid and it breaks the seal of air. Easy to use, fast.
I can't even think at this hour how to describe the other one, I will see if Mr. Dixie can take a pic.

So thank YOU!!!

[Totally Tunsie]

35. Still use the Mouli, and had no idea it had any value.

I love it for grating cheddar for tacos. It does a great grate (!) job on hard cheeses also.

Enjoy yours!

[yellowdogintexas]

47. I used to have the other Mouli (one of the first tv order by mail items)

It had 3 legs with rubber tips, and you put the food in a hopper and turned a handle to grate or slice. It had several blades which slid under the hopper. You pressed the items down with a flat piece and turned the handle
Mine was all metal; hers was smaller. So handy and it grated cheese much better than a food processor and was safer than a standing grater.
https://www.etsy.com/market/mouli_grater The one on top left is like mine; mom's was the one on the edge 3rd row.
My mom had the original as seen on TV one, much smaller. I hunted for one for a long time and finally found one in a gift shop at a a shopping area near the Connecticut aquarium.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. My Depression era AH green ribbed canisters and matching

salt and pepper shakers. I also love my 3 bater bowls, 2 ivory and one jadeite. I also only use glass refrigerator dishes for storing leftovers.

I love the glassware of the 1920s and 30s and I have a lot of it.

Still using my Sunbeam waffle iron, Oster blender, and hand-held Sunbeam electric mixer I got as wedding gifts in 1967. They're so old they have the old style plugs.

[Danmel]

30. A screw mechanism to open jars that is adjustable

It was my husband's grandparent's. It it probable from the 40s, and resembles this:
https://shelf27.com/products/jar-opener-stainless-steel-adjustable?variant=31771934392399&currency=USD&gclid=CjwKCAjwwYP2BRBGEiwAkoBpAsC9qD9dMiUm69ZGvcdy3X1eyYolMW36dIzXimMeUtwkNejIfU64lxoCVesQAvD_BwE

[lillypaddle]

33. I learned

that if you insert the pointy part of a bottle opener under the rim of the lid and jar, lift up to let some air in, it will pop up that thingy in the center, allowing you to twist and open easily. If it's really tough, run it under hot water first.

Not near as cool as your 1940s jar opener, though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. That is the design principle of the old one I have

except no top handle....you have to adjust the gripper onto the jar and twist with a side grip...

thanks for that link....cool item.

[dixiegrrrrl]

53. Couple of things:

I see that The Vermont Country Store has them too, not a bad price. They specialize in "old" things we remember from childhood/grandparents days. I got a wonderful dry iron from them, identical to the one Grandma used, for when you don't want to use a steam iron.


This is the handy lid opener I use, for pickle type jars. Have never seen one like it.
You hold it upside down from the picture, put the smaller of the pointy ends under the lid and squeeze.
Lid makes a POP! as the seal is broken but does not come off, so no spills.

[lillypaddle]

31. 2 things come to mind

I have a good, heavy pair of pliers. I use them all the time, especially now that I'm so damn old and weak. LOL Given to me by a guy I was seeing about 25 years ago.

And about 30 years ago, my BFF gave me a small, very sharp pair of sewing scissors, which I keep in my kitchen drawer. Oh, they are so handy! Handy and pink, you just can't beat that combo. Love them so much, and use them so often, I gave my DIL a similar pair for Christmas.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. Lol....you and me both.

And god help Mr. dixie if he ever takes them out of the drawer!
They are the only thing that will twist the metal sherry bottle cap off and back on tightly.

[lillypaddle]

37. and to help get the cork out

of a bottle of champagne!

[Brother Buzz]

38. My "Handy Housewife Helper"

It's a slick device that opens cans, takes corks out of bottles, cores apples, scales fish, drives screws, cuts glass, sharpens scissors, and takes corns off feet.

[lastlib]

40. Two Old Hickory paring knives!

They have to be at least sixty years old (originally Mom got 'em), and I use 'em daily. They've been ground down a LOT from sharpening, but they keep an edge better than any other knife I've ever used.
Also have a couple of Old Hickory butcher knives that keep an edge equally well, though they're not used as much. Wouldn't trade any of 'em for the gold in Fort Knox!

[Ptah]

41. A clothes iron made in 1870 by my great grandfather

[dixiegrrrrl]

50. That is remarkable, for its age and for being hand made.

I hope you can keep it in the family.

[yellowdogintexas]

45. I don't have a lot due to my mother losing her house in a fire

but...

my mother in law's cast iron cornbread skillet
the pyrex bowls mentioned above
8 quart glass mixing bowl/pitcher
vintage Tupperware saltine box (from 1970 ish)
(I have a lot of Tupperware dating from 1970s through 1989) all of it is in top notch shape)
a brown crockery bowl which was my mother in law's and dear to my husband's heart
a very large copper bottomed Revere skillet which belonged to my mom's mother - not a heavy bottomed one so don't use a lot, but it makes a great ertzas double boiler when I make boiled custard
My other grandmother's huge citrus bowl (the pyrex one with the really big reamer)
my mother in law's porcelain teapot
a set of stainless steel nesting bowls which my husband had owned for years. The largest one is perfect for whipping egg whites.
a beautiful pair of green glazed pottery deviled egg dishes (I do not use them often but a good Southern cook always has at least one deviled egg dish. )

[mitch96]

46. Of course my cast iron and carbon steel pans.. Also my Mom's

canning funnel. Fits a mason jar perfectly and helps to fill them up.. I also have a French braising crock that my father pick up somewhere in Europe after the war.
It's like the German Römertopf (“Roman pot”) cooking vestle. Mine looks like a torpedo..Ja!
Soak it in water for about an hour, load it up with veg and meat of choice and cook in the oven. Never fails to please. Always moist and the "gravy" is wonderful...
m

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

49. Does anybody know what the heck this thing is?

I inherited it and I don't know what it is. It might have something to do with eggs.

[dixiegrrrrl]

56. Jesus...you could threaten growing children with that thing.

A citrus fruit juicer. perhaps?

[catbyte]

58. Yikes! That looks like something someone smuggled out of The Tower of London.

Sorry, I don't have a clue.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

59. I found the answer: It's an antique egg topper from around 1900.

http://branfordhouseantiques.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-product.cgi?d=branford-house-antiques&item=76847

You'd use it to slice off the top of the shell of a soft-boiled egg so you could eat the egg in an egg cup.

[dixiegrrrrl]

62. I always notice, esp. in Brit movies, people eating a boiled egg

served in those little holders. One taps the shell with the back of a spoon, several times, but the never show where you put the shell and/or top of egg.

Interesting device you came up with.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

63. Now I'm going to have to get an egg cup

so I can soft-boil an egg and use the thing.

[catbyte]

57. My grandmother's potato masher and a cutting board my dad made around 1972.

The potato masher is from the 1930s. It does such an awesome job. Big wooden handle with the turquoise paint almost worn away, and the masher part is a round steel disk with holes. It's almost like a potato ricer. I'll never give it up. The cutting board is something my dad made out of scrap wood that was lying around. It's substantial, about 1.5" thick and cleans up like a dream. I'll never part with that either.

[hunter]

60. I have my great aunt's meat grinder / sausage stuffer kit.

One of our shelter adopted dogs would be overjoyed to go hunting pigs with me and I'm certain I could make some excellent sausage from any pig I shot, but here in the twenty first century I'm mostly vegetarian. I don't even own an appropriate gun for shooting a pig with. My last hunting license is near forty years expired.

Curiously in my matriarchal family it was often the women who hunted and put meat on the table. Their men tended to be semi-useless dreamers of electricity, telephone, radio, airplanes, cinema, and rocket ships. (If the men in our family could lose money on such frivolous pursuits they frequently did.)

My grandmother and her sister's mother was somewhat impressed when my useless grandfather got a job as an engineer working on the Apollo Project, bits of metal he made landed men on the moon, but she might have been more impressed had he ever shot a pig and brought some sausage to the table. This was of course a bit hypocritical or her because her own useless dead dreamer husband hadn't been any more practical. His obsessions had been automobiles, airplanes, and Hollywood cinema. Like myself, he was not that kind of hunter.

[Solly Mack]

61. I have cast iron that belonged to my great-great grandmother.

So, from the early 1800s.

Multiple frying pans and a griddle. Still seasoned. Still in use.

[dixiegrrrrl]

64. I hope you have family members who are interested in you passing them on.

I may have to start giving away stuff in a few years......

[Solly Mack]

65. No. Not really. I have nieces and a nephew, as well as

a grand-niece and several grand-nephews, but they ain't getting it.

We're leaving everything to charity. House, land, money. Items can be sold for more money.