Stuff UK — June 2017

Most of us experience two

types of hunger in our lives: the

regular type when you haven’t

eaten for a few hours, and the

type that strikes when you get

home from the pub, which feels

like a black hole has replaced

your gut. But ovens and alcohol

don’t mix, so this hotdog toaster

keeps your intoxicated culinary

challenges to a minimum.

It’s just like a regular toaster

but with specially shaped holes,

so you place the frankfurter and

bun inside, pick a heat setting

and then wait a few minutes for

them to pop up.

Once they do, it’s surprising

how good they taste, although

that’s probably down to the

simplicity of the hotdog as a

food rather than the particular

talents of the toaster.

For optimum feedback from

your tastebuds you’ll also need

to squirt on some mustard and

load it up with onions, which

the toaster can’t do for you.

Also you don’t get separate

dials for the bread and meat,

so it’s best to put the sausages

in first if you don’t want burnt

buns. And nobody wants burnt

buns, do they?

STUFF SAYS ++++,

The quickest and laziest way

to prepare tasty hotdogs

SMART RETRO POP-UP

HOTDOG TOASTER

Time was, making your own

soup meant slicing, simmering

and stirring a broth of fresh

veggies. The Nutribullet RX

changes all this: its Souperblast

mode will blitz your bits in a jiffy,

heating as it goes to serve up

homemade soup without the

usual hassle.

There’s still a pinch of

preparation necessary (such

as slicing tomatoes to squeeze

them through the container

opening), but it’s otherwise

as easy as screwing the blade

unit and lid onto the plastic

jug, popping it on the base and

pressing the big green button.

Once it’s whirring, you can leave

it to do its thing: a seven-minute

blend-and-heat cycle will turn

your chunks and herbs into

delicious liquid.

You won’t forget that it’s

going, though: this thing sounds

like a washing machine full

of cheesegraters. For those

seven deafening minutes your

neighbours (and anyone else in

earshot) will be calling for your

head. Still, at least the kit’s all

easy to rinse clean while your

hearing recovers. Oh, and the

soup’s good too.

STUFF SAYS ++++,

The Nutribullet RX makes soup a

cinch – best served with earplugs

NUTRIBULLET RX

£170 / highstreettv.com

£41 / iwantoneofthose.com

A lot simpler than building a stone

oven, this fl at grill is great for pizzas,

pancakes, eggs and other round

foods, but it can also be used to

grill things like chicken and bacon.

Full English pizza, anyone?

£41 / amazon.co.uk

ALSO TRY...

GOURMET GADGETRY

RETRO DINER PIZZA

OVEN AND MULTI GRILL

TWEETBOT

Like to tweet

while you

eat? Checking

Twitter during

the day is a

surefi re way

of falling down

a no-work

rabbit hole,

so let Tweetbot

help. It’s by far

the best mobile

Twitter client. On

Android? Give

Plume a go.

£9.99 / iOS

WUNDERLIST

While that

toastie cooks,

check up on

how productive

your morning’s

been with

Wunderlist. You

can also share

lists with others,

and if they tick

something off

it disappears

from your list

as well.

£free /

iOS, Android

REDDIT

All the best

stuff on the

internet is on

Reddit (and

Stuff .tv), so if

you’ve only got

an hour to spare

for lunch you

might as well

open a portal

into the most

wonderful stuff

the web has

to off er.

£free /

iOS, Android

APPS FOR LUNCH

This soup specialist
does smoothies too,
and they only take
about 30 noisy but
mercifully brief
seconds.