Decide what to buy

Back in the day, our kitchens were filled with mug trees, chip pans and egg slicers. Well a lot has happened since then and we now go home to plasma TVs, grilling machines and bread makers. Making meals from scratch has given way to microwaves, ready meals and expensive gadgets that cut down the time and effort we have to put into cooking. In fact, a survey conducted by Reevoo showed that in the 1970s, we cooked seven meals a week from scratch compared to only four today. We also spent 116 minutes a day in the kitchen whereas we only spend around 74 minutes nowadays.

Check out the stats below that show how our kitchens have changed in the last 30 odd years.

The survey also looked at regional changes and found that those in the North East were more likely to own chip pans in the 70s and in the North West and Northern Ireland, kitchens are more likely to come complete with games consoles, HiFis and plasma TVs today. However, gadgets aren’t as important in the North East – they are the least likely to have a dishwasher.

People in the East Midlands spend the least time in the kitchen with those in Northern Ireland spending the most.

Interesting stuff. Although, I do think that the culture of cooking from scratch is on its way back in. With more and more scare stories about packaged food, problems with our diets and the guilt factor pushed onto parents, I think that we are cooking a lot more than we did 10 years ago. It is a little worrying that more people have coffee machines than scales but here’s hoping that we all start putting a bit more effort into cooking healthy meals. The big issue is time but with all these gadgets, it has made things a little quicker than they would have been in the 70s.

Top seventies kitchen items

1.     Teapot and cosy (63%)
2.     Kitchen scales (61 %)
3.     Tupperware (59%)
4.     Chip pan (58%)
5.     Salt and pepper shakers (57%)
6.     Bread bin (56%)
7.     Hand-held whisk (52%)
8.     Casserole dish (49%)
9.     Spice rack (44%)
10.   Pressure cooker (43%)
11.   Tea strainer (42%)
12.   Mug tree (41%)
13.   Toasted sandwich maker (38%)
14.   Souvenir tea towels (37%)
15.   Shaped jelly mould (36%)
16.   Egg slicer (36%)
17.   Lolly makers (35%)
18.   Food mixer (35%)
19.   Soda stream (34%)
20.   Electric carving knife (33%)

Top items found in today’s kitchens

1.     Microwave (70%)
2.     Electric kettle (69%)
3.     Toaster (68%)
4.     Saucepan set (57%)
5.     Knife set (55%)
6.     Automatic washing machine (53%)
7.     Wok (49%)
8.     Sandwich maker (40%)
9.     Blender (38%)
10.   Hand held blender (37%)
11.   Tumble dryer (36%)
12.   Steamer (35%)
13.   Dishwasher (32%)
14.   Grilling machine (31%)
15.   Coffee machine (26%)
16.   Grill pan (26%)
17.   Slow cooker (26%)
18.   Electric scales (24%)
19.   Water filter (23%)
20.   Bread maker (22%)

With these lovely hot summer evenings we’ve been having of late, I hope you’ve all been making the most of them. Unfortunately, it’s the mornings afterwards that prove a problem. I’ve been making full use of the coffee shop down the road but having added up all of these trips, the outcome was a little scary. It made me think about the prospect of buying a coffee machine. They’re a little pricey but surely it’s cheaper than getting them from coffee shops?

The top coffee maker on Reevoo at the moment is the DeLonghi EN660. It’s got 9.0/10 with 93 per cent of people recommending it. It’s around £174 which is a lot less than I thought it would be.

For those of you on a tighter budget, the Krups KP 2000 DOLCE GUSTO BLACK is only £74 and it has some good reviews too. It gets 8.8/10 and looks a bit like a duck.

If you fancy splashing out, the Siemens TK68E570B is pretty sleek and comes in at a impressive £1,029. It looks the business but you may not be able to afford any coffee to put in it!

Design-wise, I do quite like the look of the FrancisFrancis X1 Almond. It’s around £300 so it’s still pricey but the almond colour gives it a great retro look…and they’re made in Italy so you can’t really argue.

Going all Italian, I’ve also been looking for some tasty recipes for biscotti so that I can impress people with a proper coffee-house experience. I came across this one from the food geniuses over at Yumblog. While you’re there, check out the other amazing recipes but make sure you don’t do it before lunch because you’ll only be bitterly disappointed with your ploughman’s.

Triple Chocolate Biscotti

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Skill level: Easy - medium
Makes: 50ish
Ingredients
• plain flour - 200g
• cocoa powder - 60g
• caster sugar - 150g
• baking powder - 3/4 tsp
• dark chocolate - chopped - 60g
• 3 eggs - beaten
• vanilla extract - 1tsp
• blanched almonds - toasted - 100g
• white chocolate - chopped - 100g
• salt - 1/2 tsp

Peheat the oven to 180C (gas mark 4)

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, dark chocolate and salt into a food processor and pulse until powdered. Add the eggs and pulse again until a dough is formed.

Tip out onto a floured surface and knead in the almonds.

Divide into 4 and roll out into 25mm x 300mm flat logs. Place onto a paper-lined baking tray and bake for 25 minutes. Cool.

Cut the baked dough diagonally into 15mm thick pieces. Put onto a baking tray and bake for a further 15 minutes. Cool.

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and drizzle over the biscotti in a Jackson Pollock style.

Eat … or store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.