20.11.08
KITCHEN TABLE – THE HEART OF THE HOME
As a nation we have fallen head over heels in love with real food again, and against this backdrop 2009 looks set to be the year when we celebrate food worth waiting for. We are rediscovering the pleasure to be gained from proper home-cooked meals, prepared from scratch with good-quality ingredients. There’s a growing desire to know the provenance of what’s on our plate, and farmers’ markets are helping us to savour the sometimes-forgotten food heritage on our doorstep. Lakeland, the home of creative kitchenware, is perfectly placed to help cooks make their kitchens the heart of the home for 2009.
Home-made is best
Lakeland customers have always loved to bake their own cakes, scones and
biscuits, but home baking is becoming more popular and widespread than ever.
Sales of bakeware have almost doubled during 2008, boosted by the arrival
of an exceptional range of baking and roasting tins that gives new meaning
to non-stick. Bakingenius is a world exclusive collection developed by Lakeland
with Teflon. Bakers love it because there is absolutely no need to line
or grease – baked food glides like a dream off the pure silicone coating.
Specialist baking tins such as the Cake Train and the Pirate Ship continue to be hugely popular, and this range will expand in 2009 with a Butterfly Cake Pan and other exciting designs for creating centrepiece bakes on special occasions.
Soaring sales of Lakeland’s preserving range have shown that more
and more people are taking pleasure and satisfaction from making their own
jams, chutneys and marmalades. With the flavours of this year’s fruit
harvest bottled, 2009 will see many of us appreciating the delicious contents
of every jar – ample reward for the time and effort spent stirring
the jam pan. This year Tefal have transformed the experience of making your
own jam with their hugely successful Electric Jam Maker. It’s done
for jam making what bread machines have done for home baking. Simply add
fruit, sugar and water, switch the jam maker on, and jam is ready to ladle
into the jars in less than an hour.
Pictured above left to right; Bakingenius Baking Sheet, ref 12371, £11.99, Butterfly Cake Pan, ref 12900, £24.99, Tefal® Electric Jam Maker, ref 12613, £89.99
Comfort food
Casseroles and stews are the cornerstones of family cooking. These one-pot
dishes will continue to grow in popularity next year as cooks save themselves
time, effort and money by batch-cooking and freezing. Slow cookers really
come into their own here as you can add the ingredients at breakfast time,
and come home to a proper meal at night. They use very little electricity,
and make the most of cheaper cuts of meat and root vegetables, so are perfectly
in tune with the times as we keep a closer eye on household budgets. No
wonder Lakeland has seen a healthy rise in slow cooker sales during 2008.
Energy-conscious tabletop electric cookers and the exclusive Remoska worktop
cooker have also been very popular choices this year. The Remoska is wonderful
for home-made soup, which happens to be making a welcome comeback. It fills
the house with a homely aroma and gives a feeling of comfort that canned
soup just cannot match.
Pictured above left to right; Prestige® Family Slow Cooker, ref 11940, £44.99, Remoska® Electric Cooker, ref 2511, £89.99
Healthy eating
Good quality fresh vegetables, meat and fish benefit from being cooked in
the simplest way possible, to let their flavours shine through. For food
lovers, saving time in the kitchen will be important, but not at the expense
of taste or nutrition, and Lakeland has a range of clever products which
allow food to be cooked quickly and healthily. Vegetables, fish and poultry
can be steamed to perfection in the microwave using Zip ‘n’
Steam Cooking Bags, which retain valuable vitamins. A Lakeland favourite
for many years, the Microwave Multi Steamer also produces vitamin-rich steamed
veg, whilst the Microwave Fish Steamer cooks fish beautifully in minutes,
to preserve the nutrients. New for 2009 is the marvellously engineered Kuhn
Rikon Pressure Cooker, from Switzerland. Delicious, low-fat meals can be
cooked in record time, locking in essential vitamins and minerals. Lakeland
will also continue to offer a selection of top-quality griddles and grills
for cooking tasty snacks and meals with little or no fat.
Pictured above left to right; 20 Zip ‘n’ Steam Cooking Bags, ref 10776, £3.99, Microwave Fish Steamer, ref 12325, £8.99, Kuhn Rikon Pressure Cooker, ref 12805, £89.99
More for your money
A rekindled interest in cooking and a desire to manage the kitchen economically
will remain key influences for the New Year. Lakeland customers have embraced
new ranges of premium cookware, from fry pans to casseroles, and the company
will expand its own branded ranges even further to satisfy this increased
demand for top-performing saucepans. The My Kitchen range of great value
kitchenware basics – everything from pans to roasting tins –
is also set to grow.
Next year will continue to see the focus on recipes that make the most
of seasonal produce. As well as keeping food costs down, shoppers will be
looking for ways to keep perishable food fresh for longer, to prevent waste.
Freezer bags were among the first products ever sold 45 years ago, and today
the Lakeland range features a helpful array of ideas for storing food in
the fridge, freezer and store cupboard. Stayfresh Longer Bags greatly extend
the storage life of fresh fruit and veg thanks to their special, food-safe
ingredient – Japanese stone powder. Lakeland offers famous-quality
foil and cling for covering leftovers; a top-selling bag to stop bananas
going black in the fridge; tailor-made storage bags for potatoes and onions;
and there’s even a cushion to protect fresh produce in the fridge.
Lakeland is the first port of call for airtight storage boxes such as the
exceptional Lock & Lock range, and next year will see an even greater
variety of storage solutions, from tin and enamel to plastic and silicone,
to help customers keep their food fresh for longer.
Pictured above from left to right; 20 Stayfresh Longer Bags, from £3.99, Lock & Lock Containers, from £1.59
Download press release as a PDF