One I didn’t see mentioned yet: a rice cooker.
Put in rice, add water, push start button, and you get perfect rice every time. I’m usually against single-purpose kitchen tools but a rice cooker is soo worth it.
Really only if you eat a lot of rice. For once a year or so, a pot on the stove works just fine. The actual benefit I’ve see for ricecookers is how well they can hold the rice for hours ready to go, but that’s more of a commercial benefit I think.
[…] but that’s more of a commercial benefit I think
For me, this is the primary benefit of a rice cooker. Having warm, cheap, filling food on demand at any time is fantastic. I am so lazy and my little rice buddies are always ready to go when I can’t be bothered.
“Rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something”
I eat a lot of ice and I still just make it in a pot.
I like to imagine you huddled over an ice field, stirring water in a pot until it turns to the perfect slushy consistency for your fresh homemade ice.
Shit this comment made me so thirsty good lord I need some water
Artesan ice. $17.99/litre
Living in Japan, this almost didn’t register to me. I have literally never met anybody that didn’t have one. When you move out, you use your family’s old one until you can buy a newer one.
Everyone should have one, absolutely.
When I did a homestay in Japan, my host dad was shocked my family didn’t have one. I do now though!
I know this will be a popular response, but I don’t get it.
I just use a pot and the rice is always perfect? Not hard at all? Am I just good?
I used to do that for years, but rice cookers really do some magic to get perfectly fluffy rice. I thought my technique was good, until I tried rice from a rice cooker.
Meanwhile, I’ve been disappointed by rice cooker rice and make it better the old fashioned way. :shrug:
We sold our rice cooker on eBay after finding out the microwave rice cooker addon for 10€ is just as good, if not faster.
- shiveyarbles ( @shiveyarbles@beehaw.org ) English2•11 months ago
Lol TIL people are buying used rice cookers on eBay
It’s great for quinoa, farro and couscous too. Love our tiger rice cooker, it’s a work horse!
Speaking of, be careful about consuming too much rice because of arsenic. There are plenty of other grains that don’t soak up arsenic so readily and have a better nutritional profile. It’s fine to eat rice, just switch it out throughout the week.
- N1cknamed ( @N1cknamed@feddit.nl ) 3•11 months ago
It’s really not that hard to cook rice in a pan. I already get perfect rice every time. A rice cooker seems a waste of money.
ok this might sound heretical but a “hack” i learned from cooking youtube is to just boil rice like pasta then drain. I do this for about ~12 mins with white rice and it comes out perfect every time with no risk of messing up. Downside is you need to drain it.
unsure the validity of this claim? but apparently there can be a non-insignificant amount of arsenic in american grown rice, and boiling can help leech it out into the water.
what’s the difference with cooking rice the normal way?
Is it different from a pressure cooker? Because pressure cooker is similar (add water, rice, start cooking, wait for X whistles) and has multiple use cases.
Rice cookers are not sealed for high pressure (they are in fact not sealed at all, just like regular pots and lids, because they need to lose excess moisture) and they are configured for this one particular thing: every rice cooker is calibrated for a fixed serving of rice (or couple different settings) with fixed amount of water. All it really does is turn off at the perfect moment,
which is determines by weight.which is determined by a thermostat (magnet-based in this case)Oh, I have a pressure sealed rice cooker, but it’s the top of the line Zojuroshi and is more like $600. It’s also not fast, takes like an hour, but the rice is divine. Sadly, I rarely cook rice. I got it for my sister, who lived in China for a while and used to eat rice all the time, but then moved into a tiny house and gave it back to me… I can’t really bear to throw it out - but I only use it if I’m making a huge amount of rice randomly.
Ah okay. Thanks!
If you have a car get a dashcam. It’s more valuable than any insurance because it will definitively prove what happened when something goes wrong. Bonus: you can post videos of bad drivers doing stupid things on the internet for imaginary points.
If only there was actually a good car dashcam, but every time I go down that rabbit hole I give up frustrated. The quality (build, mounting, video, whatever) is shit in pretty much all of them, and the “passable” ones look like a web cam from 2005 still.
- ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ ( @luthis@lemmy.nz ) 31•11 months ago
There’s a reason for that, Linus Tech Tips did a great video on it. You’re better off buying an old go pro and using that.
Only if you remember to turn it on
We’ve been happy with the VIOFO A129 Pro. Not very expensive and good quality video on both cameras day and night. There are lots of day/night comparison videos and the VIOFO beat a lot of cameras that were much more expensive.
I agree, I also have a VIOFO A129 DUO and it’s great. But I haven’t found the time yet to mount the rear cam… too much hassle to bring the cables to the back of the car.
Yep I’ve also got a VIOFO, works great.
I thought it would be kinda ugly when I looked at it, but depending on how your car is designed once it’s mounted you don’t really see it so it’s fine. Took a while to figure out how to wire it to the battery though, mostly because I’d never done that before.
Another happy (though quite new) owner of a VIOFO here, A119 Mini v2 in my case. Great picture quality.
People lie. Even a shittiest, cheapest dashcam will be better than nothing, when you have to prove to your insurance company who was really at fault after a collision.
Look for a BlackVue or Thinkware.
I got one for $40 that’s 1080p, and the “high endurance” sd card I got for $15 is still going 4 years later.
Don’t overthink it. You don’t need something fancy.
I’ve bought the N2 Pro from Vantrue a couple of years ago and I’ve been super happy with it. The quality is pretty good and it has actually capable night vision and parking surveillance. I’ve also bought one for my brother in law (who got into an accident just a month after) and one for my grandma. Not to sound like an ad, but these are definitely worth checking out even if it’s an older model.
A pair of high fidelity earplugs (aka concert earplugs or filtering earplugs). You can get a good non-custom pair for $15–$40, and that’ll work well for the average person for a long time.
They’re excellent for live music, airplanes, and anytime you want the world to be quieter but still need to be able to understand speech. And for music specifically, they can bring the volume level down just enough to be safe without muffling the sound like traditional foam earplugs do. Protect your hearing, kids!
Protect your hearing, kids!
Seriously, PROTECT YOUR FUCKING HEARING. I was young and stupid (now I’m no longer young) and went to way too many raves, gigs etc. without any sort of hearing protection, and now I have a nice constant background track of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE and can’t hear higher frequencies worth shit
Right ear went to working in a call centre. Left ear seems to be trying to decide if it’s going to recover or not from some unaware idiot in Tesco suddenly walking up and slamming his stock cart shut right next to me. I really hope I don’t end up with stereo EEEEEEEEEEEEE but it feels like an inevitable matter of time at this point. There goes the left one again…
I didnt even go to any concerts or anything and i still have it 😭
I can get tinnitus if I have too much ear-wax and I have to remove it periodically, since it wont come out on its own.
Yep, tinnitus is your brain filling in the absence of hearing, its not a condition in itself
- ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ ( @luthis@lemmy.nz ) 13•11 months ago
I got some of these and they are excellent
I know it’s way more expensive, but the last gig I went to, I used my AirPods Pro in transparency mode, and it reduced the sound down from an insane ~110db to peaks of 90! Definitely worth protecting your ears.
Airpods (and noise cancelling in general) are not substitutes for hearing protection!
Yes, good point! Whilst it’s probably better than nothing, it won’t be a proper substitute for proper hearing protection like the earplugs mentioned
Do you have any brand and model recommendations?
I’m no earplug connoisseur, but I’ve been using Westone’s WM16 for smaller venues, and Etymotic Research’s ER20XS dual-flange for louder situations. I haven’t tried much else, but these work well for me. I’ve also heard great things about Earasers, Eargasm, and Hearos.
Earasers are a bit more expensive and appear to have a unique ergonomic eartip. iirc you can get them for $40 elsewhere, maybe Amazon. I’ve read that Earasers’ “-19dB Peak” model has a very slight sound reduction, so I’d probably opt for their middle “European Standard” model. On the other end of the price spectrum, Hearos is particularly inexpensive at a glance. Idk anything about specific models.
Some brands have multiple types of earplugs (e.g. for music, shooting, construction work), so make sure you’re getting one designed for music or “high-fidelity” or something like that. Any of the “good” brands are probably going to work just fine. (Read the reviews if you’re unsure.) Most brands seem to include multiple eartip sizes in the package so you can choose the right fit.
Beyond that, there is some element of personal preference. For example, I first tried Etymotic’s classic triple-flange version and didn’t like how deep they stuck into my ears. It felt invasive. But the dual-flange model feels great for me.
And finally, there are different options for how much attenuation (noise reduction) you want. Like I mentioned, my “-16dB average attenuation” earplugs feel good for small/medium venues (a backroom venue of a bar, maybe a theater). For a larger venue (arena or stadium, or even just a really loud loud theater) you’d definitely want more significant average attenuation, probably in the low-to-mid twenties.
Most earplugs will be confusingly marketed with multiple attenuation values. One will be an official NRR value, which is apparently required but controversial, and the other(s) will be the average and/or peak decibel reduction “when the product is used correctly” as reported by the manufacturer. It seems people don’t talk about the NRR as often. But it’s fun that they’ve made it more complicated for us to compare products.
I should also mention that if you’re a performing musician or hardcore concert-goer, you may consider springing for custom-molded earplugs, which are way pricier. I haven’t made that upgrade yet, but everyone who does seems to think it’s life-changing.
This got long, sorry!
I’m no earplug connoisseur
7 paragraphs about earplugs
uh oh, they’re onto me
+1 for Eargasm. The real MVP is the keychain carrying case which ensures I never leave home without em. As a drummer, DJ, and loud music enthusiast they’re one of my best purchases ever. I genuinely forget they’re in sometimes, but then I’ll take em out and it makes a big difference. Awesome quality of sound, just less damage.
I didn’t even know this existed. I really suffer in places with too much background noise.
I’ve been using my AirPods Pro 2 at races. They seem to work exceptionally well with noise cancellation on.
A bike. Poor people in underdeveloped countries can use it to get access to education and markets, while people from developed countries can ise it to keep healthy and reduce their environmental footprint
- ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ ( @luthis@lemmy.nz ) 51•11 months ago
I was going to say that, but out of the 6 bikes in the garage none of them are under $100 even second hand.
In fact I would advise against getting a cheap shitty bike that isn’t going to last. Spend the extra money, get something good. It’s better for the environment and your wallet in the long run.
I’ve driven “good” bikes all my life. Aluminium frame, disc brakes, fancy suspension, 3x9 gears. That sort of thing.
Wanna know what my best biking experience was? Riding a steel frame, 3-speed dutch-style rental omafiets with no suspension and regular-ass brakes on a vacation. That thing was hella comfortable, sturdy as a brick and convenient.
If I lived in a not fully car-brained city where you can safely bike and was tight on money, I’d absolutely buy an old cheap used regular-ass steel frame bike with no frills and use the hell out of it until it’s irreparably broken. You can leave that thing standing in the rain, locked with just a frame lock (or perhaps even no lock at all) all without worrying that it might get damaged or stolen because there isn’t much to damage or steal in the first place.
I also don’t see how buying a “good” bike in any way helps the environment when the alternative is re-using something that’s already been built and successfully used before.
I love my 2000€ Brompton that I daily-drive but I’d be nearly as happy with a 100€ bike like I described above. You don’t get more bike when you go above that price point, you only get a more fancy bike.
I’m really jealous of the Brommie’s folding mechanism.
I currently use a full size Dutch-style bike, but been keeping my eyes out for a secondhand folder for easy travelling, once I can swallow the price 🥲
- N1cknamed ( @N1cknamed@feddit.nl ) 6•11 months ago
I’m a student in the Netherlands. I’ve bought my current bike for €50 second hand around 4 years ago. Aside from some flat tires and the occasional loose chain it’s never failed me, and I use it at least 4 times a day.
My previous bike originally belonged to my dad and it only gave out after 30 years of constant use.
The key is to not buy an expensive sports bike with tons of features. My bike has a bell, lights, a reverse pedal brake, a kickstand and a frame lock. That’s it. No gears, no wires, no carbon fiber. Just a solid steel bike. Cheap to construct and it’ll last for years.
I have a bike in a city and it’s faster than the cars. The cars are always stuck in traffic as I fly by. Bikes are the best.
I was gonna say this.
$100 on craigslist or a local bike refurbishing place (where I got mine) will get you something that will last for years.
Throw in a $15 bike lock, a cheap returned helmet, and a $5 rear bike light and you’re set for life.
3 dozen pairs of identical socks. Mine are black crew cut. I’ll wear them until the last few pairs are worn through and I’ll never have a sock without a mate.
You’ve got life figured out
A water kettle. Doesn’t have to be any fancy one, but it really fucking rocks for anything you might think of : want hot water for tea? No problem. Need hot water to steep something? No problem.
Most mid-range ones are insanely power efficient too, often being alot better than just boiling water on a stovetop, or using a microwave. And, depending on insulation, heat can be stored for over 6! hours.
I’m going to guess you’re in the States? I’m from England and live in the Netherlands. I’ve never met anybody ever who didn’t own a kettle. Is it true that it’s really not that common in the States to own a kettle?
I would say 20 years ago almost no one had an electric kettle in the US. Now they are much more common, but still only in a minority of homes. Americans just don’t drink nearly as much tea as the English. The UK consumes 1.94kg of tea per person annually. The US is 0.23kg. (per wikipedia). You will find a coffee maker in most homes and hotel rooms though.
what do kids have with their breakfast then?
Cold milk usually
what about in wintertime?
Cold milk usually
…water?
o.o
We had a stove top kettle growing up but I never heard of an electric kettle until I was an adult. First time I saw one was a pretentious dude doing pour over coffee at work.
In Canada, but we’re basically the same as the states. Of my extended family, which is 20+ people, I only know 2 who have kettles… So it’s a luxury to most people who come to my house lol.
I’m the only person I know with an electric kettle, and I don’t use it much since I sopped doing pourover coffee.
What home doesn’t have a kettle? I don’t think I’ve ever been to someones house who didn’t have one. Who are these degenerates that were boiling all their water in saucepans?
Depends where you live, Technology Connections did a few episodes on kettles because apparently they’re not super common in his neck of the woods.
I think they mean a powered kettle.
That’s what I’m talking about. Can’t remember the last time I saw a stove top one.
Might depend on where you live. I rarely see them- usually only when someone is a tea fanatic
even cheap ones a great.
You can get a cheap one at walmart for like 20 bucks, and it’ll boil water faster than your cooktop.
A fire extinguisher can be found for less than 100 USD and is a must-have. A smoke detector is also a bare minimum in my opinion.
A smoke detector is also a bare minimum in my opinion.
In your opinion? You’re required to have one where I life
In the USA private homes are not usually required to have them. Rentals, yes, but that’s a responsibility of the landlord.
I’ve been to some places where smoke detectors aren’t required by law (or places where it is required by law but there isn’t anyone to enforce it). It’s weird AF.
I apologize if I was unclear in the first message
Well here in Germany every living room, bedroom and similar has to have a smoke detector.
- Rikudou_Sage ( @rikudou@lemmings.world ) English3•11 months ago
Bought one when I bought a 3D printer. Haven’t needed it yet (the extinguisher).
A rice cooker making rice in a saucepan will yield different results almost every time, a $20-50 rice cooker is just a set it and forget it kitchen tool that yields the same results every time. Very nice and easy
I second this.
and I will warn you, Get a rice cooker thats one step bigger than what you think you need, cause once you get used to having it, you’ll end up making more rice and rice dishes cause its become so damn easy to make rice, and the last thing you want is to be limited by the tiny 2 cup rice cooker that you bought.
Totally not personal experience. (it is, its totally personal experience)
I did the same but went with an instapot since it can do rice too and I hate one trick appliances. Started off with the tiny one and then realized I cooked dang near everything in there after a while.
While I normally agree, I make rice so much with other things, it would be a hindrance to have to use my multi use stuff just for rice all the time.
ricecookers arent a single task appliance. You can make a lot of other things in them.
I’m sure it’s possible to cook other things depending on the model. A lot of the one’s I ran across where more on/off/time basic ones though. Having a bunch of settings and other options is kind of a pre-req for something that I’m likely to have out as a permanent counter resident, so individual needs vary. Had an old oster kitchen center for a while that was great for that reason until the motor burned out.
If we’re giving out Rice Cooker tips: wash your rice before you put it in there. I use a sieve and a potato masher under the tap to squeeze the starch out. My rice has never been sticky since I started doing this, and now my “dish” that I bring to cook outs is my rice.
A rice cooker making rice in a saucepan
How does a rice cooker make rice in a saucepan? I would think that it doesn’t need a saucepan, nor could it really use one without hands.
“A rice cooker. Making rice in a saucepan will yield different results almost every time, but a $20-50 rice cooker is just a set it and forget it kitchen tool that yields the same results every time. Very nice and easy.”
A little bit of grammar goes a long way.
Rice cooker with locking top or no go.
My rice cooker gives consistent results, but unfortunately that result is a crunchy placemat made entirely of rice. It’s terrible.
A towel
- Rikudou_Sage ( @rikudou@lemmings.world ) English5•11 months ago
You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it around your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course you can dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
good for covering your ears in case of Vogon poetry
Yeah man I love my towel! It’s so towely, I towel with it every until I’m completely fultoweled.
Water sensor alarms.
If you have any doubts about the pipes in your house or have a feeling that water might enter your basement, sensors will help you sleep at night.
Water damage to your home is no joke. I know two separate homeowners who have had leaks from their refrigerator’s plumbing (water and ice dispenser). The damage for each homeowner was quite extensive given how small the leak was.
I second this!
Most people who have heard of water sensors know of the moen one. I’m in Canada, and my plumber recommended a Canadian company, Sinope. They were much less expensive and had a sensor in the line and ones you could put in and around appliances that use water.
The in-line flow sensor shuts off the water if it senses abnormal flow anywhere. But the physical sensors shut off the water when it’s leaking at that spot.
We’ve had no leaks, but the flow sensor shut off the water when I filled the kiddie pool and forgot to turn it off. It also cuts short, excessively long showers (that can be turned off).
The safety net is fantastic to have. We can install that freezer ice cube maker without a worry.
I went to go check out Sinope’s site, and it was already in my browser history. I wonder what past me was looking up…lol
Besides that, the smart valves are so much cheape than Moen! I might have to actually get one now. The ever looming threat of potential water damage stresses me out way too much.
The math we did was that the price was lower than an insurance deductible, and future rate hikes because of that. We also told our insurance company about it, and they said it reduced our home insurance cost. We halved our home insurance cost between the sinope, alarm system, pipe replacement, and changing providers.
For the sinope, you must consider installation cost if you want a plumber to do it. That probably adds hundreds.
I actually didn’t even think about the insurance deductible. You’re right that, even with installation, it would be less than that. Thanks for the info!
Yes, indeed! I have an automatic sump pump in my basement, so that covers heavy rain and potential burst pipes. But my cousin had pipes freeze and burst while he was away for Christmas. Even though he had insurance, the repairs took months.
Yup. They’re super cheap and awesome on the rare occasion they go off. If you place them right, you’ll even be alerted to tiny leaks like a slow drip from the toilet supply.
99 bucks
99.99 would be more profitable:-D
In cash, yes. Electronic payments are great, until you’re out in the boonies and the only way to pay is via cold, hard cash. Or for the places that require cash for one reason or another.
Since someone already mentioned dashcams and cast iron, my vote is: a bidet toilet seat attachment.
Fancy ones can roll $200+ but a super simple one with just a cold water hookup and no electricity will knock you back $50-60. I bought one right as covid was beginning to hit the west coast, and instantly realized I could never - ever - go back.
Huge bonus of the toilet seat style bidets is that, since you aren’t actually replacing the toilet, they take like 5 mins to install and can be done in a home, condo, apartment, wherever.
100%! It’s wild to me that the majority of Americans are just OK with not using one. Reddit introduced me to the concept and I have never looked back. You can get a super cheap introductory one on Amazon, but I would personally recommend the one by the Squatty Potty company, it’s superb quality.
While you’re on the website for Squatty Potty, their namesake is another must have under $100. It revolutionized how I use the bathroom, and I have one in every bathroom in my house. If I use the bathroom at work, I end up sitting there missing my stool and bidet. It’s hard to go back once you’ve gotten closer towards perfection
Please post a tiny instruction sheet in your bathroom for confused guests. They can be confusing the first time with no guidance. Also it’s very confusing that normally you don’t push the bidet button.
I favor the Tooshie Classic. I had some bad luck with a previous cheap bidet. Either I was getting a tepid fairy spray or a firehose enema. The Tooshie ramps up at just the right amount to give good control. Spend a few more dollars and you get the Tooshie Spa with the possibility (not obligation) of a hot water hookup.
Jumper cables. For like 10-20$ it can save you or someone else a lot of trouble.
Everyone? I have never owned a car, probably wouldn’t come in super useful.
You could use them as a jump rope, or as makeshift nunchucks.
This, but get a jumpstarter with a battery instead. It’s essentially a powerbank with attachable jumper cables. Saved me plenty of times during the cold months without having to rely on other cars being nearby.
A dildo.
Mine are all above 100USD :c
A portable car tire inflator (with build in battery).
I’m 62 and have just bought my first ever.
Awesome!
I bought one that connects to the 12v outlet (what we used to call the “cigarette lighter slot”) in the car. It’s come in handy.
I legit just bought one yesterday lol
What a coincidence!
I have a Ryobi one, technically seperate battery but it’s so good it’s worth it.
Attach, set the PSI I want, hit go, it stops on its own, no awkwardly crouching down holding a button or keeping my eye on a dial that wobbles a lot.
Bonus points if it also includes jumper cables with that battery. Having a portable jumper when your batter dies is insanely useful.
However, the model I have doesn’t hold a charge forever, so I find that I have to recharge it every couple months or else it will be dead the next time I actually need it. An unfortunate flaw so I’d look for reviews that mention whether that’s the case for any you look to purchase
Thats a thing (stand alone) on my list to purchase. Except I’ve bought a new car battery not longer than a year ago. So I guess that should hold up. Did I just jinxed myself?
Yeah that’s a jinx if I’ve ever heard one. Better buy two just in case…
I recommend the xaiomi one on amazon. Works great
I have exactly that one, if you mean this one:
That’s the one!