I've been on a shopping spree over the past year. I blame it all on the pandemic. Extra time at home has meant more time on the internet searching for items that I might like to buy. And that's not a good thing.

Some items I have purchased (financed) have been due to the fact that I needed to replace an aging item, like the refrigerator, dryer, an old vehicle and air-conditioning unit to name a few. It's just a part of life, right?

But I have made a couple of purchases lately that I probably could have done without. I have heard a lot about air fryers, and the last fryer I owned just made a mess whenever we used it. Oil all over the place. So I bought an inexpensive air fryer. My wife wanted nothing to do with it for some reason. Her first words to me were "You don't even know how to cook." Well I don't, but the air fryer does.Things went downhill quickly after that.

Over the winter, I bought a wood pellet grill to replace on old gas grill at camp. Sure, the gas grill still works, but the taste of meat off a wood pellet grill is so much better. That's a good excuse. Well, at least the best I can come up with. And I couldn't place this new wood pellet grill on the patio of my camper by itself. I picked up a small bar and couple of bar stools. Now the ensemble is complete.

And, I have discovered a new item to add to my lack of cooking skills menagerie of cooking gadgets. It's a pizza oven. It's small, portable, easy to setup and tear down and comes in different varieties including powered by wood pellets and propane. I think I'd like the wood pellet option. The company claims that it gets twice as hot as any kitchen oven and can cook a 12 inch pizza full of your favorite toppings to perfection in just 60 seconds.

How can I not buy one? Well, the lowest price is about 300 dollars, so that's probably going to put a halt to that purchase. But if you know me, it's just a matter of time, and another difficult conversation with my wife. But she does love pizza, so I've got that excuse in my arsenal, I think.

Four Super Important Grilling Safety Tips

More From 99.1 The Whale