As a busy Mum who seems to be constantly doing something, I also want to ensure that I cook homemade nutritional meals for my family too, because although it is ok to have the odd night where we might have a meal from the freezer (like fish fingers ) or a jacket potato, I want the boys, in particular, to eat all the vitmins and minerals they need to support and assist with their ever growing selves. This is why I like to try and plan ahead and think about what we might eat the night before.
However, this does not always go to plan, and quite often it gets to almost school run time and I am still at a loss as to what to cook for tea – some days it is just hard to be inspired i guess, and then it feels like there is not much time to get a homemade dinner ready because I have left it too late.
That is where the Tefal Cook4Me Intelligent Multi Cooker comes in. With more than 50 pre programmed recipes, this clever piece of kit literally guides you step by step through each recipe, from the list of ingredients through to the method, to cooking and finishing the selected meal, allowing you to cook a family meal for up to 6 people in next to no time. It is an attractive product and one which I am happy to leave out on my kitchen counter, and every single guest to my kicthen over the last month has commented in it and asked me about that black shiny cooking thing over there
I have used my Cook4me a LOT since I was sent it towards the end of August, and I have found it great for cooking many family favourite meals and sides such as chili con carne, sausage casserole, bolognaise sauce, soup, beef tacos, chicken fajitas, rice (makes marvellously fluffy rice by the way), steamed new potatoes, carrots and peas and a whole joint of chicken! The multi cooker comes with:
a steamer basket (ideal for cooking the rice and vegetables in)
self release safety valve
progression Indicator which lets you know how long until your meal is ready
auto keep warm function
delayed start of up to 15 hours
a removable non-stick bowl with cool touch handles
I have been so impressed with how fast I can cook a homemade meal from scratch in the multi cooker. For example, bolognaise takes just 18 minutes for 4 people: thats 8 minutes for the prepping and browning and then 10 minutes cooking time. This is amazing and is much faster than cooking a ready made meal in the oven,. Plus with the multi cooker version you know it is nutritious and you know exactly what ingredients have been used.
The meat and vegetables are tender when cooked, and for a meal that can be cooked in under 20 minutes I would say that is very impressive.
This machine really is very easy to use and I cannot wait until Burton is a little older (and then Jenson of course), because I think it will be perfect for him to use, to cook a meal with, because it can instruct him at every step. Plus beoiing a stand alone cooker and not being on a hot hob or an oven, it is safer for him too.
The multi cooker can also make dishes like houmous, risotto and spare ribs and it will even cook puddings! Desserts is the only section of the recipe booklet that I have not tried, (yet), simply because I have been on a diet! But I have seen on my instagram feed the pudding efforts of other cook4me multi cooker users, and I can confirm that their desserts looked lovely.
My only real complaint about the Tefal Cook4me multi cooker is that it requires more liquid to cook the dishes than I would add personally. I have tried to add less than stated, but this causes an error which means having to re start the recipe, so you do need to add the specified amount of liquid, and then thicken it once cooked. Also, with the bolognaise and chili you do not need to add as much oil as it states, because otherwise it makes for a greasy fiinished dish.
However, these are minor faults really in the grand scheme of things, because I have found this multi cooker a great help in my kitchen. I think that if you were a novice in the kitchen, this would be perfect because you do not need to be able to cook as it tells you what ingredients you need, how too cook what and for how long. I do not see how anyone could mess it up really! Also, many people, especially busy working parents for example, would believe that when they get home from work at say 6-6.30pm that it is too late to cook a meal from scratch, preferring maybe to get a take away or bung a ready meal into the oven. BUT there is no need if you have this multi cooker because you can cook a homemade meal in 10 minutes plus!!! Even a joint of chicken can be cooked in less than 45 minutes!!! This seems hard to fathom, I know! , but I have tried it for myself and it is true.
I have to say that I have used a slow cooker for most of my adult life, because it is perfect for cooking meals while I get on with life and it will cook cheap cuts of meat and joints of meat so that it is so tender when cooked. However, with the Tefal Cook4me you can still cook a stew or a joint of meat but in a fraction of a slow cooker time, and it is still tender and tasty!! Plus, as with a slow cooker, the bowl in which the food is cooked is non stick and VERY easy to clean.
It does cost a lot of money though, as it’s RRP is £249.99 (currently on offer at Lakeland) . I have to be honest I do not know if I personally could justify such a lot of money on one item for my kitchen. That said, now I have used it and seen all that i can do, I actually think this is not as over priced as I first thought. It can do so many things and can save such a lot of time when cooking meals, and that alone is worth a lot I think. Never again can I think, oh i dont have time to cook such and such, because as long as I have the correct ingredients to hand I can prepare a tasty, homemade and nutritious meal in less time then it would take to order and collect a take away, or cook a ready meal (not that I do that to be honest, even if the nottion enters my head!). Therefore, if you work out how much money an average family might spend on take away meals, eating out or ready meals, than that £249.99 would soon be recouped.
I actually love my multi cooker, and I really will continue to use it for a loooong time yet – it is like my new best friend in my kitchen!
I was sent a Tefal Cook4me Multi Cooker for the purpose of a review. All comments made about it are my own and honest.
It looks great and I have been researching this before potentially purchasing. A couple of questions I have are, is it suitable for one person (ie does it cope with small quantities)? And can you cook jacket potatoes in it? Thanks