Lakeland products

Lizzieanne

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

Me too! I don't know if I'll be able to resist much longer, either... especially if I find my receipt from a shopping spree there last summer, and get round to taking back the frankly useless insulated butter dish - it'd knock a bit off the price at least.

I don't grow my own fruit (no garden ) but can buy some things in bulk very cheaply from a local street market. I'd love to make jam, and the Tefal gadget is barely any more expensive than buying individual items like a preserving pan, thermometer and so on.

I bought the jam maker on Monday and it's a definite hit! I've made orange marmalade and an onion confit, and I'm just about to try out the rice pudding. It's fabulous.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Has anyone else bought the retractable double clothes line.I bought one and when hanging clothes out one frosty morning both the bits that you wind the line around went ping and shot across the garden.I only had two towels on one of the lines so it was'nt the weight that did it.
They replaced it about 6 weeks ago, but yesterday when it was realy cold the same thing happened again.I think the stuff it's made from just reacts to realy the cold temperatures.

lbt_2

Lizzieanne wrote: »

I bought the jam maker on Monday and it's a definite hit! I've made orange marmalade and an onion confit, and I'm just about to try out the rice pudding. It's fabulous.

Hi lizzieanne

How does the jam maker work? Do you just put the ingredients in and set - like a breadmaker?

I have only just started making preserves so I am still using the base of my steamer :rolleyes: Not exactly hi-tech I know but it does the job for now.

I'd be interested in finding out how easy it is to use before I buy any of the traditional equipment.

Thanks

EDIT: just had a thought ... I have the MR Fastbake, has anyone used it for making jams?

Lizzieanne

lbt wrote: »

Hi lizzieanne

How does the jam maker work? Do you just put the ingredients in and set - like a breadmaker?

I have only just started making preserves so I am still using the base of my steamer :rolleyes: Not exactly hi-tech I know but it does the job for now.

I'd be interested in finding out how easy it is to use before I buy any of the traditional equipment.

Thanks

EDIT: just had a thought ... I have the MR Fastbake, has anyone used it for making jams?

Hi,

It is similar to a bread maker - you do have to prepare the fruit first, though. For example, when I made the marmalade, I had to boil the whole oranges in a saucepan for 10 minutes (to soften the peel) before chopping them into the size I wanted. The chopped oranges went into the jam maker, along with water, rum, sugar and a vanilla pod. The timer was set for 40 minutes and off it went, stirring the contents all the time. The timer doesn't start to count down until it reaches the required temperature. 40 minutes later, I poured the finished marmalade into sterilised jars and that was that.

With the confit, the onions and butter had to go into the jam maker for 15 minutes before I added the rest of the ingredients and set the timer for another 15 minutes.

It even has a self clean programme - you just put cold water and a squirt of washing up liquid into the bowl and select the 'auto clean' function. It worked brilliantly.

What I would say is that the instruction leaflet is terrible, but I did find that out on this site before I bought it. Lakeland have now recognised this and they have instructions on their website that can be downloaded.

I had never made any kind of preserves before and I am impressed with this gadget. It might not suit people who like to make a dozen jars at a time but that fact that it only makes 3 1lb jars was what appealed to me. It also makes rice pudding and dessert sauces such as dulce de leche.

Hope that helps!

Bargain_Rzl

maryb wrote: »

Do you think Lakeland are doing well out of the credit crunch? They have expanded so much in recent years I do hope they don't end up having to close shops - we've only just got one.

I think they probably have benefited from people having to cut costs. Their latest catalogue seems geared to comfort food and cooking from scratch and I think I saw somewhere that their sales of baking equipment have shot up since the credit crunch. When I was in there recently they seemed to have much less space devoted to crafting and more on cake decorating.

They also - as posts on this thread testify - have customers who are very loyal to them. Good customer service counts for such a lot, and Lakeland's is excellent. There are so many companies out there cheaper than Lakeland who have rubbish CS, and if those companies went out of business I wouldn't be sorry (except for their staff being made redundant, obviously).

I'd rather pay £5 extra for a £50 gadget and have Lakeland customer services to deal with...

newleaf

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

They also - as posts on this thread testify - have customers who are very loyal to them. Good customer service counts for such a lot, and Lakeland's is excellent. There are so many companies out there cheaper than Lakeland who have rubbish CS, and if those companies went out of business I wouldn't be sorry (except for their staff being made redundant, obviously).

I'd rather pay £5 extra for a £50 gadget and have Lakeland customer services to deal with...

Me too, well said! Furthermore, Lakeland will always give you a refund on your £50 gadget without any argument if you decide it is necessary to return it for whatever reason. :T

Barneysmom

Does anyone have the bread tins, I was going to order some but it would ge good to get a review?

ringadingding

I'm a Lakeland fanatic! I have the electric jam maker (wonderful purchase!), the Remoska (also fab!) and a whole bunch of kitchen gadgets that I'm not sure how I've lived without
At times, they can be more expensive but overall I think their customer service justifies that bit extra in price- I've taken back so many things that haven't worked as they were advertised to or have broken (after use- most recently a meat hammer!) and they didn't quibble, just asked if I wanted to replace it or my money back. Heaven:A

lbt_2

Oooh, I am so excited I resisted for a long time but I have just ordered my new preserve pan. I was almost taken by the jam maker but I can make bigger quantities with the preserving pan - plus I can use it for other things, which is perfect since I am a serial batch cooker. Got some stayfresh bags and a crepe pan as lovely freebies too

samcat_2

MrsB wrote: »

I ordered Dye grabbers,

If the dye grabber is available anywhere else I'd like to know.

This is the one thing I keep going back to Lakeland for -- they save a lot of time and all the colours in the household stay true