Multiple-alarm timer available?

October 18, 2005 9:46 AM

I'm looking for a kitchen timer that will let me set multiple alarms at once.

Ideally, I could just type in a number (say 10) and in 10 minutes an alarm would go off. If during that 10 minutes I needed a timer for 15 minutes, I could just type that in and it would get added to the list. The timer wouldn't have to have any notion of absolute time, just relative time from when I typed it in.

posted by jon_kill to food & drink (7 comments total)

lab timers do this.

here is the first google result for "lab timer", though it costs $38.
posted by unknowncommand at 10:11 AM on October 18, 2005

ChefsCatalog.com has a couple of great options, including this Triple Timer for $19.99.
posted by Aquaman at 10:15 AM on October 18, 2005

I think i have the double timer version of this one from the ChefsCatalog.com. I think it cost me about $10 - $12 at Target. These things are great and once you have lots of timers available to you, you can start to use them for all sorts of things besides culinary tasks.
posted by mmascolino at 10:24 AM on October 18, 2005

My roomie would kill me if he knew I was asking this question. He just whips open the oven, presses his thumb down on whatever he's cooking, comes back a bit later, and hauls it out. Trained chef.
posted by jon_kill at 10:27 AM on October 18, 2005

I see no shame whatsoever in using timers even if you are a professional chef. When you can focus your attention and have the skills, the touching test can work wonders (I too know people that can do that, but I can't). But hey, how often can you devote your full attention to everything. This is where the timers come in really handy. The other scenerios that work real well for me is when you want to stagger cooking items so that they finish at the same time. Set the timer and then go zone out with a book or the computer safe in the knowledge that the timer will tell you when you need to start cooking again.
posted by mmascolino at 10:35 AM on October 18, 2005

America's Test Kitchen outlines there kitchen essentials in this PDF, and includes a kitchen timer recommendation.
posted by ykjay at 11:00 AM on October 18, 2005

buy a cheap used palm pilot off of ebay. Download the free program Big Clock and you'll have 4 alarms you can run consecutively.
posted by any major dude at 12:26 PM on October 18, 2005