Remember the Jetsons? That super-cool family with the smartest gadgets and aero cars (which folded into a suitcase) that they whizzed away in, while their robot maid Rosie handled all their household chores? It’s such a lovely futuristic world that all of us once aspired to live in. Today, Rosie (sans the gendered implications of women in the kitchen) may just soon be available to us. Because, the future is now. Think AI-enabled refrigerators and ovens, smart dustbins and, on a more reachable note, even app-enabled delivery services.
Take a look at the slew of smart gadgets that are flooding the market, all aimed at making life in the kitchen a whole lot easier and so much more efficient. Inventors are making sure devices can now ‘think’ for you and control cooking and in-kitchen activity while you are away. Here’s a look at some of the ways technology is making its presence felt in the way we buy ingredients, cook, eat and even dispose of our food waste.
Hello Egg!
An upgraded version of an old-fashioned egg timer, this one boasts AI technology and is voice-operated. Introduced by RnD64, Hello Egg! comes with cooking assistance and step-by-step voice-navigated recipe video tutorials and prompts from a human support team for those who might need a little hand-holding in the kitchen. You can use this tiny soon-to-be-available gadget to help you plan your weekly meals, organise shopping lists and access recipes.
DaysAgo, $8 (₹515 approx)
Then there’s the whole question of using expired products. A lot of store-bought sauces and preserves come with Use By dates that most of us seem to forget. But with DaysAgo Digital Day Counter, this is another problem solved. Basically a suction cup that can be attached to the lid of a product, DaysAgo is a digital tracker that will record the time once the seal on the jar has been broken.
Crock-Pot with WeMo, $129.99 (₹8,380 approx)
Wouldn’t it be awesome to get back home after a long day at work and find your food cooked and ready for you to eat? Crock-Pot’s latest offering is a slow cooker with WeMo (that lets you monitor home gadgets from anywhere). Set the Crock-Pot in the morning and monitor the temperature using your smartphone. You can also increase or decrease the temperature remotely and let your friendly appliance handle the cooking process for you while you are away. Whether it’s a stew, a soup or even a pot roast, it’s as easy as the tap of your smartphone screen.
PancakeBot, $299 (₹19,269 approx)
Craving pancakes for breakfast or want to impress that date with breakfast in bed? PancakeBot will help you churn out some great looking ones in a jiffy. Simply enter the picture or design you want and pour batter into the bottle. Then let this food printer do all the hard work. You, in the meanwhile, can walk away looking like a culinary star.
Hiku, $49 (₹3,158 approx)
This one’s a fridge magnet, albeit a smart one. It does more than just make your refrigerator look pretty. It creates your grocery lists, scans barcodes, even recognises your voice, so you can share shopping lists. The magnet adds items to an app that you can use when you step out for a spot of grocery shopping. No question of forgetting a list – your little magnet will do all the remembering for you.
Samsung Family Hub, $5,000 to $6,000 (₹ 3,22,227.50 to ₹3,86,685 approx )
They’re priced that way for a reason: they do have a range of rather helpful features such as an embedded camera that takes a picture of the contents of your fridge every time you shut the door. So the next time you’re out shopping and have forgotten to check what needs to be restocked, you can rely on your fridge to tell you just what is needed. The appliance also alerts you when food has been lying inside for a long time and is about to go bad. The built-in touch screen offers recipes and streams music too. Not a bad device to own, we think.
Smartbin Air, ₹ 1,299 upwards
Been hoping to switch to ‘the other side’ and take up responsible living? Smartbins are here to help you do just that. They convert food waste into organic nutrients (compost) that can be put to much better use than simply being sent to the landfill. All one has to do is drop food waste into bins and cover it with a layer of bio bloom air (organic composting microbes supplied by the company (GreenTech Life). Bereft of any odours the waste turns into compost within a month of the bin filling up and is ready to be used in your terrace garden.
| As Simple as it can get |
| When was ordering food or groceries ever this easy? Today, all one has to do is pull up one of the many delivery apps, tap on the screen a few times, use an e-wallet to pay, and voila, food and groceries are delivered at your doorstep. There’s so much to choose from: |
| Food delivery: Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda, Faasos |
| Groceries: Bigbasket, Grofers, Amazon Pantry |
| Meat: TenderCuts, Fipola, Licious |
| Meal kits: Burgundy Box, Haute Chef, Chef’s Basket |
| Recipes: Epicurious, Cookpad, Lunch Box, Simply Organic |
