Mixer

[Glo]

My 60-plus-year-old Sunbeam hand-held mixer blew up today while I was mashing potatoes. What should I buy?

[Tussiemussies]

I love my upgraded Kitchen Aid where there is a lever for lifting the bowl up and down. It makes it easy to scrape it. If you don't want a stand mixer maybe Cuisinart has a good hand-mixer...I love both brands....

[Tradd]

I have a Kitchen Aid *hand* mixer that wasn't too expensive. It has dough hooks for stiffer batters/doughs, in addition to the regular "whisk" beaters, as well as a submersible stick blender attachment.

[Tammy]

I love this old wooden utensil my grandpa made. It's a potato masher. Its about 15 inches long, one inch dowrl shaped handle, and the end is a chunk of wood the shape of a small can of tomato sauce. I like my mashed potatos chunkyn I don't own an elec mixer anymore. I use a whisk for other things.

[redfox]

I love my KitchenAid food processor & immersion stick blender for most things. For mashed spuds, a hand held pastry blender.

[SteveinMN]

We don't often make mashed potatoes, so, for us, a handheld masher suffices. We do have a KitchenAid hand mixer that has stood up to all kinds of tasks which killed lesser mixers (like chocolate-chip cookie dough).

[HumboldtGurl]

Boy if it was practical for me to lug a Kitchen Aid around in our RV, I would do it in a heartbeat!

[sweetana3]

I love the part of Amazon.com where you can read actual reviews of each product and decide if the issues outweigh the positives. These brands are sold and/or changed so often, it is hard to make a generalization.

[frugal-one]

I'd go to a yard or garage sale and pick one up. Price would be right and hand mixer brands are not all that different IMO.

[Fawn]

I have not used an electric mixer for years. For bread, I knead by hand. For cookie dough, I use a strong spoon. For mashed potatoes, I use a hand masher.

I like using my muscles vs. electricity.

Hmmm....maybe I should add that to my frugals.....

[SteveinMN]

hand mixer brands are not all that different IMO.
I beg to differ. Before we bought the KitchenAid, we literally burned out a number of other brands, including Sears, Penney, Sunbeam, Proctor-Silex, ... A $20 (new) mixer is essentially disposable -- low-powered motors and plastic gears. It certainly won't work any better at $5 at a garage sale unless it's being used only for light duty and tossing it in the trash after a few uses isn't a concern. A person could get lucky -- someone may be selling their KA/Krups/Kenwood hand mixer because they got a countertop mixer. But buying just something anything isn't, IMHO, a frugal purchase.

[early morning]

I have a KitchenAid stand mixer - makes GREAT whipped potatoes, among other things. We got it as a wedding gift in 1977 and I would not want to be without it. The hand mixers I have used are about worthless - may as well just do the mixing by - hand!