Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them?

https://lemmy.world/post/15382214

Are there any household gadgets you found unexpectedly useful after you'd gotten them? - Lemmy.World

I was thinking about how I missed having an indoor thermometer that measures humidity. It’s such a small specific thing, one I’d never think of getting unless pushed to it (which I was by one particularly dry winter). But I like having one now. What are your small, “random” or “junk drawer” type of gadgets that you actually use or like having around?

Unconventional kitchen utensil you can't live without? - lemm.ee

What are your unconventional kitchen tools/utensils you were skeptical of at first but feel you can’t live without?

Indeed, being Belgian and an adept of the real French fries (double cooked) I was not convinced at all. In the end, I still prefer real fries but I find the air fryer very practical to cook (or warm up quickly - unlike microwave oven it does not make stuff soft) all sort of food.
I’m an American, so I can’t say how they’re cooked in Belgium, but I can say that boiling them in water for ten minutes before frying reduces the workload significantly and produces similar results.
Belgian fries (and any good fries in America) are fried once in low heat for a little while to cook the potato through. Then they are allowed to cool, and they can be frozen to use later, or you can fry them again at higher temp to crisp them up.
I’m aware of the double-fry technique, I’m just saying that similar results can be obtained by boiling in lieu of the first frying step