Kitchen tech you need to make cooking fun

It’s 6 pm on a Tuesday night and everyone is starving. The problem? You still haven’t started dinner and you have no idea what to make. It’s moments like these that make you dread cooking, and I’ve been there many, many times. But what I’ve learned over the past year is that cooking, when you’ve got a bit of tech to back you up, is actually a lot of fun. Even if it is at the 11^th hour and you feel like you’ve got hungry hounds barking at your door.

Here are some suggestions for different types of technology you can use to make cooking fun.

Use Google Home and Google Home Mini as your cooking coach

I knew I’d love my Google Home for casting movies and music to my TV, and as a personal speaker for playing loud music, it beats out anything else I have in my house. I also love how you can play games with the voice assistant and how, when you want to know something, you just have to ask. But one of the things that people don’t realize when they have a Google Home or Google Home Mini in their home is how it can help you cook.

Let’s use dinner as an example. If you want a recipe that uses chicken, all you have to do is ask. Instead of sitting down and searching, your voice assistant will find you a recipe and tell you what you need to make it, and she’ll ask you if that sounds good and you can decide whether or not to proceed. I swear, she’s come up with some interesting stuff that I’ve gone on to make, everyone loved it.

Once you settle on a recipe suggestion, she will take you step through step through the recipe and all you have to do is say, “OK Google, next step,” and you’ll move on.

This keeps your hands free and your focus on the food, especially when your mid-preparation. It’s like having a Sous Chef behind you coaching you on.

The latest appliance technology speeds up the cooking process

Your appliances really do make all the difference when it’s time to cook, and having the right appliances in your kitchen can mean the difference between loving cooking and not loving cooking. That’s why I’m a big proponent of renovating your kitchen and adding the latest models of appliances, both big and small. They are equipped with technology to make every kitchen task quick and easy.

Having a range with a quick boil option means you don’t have to wait around for 20 minutes for your water to boil. Convection ovens allow for multi-level baking, and that means you can put in three trays of chicken strips, cookies, or buns instead of just one.

Small appliances like the Instant Pot will virtually cut cooking time in half. Yes, you can make a roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes in under 45 minutes. I’ve done it in an Instant Pot, and all you have to do is layer your food inside, set the timer for 45 minutes, and let the pressure cooker do the job.

Let your tablet teach you to cook

I decided that this was the year I was going to take as many online courses as I can, and so far I’ve signed up for a course on beekeeping, creative writing, and two for cooking. How do I make time for these courses when I’m on the move so often? I use my tablet.

Prop your tablet up in your kitchen and use it to take a cooking course. You can schedule your online courses right before dinner so you can use your multi-purpose your class into a dinner for you or your family. Having a tablet in your kitchen also means you can easily scroll through recipes or use apps when you are struck for ideas, and you can keep track of the groceries you need to pick up to make dinner tonight.

Smart appliances make cooking fun

Imagine having a refrigerator that makes cooking easy. It sounds futuristic but these smart refrigerators are already available for you to take home right now, and they really will make being in the kitchen more fun.

Take the Samsung Family Hub as an example: the latest model of the Samsung Family Hub has an LCD screen to keep track of groceries, a spot to create new family schedules or sync your schedules via your phones, and you can even show off family photos.

This fridge has on-board cameras so you can look inside and find out what you’re missing for groceries when you’re at the store. It also connects to your Wi-Fi network to pull up recipes or order groceries.

The future of food prep

The Consumer Electronic Show was just held in Las Vegas, and many of the biggest releases were smart appliances from companies like LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool. They aren’t all available yet, but once you read up on them it’s hard not to get excited about how fun it will be to cook with these appliances in your kitchen.

Whirlpool announced a brand new range that pairs up with Yummly to give you preset cooking options. You can choose a dish you’d like to make right on the touchscreen of your range and the oven will preheat to the right temperature and cook your food exactly the way it’s supposed to.

LG announced that they’ve added the AI SmartThinQ to their appliances, and the latest refrigerator from LG will have an LCD screen, knock-to-see inside, and a connection to Alexa or Google Home.

I mentioned the Samsung Family Hub already, and while you can bring home one right now, if you wait to buy you’ll love the latest model. It was just announced by Samsung they’ve added voice-assistant integration and improved on-board speakers for better sound.

With tech like this in your kitchen, how could you not get excited about cooking? You can find all of the top tech to make cooking fun on Bestbuy.ca right now.