Kick start, or kick to the curb: cooler, saltier, and unique-er

Kickstarter is an interesting place to browse. Some good projects, some not-useful products, and some proposals that are just plain odd. I sorted through and found some food related items that I thought were interesting or entertaining. Sometimes both.

The Coolest Cooler includes speakers, a blender, a USB charger, and a bunch of gadgets. What more do you need? Maybe some beer. It's already fully funded (and vastly over-funded) with plenty of time to go. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryangrepper/coolest-cooler-21st-century-cooler-thats-actually

Multi-purpose tongs. Hmmm. Not sure. I'm pretty sure I've seen something similar to this before ... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1568028404/versatile-kitchen-tongs

Brew salt: It's flavored salt. I like the labels. The flavors sound interesting, but as with any spice blend, I always wonder if I could mix it myself. What do you think? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1467774776/play-with-your-brew-brew-salt

Silicone baking mats. Um, don't these already exist? But is says these are different somehow. You decide. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1128068897/nonstick-silicone-baking-mats

"A unique culinary accessory." You can say that again. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/155591788/utensilmate-a-unique-culinary-accessory

That's all I've got for now. Have you found any cooking-related items on Kickstarter than are worth a mention? Email me, message me, leave a comment, or send a smoke signal.

Kick Start, or Kick to the Curb: Pans, dishes, and probes, oh my!

Ah, those creative entrepreneurs on Kickstarter have some more fun cooking gear for you. Here's a sampling of what I found. These are not necessarily endorsements; judge for yourself.

MiPan

The MiPan is a stovetop grill pan that has two separate pieces that's supposed to give you a better char-grill result with less spatter. I think this one looks interesting, and I'm hoping it gets funded so I can give it a test drive.

This campaign is almost over, so check it out quickly, if you're interested.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mipan/mipan-intelligent-dual-cooking-surface

Range Oven/Grill Intelligence

The name of this kickstarter is pretty unwieldy, but the product is much simpler. These are remote thermometers that connect to your smart phone so you can monitor your cooking from a distance. It's kind of a neat idea.

There are a couple different models, with sharp probes for meat, rounded probes for candy-making or similar functions, and a grill model that has sturdier (more heat resistant) features along with a probe to measure ambient temperature.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supermechanical/range-oven-intelligence-a-brain-for-your-oven-or-g

Seally Cap

The Seally Cap people emailed me to let me know that they relaunched their campaign.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/542106477/seally-cap

Squishy Dish

The Squishy Dish is a silicone dish set that's designed to make it easier for kids to make eating on their own a little easier and the colorful design is supposed to make food more fun.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/780142937/easy-peasy-squishy-dishy-by-jinjabiscuit

Have you found any interesting Kickstarter campaigns? Email me and maybe I'll add 'em to a future roundup.

Kick Start, or Kick to the Curb: Coffee mugs, spices, and more

Photo courtesy of Spiceologist

Ya gotta love Kickstarter. People with great ideas don't need to have rich friends to launch their products. If enough potential customers love the product, they'll fund the project. And that's a good sign that other people will like it as well.

On the other hand, people with not-great ideas don't get funded, so they find out early on that they might need to tweak things to get the public to spend their hard-earned dollars. It's probably not a pleasant thing when a project doesn't get funded, but it's better to find out than to end up with a garage full of product you can't sell.

Here are a few things that I thought were interesting. Not necessarily that I love all of them, or that I'm funding them - just that I was amused enough to mention them.

The Hey Joe Coffee Mug brews coffee right in the mug, so if you've got access to water and you've got coffee (they also sell pods that fit the mug, or you can use grounds, which would be a tad more messy) you can brew hot coffee anywhere. I can see how this would be useful in an office, where you could brew a cup of your own favorite coffee any time, or for folks on-the-go.

I've been using an Anova Sous Vide device for a while now, and the newer model looks pretty slick, with an interface to your phone to control and monitor it. I'm looking forward to seeing this one when it's available.

One feature that I'm particularly interested in is the programmed settings, where you you can choose a meat, a doneness, and a weight or thickness, and the app will calculate the proper temperature and cooking time. I think you can also create your own settings within the app, so if you create your own fantastic recipe, you can save it and make it again.

The Anova Sous Vide has exceeded its funding goals, but you can still fund and get stuff.

The blogger behind The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen has launched a kickstarter campaign to fund an online bake shop. I'm intrigued by this idea - could it launch a commercial enterprise? A brick-and-mortar bakery? Even if you don't want to fund it, go gawk at the cookies. They look pretty good!

The Sealy Cap is a stretchy cover that fits over cans, fruit, small bowls ... things that you want to cover for storage. Sure, you could use plastic wrap or shove you lemons into a plastic bag, but these are washable and reusable. Until this one actually hits the market, I'm not sure how different it will be from similar products that are on the market. But it's good to have competition, right? It looks like this one's not going to get funded, and the creator says right now he's focusing on a relaunch, so keep an out out for that.

Spiceologist successfully funded the Spiceologist Block and now they're back in the kitchen creating a variety of spice rubs like Greek Freak, Raspberry Chipotle, Purple Haze, and Cowboy Crust. I've got no idea what they taste like but they sound interesting. And I'm a sucker for interesting packaging, so I like the spices packed in flasks. (See the photo above.)

What do you think of these? Have YOU found anything interesting on Kickstarter?