Here’s a totally fun guest post by Liam. He shares creative ways to use kitchen gadgets to get your kids fighting to help you with the food preparation and cooking chore. Interestingly, cooking has never been a chore at our home. While GiGi is our resident-foodie, there’s not a day, meal or snack that all 3 girls aren’t fighting to prepare the next-best edible delight. But, many of our friends and family ask how I made this chore so much fun…well, Liam shares some great tips below!
Lifesaving Kitchen Gadgets
We’ve all been there. The kids are hungry, there’s nothing on the television to keep them amused and they’re playing up and wrecking your home. You’ve got to cook them something and quick, but what do you do?
Believe it or not, there are lots of kitchen gadgets out there which can cut down the time it takes to rustle up a healthy, tasty and nutritious meal. Not only can these time-saving devices cut down the time it takes to calm your kids, but you can involve them in the cooking process too. Getting them involved with helping you to prepare your evening meal could save your home from some serious damage!
With that in mind, here are five great life-saving kitchen gadgets you could think about buying to get your kids involved in the cooking process.
1. Sharpen your knives
Speed is of the essence when it comes to preparing food quickly, and the key to this is having a sharp knife. Because knives blunt easily, having an electric knife sharpener is an essential piece of kit as it will let you slice and dice vegetables, salad leaves, and peel potatoes with ease.
However, while we tell our kids not to play with knives, they have to learn how to use one safely one day. You can start teaching them how to slice and dice by supervising them closely and letting them sharpen the knife with one of these electric sharpeners. Compared with standard knife sharpeners they’re much safer!
2. Buy a chopper
What mom has time to slice and dice onions, peppers and tomatoes to make a delicious soup, when a mini chopper can take all the hard work out for you? With dishwasher-safe components, mini choppers are great for moms in a hurry – just get your kids to choose the vegetables they want, let them put them in the top rack and let them press the button and blend away!
3. Get a garlic press
Kids love garlic bread, and it’s ever so simple to make with having a garlic press. Give them a few piece of garlic cloves, let them peel away the skin and squeeze the handle. The cloves will push right through for a perfect mince, every time. Then take a baguette, let them butter and spread the cloves on – add a few herbs and voila – perfect garlic bread every time.
4. Avoid boiling eggs
A boiled egg is one of the simplest and most nutritious things you can cook. Take a pan, boil some water, three minutes and you’re done. However, it takes time to boil, and that’s a luxury you might not have if the kids are screaming!
You can buy an electric egg cooker, which can boil from one to seven eggs at the same time, making your kitchen experience as effortless as possible and giving you perfect eggs, time and again.
5. Sweet treats
It goes without saying, but kids love sugar. You can take the trouble out of baking with a cupcake maker which will do all the cooking for you. All your kids will need to concentrate on is decorating the cupcakes with icing, sprinkles, chocolate or cherries!
These cupcake makers come with a range of recipe cards for your kids to try. The easy-lift handle will stay cool so you don’t need to worry about them burning themselves, and the plates have a non-stick coating so any cleaning is a breeze.
So there you have it – five brilliant kitchen gadgets which will not only get your kids cooking up a storm, they’ll save you time and more importantly money – and what busy mom doesn’t want that?
My girls were salivating at some of these recommendations and urging me to go shopping for their new kitchen gadget discoveries. Aren’t you excited to hop in the car and head to the grocery store with a detour to make sure your next meal preparation is fun? Please share your thoughts and experiences below.
This post was written by Kirstie Allsopp bedding stockist Palmers Department Store.
