IDEAL COOKING TIPS
8 Ideal Steps To The Perfect Steak
Here at IDEAL, we love a good vegetable. Blanched, steamed, raw, sauteed...the good green stuff is the backbone of our diet, make no mistake (can’t...won’t….mustn’t. Aaah....Must. Resist. Steak. Puns)....
IDEAL COFFEE BREAK READS
A Look Inside A Pro Chef’s Knife Roll: 5 Essential Knives & Tools Every Cook Carries
Are you considering a change of pace or yearning for a fresh start? Do you think your passion for cooking could be translated into a career? How does the...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
10 Ideal Tips For Triumphant Barbeques At Home This Bank Holiday
Us Brits love a bank holiday barbie and with this glorious weather we're having, it’s time to dust the cobwebs off your grill, crack open some beers and get...
EDITORS PICKS
What’s In Season: 7 Of The Best Fruit & Vegetables In June
And some great ideas on cooking them!
With so many stuck indoors struggling to know what day it is, let alone the month, recognising the passing of time is perhaps...
#IDEAL
HOW TO MAKE RISOTTO IN 7 EASY STEPS
Let’s get something out of the way before we begin. To suggest the existence of a ‘right’ way to cook risotto is a dangerous, contentious claim. Italians with grandmothers...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 Ideal Tips On How To Create An Instagram Worthy Cheeseboard
There’s no doubt about it, Britain is a nation of cheese lovers. And not just that plastic slice that comes in your quarter pounder. Quite the opposite, in fact;...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
7 IDEAL STEPS TO THE PERFECT, MEDIUM RARE RACK OF LAMB
This week marks National Butchers Week, celebrating the fantastic work and pride for their craft shown throughout this oldest of professions. Coincidentally, we’re also at the quarter-final stage of...
#SPONSORED
5 IDEAL WINE PAIRINGS FOR THE UK’S FAVOURITE TAKEAWAYS
Us Brits love a takeaway. It should come as no surprise, then, that during lockdown takeaway service revenues have soared, with online food delivery declared as being ‘one of...
EDITORS PICKS
7 TIPS ON FREEZING FOOD PROPERLY
Ideal for avoiding waste and making ingredients last longer.
These are unprecedented times indeed. And suddenly, a new perspective on our store cupboards, fridges and freezers is forming. Wasting even...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 BEGINNER’S TIPS FOR MAKING THE IDEAL HOMEMADE PIZZA
National Pizza Day (in Britain - yep we know, no Neapolitan death threats please) is upon us, but don’t reach for that phone for a takeaway just yet. Nope,...
#SPONSORED
5 IDEAL SPRING VEGETABLES AND HOW TO COOK THEM
Spring has well and truly sprung (finally) and with it a whole host of new fruit and vegetables are coming into season, at their peak and tasting truly vital...
#SPONSORED
8 PROFESSIONAL CHEF’S TIPS FOR A BETTER ORGANISED KITCHEN AT HOME
It’s often said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, but when it’s cluttered, disorganised and dirty, that ticker is in some serious danger of cardiac arrest.
If...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS FOR COOKING WITH ASPARAGUS
We've waited for nine months, but asparagus season is now finally upon us. Chefs and home cooks are rejoicing. Of course, you can get your hands on asparagus all...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
8 Beginner’s Tips You Should Know Before Forming A Company In The UK
In September of last year it was reported that in the first half of 2021, almost 80 new businesses were registered every hour here in the UK.
Overall, there were...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
THE IDEAL COOK: WHAT TO DO WITH THE BITS YOU NORMALLY THROW AWAY
Do you have a freezer bag of leftover parmesan rinds that you don’t know what to do with? Do you approach the pile of potato peel with the best...
#SPONSORED
10 IDEAL HACKS TO TURN YOUR FOOD WASTE INTO SOMETHING DELICIOUS
Now is the perfect time to start thinking more smartly about just how much food you’re throwing away. Whether cooking a simple mid-week dinner for family, hosting a dinner...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS FOR STORING MEAT SAFELY
This second week of March, it's Food Waste Action Week and National Butchers Week, and today, we're considering food storage as a way of avoiding food waste.
Should you have got a...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL STEPS TO THE PERFECT YORKSHIRE PUDDING
National Yorkshire Pudding Day falls on the 6th February this year, and talk about perfect timing. Veganuary has wilted and died, the floodgates have opened on January’s drought, and...
#IDEAL
6 IDEAL STEPS TO DELICIOUS, VEGETARIAN CHINESE DISHES AT HOME
We've reached the end of Veganuary and we're feeling great; a spring in our step, lightness in our gut and a fresh approach to vegetables in our cooking canon....
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
THE ART OF OPENING A BOTTLE OF WINE
Compulsive viewers of ITV’s fabulous food and romance reality show Dinner Date will be all too familiar with the recurring scene; a gentleman suitor fumbles and fusses over uncorking...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
10 UNUSUAL INGREDIENTS TO ADD TO YOUR MORNING COFFEE
Ideal for giving your cup the coffee shop treatment at home.
Are you missing your favourite high street cup of Joe? Do you feel yourself getting bored with the same...
#IDEAL
8 TIPS ON MEAL PREPPING & COOKING IF YOU LIVE ALONE
Hey, let’s not mince our words here; solo cooking can be a challenge. It’s all too easy to just eat beans on marmite toast ad infinitum (just us?) or...
EDITORS PICKS
7 IDEAL TIPS TO HELP YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY TO VEGANISM IN 2022
Veganuary is well and truly upon us, but this year, for many, the decision to go plant based may well last beyond January 31st. Indeed, veganism has never been...
#SPONSORED
THE IDEAL GUIDE TO CHRISTMAS FOODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Everyone knows that the best thing to eat on Christmas Day is turkey with all the trimmings. We’re talking roast potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire puddings, those little sausages wrapped in...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 TIPS FOR COOKING THE IDEAL TURKEY ON CHRISTMAS DAY
With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to prepare for the big one, the true meaning of the festive season; dinner. With the help of Steve Smith, Head...
#IDEAL
IDEAL CHRISTMAS COOKING TIPS FROM SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE CHEFS
Christmas may be looking a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go all out when it comes to the biggest feast of 2020. We could...
CHRISTMAS
6 IDEAS FOR VEGAN TWISTS ON CHRISTMAS DINNER STAPLES
‘Another nut roast’, sighs the only vegan in the family, but around the Christmas dinner table, the complaints go unheard.
It’s a tale as old as time itself. At least,...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
HOW TO FIND A MORTGAGE BROKER
Having a mortgage broker can help you to find the best deal on your mortgage for you and make sure you get the best option for your needs. Many...
#IDEAL
5 HEALTHY EATING TIPS FOR AN AUTUMN SPENT INDOORS
Hunker down, it's hibernation time. As the days get colder and the nights draw in, our eating habits change too, with dishes heartier and more comforting. That shouldn't mean...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
HOW TO SLEEP BETTER IF YOU’RE A STOMACH SLEEPER
We’re sure we don’t have to tell you twice, so we'll just say it once; one of the most important things that anyone can do to remain happy and...
IDEAL COFFEE BREAK READS
THE BEST UK ROAD TRIPS TO DO WITH THE KIDS BEFORE THEY GROW UP
Leaving and arriving, getting from A to B, setting off and settling down...all good stuff, but it's that part in between that matters the most. When you’re embarking on...
#SPONSORED
5 BENEFITS OF AN AIR FRYER OVER DEEP FAT FRYING & OVENS
Put the KFC down and your hands in the air if deep fried food is one of your guiltiest pleasures? Woah, woah, woah, that’s a lot of rather greasy...
#SPONSORED
PANCAKE DAY: 6 FUN & QUIRKY SWEET TREAT DESIGNS
With the nation stuck at home for pancake day this year and many of us trying to occupy young children while juggling working from home and homeschooling, we’re all...
#IDEAL
7 EXPERT WINE PAIRINGS FOR THE UK’S FAVOURITE VALENTINE’S DAY DINNERS
This year, are you whipping up a fancy three course meal for a loved one, nude aside from your ‘kiss the cook’ apron? Or, is Valentine’s Day 2021 more...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
PLANNING A CAMPING TRIP: 4 HACKS FOR HEALTHY & DELICIOUS CAMPFIRE COOKING
Ideal for affordable and easy meals with the family on your next camping trip.
Could there be anything better? Allow us to set a scene here; it’s dusk on a...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 CHEF’S WORKFLOW HACKS TO MAKE COOKING AT HOME EASIER
Though some might argue that the bedroom has its fair share of earth moving experiences, we think it’s safe to say that the kitchen is both the most important...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
JOE WICK’S IDEAL RECIPE FOR CREAMY CHICKPEA CURRY LOADED WITH SWEET POTATO (CARB REFUEL)
Check out this great recipe for creamy chickpea curry loaded with sweet potato, IDEAL for a carb refuel, from Joe Wicks and Gousto Lean in 15 range.
“Creamy, coconutty chickpea...
EDITORS PICKS
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE KFC STYLE CHICKEN: 5 IDEAL STEPS
Fried chicken lovers rejoice! KFC is open once again. But, what’s this? Dine in options unavailable. Hours unknown. Queues snaking round the block and drive thrus backed up for...
FEATURED
5 CREATIVE USES FOR LEFTOVER WINE
Aside from hangovers, one of the other great tragedies of wine is that once opened, it doesn’t keep for long. So unless you, like the professionals, have access to...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 QUICK & EASY PASTA DINNERS
Ideal for feeding your family during lockdown
Day who knows of lockdown life and our dinner creations are getting ever more eccentric. Our sense of restraint seems to have given...
FEATURED
LOCKDOWN LARDER: 5 EASY, DELICIOUS MEALS YOU CAN MAKE FROM YOUR STORE CUPBOARD & FREEZER
Ideal for self isolation, quarantine and lockdown.
If you can’t face watching Jamie Oliver’s daily teatime briefings to a worried nation seeking reassurance, then perhaps the dulcet, delicious tones of...
FEATURED
5 EASY MIDWEEK DINNER IDEAS, IDEAL FOR USING UP LEFTOVER VEGETABLES & AVOIDING WASTE
Hey, we’re all in the same boat, right? We all want to cook a little more. We’re all doing our best to eat more healthily, sustainability, locally and seasonally....
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
HOW TO COOK THE IDEAL EGG, 5 WAYS
Who hasn’t suffered bad luck when sharing stoves with the humble egg at one time or another? We’ve all had that poached egg which couldn’t even walk over the muffin, let...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL STEPS TO A FLIPPING PERFECT PANCAKE DAY
This Pancake Day don’t be a flop, ditch the packet mix and impress your friends and family with delicious homemade pancakes. Homemade pancakes take minutes to make and are...
#SPONSORED
5 TIPS FOR COOKING THE IDEAL MEAL THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
It’s a dream that often clashes with reality. You’re planning to cook a delicious Valentine’s day meal for your partner, with candles flickering, every bite purred over and every...
#SPONSORED
7 IDEAL TIPS & IDEAS FOR BUDGET MEAL PLANNING
We’ve all been there; a long, stressful day at work and a late finish lead you straight to the nearest supermarket’s ready meal section on your way home, the...
#SPONSORED
10 IDEAL IDEAS FOR UNUSUAL PRODUCE TO GROW IN YOUR GARDEN THIS YEAR
In the miserable January days, summer seems like a lifetime away. But have hope, the world keeps turning, and until those warm rays start breaking through the clouds, you...
#SPONSORED
5 IDEAL SELF-CATERING TIPS FOR YOUR HOLIDAY HOME
‘What, you’re saying you choose to cook, when you’re on holiday? Are you mad?’ Well, yeah possibly, but certainly not for that reason. Indeed, when exploring destinations both far...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
6 IDEAL CHEF’S SECRETS TO LIFT YOUR HOME COOKING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Sometimes, it’s difficult not to look down at the mountain of washing up, the splashes of sauce on the walls, the burnt fingers and broken crockery and wonder if...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL COOKING IDEAS FOR PUMPKIN SEASON
The arrival of autumn and Halloween's approach means one thing, and nope, it's got nothing to do with Brexit. Instead, something much more interesting; it's pumpkin season! But if...
#SPONSORED
5 IDEAL HOME COOK’S HACKS TO ELEVATE YOUR MEALS TO MASTERCHEF LEVEL
Learning how to cook is a lifelong love affair that never entirely ends; the pleasure and reward being in the constant evolution of techniques, recipes and ingredients. If you...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
7 TIPS FOR THE IDEAL ROAST CHICKEN
‘What’s your big four favourite then?’....a conversation piece deployed by almost anyone in the course of discussing Sunday lunch. And while beef certainly has its merits, pork its fans...
#SPONSORED
4 IDEAL KITCHEN KNIFE TECHNIQUES EVERY AMATEUR CHEF SHOULD KNOW
Fancy yourself as a bit of a chef? Well learning how to use a knife effectively and developing knife skills should be the first thing any aspiring amateur cook...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 STEPS TO THE IDEAL OMELETTE
An unfussy, expertly cooked omelette is one of life’s great, and easiest, pleasures. You can sex it up with diced tomatoes, peppers, mushroom or ham, but for us,...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
HOW TO MAKE THE IDEAL SOUFFLE
If there’s a dish which strikes more terror and trepidation into the budding homecook, we sure haven’t found it. Maybe they’ve been scarred by a dinner party of...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
7 TIPS FOR IDEAL HOMEMADE CHIPS
Chips are a very personal thing; preferences clash, condiments contrast and while a bowl is perfect for communal eating, these fast food favourites are very rarely shared. Well, willingly,...
ASIA
10 IDEAL KITCHEN STAPLES AND TOOLS FOR ‘FROM-SCRATCH’ THAI COOKING
A myth, perpetuated by ready-meal companies perhaps, is that ‘from-scratch’ Thai cooking is beyond the reach of home cooks. Many in a bout of confidence and bravery look up...
#SPONSORED
7 IDEAL TIPS TO RAISE YOUR HOME BAKING GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL
National Baking Week is back and we couldn’t be happier. Inevitably, thousands of amateur bakers will be dusting off their weighing scales and getting ready to be inspired -...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 TIPS FOR MAKING THE IDEAL VICTORIA SPONGE CAKE
Who doesn't love a Victoria sponge cake? Best enjoyed with a cup of tea, it's a baking classic and a tasty tea-time treat. The original late 19th century recipe...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS ON HOW TO COOK PERFECT JERSEY ROYALS
Jersey Royal potatoes are at their best in May – so it’s time for you to learn how to cook them to impress friends and family while they are...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS FOR COOKING WITH ONIONS
The Great British weather has begun to brighten and spring is truly on its way. Along with the warmer climate and longer days, spring brings with it (unsurprisingly) Spring...
#IDEAL
7 IDEAL TIPS ON COOKING THE PERFECT VALENTINE’S DAY MEAL
You’ve got the outfit and the gift sorted, but on one of the busiest nights of the year in the restaurant calendar it can often be difficult to get...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS ON HOW TO LOOK AFTER YOUR POTS OF FRESH HERBS
When it comes to fresh herbs, shoppers are really spoilt for choice. There are a host of herbs to choose from, each with their own individual flavour, aroma and...
#SPONSORED
5 IDEAL TIPS ON COOKING WITH GIN AT HOME
It’s no secret that the UK has developed quite a fondness for gin. We've even have Ginuary, whole month dedicated to it. After tea it's probably our national drink. Steve...
#SPONSORED
10 IDEAL TIPS FOR COOKING WITH STORE CUPBOARD SPICES
Variety is the spice of life, an old adage that rings no truer than when talking about diet. But whilst National Curry Week is upon us we think it’s...
IDEAL COOKING TIPS
5 IDEAL TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT SUNDAY ROAST
Sunday roast rib of beef © Roderick Eime
Here at IDEAL we love a good old fashioned Sunday Roast for so many reasons. There's something wonderfully nostalgic about a roast. A...