I bought this Ikea Flackig colander as a short term stop gap colander. All of our stuff was in storage between moves and I needed some cheap basics to tide us over, a colander being one of those basics. My husband would say that we didn't need a colander, he would just have used the pan lid at an angle to drain the pasta or the vegetables, but I'm a little bit fussy and I wanted to get a cheap colander temporarily, untill our stuff arrived.

This is just a basic white, no frills plastic colander for the absolute bargain price of £1.69. It is dishwasher safe.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this colander as it was so cheap, as long as it tided me over that was all that mattered really. However I've actually been really impressed with this colander, I'm still using it one year after the move and I've even bought myself another one as well, as two colanders come in quite handy if I've got lots of different vegetables on the go.

This colander is really lightweight and so therefore it is easy to handle, even when it is full. It has two sturdy curved grips on the sides to hold it and to carry it with. It has little ridges on the bottom to enable it to stand upright on the worktop, or in the sink when you are draining something. It is a really generous size so you can easily drain a large pan full of pasta or potatoes. Both of my colanders have been in the dishwasher loads of times and have not discoloured or warped at all.

All in all I think that this colander is absolutely brilliant value for money, you can't complain at just £1.69, especially as it works so well. I actually even prefer this colander to the one that I was waiting on coming out of storage, a very expensive stainless steel colander from Marks & Spencer. The M&S one has actually been relegated to the back of a kitchen cupboard now, and I use my Ikea ones all the time now instead.