Modern life seems to be busier than ever. Work, family, social commitments or those other things always seem to intrude on our daily lives. While we’d love to be able to cook from fresh all the time, the convenience of pre-prepared or ready meals has become a necessity for many. But it’s not impossible to cook from scratch still and here are my top 5 Kitchen gadgets to help you do it…
Why Did I Choose These Kitchen Gadgets?
I’ve looked at a mix of what we have in the kitchen and use regularly. Not because they’re hi-tech, but because they make life genuinely easier. When I’m cooking a meal for myself or anyone else in the family I want to save as much time as possible. I don’t want to rely on shortcuts, but if I can use real ingredients and get the same results or better then that’s a win in my book!
Nutri-Q Omelette Maker
They may be simple and healthy, but sometimes it can be a nightmare to get omelettes just right. Cooking them evenly, stopping them sticking to the pan or making sure the top is cooked without burning the bottom. We’ve all had the same omelette disasters and be honest, it can be off-putting. What should be an enjoyable part of a meal quickly becomes a chore. So I was over the moon when my daughter bought me the Nutri-Q Omelette Maker for Christmas last year. Using a tiny amount of oil (or low calorie spray for those on a diet) it can cook perfect fluffy omelettes in around 7-8 minutes.
Fillings are easy to add, it just wipes clean and even though I haven’t tried yet, it can even cook fried and scrambled eggs too! But how good is it really? Well, I’m asked regularly to cook omelettes for my wife and daughter with this so it must be doing a good job! I really couldn’t live without this now.
Stufz Burger Maker
Being a vegetarian, this one might seem a little odd… However, the rest of my family still eat meat and love their burgers. We’ve had home-made burgers for years but they’d always been lacking something until we bought one of the Stufz Burger Makers. As well as the usual ingredients, this allows you to create a filling that you can stuff with absolutely anything you like. Want a cheese filled burger? No problem. Mushrooms and onions? Simple. Just put some of the meat in the bottom and the press will shape a hollow into it, Add the filling and the rest of the meat and you’re done.
But what about me? I haven’t tried it *yet* but I am hoping to. Hopefully this will work equally well with soya or Quorn mince. If it does then I’ve got plenty of meal ideas lined up. Watch this space and I’ll let you all know how I get on with it.
Vegetable Spaghetti Slicer
Supermarkets love to make us think that they are making our lives easier. Most fruit and vegetable sections are filled with areas of pre-prepared foods that are supposed to make our lives more convenient. From ready-made mashed potatoes, sliced mushrooms to diced vegetables. It’s all designed to make us pay more for our fruit and veg instead of buying fresh. If we stopped to think about how much more we spend this way instead of preparing food ourselves, we could save a small fortune every year. And this is where another of my favourite kitchen gadgets comes in…
You can’t have failed to notice the increasing presence of vegetable “spaghetti” in stores. This vegetable spaghetti slicer takes most vegetables and creates exactly the same thing. Ideal for salads at a fraction of the cost of buying them pre-packed. For the cost of two fresh carrots, you can slice enough to fill a tub that would cost you a pound! At home we use this more to help prepare veg for some of our fussier pets but that’s really just scratching the surface with it.
Cereal Dispenser
This one is a little different to the rest on this list. It’s not one of your typical kitchen gadgets that helps out when it comes to food preparation but it has made our lives easier at home. Usually we tend to start the day with toast or cereal. Obviously toast is relatively stress free but cereal is another matter. We struggle for space in our kitchen and when it comes to cereal we end up with boxes everywhere! Then it means finding space for a bowl, fiddling with opening a box, watching cereal fly everywhere and then putting it back before you can even get to the milk!
So we ended up getting this cereal dispenser instead. We just keep our two favourites in there and in a few seconds we can fill a bowl without making a mess and more importantly save time and space in the morning. The only issue is arguing over what cereals go in there in the first place!
Gas Range Clean Pad
This is a problem that you’ll all be familiar with. You cook using your gas stove and you can guarantee that something will spill over. It’s not too bad if it’s just water but that rarely happens. Instead it ends up being grease or the messiest food possible. Then you’re left with a bigger clean up job that the washing up itself. If you don’t have time to clean up after every meal then this is another one of those kitchen gadgets that will be right up your street.
Instead of scrubbing away with an oven cleaner, we’ve found that this gas range clean pad does the trick wonderfully. Added underneath the gas rings, once cut to size it protects the top of the cover from stray splashes. And being reusable, a quick wipe over and you’re ready to go again. If only we knew about these years ago…!
* * *
Well those are some of my personal favourites but what about yours? Let me know in the comments below.
Leave a Reply