Whilst shopping in Boots some time ago I noticed a set of JML Toastabags had been placed in their 'Reduced' section as the outer box had been ripped. At first I was unsure whether to buy them as it was not possible to check inside as to whether the bags themselves had been damaged, but I reasoned that for £1.29 (usual price £3.99) I would take a chance and if when I got home I discovered a gaping hole I could return them.

A Toastabag is a clever little invention; a small bag which to all intents and purposes appears to be made of greaseproof paper, of course this isn't the material used to create them as they need to be heat resistant to do their job properly. They are made to fit into the slots of most toasters, although I have found I have rather more success with them when using a toaster which has fairly wide slots due to the thickness once your ready prepared sandwich has been put into the bag.

You can use your Toastabags for a variety of things, turning your simple toaster into almost a cooker in its own right. The thing you will probably be most interested in cooking in the bags is sandwiches, and this is such an easy job that I cannot believe someone hasn't come up with this idea before now. Simply make your sandwich as usual, pop it into the bag and put the whole thing into the toaster. What you have in your sandwich is completely up to you, my favourite at the moment is ham and cheese but I've also had success creating hot steak sandwiches (obviously the steak needs cooking beforehand), tuna and cheese and a delicious concoction I came across in an attempt to use up the last two slices of seeded bread and a final couple of spoonfuls of mince bolognese. Most sandwiches will be ready when the toaster has popped up once, but I have noticed that thicker fillings will need a little longer so be prepared to spend time manually popping your toaster up to check how things are progressing.

As well as sandwiches these bags will cook other foodstuffs in your toaster; fishfingers can be cooked within five minutes, potato waffles take around the same amount of time and you can even use them to reheat slices of pizza which have gone cold. I'm sure there are other things suitable for Toastabag cooking, but as I mainly use them for sandwiches and fishfingers for my grandchildren I'm afraid I cannot give you an exhaustive list. I like the fact that you can save yourself money by using these as five minutes in the toaster will use far less fuel than would be used cooking the same items in your main oven for twenty minutes.

I find the small handle on each Toastabag to be incredibly useful as, while they don't get particularly hot, the top of the bag does not raise very highly from the top of my toaster. Using a wooden skewer I can hook the bag out without worrying about burning my hands on the very hot internal mechanism of my toaster, something that is especially useful to me as I have arthritis and reaching almost inside the toaster slot would be neither safe nor ideal.

I recall it stating on the box that each Toastabag can be used up to 100 times, I'm not sure how you'd know when your 100 limit has been reached but I estimate I've used mine around fifty times now and the bags are showing no signs of wear or discolouration at all. They are very easy to clean and due to the shiny nature of them it's simply a case of washing them as you'd wash any food related item in your home, I find turning them inside out ensures I get every last crumb and smidgen of melted cheese out so I've never felt they have needed to go in the dishwasher - although they are completely suitable to be washed this way.