Pointless products

My DW bought me a whizzy coffee maker for Christmas.  It does everything.  Beans go in the top, coffee comes out the bottom at the press of a button.  No, that's not the pointless product I'm taking about.  It is fantastic, and an essential aid to computer programmers everywhere

No, the pointless item I am talking about came "free" with it.  A coffee storage pot. Ok in principle, but this one is so bulky I'd need to empty out a cupboard for it !.  It has sat in the kitchen whilst I scratched my head as to what to do with it.  Last night I gave it a proper look at last and discovered ... It has a battery compartment ? Huh ?  Yes, with the help of 3 AA batteries it can self-evacuate every time you close it.

But WHY ?  It only holds one bag of coffee beans.  Coffee beans that come in a bag that fits the cupboard.  Coffee beans that will all fit in the hopper of the machine, and last me a week or so.  Coffee beans that have probably spent most of their time up to this point sitting in hessian sacks at the producer's warehouse !  Now, I haven't used it, but if it is like those gadgets for sucking the air out of half drunk bottles of wine, I'm guessing it won't work either.   The process of sucking out the air, if anything helps to speed up the evaporation of the volatiles that give flavour.

So two questions:

1: What would you nominate as the most pointless domestic gadget you've seen ? That's a waste of the materials it's made of ?
2: Any ideas as to what to do with a self-vacuuming coffee jar ? I'm assuming the manufacturer has already pondered this and come up with "give them away free"

Almost anything that only has one very narrowly defined purpose would qualify for me. An empty plastic banana for transporting a single real banana is my first nomination.

Ha ha! Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that one. Gadgets for cooking cupcakes in.

Not quite the same, as it's not a gadget - frozen omelettes. They take 20 mins to cook in a preheated oven

20 minutes for a frozen omelette? Nonsense!

We seem to have got on to pointless food so I nominate instant porridge. Put ordinary porridge oats in a bowl, pour on boiling water & stir, 30 seconds in the microwave & voila. You can't get more instant than that.

On gadgets, I bought a food processer a few years ago & one of its selling points (though it didn't bother me) was a carousel to store the attachments. The carousel actually only stored 3 out of about a dozen bits & pieces - it went straight in the bin and I bought a plastic box from the pound shop. Actually, there is only one of the attachments that I ever use.

I also think toast tongs are pretty pointless.

A kind relative brought us a sandwich toaster for a present - I know they're standard items for some people, but we have a grill pan in the cooker which makes brilliant toasted sandwiches and takes half the time to clean!

I was in Lakeland today - the kitchen shop not the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It does have some useful things for sale, but it also has objects which have to be a complete waste of space. One item caught my eye: a transparent box about the size of an individual juice carton, with a hinged lid which had a hole in it with a flexible seal around it. It was indeed for putting a carton of juice in, presumably for the kind of children who make a mess. It did occur to me that you could just teach the child not to squeeze the carton, and to push the straw in gently - presumably other people have thought the same thing as it was heavily reduced, and discontinued!

http://www.one.org/us/2015/03/12/bags-to-riches-empty-backpacks-fill-students-lives/

Here's an article about a waste item being given a tremendous use

What a great story Dandelion.

I've often snorted with laughter at some of the items stocked by Lakeland. But I did eat humble pie somewhat after a shoulder operation some years ago. I had bought a salad spinner from them, because it was the size I wanted and not because it could be used one-handed as they proudly proclaimed. Well I was very glad of it being usable one-handed when I had my left arm in a sling.

So these days, I do tend to think about others who may actually be glad of a product. I suppose the orange juice box could be a godsend to someone who has poor motor control.

Conference backpacks must be an American thing, a plastic bag would be the most you might get here. When I was at work we made a collection of backpacks and filled them with pens, pencils, notebooks etc and gave them to a charity that supported schools in underdeveloped countries. We were only a small office but managed to send 60 bags

Brilliant, Ploshkin!

Love the backpack idea and well done to the people in Ploshkin's office!
Agree with freebird that Lakeland Ltd is the home of some pointless gadgets, the plastic banana carrier was one of theirs. May have to browse their catalogue for a few more ideas

You guys should have a look into a baby/nursery shop it is amazing the number of pointless items but parents-to-be buy them cause only the best for our baby!

I'm speechless.

But in amongst the other 'pointless foods' listed in that article, was a great YouTube clip of how to peel garlic in 10 seconds. Never tried that. Definitely going to give it a go.

Hilarious!! Very 'hands on'!!!

Let us know if it works FB. I never actually use whole garlic, got put off it years ago* - because I only ever use a very small amount in cooking I just keep a tube of garlic puree in the fridge.

*Long story involving garlic eating neighbours, Friday night cooking of green mush and the smell of garlic coming up through the floorboards.

Garlic peeling interesting and good if you want a whole bulb's worth.
Having said I have little time for one-use products, I have to admit that I like my Lakeland garlic smoosher (smusher?) that does one clove at a time, no peeling required.

Had to opportunity to try the garlic peeling thing tonight. Bashing it with your hand is great for separating the cloves. I had limited success with the rest - some of the skin came off but each clove was left with a single layer that needed peeling. It came off much more easily than normal though.

One of my friends put a post on face Book which showed a 'new' way to peel oranges. This involved cutting both ends off, then putting a slit down the fruit running from one end to the other, and opening out the fruit. The idea was then to eat the flesh out of the skin. Tried it today - not a success, as I had to wash my face afterwards. Will go back to my old boring way of peeling and eating.

I've tried that one Dandelion. It works with oranges that peel away relatively easily from the pith but they work when peeled the conventional way anyway!