Customer Reviews

Back to Basics TEM500 Egg-and-Muffin 2-Slice Toaster and Egg Poacher

5 star:		(625)
4 star:		(172)
3 star:		(69)
2 star:		(74)
1 star:		(142)

 

 

I have only had this lovely toaster for a brief time, but I am very pleased. It does everything as advertised and it does it well.

I already have a great Black & Decker toaster-broiler that I continue to use. I consider this item in a different class. They have different strengths.

*First Impressions:
It smells like new plastic and chemicals out of the box. Up close it's easy to see that the pretty shell is made of black plastic, but it's not cheap-looking. After thoroughly wiping down the main unit, running the removable pieces through the dishwasher (top-shelf) and running the toast-cycle a few times, the odors went away. I wasn't sure whether the little measuring cup was going to be much use.

*First Cooking Trials:
I made hard boiled eggs. The eggs weren't boiled so much as steamed in the shell, but that's being picky. The eggs came out perfect on the first try. The little measuring cup was very useful as the amounts of water needed for different yolk-hardness were clearly marked on it. The process was almost idiot-proof.

The eggs went from refrigerator to sandwich in around 10 minutes and cleanup took another minute or so, consisting of rinsing the steamer tray and lid and wiping the heating tray with a damp paper towel.

A poached egg sandwich takes about 5 minutes from fridge to plate. It's a simple matter of placing the food on the appropriate tray (with a good bit of oil for the egg or else it will stick), pressing the right buttons and then coming back when you hear the toast pop up. The tray for heating sausage is more than large enough for a Garden Burger veggie patty if that's what you prefer and if you don't mind it soft and steamed. The toaster-slots can fit a wide range of breads, but perhaps not a thick bagel. The toaster has a clever timer so that toast is done at the same time as the egg.

The black plastic shell on the oven turns out to be an excellent heat-shield.

*Cleaning:
The trays can get messy -- in particular, the heating tray ends up with hard water deposits. Everything is easily cleaned with the exception of the steaming tray used for hard-boiling eggs, which has little bits that protrude to catch a sponge or a paper towel. The trays are made of plastic and are already showing scratches after just a few uses, but it's not noticeable from 3 feet away.

*One Annoying Thing:
If you cook something in the sausage tray, you'll find that its juices will drip down onto your egg and pool on the surface of the egg. Keep a bit of paper towel handy to swab the top of the egg before you remove it from the poaching cup.

*Usefulness:
Quickly hard boil eggs for tomorrow's lunch while you prepare for bed. Have it make your breakfast in the time that it takes you to make your morning cup of coffee. Make the kids a quick after-school snack. Make yourself a quick late-night snack. Any time you're in the mood for eggs and want them quickly. And it also makes toast.

*Summary:
I really like my new toy. It has that cool-gadget-chic that makes it fun to use, the black case looks sweet on a kitchen counter. It's easy to clean. When I ordered it on the advice of a friend, I thought that it was about $10 dollars too expensive, but the expense appears to be the consequence of making a high-quality product.

I am so in love with this product!! My 13 year old son has been conducting demonstrations in my kitchen. A must have for everyone on your Holiday shopping list. Perfect for a fresh hot breakfast on demand. Took about 4 tries to get the hang of it but we have experienced perfect egg muffins every time. The boiled eggs are just right, if you have family members that each like a different style of boiled egg this is for you. Hard boiled eggs for that chef or cobb salad ready while you assemble the other ingredients. After school snacks and those dinners on the run also covered with this product. Set it up with your choice, poached or boiled, select your bread push the button and by the time you get your dishes and beverage breakfast is ready. Perfect for singles, families with children and your aging parental units. Easy to use, easy to clean, delivers a quality product. Only makes one at a time but not a problem for us as it allows each of us to eat when we are ready in the morning. This is the one item that I will purchase for everyone on my Holiday shopping list this year.......and if I order another one I can make 2 at a time......

Breakfast time at our house was usually a bit of a scramble (and I don't just mean the eggs). My fantasy envisioned a trusty maid who would have hot toast, eggs and sausage waiting for us, while we greeted the day with smiles instead of "hurry-hurry" admonitions.

Turns out my fantasy wasn't so far off after all when I found this Back To Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster. This is the coolest electric I've ever seen. Would you believe this mini marvel toasts two slices of bread (or English muffin or croissant), cooks an egg, and warms sausage all at the same time? Well, it does, from a push of the start button to done in four minutes!

Wide toasting slots accommodate the bread of your choice, and it's equipped with an automatic shut-off. It can be used for all three of the functions or simply one (but what's egg without sausage?)

It's sleek and black measuring some 8" high and 15" wide with a detachable crumb tray, indicator light, plus meat warming tray. Not only that, but it's fun to use. Now, kids can get breakfast for me - that, friends, is really a good morning!

This thing worked great, exactly as advertised. But it only did it twice. Then the non-stick coating on the egg-poaching cup started to peel off. "Oh, that's not a big deal," you say. Well, it's actually a rather big deal indeed. The teflon stuff doesn't just peel off all at once, and you can't just scrape off the "iffy" part and then be done with it. No, every time you make eggs, from now until eternity, little chunks of teflon will come off and attach themselves to your otherwise-perfect egg.

This is a very serious design flaw. I tried a workaround (putting in a piece of foil in the cup) but it doesn't work (the eggs don't cook through, if you're wondering, and there's no way to adjust for it).

I'm going to call the company and see if they have functional replacements. I note that a number of other reviews have complained about this problem -- perhaps they've taken notice. If so, I'll gladly come back and give this thing the rating it would otherwise deserve.

I have only had this lovely toaster for a brief time, but I am very pleased. It does everything as advertised and it does it well.

I already have a great Black & Decker toaster-broiler that I continue to use. I consider this item in a different class. They have different strengths.

*First Impressions: It smells like new plastic and chemicals out of the box. Up close it's easy to see that the pretty shell is made of black plastic, but it's not cheap-looking. After thoroughly wiping down the main unit, running the removable pieces through the dishwasher (top-shelf) and running the toast-cycle a few times, the odors went away. I wasn't sure whether the little measuring cup was going to be much use.

*First Cooking Trials: I made hard boiled eggs. The eggs weren't boiled so much as steamed in the shell, but that's being picky. The eggs came out perfect on the first try. The little measuring cup was very useful as the amounts of water needed for different yolk-hardness were clearly marked on it. The process was almost idiot-proof.

The eggs went from refrigerator to sandwich in around 10 minutes and cleanup took another minute or so, consisting of rinsing the steamer tray and lid and wiping the heating tray with a damp paper towel.

A poached egg sandwich takes about 5 minutes from fridge to plate. It's a simple matter of placing the food on the appropriate tray (with a good bit of oil for the egg or else it will stick), pressing the right buttons and then coming back when you hear the toast pop up. The tray for heating sausage is more than large enough for a Garden Burger veggie patty if that's what you prefer and if you don't mind it soft and steamed. The toaster-slots can fit a wide range of breads, but perhaps not a thick bagel. The toaster has a clever timer so that toast is done at the same time as the egg.

The black plastic shell on the oven turns out to be an excellent heat-shield.

*Cleaning: The trays can get messy -- in particular, the heating tray ends up with hard water deposits. Everything is easily cleaned with the exception of the steaming tray used for hard-boiling eggs, which has little bits that protrude to catch a sponge or a paper towel. The trays are made of plastic and are already showing scratches after just a few uses, but it's not noticeable from 3 feet away.

*One Annoying Thing: If you cook something in the sausage tray, you'll find that its juices will drip down onto your egg and pool on the surface of the egg. Keep a bit of paper towel handy to swab the top of the egg before you remove it from the poaching cup.

*Usefulness: Quickly hard boil eggs for tomorrow's lunch while you prepare for bed. Have it make your breakfast in the time that it takes you to make your morning cup of coffee. Make the kids a quick after-school snack. Make yourself a quick late-night snack. Any time you're in the mood for eggs and want them quickly. And it also makes toast.

*Summary: I really like my new toy. It has that cool-gadget-chic that makes it fun to use, the black case looks sweet on a kitchen counter. It's easy to clean. When I ordered it on the advice of a friend, I thought that it was about $10 dollars too expensive, but the expense appears to be the consequence of making a high-quality product.

I have made my husband the happiest man alive when I turned his boring breakfast cereal eating days into an exciting breakfast experience! One thing run toasting cycle first before you toast anything or you will get a weird plastic smell. The smell wears of after the first toasting cycle.

#1 it cooks egg Mcmuffins to perfection

#2 clean up is sooooo easy

#3 it offers a variety of other dishes to be made!

So what if the meat from heating tray drips off onto the food. I am a cook and know that this gives it much more flavor! If you are concerned just pat the poached egg with a paper towel (easy).

Recipes I have come up with:

1. Try havarti cheese instead of cheddar and put some steamed spinach on top of the egg, yummy, use with English muffin or croissant.

2. Try smoked turkey breast deli slices for lower fat, cheddar cheese and spread raspberry jam on the bottom of the English muffin.

3. Try Cheese whiz over an opened faced English muffin instead of hollandaise sauce.

4. Try an opened faced egg sandwich, use cheddar cheese, sausage patty and poached egg

and pour sausage gravy over top.

If you want a low fat cheese try a soy pepper jack found at Giant. MMM much lower fat!

The recipes are endless!!!!!!!!!! And much easier and cleaner too!!!

Who wouldn't use this toaster? Man, I wish I had this thing when I was in college. THis thing just made my Christmas shopping a WHOLE LOT easter. "Toasters for EVERYONE!!!" I was skeptical at first. I'm usually a sucker for kitchen gadgets. I fight the urge to order every silly informercial that is being pitched by some dude with an English accent (why are they always English? Do we assume they're smarter or that there is some "euro-secret" we don't know about?). But finally for once, a product has well EXCEEDED my expectations. Take it from someone who has the "Magic-Perfect-Super-Spinning-Peeler-Slicing-Dicing-Rotisserie-Bread-Making-Coffee-Bean-Grinder". Perfect toast, perfect eggs, done (studio audience "oooooooosss" and "aaaaahhhhsss").

I was quite impressed when I took this gadget out of the box, and that feeling did'nt change up to and including putting it to use.

The mark of a well thought out product is attention to detail. This unit comes with a measuring cup marked with the amount of water needed for soft, medium and hard, hard boiled eggs and soft and medium poached eggs. For up to 4 hard boiled eggs the instructions say to puncture each egg to prevent exploding due to steam build up in the shell. There's a handy and thoughtful egg piercer on the bottom of the measuring cup for that purpose.

I bought this toaster a week ago based on the excellent customer reviews. Before it arrives, make sure you have plenty of English muffins, eggs, ham, and cheese on hand because of course, everyone will want to try it. What is somewhat surprising, after a week of real (and very busy) life, everyone in my family is still using it.

To really make it efficient, I buy 99% lean ham and a couple types of cheese, pre-slice a supply of each, and keep in the fridge in zip-lock bags. With this already done, you can literally make a breakfast sandwich that is superior to the fast food ones in under 5 minutes while you're doing other things. Plus they can be much healthier than the fasties, which I don't eat because they're too greasy.

If this wasn't easy to clean, I wouldn't keep it in the house. It's simple. I just give the egg-cooking parts a quick rinse while I'm waiting for my cheese to melt, and voila, it's ready to go again. Looks-wise, it fits in nicely with my stainless steel appliances.

I'm posting a few pictures so you can see more of what it looks like.

I went out on a limb and bought these toasters for my sister's family and my dad at the same time I bought mine. I worried a bit - would this be a tacky gift? No way! Now I'm really glad I got these little whiz-machines for them too - I know they'll like them just as much as we do.

Took it out of the box and cleaned it. Made a egg muffin sandwich perfectly the first time. Then hard boiled 4 eggs perfectly. Made another egg sandwich this morning. How did I survive before this???