Early in pandemic, with everyone in the house 24/7, I had to make new rules for the new world order. One rule was that I would be willing to cook dinner, but everyone was on their own for breakfast and lunch. I was not about to become a short order cook and spend my day flipping meals for everyone.

After I made this decree, my Husband and Daughter bought themselves an air fryer. They put everything in the air fryer. My daughter was watching videos about things that can be fried. My Husband invested in about every frozen appetizer that Trader Joe’s makes.

They were happy- they easily prepared their meals. I was happy. I didn’t have to prepare their meals. They shopped for these things and cleaned up after themselves.

Win. Win. Win.

About the first week of August 2021, we noticed that the air fryer shorted out the fuse. Three times I had to flip the switch. After three times I knew enough to know that the air fryer had fried its last meal.

I asked my family if they wanted to replace it.

My daughter shook her head no. I’m going back to college in a few weeks she said. I’m not going to need it anymore.

My Husband thought about it and agreed with my daughter. No. I’m in the office three days a week now. I can figure out something else for lunch when I’m home.

We didn’t need an air fryer anymore.

So in some weird way, it was like the air fryer was telling us that it’s time to move on- Sometimes you need something for a period of your life. They are extremely important until one day they aren’t. But you think fondly about whatever it was that filled a much needed hole in your life.

Not everything is permanent.

It’s OK to let go of anything that you don’t need anymore, whether it’s people, ideas, clothes or a small kitchen appliance.

Sometimes we just need to move on. Moving on doesn’t mean that something wasn’t important or valuable: moving on simply means we are at a different place in our lives, and we need different things to get us through.

Try no to hold on to anything that has lost it’s usefulness or purpose.

Try to find what you really need.

72 thoughts on “The Air Fryer”

  1. I’ve cooked more during the pandemic. I won’t give up my Instant Pot, or my air fryer. Restaurant food is now a rare treat, but that’s because I love cooking.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. My things that I won’t get rid of are my pasta maker, my slow cooker, and I have this cooking utensil…it’s supposed to be for wok cooking, it’s sort of like a spoon but has slots and one side is straightish but I think it’s perfect for when I’m cooking!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  5. Didn’t know what I was getting into when I read the title of your post. But I love the message. In fact, it was very timely for me. Thank you, I needed this.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. I got a good smile out of this! How nice of the Air Fryer to free up space on your counter when everyone went back to work/school. Reminds me of that saying about people who come in our life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When it’s time, we need to let those people go too. We know, there is a new path for us. ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. I’m going to be the opposite, but that’s because I believe I’m going through something right now.
    This makes me sad for a couple of reasons.
    I love my air fryer.
    I’m having difficulty returning to normalcy.
    I long for the days when I was under lockdown.

    Told you I’m going through something.
    But I appreciate your message. I needed to see it today.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    2. There is part of me that still longs for the simplicity of lockdown again: no pressure to consume or create content for the capitalist system- Nature getting a break from our planes & cars- my home is blessedly peaceful so I know I’m hugely privileged… but it was calming just staying home…

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  13. What a perfect analogy! Good stuff. And now I’m thinking it’s time I buy one. I keep hearing how wonderful they are and I would like to make cooking for my two GROWN sons easier. Or maybe they’ll actually start to prepare their own food! That sounds like a win for me.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Hmmm….how do I explain…it cooks things sort of convection like. The outside gets crisp but inside tender, with little or no oil. It’s great to cook frozen things (what my husband did) and my daughter cooked pretty much anything in there

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      2. Research, because there are some way more practical than others, if I had bought another one I probably would have gotten the toaster oven style one just for making cutlets etc

        Liked by 1 person

  18. I love this! there were so many things we needed during lockdown/quarantine that we have no use for anymore. In other news, we just got a toaster/airfryer, because our old toaster broke. It’s pretty fun and the food tastes great from it!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. Thank you! It is heartbreaking to go through, kept hoping he would change but she so needs to do it for her mental heath! But even when you know you need to do it, its still hard!

        Liked by 1 person

      4. When our stove broke last year and I was shopping for stoves I noticed it. I didn’t buy one because I didn’t want to spend the money on something I didn’t know how often I’d use

        Liked by 1 person

  25. That’s an excellent point! Sometimes we try to hang on to things that are no longer relevant or useful, simply because they are so familiar. I’m letting go of many of my early-pandemic habits too…and wondering what to do with my giant bin full of sanitizing wipes!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s