I have quite a few gadgets in my kitchen, I have a habit of buying a cheap model and then upgrading if I use it enough, but I don’t tend to get rid of my old model ‘just in case’. So, I have a stick blender that is ancient, and then when we downsized ten years ago I bought a food processor that also had a jug blender attachment – all in the rouse of it being compact and space saving (but then hanging on to my old stick blender).
I bought a Breville smoothie blender, and then upgraded to a Nutribullet, even though in all honesty my jug blender could probably do the same thing, and yes, I still have both of those.
I have a soup maker, which I legitimately bought to use when I was working away from home a lot, I used it for the month I was away, but then haven’t really used it since. I have a Cuisinart Grind and Brew coffee machine which I use rarely, and a Magimix Nespresso which I use daily, I also own a coffee bean grinder, but I use that to grind spices
I own a slow cooker, which I’ve had for years and use regularly, but I don’t own a microwave. For my 40th birthday I asked for a Kitchen Aid mixer which I don’t use as much as I should!
My latest gadget is a Sage juicer, which I love, and would like to upgrade my slow cooker, which I’ve had for years, for a Sage multi cooker but we are just about to rip out the kitchen that we inherited and so I’ve promised that I won’t buy any new gadgets.
So why did I have a Thermomix demonstration? Maybe it was just to fuel my gadget obsession? I convinced myself not! I’ve been following some of their Facebook pages for a while and have been really interested in the results, I also have a friend in Australia who has one. I will be without a hob and oven for several weeks and I wondered if the Thermomix might be the answer to my worries about how I’m going to manage to cook.
The lovely Marta emailed me with a list of ingredients to buy, nothing to unusual, and she arrived for my demo on a snowy Wednesday morning. The demo took just over 3 hours, but I think that was because we were chatting so much, about food, health, the Thermomix and many many other things, if it hadn’t been for the continuing snow and her call from her children school we may well have still been chatting now.
However, there was a serious side to our meeting, and she demonstrated the Thermomix extremely well, if we had not been chatting, we could easily have rustled up the three-course meal in about 1 ½ hours. It included freshly baked bread, a smooth vegetable soup, chicken and veg with a creamy mustard sauce and a raspberry sorbet for desert. My favourites were the bread and the desert; however, I could have made both without the Thermomix.
Marta showed off the functions of the Thermomix to its full potential, and I was very impressed, it blends, it chops, it weighs the ingredients, it whisks and of course it cooks! We cooked soup whilst steaming the chicken, and the raspberry desert took literally 4 minutes (no additional freezing needed), it definitely is a ‘do all machine’. Was I impressed, very, have I bought one, not yet.
Why?
It’s not cheap coming in at £1,100, however they do a very reasonably priced easy payment scheme which means you can buy it over 3 years for about £40 a month. There is no denying the quality of this German machine, it is an amazing gadget, and I would recommend it to anyone who buys ready meals or home delivery recipe box kits, anyone who is interested in cooking more but hasn’t really got the time or the skills. The cook key has hundreds of recipes on there, you can easily do a meal plan and it will send you a shopping list. The display gives you step by step instructions which are clear, concise and easy; I believe even my cook phobic husband could manage to follow them.
However, when we enjoyed the cooked meal later that evening (I made the main course into a pie so I could reheat it, but the rest was as per the demo) whilst we were both impressed, as I sat explaining the demo and functions to my hubby, I realised that I didn’t really want one, not like I’ve wanted cooking things before. Yes, if money was no object I would buy one tomorrow, and I know I would use it, but honestly, I love to cook, I like to stir and chop and stand over the cooker. I’ve heard a lot of people who have referred to cooking as their form of meditation, and whilst I won’t go that far I do honestly enjoy the process, so I would only use the Thermomix when I couldn’t cook in a traditional way.
My hubby, very sensibly asked if I bought it would I throw out any of the other kitchen gadgets? Even though I am sure that the team at Thermomix would argue with me, my honest answer was no! So whilst I would have no hesitation in recommending the Thermomix, and I can see massive benefits for lots of people, it has not earned a place on my kitchen counter just yet.
Is weight an effective measure of health?
Time and time again I speak to people whose main aim and goal is to lose weight, because they think that by losing weight they will be happier and healthier.Stop thinking about the ‘goal’ weight and start thinking about how healthy you want to feel, because when you feel healthy you will find that you are less bothered about what the scales are saying. You will have more energy and vitality and, if you need to, you will lose weight. It’s a natural balance between being well fed and well nourished.
