Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

I’m fortunate to not work in an environment where I have to worry about my co-workers stealing my lunch from the office refrigerator. However, I’ve known a few people to have their sandwiches (or whatever) turn up missing when it comes time for their lunch break. It’s usually pretty obvious that their food was not taken by accident, which meant that someone decided that they were hungry enough to eat someone else’s lunch. So how does one protect themselves from lunchtime thieves? Make your food appear as repulsing as possible.

If you don’t mind eating gross food, you could always just make sure that you bring something that no one would want to eat. If that’s too much, then just disguise your food as something disgusting. These moldy bags will no doubt make sure that your food is passed up when someone goes scrounging for lunch. These appear to only be a concept for now, so you’ll just have to let your food grow its own mold.

[ Sherwood Forlee ] VIA [ UberReview ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A few days ago I brought you a clever entry from the 2008 Electrolux Design Lab competition that made it a lot easier for a group of roommates to share, or really not share, the food in their fridge. But here’s another design from Chiba University’s Nojae Park that would not only provide a group of roommates with their own mini-fridges, but a whole mini kitchen on wheels. The Kitchen Drawer is designed for the “internet generation” which was part of the 2008 Design Lab competition’s theme, and I guess that partly refers to those of us living in an urban area where space is a premium.

In addition to a mini-fridge, the Kitchen Drawer also includes an electric stove that allows you to select the size of the heating element depending on the size of the pot you’re using, a stainless steel plate for preparing and/or warming your food and a drawer to accommodate your dishes and cutlery. While it’s lacking the all important kitchen sink that’s needed for cleanup, the wheeled base and compact design means you could probably just roll it outside and blast it with the hose after dinner’s done.

[ Electrolux Design Lab 2008 ] VIA [ Yanko Design ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s a brilliant fridge concept that’s perfectly designed for the thousands of college students who’ve recently moved back to school and have to deal with unwanted roommates in order to save money. The Flatshare Fridge was created by Stefan Buchberger from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna for the annual Electrolux Design Lab competition, and it features a modular design that’s segmented into separate compartments allowing each ‘flatmate’ to have their own mini fridge.

Each compartment has a tall section for bottles as well as sections for vegetables (ha!) and more importantly, frozen foods. It’s a great solution if you’re always fighting with your roommates over who bought what food, and when it comes to cleaning, you’re only responsible for your own relatively small compartment. The modular design also allows additional compartments to be stacked on top to accommodate new roommates, and the only feature I can really see missing is a locking mechanism on each door to protect your food from moochers.

[ Electrolux Design Lab 2008 ] VIA [ Electricpig ]

By Luke Anderson

On a hot Summer day, nothing beats an ice-cold drink. Unfortunately, in order to keep your drinks cool in the outdoor heat, you have to resort to ice cubes, which tend melt fast and leave your drink a bit watered-down. I have a set of plastic ice cubes that I really like, because they serve the same function, but without adding the extra water to my drink. Another cooler looking alternative would be these Nordic Rocks.

Yes, these are actual rocks that you put in your drink. It may sound a bit strange, but these Swedish rocks have the uncanny ability to hold their temperature for longer than your average stone. Just store them in the freezer and plop a couple in your drink to keep it cool and water-free. They’re just a little expensive at $30 for a set of 10 cubes, but probably worth the investment in the long-run.

[ Mocha ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

By Luke Anderson

There’s something that I’ve wondered about for many years. Why does Peter Pan have his own brand of peanut butter? Sure, it’s pretty good peanut butter in my opinion, but I’ve yet to find any really good why it even exists in the first place. If you’re extremely picky about your peanut butter, and don’t trust a flying boy with your food, you might be interested in making your own stuff.

With the Peanut Butter Machine, there’s really no reason to buy jars of peanut butter from the store again. Just pour in two cups of peanuts, select whether you want crunchy or smooth, and you’re all set. The best part of all is that the result is an all-natural product which doesn’t contain any additives. If you’re big on all-natural foods, or are just picky about your peanut butter, you can get one of these gadgets for $50 starting at the end of the month. Given how cheap the stuff is to buy by the jar, I think I’ll just stick to that.

[ LighterSide ] VIA [ RGS ]

By Luke Anderson

When you were a kid, I bet that at some point your parents uttered the phrase “don’t play with your food.” Of course now that you’re a grown adult, you can play with your food all you want. Of course you’ll want to do it in a more productive manner than just building a castle out of mashed potatoes and everything else on your plate. That’s why someone invented the Writing Spoon.

This interesting utensil combines your average spoon with a ballpoint pen. This allows you to dip your spoon in coffee or any other liquid and write out notes or drawings. If you’re one of those people that is constantly scribbling on napkins, you might pick one up for just $31. Granted it likely won’t be as legible as a pen, but it’ll be a lot more fun to use.

[ JuliaMarscal ] VIA [ CoolestGadgets ]

By Luke Anderson

During the summer months I tend to eat a lot of lunch meat sandwiches, mostly because it’s too hot outside to bother cooking. Every now and then I get tempted to try and toast the sandwiches like they do at Subway or Potbelly’s, but to be quite honest, I’m just a bit lazy when it comes to the kitchen. However, if one had these toaster bags, it wouldn’t be hard at all.

These special plastic bags will allow you to toast things other than bread, frozen waffles and bagels in your toaster. If your toaster is large enough, you could slide a whole sandwich in and have it come out nice and toasty. $19 will get you a pair, which would be worth it when you’re in the mood for a toasty sandwich.

[ LatestBuy ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

By Luke Anderson

I love to eat cake. I rarely make one myself, as I know that I’m likely to eat most of if myself. Any time I’m at my in-laws and there is cake, I usually have to fight my brother-in-law over the last two slices of cake. We usually argue that the other had the bigger piece and so on. Now if only we had a Fair Share Cake Plate, there would be no need to complain.

The Fair Share Cake Plate is a novelty plate that has measurements along its edge marking down to the millimeter. With this plate,you can make sure that you get everyone’s piece the right size. The plate is a bit salty at $43.50, so I think I can deal with arguing over the bigger piece.

[ UptoYouToronto ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Luke Anderson

I am a lover of pizza. Any time I’m visiting a new place, I always have to check out one of the local pizza joints. Of course when I’m at home, I like to make my own pizza (none of that frozen stuff for me) from my secret recipe. While I have the process down to an art, I’ve yet to find a way of cutting the pizza that I really like. I don’t like the way that the round cutters damage my pans, and straight-edge ones aren’t much better. I’m actually tempted by these pizza scissors.

Here you have a wedge-shaped spatula combined with a pair of kitchen shears. Just slide it under the area you want, and cut. It’s a pretty simple concept, and should work fairly well I would think. You can pick one up for around $20.

[ Skymall ] VIA [ RGS ]