Good toaster

Dualit.

Don't get the cheaper one, get the olde-fashiond one with the mechanical timer. The elements are replacable too.

Bit of an "optimisation" when you put it in single slice mode, but I guess the optimisation is that the middle element is double sided, so single slice mode saves 1/4 of the electrickery rather than 1/2.

And buy one of those wooden toast tongs too.

I'd suggest not buying off their site though, but use someone like Amazon or John Lewis - they're cheaper and I had a rather "meh" experience when buying their espresso coffee maker direct.

Gordon

This is what we have got:

For all its imperfections, it can "toast" frozen croissants nicely, it can take huge wedges. Evenness is achievable by setting to a low/short toasting time and flipping the slices after one cooking - then doing another run. If you also leave it for a while between sides, you can end up with what I think of as toast perfection - nice crispy surfaces with well heated interiors.

Unfortunately, the two we got were remaindered so next to no chance of finding any new ones now.

Got ours at Costco. That may be an option for the OP.

Even samples of the same model seem to vary, so I suspect the answer is going to be like, my bloggs 55 is fine but my neighbours sets of the smoke alarm if one side is just right. grin. Most are pretty simply made I suspect they all get the elements from some chinese source. Brian

Best of luck with that.

We went shopping for a toaster last year. Main criteria was that it toasted a whole slice of bread, not leave the top 1" undone. I carefully cut a piece of paper to the size of a normal (Warburtons) slice.

Every single toaster had identical shaped slots (which means no cheating and putting the bread in sideways to get an even toast) - the only exception was the cheapie own-brand from Currys (which we bought). It had long slots as a "4 slicer" although we turn bread sideways and use it as a 2 slicer.

It's at times like this you realise the free market is a myth. Like "choice" in supermarkets. Sainsburys selling 7 types of breadcrumbs, but not being able to find room for *chip shop* mushy peas. Oh, and don't think abour Tescos or Morrisons, coz they don't either.

Do you mean in tins? For example:

Batchelors Mushy Original Marrowfat Processed Peas (300g)

ASDA 40p Tesco 44p Waitrose 44p Ocado 44p Sainsbury's 45p

But I so agree about choice.

Hmm - never seen them!

Good for pulling out short bits of toast that don't quite make to the top, or handling hot hot hot toast!

Gordon

Thanks.

For those small bits I usually tap the lifter lever down hard to try and bounce the toast up to catching range :-)

When an item on my regular shopping list disappears from the shelves, I usually get in touch. The response is now predictable:

"We try to sell the widest possible range of products to give our customers maximum choice. However, due to space limitations we cannot stock every item in every store. For each store, our buyers regularly review what we are stocking and how well it is selling, to make sure that we are meeting our local customers? needs.

Occasionally, this means that we withdraw products from some branches if they are not popular. If enough customers want to see a certain product in their local store, we?ll do everything we can to provide it."

So, once I am reminded that I spend my life at the edge of the bell curve ;-)

Chris

Several times I have asked for an item to be told "A few people have asked for that recently. But we only stock items that are in demand" I interpret that to mean those that make most profit!

How do they know? If it's not on the shelves people can't buy it to indicate a "demand". How many customers will go to the service desk and ask for a product to be stocked? Not many, if any...

With a taste for mushy peas I'm not surprised. Foul things.

That is an advantage of the Dualit :)

Gordon

I think you'll find it was Jethro who was the mushy pea fan. I was simply after Organic fat-free milk, 2 pint size.

I got the same response to: I have been using your creamed tomatoes for some time as an economical recipe ingredient. When I tried to stock up this week, it appears that you have replaced them with Italian passata. Comparing the labels, it seem that you have added salt, which is now in the amber band, as is the total sugars. The tomato per

Chris

No, I said *chip shop* ... these :

NOT these:

The last time I looked (as Sainsburys) they had a shelf *3* cases wide (and 2 deep). So would it be so hard to perhaps have *2* cases of normal and 1 of CS style ?

You *can* try to grumble at customer services. However you usually get "we don't stock that, there's not much call for it." followed by "funny, you're the 3rd person to ask today ...."

Anyway, back to toasters ... reading this thread seems to me that making decent toast is another ability, like supersonic travel that is being fast forgotten, as we "progress" ...

Had failed to realise the company actually made two different (but seemingly eminently confusable) products. My initial reaction would have been to assume a rebranding exercise rather than different contents.

Bizarrely, found this:

Batchelors Mushy Chip Shop Processed Peas (3Kg)

ASDA £4.00 :-)

How about the microwaveable pots of mushy peas? I'm pretty sure that Morrisons does these. Are they not like the chip shop ones?

Tim