Ridiculous Kitchen Gadgets You Actually Need

If you've a fan of the Lakeland catalogue, chances are you've found some ludicrous kitchen equipment waiting on your doorstep after an ill-advised shopping binge. Who among us doesn't have a strawberry huller, cake pop maker, pie shield or giant ice rock tray in the back of a cupboard? *700 hands go up* And who among has used them more than once? *699 hands go down*

Right. So let's sort the wheat from the chaff and work out which kitchen gadgets will actually improve our lives rather than take up space in the biscuit cupboard.

Let's start with Quirky Stem, a citrus sprayer that lets you spritz your food with lemon or lime juice. No more chopping up a lemon and squirting juice in your eyes (just me?) or getting pips in your dinner. Use it to garnish a salad, flavour a piece of fish, or add some zing to your glass of water. It's £5.95 from Prezzybox.

If you haven't let poachpods from Lakeland into your life yet, you need to invest. Lightly coat them with oil, crack the eggs into them, float in boiling water, then slide out your perfectly poached eggs. They're foolproof, and just £4.99 for two.

I love this corkcicle - a stalactite filled with thermal gel that you keep in the freezer til needed. Then slot it into the top of your wine bottle to keep it cold and keep bugs out. Essential if you're on a picnic, pretty handy if you're just at home and can't be bothered to put the wine back in the fridge. It's £19.99 from Firebox - I know, it's pricy, but this way you can buy the cheap wine from the off licence shelves rather than the more expensive stuff in the fridges when you're off on a picnic. Totally justifiable that way.

Let's stay with Firebox for the Bar10der - oh wait, BARTENDER! I just got it! - which has all the cocktail making gadgets you'll ever need. Ever tried to make one of our cocktails and ended up muddling mint leaves with the end of a rolling pin or straining your creation through a colander? This is a Swiss army bar knife with tools including a muddler, jigger, strainer and stirrer. It's £30 but you'd never need another cocktail gadget again.

This is a clever way to get you to drink more water. The Aqua Zinger has a built-in herb and fruit infuser. Fill the base with whatever you fancy - berries, lemon and lime, cucumber, or mint and basil - then twist it to chop up the contents. It will subtly infuse your water with the flavour. It's £25 from the Science Museum shop so add it to your birthday list or wait for it to hit the sales.