Whilst MasterChef maniacs find it easy to blow up to £250,000 ‘souping up’ their kitchens, student budgets don’t exactly that far. Catherine Cloughley and Emily Patterson whet the appetites of frivolous yet frugal foodies…
TOAST STAMP – £6, gettingpersonal.co.uk
I thought I was having some kind of Religious Experience when at a friend’s house the simple snack before me was emblazoned with the face of Jesus himself, staring up calmly from my plate! Unfortunately no such excitement, nowadays even toast can be dressed up to the nines. It’s not only the big man himself that can make an appearance, ‘Toast Stamps’ can come in the form of people, shapes and even flags for the most patriotic. Although some may question the fundamental purpose when the toast will be swiftly covered in spread, why not add a stamp of approval to an otherwise dreary meal?
POACHETS – £2.99, Lakeland
The solution for poached eggs without drowning them in vinegar or causing a swirling flood, these small bags are made from tea-bag like paper and keep the egg white contained. Simply place the pouch open in a cup and crack in an egg, lift out, pulling the top together, hold for a second in a pan of water and the bag magically closes. After six minutes your eggs are perfectly cooked and, more importantly, there are no messy pans to deal with!
PINEAPPLE SLICER – £6, Amazon
Pineapples can be tricky to cut, but with this nifty little gadget you can slice up your fruit faster than opening a tin. The slicer works like a corkscrew and is so easy to use. Simply chop off the top of your pineapple, twist the slicer into the fruit and then pull it out. This both cores and slices the fruit, giving you ready to eat rings or cubes of pineapple in seconds.
VEGETABLE TWISTER – £10, Amazon
Jazz up your five-a-day; cucumbers, potatoes, courgette and an assortment of others can be transformed into endless spirals and spaghetti. To use, simply pop your chosen veggie onto the twister screw and then screw in the attachment. Twist the top et voila, you have some fine, flouncy veg you can use to disguise or decorate the meal beneath.
ONION GOGGLES – £11, Amazon
Onions are one of those necessities for pretty much every meal. Yet regardless of various old wives tales, we continue to tolerate the stinging and the crying, and why would we do that to ourselves when we could just wear these fashionable onion goggles!? With a foam seal designed to stop any tears being released from the vapours, and they come in both male and female shades! Hands up, they obviously aren’t the sexiest of items, particularly when cooking a romantic meal for two… so if you have cash to splash you could plump for The ‘Alligator Dicer’ which in two movements will dice your onions or any other veg, also without the tears!
CONDIMENT GUN – £13, iwantoneofthose.com
In the spirit of the new Bond film this Gun is loaded with ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard or whatever you want and fired onto your food. Realistically, there are very few people who don’t like to get saucy with most of their food and this way it’s much more enjoyable! Simply load the cartridge with the chosen condiment and it is ready to go. Take caution though, this does have a lot of potential to get out of hand, particularly in a post-lash shoot out…Kitchens beware.