Getting $22 to $25 in Product ...

[Intrepid_Chef]

I sold about $25 in cash and carry at a recent festival and need almost that much for a show to qualify ... so I am planning to invest it into products for my business/home.

I am going back and forth between the following:

* The egg separator, flour/sugar shaker and stainless cleaner.
(The first 2 I need to make those molten cakes in my silicone pan ... the cleaner I just need.)

* The Torte Pans (have been dying to try that chocolate/peanut butter thing.

* Rice cooker (don't plan to use it at shows, just would like to have it.)

There are many other things I need, of course (like that round platter ... sick of dumping large cakes onto my round stone for lack of one) but those are my top 3.

Which of those is your "must have?"

 

[aPamperedBride]

Hmm...you can also make molten chocolate lava cakes in the rice cooker with a regular cake mix and premade frosting. It's really good! We have two rice cookers so my husband can make rice when I'm at a show. I have three flour sugar shakers...one always has cinnamon sugar, one with powdered sugar, and one with flour. The stainless cleaner does an amazing job. I've never used my torte pans. (The dessert sounds great, but hubby is allergic to nuts.) I don't use my egg separater much, but it is great when you need to separate eggs!

 

[GourmetGirl]

I vote for the 1st choice - I LOVE the stainless cleaner (for cookware, knives and SA), and have 3 flour/sugar shakers as well (cin/sugar, baking soda, powdered sugar). The egg separator is something I have and really only use at shows (and not very often do I need to separate eggs).

 

[TammyStar]

I vote for the torte pans. They Peanut butter chocolate torte is the best and you can make other things with them!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Hmm...you can also make molten chocolate lava cakes in the rice cooker with a regular cake mix and premade frosting.

Not if I don't have one ...

Thing is, I am leaning against the pans too ... except that usually when I am looking to order an item, it's always something under $10. I rarely have the opportunity or need to spend anything over $15.

That said ... I think I need tools to better use the things I have (the silicone pan came in the "spree," for instance) and not get new tools.

I have calls into my fair contacts ... hopefully they will order and thus drive this show up to the next level, which means I could get more than one of these choices.

 

[KellyTheChef]

My vote (personally) is for the rice cooker.

But...you need to get whatever YOU will use the most!!

 

[LeslieSGI]

Ditto on the rice cooker. The "watch me go from this dry cake mix in a box to eating delicious cake in 20 minutes" factor has to be seen to be believed. Even if people don't buy one right then, it goes on their "wish list" for next time. And you can cook rice in it, too. :love:​

 

[chefann]

Another vote for the rice cooker here. I use mine 2-3 times a week. I've never had luck coking rice on the stovetop, and my electric rice cooker makes a layer of crunchy stuck together rice (and it's just a pain to store). But the rice cooker makes great rice in the microwave!

 

[AnnieBee]

I vote for the torte pans. You can easily do without a egg seperator or F/S shaker, and you can cook rice on the stove, but you can't make tortes without those pans!!

When I used them to make the PB torte, I had 2 people buy them and one of them bookes a show. I think when people see them, they want them to be able to make all the cool desserts, but I don't think people buy them without seeing them. I didn't care to have them until I saw the torte and wanted to be able to make it! But I think people buy the other smaller things without seeing them.

Of course, I could be completely wrong!! I guess another question is how much you would use the pans yourself.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I know there are at least three times I've said, "I'd make X if I had the torte pans ...."

But yeah ... I have generally opted for minute rice b/c rice never comes out good on my stovetop ... and I have the large micro cooker, but I don't think it's the same thing ... I do have the fluted stone for microwave cakes, though ...

The thing I'm thinking is that the little items can always be tossed on another order ... there are honestly not many things I need that are under $10.

There are at least 3 cookbooks I'd like to get as well ....

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I've only used the egg separator one time - and that was just to see how it worked. I've been separating eggs w/o one for years just fine, and it's just another dirty utensil - so that's not something I would re-buy.

I LOVE the flour/sugar shaker! I have 3 in my cupboard all the time for flour, powdered sugar, and cinnamon sugar.

I've never opened the SS cleaner that I earned last season - so not something I can't live without.

Rice Cooker - I am learning to love. I didn't use mine for years, but my friend ChefRuthie has encouraged me and helped me to see what an incredible product this is!

My Torte Pans are also still in the box from when I earned them. I'm just not a fancy dessert person, and as much as I enjoyed the slice of PB Torte that I had at our cluster meeting, it still wasn't enough for me to actually make one. I want any baked goods I do to be simple simple simple! I even turn all of my cookies into bar cookies!

So, I'd go for the Rice Cooker! (or the shakers!) It seems to me to be the most versatile, and to have the most uses.