I enjoy cooking but have to admit that I nearly always use a recipe. I also don't have a large family, it's just me and my husband, so I'm often cooking for two. But of course, sometimes I face the challenge of cooking for a much larger group when guests are here for special occasions.

One of my biggest challenges when cooking for two, is to find recipes that serve two and not a family of five. Basically, I usually end up trying to scale traditional recipes down, so that we don't waste a lot of food. Over the years I've learned of the hazardous of inaccurately scaling down ingredients. When you deal with smaller quantities, small differences in your measurements can make a big difference. Cookies may be flat, sauces thicken too much or too little, flavors can overwhelm a dish, and so forth.

After enough failures, I decided to invest in a kitchen calculator. Certainly a basic calculator can do the job, but when I discovered one that was designed specifically for kitchen use, it made things much easier and faster.

First my kitchen calculator is built to withstand the tough working conditions of the kitchen. It has a plastic cover that allows me to keep it on the counter as I work. If it gets splattered or something gets spilled on it, there's no worry. I don't have to tuck it away or move it across the room. It's right at my side where I need it.

Secondly it's set up to easily scale my recipes. I can scale regular recipes to suit the two of us. In addition, I can easily take a recipe I love and scale up for those times when I will be having guests for dinner. I no longer feel frantic trying to find something I can use for special occasions, I just adjust what I know will be a great dish anyway.

Now that I find many new reciipes online, my kitchen calculator has also allowed me to more easily explore recipes from other sources. When I discover a dish that sounds tasty which someone from Britain has posted, I can easily convert the measurements to US standard and know they're correct. I don't have to scrounge around for an online converter, I have it right at my fingertips.

The calculator I chose also has a timer which is sometimes very handy when I have a lot going on in the kitchen. My oven may be timing a roast, my microwave may be timing some vegetables, but I need something to time the sauce on my stove top at the same time. My kitchen calculator lets me do that, all concurrently.

Of course my kitchen calculator has also come in handy for doing traditional calculating as well. It will perform the basic addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication functions that any calculator can do. There's no need to buy a second calculator just to balance my check book or anything like that.

My kitchen calculator is a work horse and has definitely widened my cooking options now that I can easily scale and convert recipes.