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Lakeland Klippits
by rolandrat
===The Brand===
Lakeland is a well known British company that sells cooking items and accessories, cleaning and gardening solutions and gifts.
The family firm has been trading for around 50 years and began by just selling freezer bags. They currently have 60 shops, a catalogue and a website.
The companies ... philosophy is 'always look after the customer and the business will look after itself'.
===The Lakeland Guarantee===
Lakeland have an unconditional guarantee and offers 100% money back if ever you are not satisfied - at any time.
===Purchasing==
Items can be bought in-store, from their catalogue or the website. If ordering on line postage is free if the order is over £30. They also do free returns.
===The Product===
Mixed Pack Klippits
Pack of 48 in various sizes and colours:
30 small
12 standard
6 jumbo.
===My Opinion===
The Lakeland website state that these are one of their most popular items - and I have to agree.
They are a very clever and yet simple idea in that when the clip is closed the two sides form an airtight seal.
I have bought some of these clip fasteners from £1 shops in the past but the hinges are never very strong. These Kippits from Lakeland are virtually indestructible - unless you try to damage them on purpose.
They are made in strong colourful plastic is different colours - white, yellow, red, blue and green.
Lakeland state that 'the unique hinge can be flexed thousands of times without weakening' - and I agree.
It is such a simple idea but so useful. They give an airtight seal and can be used for anything. My main use when I bought these ages ago was to seal up opened packets in my huge freezer - as using the wire wrap tags was never so good and we often ended up with spilt items in the bottom of the chest freezer.
If you wanted to you could use the different coloured clips for different contents but I never bothered and just used the first one that came to hand. They are great for things like opened packets of peas, mixed vegetables and roast potatoes.
Outside the freezer they also have many uses - the basic one is for opened cereal packets - we often have quite a few opened at once and these clips keep them really fresh - and my son would refuse to put back the wire tags I used to use. I also use them for opened packets of bread and the large bags of salt - that once opened tend to spill everywhere!
There has never been a problem with any of my clips and they just get a quick wash every now and again and then reused. The spare ones are just kept in my utensil drawer ready for the next use.
These should last you indefinitely, and they do, though I am sure people take mine and do not bring them back! As, like socks, they tend to disappear - but that is not the fault of the items.
I have no Lakeland shop nearby but do occasionally order from their website - I order items together so as to qualify for the free postage.
There is never any problem returning any items and their customer service, to me, has been excellent.
I am sure there are many other uses for these clips - including fastening the rolled down tops of gardening seed packets that are only partly used.
Unlike lots of other things I see that Lakeland sell, which I often think are money wasting gadgets that you will never use - these clips will be in constant use and although the price may seem a lot - for 48 clips it works out at around 17p per clip - a truly remarkably low price for a virtually indestructible item.
===To Purchase===
Cat Ref: SKU 2894.
Price - £8.49.
===Would I Recommend?===
Yes definitely.
===Star Rating===
5 stars.
===Website===
www.lakeland.co.uk
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Lakeland All Purpose Peeler
by purplekimmy
If there is one thing I enjoy it is peeling potatoes, I may be a little strange but I find it very therapeutic and would love the prison punishment of peeling a room of potatoes, I would be in my element!!
I was used to using a normal kitchen knife for peeling but on a trip to Lakeside with my step-mother, we got dragged to a ... stand where a rather enthusiastic man was going through a range of unbelievable items you couldn't live without in your kitchen. There were peelers, timers, dishes to poach eggs in, new fangled chopping boards that folded, chopping boards that didn't stick etc etc. I was unimpressed and about to walk away when my step mother got roped into helping with a demonstration on how to make a cucumber into a pretty swirl....how did I ever live without that tool? After leaving his table loaded like a donkey, we headed to the till only to realise that I was being made to buy his wares as well. I opted for the All purpose peeler, only because it was the cheapest item at £1.99 and it really didn't need a half hour demonstration as I had peeled many potatoes in my time.
I have to be honest that when I decided to use the peeler, I was as impressed with it as I was the guy selling it. That means not very, the handle is a curved plastic which holds a blade at one end. They had a few colours but I was so eager to get away from the irritating man, I grabbed the first one I could and ended up with white, how original!
When it comes to using it, I find the plastic quite uncomfortable to hold and the blade seems to sit at the wrong angle for me and it doesn't peel easily. It just felt all wrong and I much prefer my old faithful knife.
There is a metal bit that sticks out of one side next to the blade which is used for digging out nasty bits of the potato, the eyes etc but I found this the only task this peeler could manage. Although the actual peeler sits int the palm of your hand quite nicely, I find that holding the sides of it and trying to guide it around a potato quite tricky.
I know that peeling a potato isnt hard but this makes it hard work and I dont like using things that make things harder than they should be. Thumbs down from me :(
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Lakeland Magnetic Toast Tongs
by redhead78
My mum is a big fan of all things Lakeland and always looks forward to the new catalogue arriving or to a trip to their flagship store in Windermere when she comes to visit us. As a result her kitchen, and other parts of their house, are full of little gadets and gizmos, all designed as things you don't really need but don't think you ... can live without when you see them! One of her purchases last year was a set of these toast tongs and, after I exclaimed "that's a good idea" when visiting them one weekend, I later found a pair in my Christmas stocking. You can imagine the joy on opening that particular present on Christmas morning!
Manufactured for, and marketed by, Lakeland (the artist formerly known as Lakeland Plastic) I have only ever seen them in their stores and catalogue - and on their website too, obviously, although I assume similar things will be available from other places. This particular pair cost just £1.99 from Lakeland which, even if it turns out to be something you don't use in the end, isn't going to break the bank.
The tongs are made from bamboo and each one is similar in length and shape to an emery board - long and thin, with rounded edges. They measure just over 20cm long by just over 1cm wide and are joined at one end so that the open end can be used in a pincer fashion. Also at one end, on the outside is a small round magnet which means they can be attached to your toaster when not in use.
When I first received these I didn't think they'd be something we would use that much. Although I do like my kitchen gadgets I only like the ones I use a lot and don't want to fill my kitchen with stuff that just sits there collecting dust and dirt and never serving a purpose. These, however, are one of the things from Lakeland that actually do come in very handy and, whilst I wouldn't say that I couldn't live without them, they do certainly serve a purpose in our house.
When using normal sized shop bought loaves these are pretty much redundant as the pop up feature on our toaster is sufficient enough to raise large slices of bread up enough that you can lift them out easily without burning yourself. For anything else, however, these tongs have saved me from burnt fingertips on a number of occasions. When I'm toasting homemade bread, crumpets, waffles, potato waffles or smaller slices of bread and they don't lift up enough inside the toaster, these tongs reach down inside the grill part, clasp whatever is inside and lift it out easily enough.
They are very simple to use and you don't have to apply much pressure so can easily be used one handed. As they are so long and thin they fit easily inside the toaster slots and, being made from bamboo, they don't conduct heat either so you don't have to worry about any burns.
The only slight negative thing I have to say about these tongs is regarding the magnetic feature. If it wasn't there these tongs would likely get relegated to the back of the kitchen drawer and never see the light of say again, so it is handy having them within easy reach as, otherwise, I would likely just be my usual impatient self and use my fingers then end up cursing whenever I burnt myself. Having the magnet on means you can stick them to the side of the toaster and they're always there, ready to use when you need them.
Being the borderline OCD that I am, however, I like things to be straight and neat and that is where the design flaw with these tongs appear. Even though theoretically they should be heavier at the magnet end, when you attach them to your toaster the pincer end always falls down so that instead of laying nice and straight they are always wonky and lopsided. This doesnt make them fall off the toaster, so the magent does actually work, it just doesn't fit in with my ideas of neatness! As I said, this is only a slight negative and probably wouldn't bother most people but is one area that these could be improved.
All in all, if you use your toaster a lot and often get your fingers burnt then I would recommend these tongs. At only £1.99 I think they're good value and have turned out to be one of those weird gadgets that do actually serve a purpose and get used. I'll never understand why toaster inventors can't magic one up that has heatproof seals around the edge of the toaster slots to stop you from burning your fingers, but until one of them does, these tongs make getting your toasted goods out from the hot slots easy and painfree!
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