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Hot or Not?: Rachael Ray's Garbage Bowl

2007_09_28-grabage-bowl-rachel-ray.jpgRachael Ray's garbage bowl flies as a concept: put a bowl on your counter and drop peels and meat trimmings into it as you cook. This tip frm the Queen of Quick saves trips to the garbage can and keeps kitchen floors and counters cleaner.

But do cooks really need a Rachael Ray branded melamine Garbage Bowl to get the job done? Wouldn't a compost pail or a regular bowl be a better solution?

We realize we really can't criticize paying big bucks for a place to bin the garbage since we own a kitchen garbage can that cost more than two dry aged steaks. So if you do want Rach's speckled bowl, head to Shop Rachael Ray. Garbage bowls are on sale for $14.36, marked down from $17.95.

 
 

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Comments (26)

I wouldn't buy her bowl (not liking the speckles), but in my weirdly laid-out kitchen, using a garbage bowl makes a lot of sense. I'll just use a mixing bowl that's not in use.

posted by cmcinnyc on September 28th 2007 at 4:51am
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yeah, i cant imagine buying a specific bowl for garbage. a bowl is a bowl...

posted by ForbiddenFruit on September 28th 2007 at 4:58am
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Ah Rachel Ray - the woman who gets credit for every common-sense kitchen tactic out there.

posted by quercus on September 28th 2007 at 5:25am
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Watching her use that garbage bowl is troubling - she'll drop in shrimp shells or bloody meat packaging and then something that's totally recyclable (or returnable in New York state). I find it hard to believe that her production assistants then paw through all that to rinse and recycle - it doesn't set the best example.

posted by cakekick on September 28th 2007 at 5:32am
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I've been doing this for a few years. I've got some nesting metal bowls that can go in the dishwasher, so I just carry a full bowl out and dump it in the compost (okay, so I don't use it for all garbage), put the empty bowl in the dishwasher, and put out another clean one when I need it.

I used to use an official composting pail, but I was too much of a slob to clean it out often enough and it got gross. And it was ugly in the kitchen all the time.

posted by Joan A. on September 28th 2007 at 6:29am
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I curse the day RR first used that great bowl and made it popular. Now I can't find an old Texas Ware speckle bowl in the junk shops to save my life.

posted by One Eyed Daruma on September 28th 2007 at 6:40am
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I just use a plastic bag. Why does it need to be a fancy bowl?

posted by sspros on September 28th 2007 at 6:54am
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Can't say I'd actually go out and pay for one - have enough spare bowls and grocery bags to do the trick.

posted by CDC on September 28th 2007 at 7:01am
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I keep a box of those waxed paper sandwich wrappers--the cheapest ones at the foodservice store--and put one down on the counter whenever I start to prep. They're cheap and I think biodegradable.

Or, what's wrong with using a page or two of newspaper? That's what we've used in my family for generations. It can go into the compost pile with the peelings when you're done.

posted by A Nony Mous on September 28th 2007 at 7:16am
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I just move the garbage closer to my cutting board when I'm cooking and throw it away that way.

posted by AndreaLynn on September 28th 2007 at 7:33am
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she should put herself in her garbage bowl

posted by luigi on September 28th 2007 at 8:22am
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i, too, don't see the point in buying a bowl specifically for garbage - i use a stainless steel mixing bowl i already had for compost scraps. but if you absolutely must, then i'd shell out for something like this on ebay.

posted by lindsey kathlene on September 28th 2007 at 8:27am
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lindsey kathlene - that's quite cool, even though some of the pix make it look like a toilet. I'd splurge on it.

posted by Joan A. on September 28th 2007 at 10:14am
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If you're going to throw it all away (no compost heap), why not use a cut down carton or empty ice-cream tub?
I'm thinking of cutting a hole in my kitchen worktop for sweeping rubbish into.

posted by Laurel on September 28th 2007 at 10:26am
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growing up in japan, my mom bought this rounded triangular plastic bin that sat in the corner of the sink for this very purpose. I found this link for a new version...
http://happy-idea.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sankakuko-na-.html
my japanese is not that good, but it seems that at the bottom they encourage composting your food waste and using two sheets of newspaper rather than plastic to line the bin.

posted by saya* on September 28th 2007 at 10:35am
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Why dirty another bowl? I just put the scraps back in the plastic bag it came in or move the trash closer.

posted by requis on September 28th 2007 at 11:27am
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I also don't like the idea of mixing "organic" waste, recyclables, and trash in one bowl. I try to clean up as I go, so I separate those things into their proper receptacles.

posted by brittanykate on September 28th 2007 at 11:42am
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In San Francisco, waxed cardboard milk cartons can go in the green waste for compost. So we keep an empty one open on the counter, and take it out to the green bin every night.

posted by yatima on September 28th 2007 at 12:15pm
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My garbage disposal works pretty well for this sort of thing. If I can't toss it down the disposal, I just put it in the trash. I never understood her concept of a "garbage bowl" why not just use a trash can? It's really the same thing when you think about it.

posted by ll on September 28th 2007 at 5:12pm
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I think it looks hot on TV. For myself, I just a stray bowl or plastic bag or whatever is handy.

posted by JonathanB on September 29th 2007 at 7:01am
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Considering how small my apt. kitchen is, the trash can is already within easy reach from the stove and sink. Using a bowl just dirties up one more dish.

And in my mother's huge kitchen, it still wasn't an ordeal to walk certain items to the trash bin, the recycle bin, or the mulch bucket hidden under her sink. Nothing we cook requires you to attend it every single second.

posted by verily on September 29th 2007 at 10:02am
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Come on, come on...Rachael Ray doesn't pretend to be a cook, she seems to be honest about getting people in/out of the kitchen in 30 minutes (not including washing dishes), so the G.B. saves several steps and gives her a way to keep the program on message. Please don't mistake her for a real cook, though she's probably done more for encouraging people of certain demographics to invite friends over for dinner at home rather than resorting to eating out all the time.

posted by krister on September 29th 2007 at 8:16pm
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RR...most cloying and annoying person on TV EVER!

posted by hdtex on September 30th 2007 at 2:19am
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Sigh----remember, if you don't dig Rachael's vibes, you don't have to watch her programs. (And there was a time when many of us actually managed not to watch tv.)

posted by krister on September 30th 2007 at 8:07am
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Why would anyone spend that much on a garbage bowl, when they could go to any flea market or garage sale and find something for less than a dollar if they're so terribly short on bowls?

Of course, I'm very frugal. I don't have a garbage bin in my kitchen (there's really no space anyway), so I hang plastic grocery store bags from a door handle or drawer and use that. It fills up in a day or two and then heads out to the garbage before anything starts to stink.

posted by Aisling on September 30th 2007 at 2:38pm
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I move the garbage can next to me while I cook. Counter space is at a premium and my garbage can is small enough to sit next to me as I work.

I could see using something like this if I were in a kitchen with those garbage cans that pull out of a cabinet like a drawer. I do agree with the previous commenters that this can be done with any bowl more cheaply and without the patented Rachael Ray smugness.

posted by sciencegeek on September 30th 2007 at 4:04pm
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