What do you want for Black Friday? If you look deep into your soul, you’ll find the answer is probably chips. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, we all love chips, but you may be concerned that your desire for chips is not the healthiest impulse to indulge. Let’s get two things straight: don’t deny yourself a pleasure because it might not be healthy, and, chips are not unhealthy – no single food is. Eating too much fat, especially of the unsaturated kind isn’t a great idea though, which can be easy to do if you enjoy chips as much as we do. Air fryers are a neat solution to this conundrum as they use a tiny amount of oil to fry food compared with deep-fat fryers. 

It turns out these kitchen gadgets can also do more than just fry, so you don’t have to take up countertop space for a one-trick pony. If you want to take things up a notch you can also find air fryer tech in multicookers from brands like Instant Pot.

For these reasons and more, air fryers have become a popular item this Black Friday. The “more” reasons? It’s a product category that is seeing discounts in the true spirit of Black Friday – we’re talking 40% and up from major brands, so now is the time to invest. Here we’ve picked three that got us thinking about where we could make space on our kitchen counter.

Breville Halo Air Fryer – Save 50%, Now £54.99

With a 5.5-litre basket this little beauty can cook a whole bird in double-quick time, which is always a useful string to add to your bow as the season of Christmas dinner disasters approaches. As well as roasting, there’s air frying (of course), including a preset for chips, plus baking, sautéing and grilling. The basket is also dishwasher safe, so the washing up is a doddle. 

Buy on Amazon | £54.99 (RRP £109.99) 

Philips Essential Air Fryer – Save 48%, Now £119.99

Go larger with the 7-litre capacity of this air fryer, which will more than satisfy four hungry mouths. Anything which can be removed from the fryer can be chucked into the dishwasher, but our favourite part about this model is that it doesn’t require any preheating. 

Buy on Amazon | £119.99 (RRP £230)

See related

• Nike Cyber Monday 2021 Deals On Cold Weather Workout Gear And More
• The Best Exercise Bike Deals Including New Year’s Day Sales
• The Best Fitness Tracker Deals: Cyber Monday 2021 Has Arrived

Instant Pot Duo Crisp – Save 44%, Now £99.99

You’ll spend a little more on this deal, but you are adding an entire Instant Pot multicooker into the bargain as well. It also has a slightly larger capacity than the Breville as well as a multi-level basket so you can cook your chicken and chips separately for better results. 

Buy on Amazon | £99.99 (RRP £179.99)

It might seem like just a plastic container, but it’s also the breeding ground for that god-awful stench that appears if you forget to wash it out quickly enough. Which means you, like us, are probably in the market for a new protein shaker pretty regularly. But which one to choose?

When it comes to picking a protein shaker a good starting point is where you’ll be using it. For instance, we think a flip top is far more convenient if you’re exercising outside, whereas a screwtop is far less likely to leak all over your treadmill.

But that isn’t the only thing you need to consider: Does it mix your protein well? Does it do anything else? Can you justify the price tag for those extra features? Have you the time and inclination to look after an expensive do-it-all battery powered mixer, or are you likely to leave it to fester at the bottom of your gym bag, destined to end up in the bin as you recoil from its hellish stench?

Here are a few of our top picks to help you decide. And while you're here, don't miss our guide to the best protein powders.

It’s fair to say there isn’t a lot of fun in the world of protein shakers, where most brands understandably opt for practicality over personality. That makes Predator Nutrition’s range of pop-culture shakers, including Star Wars, Harry Potter and Marvel designs, a breath of fresh air, and well worth investigating if you’re looking for something a little different. Our preferred pick is this charming Grogu shaker, because everyone needs more of the little Yoda-a-like in their life. It’s also a decent shaker, of course, with an 800ml capacity and a dishwasher-safe design.

Buy from Predator Nutrition | £15.98

Sometimes simplicity is king, which is where this shaker from Bulk comes in. It’s got one job – to mix your protein shake – and sure as day turns to night, it does that job just fine. If it’s zero frills and cheap thrills you’re after, this is the one.

Buy from Bulk | £5

The Promixx 2.0 uses an X-shaped blade and 16,000rpm high-torque motor in its base to mix the ingredients. Trust us, it’s as fast as it sounds – within ten seconds, you’ll have a lump-free shake. And rest easy – you won’t have to buy expensive batteries every few months, a rechargeable lithium battery and a USB charging cable are included.

Carry your various supplements and snacks with you in the most convenient manner possible with this set of stackable beakers, all of which have leakproof lids. So if you want to take protein powder, BCAAs, creatine, vitamins and any other supplement after a workout, you can bring them all with you separately and mix them at the gym. The stacks also fit inside BlenderBottle’s classic protein shaker, though you can also just chuck your powders into the biggest tub and mix them in there.

See related

• 23 Protein Shake Recipes For A Tasty, Refreshing Treat
• Protein Shakes Explained
• The Best Vegan Protein Powders To Help Your Body Recover After A Workout

The SmartShake is the original protein shaker with compartments, giving you the opportunity to pack your post-workout power, snacks and supplements in one place. Plus, the compartments conveniently fit inside the shaker when they’re empty. This one’s perfect for anyone who likes to be organised – so if your headphones always end up tangled, you’re not ready for this.

This stylish stainless-steel shaker is a considerable upgrade on any plastic bottle, and will also make it clear that there’s no whey to be found inside it. Or any other animal products, of course. It has a 750ml capacity and a leak-proof screw-top lid. The shaker isn’t dishwasher-safe, but the tricky-to-handwash lid is.

Buy from Myprotein | £10

For those who want to add some glamour to their post-workout refuelling routine, try this glitzy shaker from The Protein Works. The steel shaker is leakproof and easy to clean, and it has a large capacity of 739ml so you have plenty of shaking space to mix up your drinks.

Buy from The Protein Works | £12.99

If this were a game of Top Trumps, we’d be playing the Alpha Bottle’s capacity stat every time. It stands head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to volume, holding a massive 750ml. It gives you the chance to double-down on protein powder without the shake getting too thick, as well as helping you stay hydrated if you let it do double duty as your water bottle. As an added bonus, it’s shape makes it easy to hold on to, meaning you don’t need mitts like Eddie Hall to grasp this monster.

Ostensibly a reusable coffee cup, this weighty tumbler has been designed to work as a protein shaker too. Its mesh filter catches any lumps of protein powder and the leak-proof lid is great if you want to mix your shake at home before hitting the gym with the aim of consuming it mid-workout. The only wrinkle is that the twist-to-open lid is stiff and not that easy to grip – something you may struggle with after a punishing set of pull-ups or the like that’s exhausted your grip.

The fact that it’s a coffee cup is also useful: if your pre-workout supplement of choice is an espresso shot, you can make one at home and trust the thermos insulation to keep it warm while you make your way to the gym. Plus, reuse the tumbler afterwards to make your shake at the gym and you’ll add coffee notes to the flavour. Don’t try it the other way around though – no-one likes a protein powder aftertaste with their coffee.

Buy from Ohelo | £29

Nutritious, comforting and filling, a bowl of soup is as simple as it is satisfying. It’s a versatile dish that works well as a quick lunch or as a cost-effective dinner (especially if you have many mouths to feed), and it can also be a great way of upping your vegetable intake in just one dish. If you love the idea of healthy home-made soups but haven’t got time to chop mountains of veg, slave over a hot stove, decant and blend in batches, and then clear away piles of pans, a soup maker can save you time and effort in the kitchen. Simply pop in your ingredients, add stock and let the gadget work its magic. You’ll have a hassle-free wholesome meal, blended to your desired consistency, in next to no time.

When deciding on the size of soup maker to buy, we suggest you think in the units CoS (cans of soup, or 400ml). So a one-litre capacity soup maker is 2.5 ToS and perfectly adequate for two people. However, soups can be kept safely in the fridge for three to four days, so making a couple of extra batches for later in the week is a worthwhile time-saver and may make it worth investing in a larger model.

Love soup but short on time? This Salter gadget can whizz up a hearty bowlful in just 20 minutes. The jug has a capacity of 1.6 litres and it can be set to whizz up your soup to your preferred consistency – purée, chunky or blended smooth. As well as being super-speedy, the Salter EK1548 is good value at under £60, and its stainless steel jug is easy to clean.

This stylish and versatile stainless-steel soup maker is the right size for any couple or two-person flat-share. You can make soup in its one-litre jug in as little as 19 minutes, although it takes 25 to produce a thicker blend. There’s also the option of making blended drinks, and if the consistency isn’t to your liking there’s a manual blend button so you can get it just so. The top-down blade and non-stick lining makes cleaning straightforward.

Buy from John Lewis | £39.99

It may look like a kettle but this super soup maker comes with a range of handy features that make broth-making a breeze. There’s a portion control function that adapts the cooking time to suit the portion size you select, as well as a reheat button that treats leftovers with the care they deserve. The stainless steel pan is easy to rinse after use, plus you can simply pour water and washing-up liquid into the unit and set the blades in motion to clean the base.

See related

• Healthy, Spicy Tomato Soup Recipe
• This Broccoli And Stilton Soup Recipe Is The Ideal Healthy Winter Lunch
• The Best Slow Cookers To Buy In 2021
• The Best Food Processors

You’re only two clicks away from fresh soup. That’s the promise of the Tefal Easy Soup maker. Simply add your veg to the jug, select the programme you want to use from the choice of three options – smooth soup, chunky soup, or compote – and hit start. Actually there’s one other option on top: the cleaning programme, which makes life easier for you as well.

The cost of this simplicity is that you can’t change the cooking time (20-25min depending on the desired consistency) or temperature, which is set at 100°C. There’s no sauté feature either. However, if you want a simple soup with the minimum of fuss, this is the maker for you.

Cuisinart’s comprehensive appliance offers four blending speeds for a variety of soup styles and features a sauté function and a slow stir setting that you can use to make risotto and curries. You can also use it as a standard blender for sauces and smoothies, as well as for crushing ice. The lack of any preset programmes means that you’ll need to be a little more hands-on with this one but it allows keen cooks to get a bit more creative. The glass jug and non-stick base are easy to clean, and it comes with a recipe book.

A slow cooker is a brilliantly useful gadget to have in your kitchen. For healthy home cooking with minimal effort, it can’t be beaten. Think of it as a sous chef that’ll put in the hours on hearty stews, casseroles and curries while you’re slaving away at work instead of over a hot stove.

All it takes is a little sautéeing or searing prep work in the morning, combining a bunch of ingredients, flicking a switch and walking away. In four to ten hours you’ll have a delicious one-pot wonder ready and waiting for you as you step through the door. You can use it to transform cheap cuts of meat into melt-in-the-mouth morsels for affordable family meals – and if you’re especially organised, you can batch-cook in bulk to fill your freezer with nutritious midweek options.

Slow Cooker Buyer’s Guide

Size

No-one wants to end up eating the same stew for the next three days because they made too much, or ending up with a family dinner that’s one portion short – it’s not like you can ask them to wait five to ten hours while you make another batch. So let’s quickly find you the right size of slow cooker.

A slow cooker with a capacity of one to 1.5 litres will suit an individual. A capacity of 2.5-3.5 litres comfortably feed a couple or a small family, while larger households should look for five litres or larger.

Price

A run-of-the-mill slow cooker can be found for around £30 and will probably just have a straightforward slow cooking feature, potentially with a manually operated keep-warm function. You can expect removable and dishwasher-safe bowls, though.

Size doesn’t seem to change the price that much, and you can get hold of huge six-litre slow cookers for the same price as a basic three-litre or even 1.5-litre cooker.

Where your money goes is in the features. Paying roughly £50 to £100 for a slow cooker will buy you features like an automatic keep-warm setting, pre-set cooking times, a LCD display and delayed start times, so your food isn’t kept warm for too long.

Once you surpass this price bracket you’ll be going into the luxury, high-end slow cookers, such as the Sage below. These will probably look flash and have some tricks up their sleeves to justify the cost. However, a slow cooker which is £50 less might do the job just as well.

Cooking bowls

All slow cookers use one main bowl, but some of these bowls bring more to the table than others.

At a minimum the bowl should be removable so you can take the cooked food from the slow cooker straight to the table to serve, saving the hassle of transferring to another bowl and adding to your washing-up.

Dishwasher-safe is another non-negotiable as far as we’re concerned, while non-stick pots will do wonders for keeping your slow cooker clean.

A hob- or oven-friendly bowl is also a bonus for those looking for more control because you can sear in the same bowl before adding the rest of your ingredients and transferring over to your slow cooker for the long haul.

Best Slow Cookers

One of the stand-out features of this handy home appliance is the removable non-stick bowl, which allows you to sear meat and sauté aromatics on the hob without having to use (and then wash up) a separate pan. You can cook for anywhere between four and 12 hours on low or high heat, and a keep-warm feature automatically kicks in after cooking so your food stays ready to eat even if you aren’t. It’s large enough for a small chicken or chunky lamb shanks, but it’s not as heavy as a traditional ceramic pot so it’s easier to transfer the bowl straight to the table to serve.

For simple slow cooking, this Lakeland gadget is just the ticket. You can cook on a low setting to let things gently simmer away or crank up the heat to save time; there’s also a setting that keeps dishes at serving temperature until you’re ready to eat. It’s a decent size for a family of three to four and there’s a near-identical six-litre model if you have more mouths to feed. The traditional crockpot design features a ceramic cooking pot, which (although heavy) is effective at holding in the heat so it’s great if you want to finish cooking way in advance of dishing up.

Buy from Lakeland | £39.99

This chunky pot is capacious enough to feed a family of four and then some. It’s also a good option for those who can’t be bothered to deal with complicated control systems, because the options on the dial are about as simple as it gets. You have off, low, high and warm – the last being particularly useful if you judge your meal to be ready before the various members of your family have managed to get to the table.

The Cookworks 6.5L might not be as laden with impressive features as the other picks on this list, but it can’t be faulted on the essentials of slow cooking. Just make sure you have the storage space for it.

Buy from Argos | £33

The OG slow cooker is a trusty kitchen aid and this jumbo five-litre edition is ideal if you have a big family to feed or want to fill your freezer for a week by batch-cooking on Sunday. The removable die-cast pot can be used on the hob to sauté ingredients first and the keep-warm feature automatically switches on when the cooking time’s up. It may be pricy but it’s built to last with a DuraCeramic coating, said to be four times more durable than a standard non-stick veneer.

Bigger is not always better. If you’re looking to buy a cooker for one or two people then a 1.5-litre pot like Swan’s will suffice. It might not seem like good value because larger cookers are only a little more expensive, but you’ll be saving counter and/or storage space in your kitchen and you won’t face the temptation to keep going back for seconds and thirds from the large batch you intended to freeze for another day. The Swan Retro Cooker also has an appealing design and comes in several colours. There are three heat settings, a keep warm feature, and the ceramic bowl can be removed to make serving easier. Cleaning is a doddle too because the bowl is dishwasher safe.

The most expensive of our picks could also pass for the best value, because along with a hefty six-litre bowl, dishwasher-safe lid and “keep warm” function, you can also sear your food right in the slow cooker rather than transferring the bowl to a hob. There are also plenty of preset options for hassle-free cooking, along with the option to customise if you know what you’re doing. Basically, it matches or surpasses every other slow cooker and adds a pressure cooker too. If you’re the forgetful type who’s liable to do everything except press the start button on your lamb shanks before you leave for work in the morning, being able to switch to the pressure cooker in the same machine will be quite the face saver.

Buy from John Lewis | £199.95

Designed with food lovers in mind, this slow cooker can knock up a faff-free risotto. Just throw all the ingredients into the pot, select the innovative risotto setting and watch the stock bubble over to agitate the rice in such a way that it mimics a stirring motion. Hurrah for hands-free home cooking! It also does a good job of producing fluffy rice and quinoa, as well as cooking veg and fish using the steaming tray, not to mention all the slow cooking staples like stews, casseroles and tagines. The 3.7-litre capacity is ideal for family meals and you can sauté and sear in the same bowl to save on washing up.

See related

• How To Use A Slow Cooker To Make Healthy, Hearty Recipes
• Three Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

True to its name, this Tefal unit is an excellent multi-tasker. The 8-in-1 claim might be a bit of an exaggeration but it works well as a rice cooker and steamer in addition to its slow cooker duties, and there are special settings for cooking porridge and desserts. Made from lightweight metal, it's easy to carry to the table and serve from and there’s a handy delayed start function for precision post-work dining. It features a non-stick removable bowl for easy cleaning and comes with a recipe book so you can get going straight away.

For those who've found themselves suddenly cooking more at home, you may be looking at your kitchen appliances and wishing they could do more. Especially if you're wanting to cook healthy meals for yourself and your family.

An appliance that can create crispy deep-fried delights using just a spoonful of oil sounds like the stuff of a George Foreman cheese-fever dream, but an air fryer can do just that by using convection cooking. This works by circulating hot air around food at speed to give it a crisp outer layer as a result of a chemical reaction called the Maillard effect. Which means you can fry chips, pieces of chicken and all manner of things (fried pickles FTW) using around 80% less fat than a deep-fat fryer. And most of these devices can also cook frozen food, roast meat and bake desserts, which makes them a handy addition to any kitchen. They also tend to appear in seasonal sales too.

We've scoured the web for the best air fryers around, from budget options to luxury and much more besides. Take a look below to find the perfect new addition to your kitchen.

If you’re looking for the fryer that cooks your food with the least fuss, the Tefal ActiFry Genius+ is the fryer for you. The Genius in its name is well earned, because it has nine automatic cooking modes in which the fryer itself adjusts the temperature and stirring rate as required, so you can wander off and come back to perfectly cooked food.

The stirring paddle also ensures your food is cooked evenly, removing any need for you to step in and shake. The cooking pan can also handle sauces, so you can cook meals without having to transfer ingredients to other pans, and both the pan and stirrer can go in the dishwasher once you’re done. There’s also a free partner app called MyActiFry which is full of recipes to try.

Buy from John Lewis | £149

This affordable appliance is a top choice for families with its 4.3-litre capacity (enough to feed everyone!). It’s great at producing top-quality fried foods and can crisp up everything from chicken goujons to chips (which are even better when the spuds are parboiled first). It’s sturdy, it’s easy to use and it comes with a temperature range from 80 to 200°C. At this price, it’s a great introduction to the world of air frying.

Buy on Amazon | £50

See related 

• How to Stop Loving Fries (and Reboot Your Relationship with Food)
• The Best Soup Makers For Quick, Healthy, Hassle-Free Soups
• The Best Smoothie Makers
• The Best Juicers To Buy In 2021

With a large digital LED touchscreen, this compact device from British brand Lakeland is simple to control with an easy-to-use timer and temperature gauge (from 80 to 200°C) as well as an auto-stop function to prevent it being left on by mistake. It’s quiet when in use and any excess oil that escapes during cooking will drop into the drawer below.

Buy from Lakeland | £99.99

The Smart Oven Air might cost a pretty penny, but since it can do the job of a whole load of other appliances, it might end up being the most cost-effective option. As well as being a roomy air fryer that has the space to cook an entire chicken plus trimmings, it can also roast, bake and slow cook; it even has dedicated pizza and bagel modes, with the latter offering seven darkness settings. The ten one-touch presets make cooking with the Smart Oven Air easy, and the non-stick coating on the inside means that it’s not too much of a chore to clean afterwards either.

Buy from Lakeland | £299.99 (currently reduced to £199.99)

Buyer’s Guide: How To Choose The Right Food Processor For YouThe Best Food Processors

Chop, dice, slice, blend, mix, grate and purée like a pro by adding a food processor to your arsenal of kitchen gadgets. A food processor can make light work of complex recipes and save you precious prep time when whipping up healthy midweek meals – it’s little wonder Jamie Oliver’s 15-Minute Meals TV show and cookbook used a food processor in almost every recipe.

It's the ultimate helping hand in the kitchen, especially if you’re cooking for a crowd or filling your freezer with batch-cooked goodness. Whether whizzing up chunky marinades, mixing healthy snacks or blending protein shakes, a food processor is a multi-tasking marvel. Here’s our pick of the best buys, but first…

Buyer’s Guide: How To Choose The Right Food Processor For You

With the price of food processors ranging from £20 to beyond £200, here’s a brief breakdown of the different features the extra money gets you.

Power

Power is what you really pay for. We’d recommend not going lower than 300W, but to cover all bases an 800W motor should get through most food items comfortably. Food processors top out at 1,000W, a wattage that’ll make short work of whatever you’re blitzing.

Capacity

When working out how big a bowl your food processor should have, allocate 400/500ml per person. Then do the maths for the number of people in your household or for the number of portions you’re preparing if you’re a regular batch-cooker.

Settings

If you consider yourself a culinary whiz you’ll know that different settings will produce different outcomes (if you don’t know, or care, skip this section and these extra features to save yourself a bob or two). The standard set are mix, blitz, chop, knead, blend, slice, dice and grate, but you’ll find ice crushing and egg whisking on the most expensive models.

One other thing to consider is the size of the feed tube if the food processor you’re considering has grate or slice functions. If you’re the extra-efficient type, buying a processor with a 14cm-wide chute means you won’t have to spend time chopping things to fit.

The Best Food Processors

You might think it’s a bad sign that this food processor is at its best when not in use, but look how neatly everything packs away inside the bowl! Everything you use fits inside its mixing bowl – the motor, the tools, the lot. Not only does that mean you can slot it away into a cupboard easily, but it also makes it less likely you’ll misplace one of the fiddly little attachments.

The processor has six speeds and a pulsing mode, and the attachments allow you to grate, shred, slice, whisk, beat and chop your ingredients, with the 4-litre bowl having a working capacity of 1.6 litres.

This stylish machine functions as both a blender and a food processor, with its 1,000W motor making light work of slicing and dicing whatever you put in it. There are six preset programmes that will adjust the speed for you during food prep, and the nine dishwasher-safe attachments offer 31 different functions.

Buy from Argos | £119.99

Lightweight and compact, this space-saving gadget is reassuringly sturdy and comes with a range of blades for slicing, grating and chopping as well as an emulsifying tool for whipping cream and eggs. Unusually for such an affordable machine, you can adjust the power settings and use the pulse button to mix things up in short bursts. It's a good pick for small kitchens (as long as you have somewhere to stash the included blender attachment).

Some mini food processors can frustrate with their lack of power. Not so the Cuisinart EC4HU, which will handle dips and dressings with ease. The 900ml chopping bowl is obviously not best suited for making big meals, but the space saved will be a blessing for those in small kitchens.

The chopping bowl has a capacity of only 350ml and the motor puts out only 300 watts, but this cheap processor will still get the job done if you’re tight on both space and budget. There are two speed options and the bowl is dishwasher safe.

The Bosch MCM3501MGB (what is it with food processors and long strings of letters and numbers?) has an RRP slightly over £100, but it’s almost always available for around £95 somewhere and that’s an excellent price for such a versatile machine.

It has a powerful 800W motor and comes with an impressive array of different attachments and accessories. Deep breath: there are universal cutter blades, blending blades, a grinding jug, reversible slicing and grating discs, a beating disc, a whisking disc, a plastic tool to knead dough and a multi-level knife. That might not even be everything – it’s tough to keep track.

Most of those parts are dishwasher safe too, and you can store them inside the 2.3-litre bowl to stop your kitchen drawers being overrun with new gizmos.

Buy from AO | £95

This retro-looking appliance offers a number of useful and unique features such as an adjustable disc to control the thickness of your slices, as well as a jumbo feed tube that can handle whole fruit and vegetables. There’s a reversible shredding disc for fine and coarse grating, and a multi-purpose blade for all your mixing and blending needs. For extra style points, it also comes in three colours – cream, onyx black and empire red – so you can pick the one that fits your kitchen colour scheme best.

Buy from John Lewis | £219.99

See related

• The Best Smoothie Makers
• The Best Juicers To Buy In 2021
• The Best Spiralizers To Buy In 2021

From coffee machines to bread makers, Sage leads the way in designing good-looking gadgets for keen cooks. It’s got the chops to match the looks too, with a quad blade attachment (an upgrade on the standard two-blade option) and a 14cm-wide chute, which is big enough to throw a potato in whole. It also comes with a mandolin-style slicing blade for cutting thicknesses from 0.3mm to 8mm, and all the attachments and extras come in a handy storage box.

This excellent all-round blender produces impeccable pastry, cake batters and dough, making it the ideal option for anyone who’s regularly in the kitchen working on their Great British Bake Off-style showstoppers. The large three-litre capacity helps on that front too, because you don’t want to make a perfect cake and then face the heartbreak of it being too small for everyone to get a slice.

The Expert Prep Pro also slices, dices, grates and spiralises, and the slicing disc is adjustable so you can select the thickness you want. All the attachments can be stored in the box provided, and the processor has two speeds along with a pulse button.

Buy from Cuisinart | £250

A quality buy for foodies and families, this solid piece of kit comes with a 30-year guarantee so you can rest assured that it’s built to last. It has three different bowls to deal with everything from a single egg to a family feast and they all nest inside each other for easy storage. The dough blade, egg whisk, citrus press and discs for grating and slicing cover all culinary bases and the powerful 1,100-watt motor is surprisingly quiet.

Be honest. Are you eating five portions of fruit and veg a day? Really? Every day? You are? That’s great – you should still eat more though because it seems that the benefits keep growing the more fruit and veg you eat. So a small, 150ml glass of fruit or vegetable juice, or even a concoction of the two, is a great way to chalk up one of those servings. (Only one, though, remember – however much juice you drink in a day it only counts as one serving, because the process strips out some of the fibre.)

Juice is also, more importantly, tasty, and shop-bought conconctions can be ever so more-ish. Add up all those purchases and investing in an electric juicer is a great way to make a healthy habit more affordable in the long run.

There are two main types of juicer to consider: centrifugal (or fast juicers) and masticating (also known as cold press or slow juicers). Centrifugal juicers work by pushing fruit and veg down a feed tube onto a blade at the bottom of a spinning sieve, which separates the juice from the pulp. They tend to be speedy and affordable, making them ideal if your juicing ambitions don’t extend beyond a daily glass of OJ.

A masticating juicer uses an auger (which looks like a drill bit) to slowly squeeze fluid from the pulp to extract a more nutritious, fibrous drink. In addition, masticating juicers are better at blitzing through tough greens like kale and wheatgrass, and use less oxygen in the process, which means that juices can be kept for longer.

Other things to consider when buying a juicer include checking whether all the parts are dishwasher-friendly and how large the feeding tube is. While some manufacturers claim that a 65mm diameter will accommodate a whole apple, we like to err on the side of caution with one that’s 70mm or larger. Sure, you can cut up your own fruit, but then you can squeeze your own juice by hand – if you’re paying for convenience, why not go all in? It’s also worth making sure the pulp tray has a decent capacity – we’d recommend 1.5 litres as a minimum.

Whatever your reason for juicing, and whatever your budget, we’ve highlighted the best juicers available to buy right now.

The sizeable chute on this juicer can accommodate a whole apple, which is so convenient it immediately moves ahead of most juicers in our book. All the machine’s parts can be popped into the dishwasher too, and it’s easy to assemble and disassemble, making juicing that little bit less of a chore. It’s good for early risers too, since it will whizz you up a glass of juice in 15 seconds without causing enough of a racket to wake the neighbourhood.

Remember what we told you about only 150ml fruit juice being required to tick off one of your five-a-day? Well it’s relevant here, because although this juicer modestly describes itself as compact, it still makes 1.5 litres of juice in one go, which is enough for (*does maths*) an entire family of ten to grab one of their five daily portions of fruit and veg. The Quick Clean feature stops pulp getting trapped in inconvenient places so you can clean the entire machine in just a minute, and the 500W motor is powerful enough to churn through chunks of even tougher customers like raw carrots and beetroot.

Buy from Argos | £69.99 (currently reduced to £64.99)

Yes, you read that right – stylish juicers do exist and as always Smeg leads the pack when it comes to good-looking kitchenware. This citrus juicer has a retro look that comes in a range of colours, with all the key pastel shades covered, so you can match it up to whatever else you have in your kitchen.

See related

•  Healthy Juice Recipes
• It’s Official: Beetroot Juice Can Improve Your Endurance
• The Best Smoothie Makers
• The Best Food Processors

While we resent and reject the portmanteau “bluicer”, we cannot argue with the quality of this versatile kitchen wizard. Or indeed whizzard, if we are going for appalling wordplay. The Sage can produce a hefty 700ml of juice in around 30 seconds, more than enough for four people to get one of their five-a-day, and it has settings to suit either very soft or very hard fruit and vegetables. There’s no need to stop there, however: you can juice straight into the blending jug to combine your freshly squeezed liquid with other ingredients and make a smoothie with fresh juice.

Buy from John Lewis | £319.99

Perhaps you’re checking out smoothie makers because you’re keen to improve your diet and you’ve clocked the healthy halo that shines above every smoothie. Well, we have good news for you: a small (that’s 150ml small) smoothie counts as one of your five-a-day. The inevitable bad news? You can continue drinking liquid fruit (including juices) all the live-long day and the experts have decreed you’re still only getting one portion of your daily fruit and veg. That’s because blitzing fruit into smoothie form destroys lots of that lovely fibre and releases sugars from their natural state, and that’s not great for your teeth.

But perhaps you want a smoothie maker because smoothies are simply delicious, thanks in no small part to the thick and comforting texture, and the fresh flavours of fruit and veg. Well here’s some more good news – there’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence (in moderation).

What you’ll get for your money

At the cheaper end of the smoothie maker scale, expect to pay between £30 and £50. This will give you a less powerful motor (in the 300 watt to 500 watt range), fewer features and smaller capacity, but if you’re making basic smoothies with soft fruits and the occasional bit of ice for a small household these will do the trick.

If you want to spend more, you can, all the way up to £200 if you wish. The big difference with more expensive models is a more powerful motor, which you’ll need if you fancy adding raw veg to your smoothie because you’ll need something that can work its way through the tougher, fibrous flesh. Motors can go up to 1,500 watts, although it’s rare that a recipe would actually need 1,500 watts. In our experience 1,000 is more than enough.

Another option you may wish to look out for is a portable blending bottle, so you don’t have to decant from the blending jug and double the washing-up. Speaking of which, look out for smoothie makers that have self clean settings or are safe to put in the dishwasher. Top tip: if being able to clean your set-up in the dishwasher is a dealbreaker for you, make sure all the parts can go in there. We love the Nutribullet, but the attachment with the motor has to be done by hand – and it’s nigh-on impossible to get it completely clean on the first pass.

Available in a range of bold colours including hot pink, blue and lime green, this sporty-looking number is an absolute steal at £20. It comes with two 600ml plastic bottles that attach directly to the base so there’s no need to decant into another vessel if you’re taking it with you to the gym. The protein shaker-esque flip lids won’t look out of place either.

You may need to chop up chunkier ingredients first and you’ll probably need to blend for a little longer than some of its bigger, pricier rivals since the motor’s only 300 watts, but its compact size is great for small kitchens or crowded worktops.

Smoothies are great, but it can be tough to know just how many calories and how much sugar you’re drinking. This smart blender has a digital scale under the motor and Bluetooth to connect it to your phone. Pick a recipe in the app and it’ll guide you through making it step by step, helping you to measure out precise quantities. If your hand “slips” when chucking in chocolate chunks, say, the app will also recalculate the nutritional value of what you’re about to drink. A truly next-level smoothie maker.

This blender boasts the feature set of a £100 or even £200 machine and yet costs less than £60, representing excellent value especially if you’re looking for a powerful motor. The 1200-watt motor is more than powerful enough to plough through any ingredients, and although it’s a little noisier than premium models, it gets the job done so quickly it barely matters.

Along with the blender you get a tall 1,000ml cup and two 800ml cups with flip-top lids, and Salter also includes a recipe book with 50 different recipes to help get you into the swing of blending.

If you want to treat yourself to a professional-standard blender, Vitamix is the company to go to. Not only does it make incredibly powerful machines, it also offers a ten-year warranty. That’s worth having when you’re dropping almost £500 on your blender.

The Vitamix Ascent 2300i has a 1,440W motor that makes short work of anything you throw into its two-litre container. On top of pulverising fruit and veg into smoothies, the A2300i can make ice cream and sorbet, as well as soup, which is cooked using friction. And once you’re done, just squirt in a little dish soap and the machine can clean itself in under a minute.

Buy from Vitamix | £449

What is a bluicer, you ask? Why, has that mash-up word of blender and juicer not caught on yet? Surprising. Anyway, the advantage of this blender-juicer combo is that the masticating juicer’s spout can pour fresh, pulp-free ingredients straight into the blender jug. Add the rest of the smoothie ingredients, then blitz using either the smoothie or green smoothie settings (the latter obliterates the toughest, bittiest ingredients into a smooth texture – we saw it work its magic on walnuts).

It opens up new taste frontiers, which will be of benefit to those who drink smoothies every day (maybe watch that sugar intake, ՚K guys?). Fair warning, it’s only for those with serious funds. If that’s you, and you’re even thinking “Nice, but how can I spend more?” you can always drop another £80 on a battery-operated vacuum attachment, which will help extend your smoothie’s shelf life.

Buy from Sage | £369.95

See related

•  The Best Smoothie Recipes
• 23 Protein Shake Recipes For A Tasty, Refreshing Treat
• The Best Juicers To Buy In 2021

It would be almost quicker to list the things this multifunctional gizmo doesn’t do in the kitchen – its variety of accessories help you to chop, blend and slice up anything you pop into it. The Auto IQ pulse, pause, blend and process programmes do the thinking for you, too, so you just press one button and let the Ninja go to work. You still have to select your own ingredients, though. The machine has a 700ml cup for single-serve smoothies, and a 2.1-litre jug for when you’re making enough to share.

Get a blender, they said. You can make smoothies and soups in it, they said. Then you read the instructions which inform you not to, under any circumstances, blend hot liquids and to cool your soup first instead (who does that?). Or you just blend hot soup and eventually crack the jug. Get a handheld blender, we say. It’ll make smoothies and blend hot soup, and it’ll take far less space in your kitchen.

These gadgets also often come with whisking and mashing attachments, and at the more expensive end there are attachments that turn the stick blender into a food processor.

It’s far from the most powerful option on this list, but this affordable blender will get the job done when blitzing parboiled veg and pre-cut fruit into soups and smoothies. There’s only one speed and one attachment, and you will have to demonstrate a little more patience and skill in manoeuvring the stick around to blend as thoroughly as a more powerful unit, but the MultiQuick 1 will get you there given time. The lack of bulky accessories makes it easier to store too.

Buy on Amazon

With a powerful 600W motor and a bundle of useful accessories, this Morphy Richards offers excellent value for under £30. There are five speed options plus a turbo boost setting, which may sound like a recipe for firing hot soup all over your kitchen, but thankfully the anti-splash head will help prevent such accidents. You also get whisk and chopping attachments to make kitchen life that little bit easier.

Buy from AO | £36

Smeg is well known for marrying style with substance, and it stays true to form with this hand blender. It comes in four colours – three appealing pastel shades and black – and the 700W motor is powerful enough to blast through whatever is on your to-blend list. The two buttons make for an intuitive experience too: on/off is paired with a turbo button, and you can easily easily adjust the speed of the blades mid-blend by twisting the top. As ever with Smeg, you’re paying over the odds for the features involved, but the smart design coupled with the powerful performance means that you’re unlikely to be disappointed with your purchase.

Buy on Amazon

This is not just the most powerful device here, but the most intuitive to use as well. If you need to increase the output of the 1,000-watt motor, you just squeeze the handle. What’s more, if you push down on tough ingredients like frozen fruit or dry nuts the chopping blade moves up and down to help liquidise them. Braun’s most powerful hand blender also comes with 14 accessories, a child lock and parts you can chuck in the dishwasher.

Buy on Amazon

See related

• The Best Smoothie Makers
• The Best Soup Makers For Quick, Healthy, Hassle-Free Soups
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

Cordless handheld blenders are usually around the £200 mark, so at £130 this high-quality blender stands out. It has five speeds, whisk and masher attachments, and a battery that lasts 20 minutes and takes 2½ hours to recharge completely. The only downside is that you need to use two hands to turn it on.

Buy on Amazon

Glugging water is good for us – you don’t need us to tell you that – and while in the UK tap water is safe, healthy and among the best in the world, water filters can have their uses, not least in altering the taste. If you avoid drinking tap water because you’re not a fan of the flavour in your area and prefer to quench your thirst with sugar-laden soft drinks or – public enemy number one – bottled water instead, a filter jug makes sense.

Plus, if you live in a hard water area, using filtered water in a kettle or a coffee machine can significantly reduce limescale build-up, leading to much nicer cuppas and cremas.

We’ll dive straight in with our top picks, but if you’d like a bit more information about what to look out for, jump to our buyer’s guide for water filter jugs.

The Best Water Filter Jugs To Buy Now

If you have a large household to hydrate, this jumbo jug is a top choice. It’s easy to fill with a flip-up flap and produces 2.3 litres of filtered water (total capacity 3.6 litres). Unlike older Brita models, the electronic cartridge replacement indicator – a small LED which uses a simple traffic light system – can be removed so the jug, filter and lid can all go in the dishwasher. The Brita Maxtra+ filter cartridges take about five to ten minutes to prepare – you have to dunk one in a full jug of water, insert it, then run two full jugs worth of water through it.

The Oria is well designed and well priced. For less than £30 you can net a jug and six 30-day cartridges, giving you six months’ worth of filtered water straight out of the box. You don’t have to fear the ol’ “start ’em cheap then jack up the price” trick either – a pack of refills that will last you three months only costs around a tenner. Despite its bargain price, it doesn’t feel cheap, although the cartridges can be a little fiddly to insert. One of the standout features is its slatted lid that slides open, so you never have to bother removing the lid completely to fill it up. There’s no meter to alert you about replacements but you can download an app if you need a nudge.

The big difference with BWT is that its proprietary cartridges up the magnesium content, which can lend a more mineral-y flavour, reminiscent of bottled water, and is important for making a good cup of coffee. You will need to soak each cartridge for five minutes before first use and the jug is a little slow to fill, but replacements are pretty affordable at around a fiver a go. The jug is available in a range of bright colour options including yellow, pink and blue.

This Aquaphor jug is extremely good value and there are often cartridge-inclusive bundle deals to make your money go even further. The recommended Maxfor cartridges produce great-tasting water, and there’s the option to use Brita’s Maxtra cartridges if you prefer. Available in blue, white and orange, the jug has a flip-top lid and a slim design that slots easily into a fridge door. As you’d expect at this price, there’s no electronic replacement indicator so you’ll need to set your own reminder to replace the cartridge every month.

If you’re after a water jug that doubles up as a dinner party conversation piece, this is that jug. It’s more sustainably made that anything else on this list, from the bamboo handle to the plant-based, compostable material used in the filter (which needs to be soaked for 15 minutes before inserting for the first time). Its handsome design means it won’t ruin a carefully curated tablescape either. Refilling it is easier than the usual because the top hinges down like a trap door when you place it under a running tap and it’ll take about five minutes to filter enough water to fill the jug. All this comes at a cost of course – yes, a monetary one, but also it’s not dishwasher-safe and unlikely to fit in a standard UK fridge door.

With its cool curvy design and stainless steel stopper, this glass jug is an elegant option. It comes with a porous pouch that drops into a mesh cylinder unit in the centre of the jug to operate like a tea strainer rather than a traditional cartridge. Not all the water necessarily passes through the filter so you’re reliant on the mechanism doing some of its job while the water is at rest, but the design does mean you can also add fruit to the column to create an infusion, or tea for a cold-brew. It's certainly not cheap and replacement pouches are around £25 for three, although they should last around three months a pop based on two people drinking eight cups a day. On the plus side, it's dishwasher-safe, comes in two sizes and could easily pass as a carafe.

When the ZeroWater jug first launched it was ludicrously expensive at more than £100, but the ten-cup model is now readily available for around £35, a decent price to pay for a fancy filtration system. Its five-stage filter process removes impurities like chlorine, aluminium and lead and there’s a digital TDS (total dissolved solids) meter to reassure you that it’s keeping its promise. The jug features a part-removable lid for easy filling and a handy spout at the back that dispenses water at the push of a button. Bear in mind, though, that this is a premium model so replacement cartridges are around £20 a pop and last between one and two months.

See related 

• How Much Water Should You Drink?
• The Best Reusable Water Bottles
• The Best Running Water Bottles

Buyer’s Guide: How To Choose The Best Water Filter System For You

The reasons for buying a filter jug are straightforward. Deciding which one to buy, on the other hand, is anything but. Here’s what to consider when making your choice.

Choosing A Cartridge System

The biggest complication is that you’re not just buying a jug, you’re buying a cartridge system too, although you may be able to use another system in that jug depending on the jug. When choosing a system it’s worth paying attention to three things: how long the cartridge in the system you’re considering takes to filter water, how long you need to spend preparing the filter before putting them in (some are a real rigmarole), and how frequently they need replacing.

We won’t detail each system here, but the most popular system is Brita, which uses Maxtra and Maxtra+ cartridges. Brita jugs are a good choice because many are compatible with non-branded cartridges and there are plenty of cheaper, longer-lasting alternatives to consider. Some jugs from other manufacturers will work with Brita cartridges.

How Much Do Cartridges Cost?

Water filter jugs are generally quite cheap, and that’s because the real cost is in the cartridges, so it’s vital that you check what you’re signing up for when making your initial purchase. Don’t be put off by the price of a single cartridge – it’s worth persevering and finding out how much you can save by opting for multi-packs or even using more affordable third-party options if you can.

In general you can pick up the filters for about £5-£8 apiece, but if you can get a third-party replacement rather than a name-brand filter you can cut that price to nearer £3 per filter if buying a multipack. Some of the more exotic water filter jugs on our lists have filters that set you back around £10 and there won’t be cheaper alternatives, so do make sure to take into account filter cost when making your pick.

Choosing A Jug

It’s worth us pointing out that total capacity may be misleading – you have to subtract the space taken up by the cartridge, which can be substantial. Check the drinkable capacity if that information is given.

Just to put your mind at ease, every plastic jug on this list is BPA free – you’d be hard-pressed to find one that isn’t nowadays. And, of course, if you like chilled water, make sure the jug you’re considering fits your fridge.

Eating more healthily doesn’t have to be complicated. Veg. You should be eating more of it and that goes for everyone. And one of the best ways of cooking veg is to steam it, especially in an electric food steamer because they make it easier for amateur chefs to cook veg for the right amount of time. And since most steamers now include rice trays it makes that notoriously tricky carb easy to get right too.

There are a few details to consider when buying one, so we’ve got a run-down of what to look out for as well as our recommendations for large households, couples, fans of good design and those who just want the best of the best. Meaning there’ll be nothing left for you to do but go full steam ahead and buy the best one for your needs.

What To Look For When Buying A Food Steamer

Price

If you’re anything like us you’ll look at the price first. You can find basic steamers for around the £25 mark. If your budget stretches to £100 you’ll find feature-packed models that will cater to large families, and above that you’ll find some real lookers with fancy features, such as fast water heating – a top-end steamer will be able to start cooking 30 seconds after you’ve turned it on.

Capacity

If there are only two of you in the household, a five- or six-litre capacity steamer will serve your needs. The larger steamers intended for large households go up to around 11 and 12 litres, although you won’t go hungry if your family steamer is nine or ten litres. If you stray from our recommendations, it’s worth double-checking that a model with a large capacity also has enough water storage so it won’t run dry midway through cooking.

Types of steaming bowls

The shape and size of bowls in which you’ll steam your food differ from product to product but there are two things to look out for: whether they fit inside one another, making for easy storage after use, and whether they’re dishwasher safe for cleaning (most are).

A handy extra is a tray for cooking rice. Some even have the option of cooking two trays on different timers, meaning you can prepare perfectly-done rice and veg in one straightforward steam.

A bonus is a cooking bowl that can be taken straight to the table, so you don’t have to bother transferring food to a serving platter.

Timers and displays

Most steamers, and all the ones on our list, have timers. More expensive steamers use a LED or LCD screen to display a countdown and other useful information like water levels. A more advanced steamer will also let you choose the type of food you’re cooking and it’ll select the appropriate time for you.

At the other end of things, you’ll get a mechanical dial timer and a list of cooking times in the manual, and a gauge to indicate the water level.

The Best Food Steamers

Russell Hobbs builds great products at appealing prices and this steamer is no exception. It may be priced for a student budget, but at nine litres it has enough capacity to feed a family. There’s a rice tray included, the parts are dishwasher-safe and the three bowls collapse into one another after use, making it a space save, too. There’s no digital readout, but the timer can be set at up to 60 minutes. Most impressive of all, this steamer is ready to go after just 40 seconds.

Buy from Russell Hobbs | £54.99

See related 

• The Best Food Processors
• The Best Pressure Cookers To Buy In 2019
• The Best Slow Cookers To Buy In 2021
• The Best Air Fryers To Buy For Healthier Low-Fat Cooking
• The Best Soup Makers For Quick, Healthy, Hassle-Free Soups

Steaming doesn’t have to be hi-tech. If you’d rather use the hob to make perfectly cooked vegetables, pick up this straightforward three-tier steamer. The top two layers have holes to allow steam from the bottom pot through to cook the veg while you boil water (or cook something else if you want to be extra efficient) in the bottom. It’s a little bit more washing up, but the actual cooking involved is almost as easy as using an electric steamer.

Buy from Tower | £49.99 (currently reduced to £27.49)

This six-litre, two-compartment steamer is big enough to cook a full meal for two and the pre-set cooking times make it easy for inexperienced cooks to whip up something special. All the containers and accessories (which includes a rice tray) are dishwasher-safe so clean-up’s a cinch too. It packs away neatly so you can stick it in a cupboard to avoid it hogging countertop space and becoming a source of resentment. A great steamer for the price.

Buy from Morphy Richards | £79.99

While it can be a lot of fun introducing your child to the joys of solid food, weaning isn’t always the easiest or most enjoyable process. You can make things less stressful with the Philips Avent steamer, which makes preparing food for your little one to merrily fling across the room that bit simpler.

The steamer doubles as a blender, so once you’ve cooked the food inside you flip the jar over to blend without having to transfer the contents to another container. You can blend food up to a fine purée for younger kids, but there are also settings for chunkier meals as they get older. The Avent also comes with an array of weaning recipes, and the compact design makes it easy to store.

CHECK AMAZON

If money isn’t an issue this is the steamer for you. It’s got all the features you’d expect at this price: a digital display, a glass steaming bowl that’s dishwasher-safe (and also lifts out and doubles as a serving dish), and an ultra-quick warm-up time of 30 seconds. The keep-warm and reheat features are nice touches, while and the stainless steel body is an aesthetic upgrade on cheaper-looking plastic models. Our only quibble is the five-litre capacity, but all in all, this is great-looking, intelligent steamer.

Buy from Cuisinart | £175

Many of us aren’t blessed with ample cupboard and counter space in our kitchens, so finding room for a dedicated steamer might seem like a luxury. If that’s the case for you, check out the Instant Pot Duo multi cooker. Steaming is just one of the seven modes of cooking it offers, with the other star methods being pressure, rice and slow cooking. The 5.7-litre bowl is large enough to accommodate a family of four’s worth of food (although there’s an eight-litre version too), and the Instant Pot Duo is also easy to use thanks to the large console and 14 preset smart programmes, one of which is steam – pop your veg in, hit that button and your work’s done.

Buy from Instant Pot | £79.99

Faster is better. Healthier is better. So since pressure cookers allow you to cook healthier meals faster, are they the best? Who can say, but we can say that a pressure cooker’s tight-fitting lid allows the build-up of steam to cook food at a higher temperature and therefore reduces cooking times, which in turn lowers energy use and preserves more nutrients. According to a study in the Journal Of Food Science, broccoli retains more than 90% of its vitamin C content when cooked in a pressure cooker versus a 34% loss when boiling it in a pan of water.

If you’ve got space in your cupboards for just one kitchen gadget the pressure cooker makes a pretty strong case. Here are our picks of what’s out there at the moment.

Pressure cooker novices will appreciate the simple control panel on this model, while old hands will be attracted by the more advanced settings that allow you to sauté and sear. Fast and slow modes mean that you can adjust time, temperature and pressure settings to suit what you’re cooking. The six-litre capacity is a good option for families, although it makes it a bit bulky and consequently tricky to store.

Buy from Lakeland | £199.99

What’s easier and faster than stove-top pressure cooking? Electric pressure-cooking, yes, but also… pressure cooking in a microwave! The Duromatic Micro has a roomy four-litre capacity and works like a stove-top pressure cooker, but by popping it in the microwave you speed up the whole process. Once you’ve removed it from the microwave – carefully, using oven mitts – you can use the pressure indicator to see when the pressure has dropped and it’s safe to open.

And if you’re the kind of person who laughs in the face of danger, you’ll find that you can’t open the pot until the pressure has dissipated anyway, saving you from yourself. Why not get an electric pressure cooker? Because that’s another appliance you need to find counter space for. This Duromatic Micro is a pan so it already has a place in the pan drawer.

Buy from Kuhn Rikon | £79.95 (currently reduced to £63.96)

This Tefal cooker is certainly pricy, but you’re paying for a service that holds your hand throughout the whole process of cooking dinner. The dedicated app has a ton of recipes and once you’ve made your choice you’ll also get a shopping list you can check off as you go round the store. Follow the instructions (which normally won’t go beyond “chop the ingredients”), wang it all in the pressure cooker and the app will connect over Bluetooth with the device to set the right cooking time. Slick.

Buy on Amazon | £199.99

See related

• The Best Air Fryers To Buy For Healthier Low-Fat Cooking
• The Best Soup Makers For Quick, Healthy, Hassle-Free Soups
• The Best Food Processors

A great stove-top cooker at a low price and it’s not the bare-bones item you might expect. There are two pressure settings and it comes with a stainless-steel steamer basket and stand to keep your counter free of burn marks. If you know how to handle a pressure cooker and don’t want to spend over the odds, this is the right one for you.

Buy from Argos | £55

The most expensive pressure cooker on this list justifies its price by being more than a pressure cooker. This multi-purpose device also works as a slow cooker, a steamer, a fryer and loads more, and offers 50 preset programmes. It also features induction tech for better heat distribution and budding chefs can program in their own recipes to use at a later date.

Buy from Bosch | £349.99

At three litres, this model is good for one to two people, especially couples who both work long hours but would like to come home to a home-cooked meal that’s ready to eat. That’s because it has a timer function which means you (or the other person – scissor-paper-stone it to decide) can line things up in the morning and have the cooker kick in as you’re on your way back. And there’s no need to worry about the inevitable delay to your commute, since the keep warm feature will ensure the food stays piping hot without overcooking it.

Buy from Currys | £49.99

It’s always worth expanding your repertoire of culinary techniques, especially when a new approach makes it easier and quicker to prepare veg. Get yourself a spiralizer and you can transform veggies into satisfying curly strands.

Spiralizers are especially useful if you’ve decided to adopt a low-carb diet to lose weight but are really missing huge bowls of pasta. Sure, curly ribbons of courgette or butternut squash aren’t the same, but not only will you save on calories (courgetti contains around 300 fewer calories per 100g than pasta) you'll also save time as they only takes around 20 seconds to boil.

Convinced? Sure you are, so take a look at our picks of the best spiralizers to buy right now, from hard-working heavyweights to an affordable handheld device.

This top-of-the range gadget from Lurch is the business. The German brand has been making spiralizers for over 20 years, long before the courgetti trend crossed the Channel, and this latest version is its most full-featured model. It lets you switch between three different blades for fine or coarse spaghetti and there’s even a tornado blade to prettify your potatoes. It may be on the pricy side but it’s a cut above the rest.

If you’re short on space, this handheld device will keep your surfaces clear because it can slip into a kitchen drawer. To create long ribbony strands you just need to twist veg in a clockwise motion against the blade and when you’re near the end, the handy food holder attachment keeps your fingers safe while cutting the last bits. It’s best kept for occasional use, however, because you won’t be able to use it for long without getting a sore wrist; while the single blade can tackle most vegetables you’ll need to put some muscle into spiralizing harder veg like carrots. Despite its limitations this is an affordable introduction to spiralizing.

Using this compact spiralizer might require a little more elbow grease than other models, but it will get the job done and it offers great value at £15. The machine comes with four blades for different cuts, and suction cups on the base keep it in place on your counter while you turn the crank.

As the name suggests, you get 10 blades with this spiralizer, giving you options named for the type of pasta your finished vegetable will most resemble. There’s fine angel-hair noodles, wide pappardelle and even lasagna sheets. Deviating from the pasta for a moment, there’s also crinkle chips. With so many options, you may not know where to start, so the four e-books full of recipes should help you make the most of this versatile machine.

If you’re a regular eater of spiralized veg it could be worth upgrading to an electric model, because cranking out your veg noodles manually every day can become a little tiresome. This Morphy Richards device has a compact design that makes it easy to store, and the powered blades slice and dice your veg into either spaghetti or ribbons at an almost alarming rate.

Quick, easy and healthy, a stir-fry is a brilliant dish to have in your recipe arsenal, and a wok is the best tool for the job if you don’t want unevenly cooked meat and soggy vegetables.

But that’s not all woks are for – it’s a surprisingly versatile pan to have in your kitchen cupboard. In addition to sizzling and searing, woks can be used for steaming, smoking, boiling and frying.

While rounded-bottom pans are traditional, if you’re going to be cooking on an induction or electric hob or want to put your pan in the oven, you should opt for one with a flat bottom. Depending on how easily you can lift fully-laden pans and the size of the wok you’re eyeing up, you may wish to buy one with a second handle to make tossing the contents around easier.

It’s worth noting that if you pick a wok without a non-stick coating you’ll need to season it before you use it for the first time by heating oil with a high smoke point (rapeseed, peanut, lard) for around 20 minutes, and then rinsing and drying the pan. This method will prevent your food from sticking and your wok from rusting

Take a look at our list of the best options for every kitchen and budget.

A robust wok for a tasty price, this Kitchen Craft model is lightweight and can be used on induction hobs. It’s made from traditional heavy-gauge carbon steel so you can use metal utensils without damaging it, though the material will discolour over time. Unlike most non-stick pans it will stand up to a gentle scouring (without soap), but bear in mind that you'll need to season it before you use it for the first time, which adds an extra step to proceedings.

Buy on Amazon | £13.96

Like all Tefal pans, this wok features a Thermospot that lets you know when the pan is hot enough to begin cooking. It might sound like a small thing, but if you’re a bit of beginner in the kitchen it can help give you the confidence to wait until the pan is properly hot. The pan can be used in a number of ways from stir-frying to making sauces and soups thanks to its high sides, and it’s oven-safe up to 175°C.

Buy on Amazon | £52 (currently reduced to £42.51)

See related

• How to Cook Healthy Chinese Food at Home
• The Fastest Vegetarian Stir-Fry Recipe We’ve Ever Come Across
• A Healthy Beef Stir-Fry Recipe You Can Turn To In A Pinch
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

If pans don’t tend to last long in your busy home, whether that’s down to regularly cooking for a large family or housemates treating your kitchen tools shabbily, try this wok. The diamond-enhanced ceramic coating make its surface impervious to many of the scratches and scrapes that ruin less durable ones. It can also handle the use of metal utensils and be heated up to 450°C (though not for long periods). It’s heavier than your average pan but the second handle helps.

Buy on Amazon | £76.50 (currently reduced to £70)

Woks are brilliant for even, all-over cooking, and one of the absolute best at this is the Judge Radiant pan with its triple layer of Teflon non-stick and ferrous particles. The double handles come in handy for tossing, and the wok comes with a lid for stewing and steaming. It also looks great and is part of a matching set of cookware from Judge.

Buy on Amazon | £24

See related

• How to Cook Healthy Chinese Food at Home
• The Fastest Vegetarian Stir-Fry Recipe We’ve Ever Come Across
• A Healthy Beef Stir-Fry Recipe You Can Turn To In A Pinch
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

The raised honeycomb base of the Stellar 3000 pan doesn’t just look cool, it also stops your food from soaking up more oil than it needs to by keeping ingredients from the very bottom of the wok – a useful feature if you’re a health-conscious home cook. It also has a Teflon Platinum Plus non-stick coating, which makes the cleaning as easy as the cooking. It’s oven-safe up to 180°C and works on induction hobs.

Buy on Amazon | £49.99

With its large 35.5cm size and two handles to help you toss the bigger portions, this pan from Jeremy Pang’s Covent Garden cookery school will mean you can cater for up to six people easily. It’s very low-maintenance and because of its depth, it’s also suitable for deep-frying.

Buy from Lakeland | £27.99

It’s scratch-proof, it’s dishwasher-proof and, thanks to the ultra-non-stick coating that means you don’t have to add any oil, it’s pretty much idiotproof. The marble effect coating looks gorgeous and, considering the price, it’s extremely versatile – the tempered glass lid with steam vent makes this pan ideal for preparing stews, curries and many other dishes.

Buy on Amazon | £50 (currently reduced to £24)

While it might be a touch too heavy for tossing your stir-fry with a few flicks of the wrists, the Le Creuset cast-iron wok earns a place on our list because everything from stir-frying to steaming to deep-frying to searing to simmering can be done in this pan. Weighing in at more than 5kg, it’s incredibly robust and will stand up to any heat source from induction hob to oven.

Buy on Amazon | £219 (currently reduced to £175.20)

No matter what your food tastes or cooking capabilities are, it’s likely you’ll use a frying pan regularly. And as with any frequently used kitchen essential, it pays to invest in a good one, and preferably one that can be cleaned easily without scrubbing until your arms ache. While a heavyweight cast-iron pan is the pro choice for searing steaks, a hard-wearing, non-stick pan is a better go-to for knocking up everyday dishes with minimal hassle.

There are plenty of options but if you find yourself getting stuck on which non-stick frying pan to buy, read our handy guide to the best on the market right now.

This cheap-as-chips frying pan is coated with Teflon’s latest Radiance three-layer non-stick surface and comes with a reassuring ten-year guarantee. It’s safe to whack in the oven up to a temperature of 150˚C and to throw in the dishwasher after use, and is suitable for hobs of all types including induction. As an added bonus, the coating incorporates ferrous particles, which means it heats up quickly.

Le Creuset is known for its high-end cookware with prices to match, but this gear is worth forking out for. This shallow frying pan is as robust as they come: oven-proof up to 260°C and dishwasher safe, you can put it through its paces on all types of hob, safe in the knowledge that it comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Synonymous with non-stick technology, Tefal offers a raft of reliable and attractive options. The Expertise pan isn’t the priciest option in the range, but it delivers the goods with a non-stick coating that’s safe to use metal utensils on and has a lifetime guarantee. It features the brand’s signature Thermo-Spot – a red dot that changes colour when it reaches the optimum temperature – and is coated in Titanium Excellence, one of the toughest materials on the market right now.

See related 

• Kitchen Essentials: The Only Four Things You Need To Start Cooking
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

Green by name and by nature, this eco-friendly pan is manufactured without the use of toxic substances like PFOA and PFAS that can be harmful to the environment, and without the hefty price that these kinds of eco credentials can often command. The Venice pan comes with a riveted stainless-steel handle and can withstand temperatures of up to 260°C. Bear in mind that it’s heavier than your average pan and you’ll need to rejuvenate the non-stick surface fairly regularly using lemon juice or vinegar.

A kitchen cluttered with bulky kitchen items makes for day-to-day frustration. If you’re short on space consider this pan, which features a detachable handle, allowing you to tuck it away neatly when not in use. And it’s got plenty more going for it with its BPA-, PTFE- and PFOA-free non-stick coating, cool-touch handle and stylish design.

Ideal for big and busy kitchens, Stellar’s Rocktanium non-stick frying pan features a highly durable scratch-resistant finish and a lightweight hollow handle that makes it easy to move from hob to worktop to sink. Dishwasher-proof and oven-safe up to 210°C, this pan comes with a lifetime guarantee to deal with generations of family-sized fry-ups.

The wonderful scent of freshly baked bread is reason enough to buy a bread maker, but there are plenty more justifications for buying one. If you like to treat yourself to an artisanal loaf at your local bakery now and then, you’ll find it’s much cheaper – in the long term, at least – to bake your own at home and plenty of bread makers can replicate fancy loaves.

And while making bread from scratch the old-fashioned way is fun, it takes time and a fair bit of skill. Bread machines, on the other hand, make it easy, and the high-end ones include plenty of options to bring your skill and craft into the process.

Healthwise, there’s also the bonus of being able to take full control of what goes in your bread. Reducing the salt content in particular is wise.

Bread machines don’t have to cost an arm and a leg either – our picks start at just £50 – but to help you work out if it’s worth spending more, we’ve put together a primer on what to look for when buying a bread maker and what you can get for your money.

Buyer’s Guide To Bread Makers

How do bread makers work?

All bread makers use the same basic process. Add the ingredients to the bread pan, put the pan in the machine and select the appropriate programme: white, wholemeal, speciality and so on. The cooking time will take anywhere between three and five hours, plus the time it takes to let your bread cool on a wire rack.

All bread makers will also let you set a time delay so you can set it up before you go to bed and wake up to freshly baked bread.

What ingredients do I need?

You’ll always use flour, water and bread machine yeast. Always remember that you need strong flour rather than standard all-purpose, and in some cases – especially with wholemeal loaves – very strong flour might be needed. This can be picked up in any decent supermarket.

Most recipes will also require things like include salt, sugar, oil or butter, and possibly skimmed milk powder. Some bread makers require vitamin C tablets, which you’ll probably need to seek out online, though these machines are few and far between.

If you’re planning on baking speciality bread, with ingredients like raisins, sultanas and nuts, there are some bread makers that are set up with programmes for these. However, you’ll find that such programmes aren’t quite as hands-off as the standard ones: you’ll have to add these special ingredients at intervals throughout the process.

Do I have to follow set programmes and recipes?

No! Fancier bread machines let you set custom baking programmes, which let you tweak various stages of the baking cycle, whether they’re resting, kneading, rising or the actual baking. If you hit upon a particularly successful programme, you can store it in the machine as a preset. A bread maker with these capabilities won’t come cheap, but if you’re serious about your home baking it could well be worth the money.

See related 

• Is Bread Bad For You?
• The Best Kitchen Gadgets To Help You Eat Healthier

The Best Bread Makers Of 2019

We might not have recommended this model at its original price of £120, but now it’s under half price it’s well worth a look. It’s not particularly stylish, but it will produce a 2lb (900g) white loaf in under an hour. The buttons are somewhat fiddly, the window through which you watch your loaf rise isn’t illuminated and it isn’t so good at wholemeal breads, but if you have limited ambitions for your home bakery and your budget is tight, the Fastbake is for you.

Buy on Amazon | £51

Panasonic does a wide range of bread makers, and this, one of its more multifaceted and high-end models, made a great impression on us. Not only is it pretty damn stylish, it won’t take up too much space on your worktop either.

There are plenty of smart details: you’d expect an automatic dispenser for fruit at this price, but there’s also one for yeast, which ensure those pesky little organisms aren’t activated prematurely in the mixing process, and it even factors in the temperature of your kitchen – all of which results in top-notch bread. Add in programmes that will produce gluten-free pasta and cake, as well as a sourdough starter, and you’ve got a supremely capable bread maker.

Buy from John Lewis | £219.99

Be warned: you’ll need to set aside a fair chunk of space for the Kenwood BM450, but the advantage of this big, boxy bread maker is that it delivers hefty loaves. While the BM450 has slightly awkward controls, it does boast tweakable programmes which lets you hone your baking to perfection. You can adjust the duration of each part of the pre-set programmes and store up to five of your own invention. The viewing window is also well lit so you can lovingly watch your creation rise and grow.

Buy on Amazon | £189.99

Next to the Kenwood BM450, this is a dinky little machine, but don’t underestimate Lakeland’s own-brand model – it impressed when we put it to the test. It contains 11 programmes that include gluten-free and the unique knead-only feature which lets you take out the dough out to divide into bread rolls. There’s also a handy one-hour keep warm setting, which prevents the loaf from getting soggy if you’re unable to remove it straight away when it’s done. You can delay the start for up to 13 hours but the mixing process is noisy, so avoid baking overnight if you’re a light sleeper.

Buy from Lakeland | £59.99

The barbecue brand the experts love has a new portable edition you can take on all your adventures. A grill is for life, not just for summer. £269, buy on weberbbq.co.uk

The only way to make these black knives even more striking is to put them in this bold knife block. 6-piece knife set £99.90, Black Diamond knife block £99.90, edgeofbelgravia.co.uk

Cook breakfast like Tom Daley with this ingenious multi-section frying pan. £34.99, buy on kitchenways.co.uk

Liven up your gym water with fresh fruit. £14.99, buy on infruition.co.uk

We don’t need a study to tell us that a well-timed coffee can improve mental and physical performance – although plenty exist. You can now make a barista-quality cup of coffee (espresso, flat white, skinny late or cappuccino) at the touch of a button without leaving home thanks to the new De’Longhi Dinamica range. £899, buy on delonghi.co.uk

Your protein bars have to live somewhere, right? This will set the mood in anyone’s kitchen. £29.99, buy on disneystore.co.uk

If someone wants to get their protein from something other than turkey, these are a delicious option. £25.99 (for 12x60g), buy on maxinutrition.com

The bottle doubles as the blending jug to blitz a protein shake instantly. The result? No mess and less washing up. £29.99, buy on smeguk.com

Turn courgettes and cucumbers into a low-carb, high-vitamin alternative to spaghetti without an ounce of effort. £49.99, buy on kenwoodworld.com

RECOMMENDED: 3 Simple Spiralising Recipes

A handheld blender that makes light work of even tough foods to help you get more creative in the kitchen. £160, buy on braunhousehold.co.uk