4 h. ago The best recipe boxes and meal delivery kits 2025, tested by a food writer

From Gousto to Green Chef, these meal kits bring restaurant-quality dinners to your doorstep

Society

6 h. ago Wanted: bakes to make use of a glut of homemade jam | Kitchen aide

Give cakes and cookies a fruity boost, lend breakfast a sweet lift – and save the rest to jar up as Christmas giftsI have a lot of jam made with all kinds of berries – are there any bakes that would use some of it up? Anne-Lies, Gouda, the Netherlands“Jam is at the heart of many great British puddings and cakes, so there are never too many jars in my house!” says Emily Cuddeford, co-founder of Edinburgh’s Twelve Triangles bakery. Her first thought, though, would be to tip a jar of the sweet stuff into a buttered ceramic baking dish and top it with sponge: “Make a classic, equal-parts mix scaled to your dish by creaming, say, 180g butter and 180g sugar, slowly beating in an egg and a dash of vanilla or lemon zest, and finishing with 180g self-raising flour.” Spoon that on top of the jam and bake at 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 until the sponge “bounces back” and a skewer comes out clean. Serve warm with cream or custard, and job’s a good ’un.You’ll also want jam to fill or top cakes. “...

Politics

6 d. ago Which teams have worn parts of three different kits in the same match? | The Knowledge

Plus: more First Division players from unusual places, and the first team with a star on their shirtMail us with your questions and answers“In their Conference League game away to Legia Warsaw, Hibernian wore parts of all three of this season’s kits – third shirt, away shorts and home socks,” noted Euan Williamson last week. “Has any other team done this before?”As mixed kits go, the ensemble worn by Hibs in Poland – black shirt, green shorts and green socks – looked good. Hibs, who had lost the first 2-1 at Easter Road, came within seconds of a famous triumph before eventually losing in extra-time.Any more examples? Email us here Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Couple tell of ordeal when kittens went missing after being left in plane hold

British newlyweds feared worst when transportation of rescue cats from Greece to Paris went awryA newlywed couple who married in Greece have said they feared the worst when three kittens they rescued from Crete went missing after being left in the hold of an aeroplane.They first travelled to the island in September 2023 and found the mother cat, who “had a very distinctive bulging eye that needed to be removed”, Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson, a veterinary nurse, said. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago Best baking brands to shop in 2025: Expert picks for GBBO fans

Discover the top baking brands to invest in, ensuring your bakes are the envy of all at any gathering

Economics

1 week ago Home delivery meal kit linked to salmonella outbreak, leaves seven hospitalized

CDC has not issued a recall, though it warns against eating affected Metabolic Meals products while investigation is ongoing

Society

1 week ago Salter Digital Pet Food Scale review: smart bowl now 20% off with code

Salter’s Digital Pet Food Scale impressed in testing, and right now you can save 20% with code BAKE20 – making it a smart buy

Politics

1 week ago Best and worst supermarket kefirs revealed: Which trendy fermented drinks need to go in your shopping basket

Taste testers have ranked seven supermarket kefir drinks. The cheapest drink in the test came out the winner however, one supermarket's kefir left testers less than impressed.

Economics

1 week ago Ingredient red flags: how to spot the chemicals to avoid in food, kitchenware and cosmetics

Should your makeup be fragrance-free? Is it time to purge your kitchen of plastic? Are all food dyes dangerous? These are the everyday ingredients that could be harming your health‘Far from being a rock or island it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is ‘sponge’. We’re permeable,” write Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie in their book Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. While the permeability of our cells is key to being alive, it also means we absorb more potentially harmful substances than we realise.Studies have found a number of chemical residues in human breast milk, urine and water systems. Many of them are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. “They can mimic, block or otherwise disrupt normal hormone function, leading to adverse health effects,” says Dr Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine and reproductive health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. We (often...

Events

1 week ago I tried Green Chef to see if the organic recipe box was as good as it sounds

These boxes may be ‘consistently satisfying’, but are they worth the price? I find out

Politics

1 week ago First Great British Bake Off 2025 contestant exits show after kitchen disaster

The Great British Bake Off has claimed its first baker of the new series, with 30-year-old scientist Hassan leaving the tent after a disastrous Swiss Roll.

Events

2 w. ago Cress to impress: the peppery, unsung hero ingredient | Kitchen aide

What to make with cress that isn’t an egg sandwichGrowing cress with my daughter is a fun activity, but she’s intolerant to eggs so can’t have the classic sandwich I grew up with. What else can we make with cress? Sophie, via emailThis is also a pressing matter for Rosie Birkett, author of the A Lot on her Plate Substack, because her daughter recently returned home from nursery with a yoghurt tub containing cress: “It might be tiny, but cress is mighty – peppery punchy, and full of character, almost like a mini rocket leaf.” And if eggs are off the menu, Birkett’s first port of call would be to harness the young seedlings’ ability to accessorise: “Do your usual mashed avocado with a little lemon and olive oil, spread that over bread or toast, then top with a scattering of cress. It will add brilliant bite, freshness and pepperiness.”The same goes for bruschetta, or toasts with hummus, olive oil and gentle spices such as cumin, says Anna Jones, author of Easy Wins. She’s no stranger ...

Events

2 w. ago New recipe box launch specifically designed for women's health

The range provides key nutrition in a simple to plan and prepare format

Society

2 w. ago Best Ninja air fryer 2025: Our kitchen appliance expert puts five models through their paces

While there are a plenty of big hitters in the world or air frying - including the likes of Tefal, Tower and Philips - Ninja air fryers have always stood out as some of the best you can buy.

Politics

2 w. ago My favourite childhood outfit: ‘We couldn’t afford new kits – but we always had something Chelsea to wear’

I was 12 in this picture, and closing in on the peak of my sporting career. I’ll always look back fondly on the fun and community of growing up in a football familyMy dad made sure my two younger brothers and I were raised in a Chelsea household; the shed at the back of the garden was, we were told, where Arsenal supporters belonged. Growing up, we went to all the games at Stamford Bridge, competed in our local little league as though it were the Premier League, and followed Dad to the pub to watch Sunday matches (the cheeky chips and J2Os were at least half of the allure).I’m pretty sure I’m 12 years old in this photo and closing in on the peak of my sporting career, as I got ready to play football at a nearby park with my siblings Jevan (then nine) and Kiran (just four). Although we didn’t always have the money for the expensive new kits every season (I’m sure you can spot my mismatched camo shorts), we always had something Chelsea to wear. My dad would often dodge the high ticket...

Politics

2 w. ago Australians in London taste test M&S lamingtons: ‘A cubed cake does not a lamington make’

The UK retailer has released its own versions of the classic Australian cake. Melbourne-born Londoner Rose Johnstone assembles a group of UK-based Australians to try itGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email“Sorry, did you say lemingtons? Are they like, tropical fruits?”Not the response I was expecting when I excitedly told my colleagues that M&S Food was about to launch two versions of lamingtons to the UK public. As an Australian living in London, I’m used to navigating minor cultural differences in the workplace. Case in point: Brits eat their sausage rolls cold, with no sauce. And if you ask for sauce, they’d ask: “What kind?” But to learn that they hadn’t heard of lamingtons – the treat I’d scoff at my Grandma’s house, the major player at any cake stall, the bakery stalwart, neighbour to the trusty snot block – felt downright wrong. Like I’d slipped through a wormhole into a tragic parallel universe.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture a...

Politics

2 w. ago In the Nguyen Kitchen review – cooking up a heartwarming Vietnamese

Aspiring performer Yvonne dreams aloud in candy-coloured reveries that carry the hopes of a marginalised singer in a rarely-seen Parisian communityParis is home to one of the oldest and largest Vietnamese diasporas in the world – not that you could tell from mainstream French cinema. In this heartwarming feature debut, Stéphane Ly-Cuong turns to the magic of the musical comedy to portray not only the dreams and the struggles of Vietnamese-French artists, but also a side of Paris seldom seen on screen.A hopeful performer and singer, Yvonne Nguyen (Clotilde Chevalier) can’t help but dream in songs. Her candy-coloured reveries unfold like a Jacques Demy fantasy, bursting with tunes and light. In reality, however, she is stuck belting out jingles for spring rolls to indifferent supermarket customers. Without much luck getting cast in acting roles, Yvonne moves back in with her mother (Anh Tran-Nghia), who runs a restaurant in the outskirts of Paris. Generational clashes soon follow, but...

Events

3 w. ago I tested dark chocolate from Tesco, Asda, Lidl and more — one is better than Lindt

Can supermarket own brands compare to Lindt, Green and Blacks, Hotel Chocolat and Tony's Chocolonely?

Politics

3 w. ago ‘I’d rather be in the wild chasing animals than going to Hollywood parties’: Taylor Kitsch on fame, flops and Friday Night Lights

After the notorious box office bomb John Carter, the actor became the movie star who wasn’t. Now back on TV, he’s redefining what it means to be a leading manThere is a moment in every actor’s career when they must confront their early dreams and their present reality. For Taylor Kitsch, that reckoning has been more painful than for most. “If you start marrying yourself to these phantom outcomes that don’t exist, man, you’re gonna go crazy,” he says.Kitsch is talking from New York, thousands of miles from his home in Montana, where he has carved out a different life from his Hollywood years. “I’d rather be in the wild chasing animals with my camera than going to clubs or bars or Hollywood parties,” he says. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago HelloFresh ordered to pay $7.5 million in penalties for making subscriptions difficult to cancel

The German-based company makes up 75 percent of the U.S. meal kit delivery market

Economics