10 Spooktacular Tips to Prepare for Halloween!

10 Spooktacular Tips to Prepare for Halloween!

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Electric Pressure Cooker vs Slow Cooker The Pros & Cons

Electric Pressure Cooker

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Okay, so car roof tents are changing the camping game forever?

Car Roof Tent

If you're a fan of camping, then you'll know there's nothing quite like sleeping under the stars. However, you'll also know traditional camping can be a little bit tricky - often involving lugging around a lot of heavy gear and a lot of hassle setting everything up correctly. 

But what if there was an easier way? What if you could enjoy all the benefits of camping without any of the hassles?

Car roof tents are changing the game, and if you haven't been thinking about them already, here's why you need to start.

What are Car Roof Tents?

Car Roof Tent

They're exactly what they sound like - tents attached to car roof racks. They are set up in minutes, and all you need is your car to get a comfortable camping experience.

Not only do car roof tents make it easier for travellers to explore the world with more convenience, but they also provide the perfect opportunity for adventure seekers looking to explore off the beaten path.

Some car roof tents even come with additional features, such as built-in mattresses and storage space, making it easier to pack light and have everything you need for a comfortable camping experience.

But car roof tents aren't just for camping - they can also be used for outdoor events or even for emergency shelter in case of natural disasters.

But wait...

How is a car roof tent better than a traditional tent?

Car Roof Tent 2

Oh, in so many ways.

Picture this. 

You're camping in the great outdoors, and you've had a beautiful weekend away, but on the final night, it starts raining buckets. We're talking about the full-on type of rain that soaks the ground in seconds. Unprepared, you rush to collect all your things and bundle into your traditional tent, but it's too late.

The floor is drenched. There's a puddle in the entryway. Your shoes and clothes are dripping, and mud creeps in with every footstep and gust of wind. Morning comes, and everything is thoroughly soaked, muddy, dirty, and certainly not ready to put in the car.

Now imagine this the other way around.

You're car camping with a car roof tent several feet off the ground. You simply close the tent door and stay dry when it starts to pour. No mess, no fuss. No water creeping in, and unless mud has figured out a way to climb the sides of your car, there's no way it's getting in either.

On top of this, car roof tents are also great for those looking to travel light - traditional camping requires hauling around heavy gear and setting it up in a specific spot. With car roof tents, you have the convenience and mobility to go wherever your car can take you.

Park up. Put the tent up in minutes. Now you're ready to get on with the other activities.

You can even save money by having free outings with your car roof tent. Since you’re sleeping on the roof of your car, there’s no need to pay campsite or pitch fees. Just know wherever you park, that’s where you’re sleeping!

So, why not give car roof tents a try? They may just change the way you experience camping forever. 

To learn more, check out the latest addition of car roof tents, now available in the Monster Store!

Our pop-up car roof tent can be set up in minutes and is no doubt the easiest and comfiest way to camp and experience nature. Offering complete waterproof properties up to 3,000mm, and fully equipped with a solar light, a 5cm thick mattress that's comfier than your bed at home, and built-in roof storage, this is everything you could want in a tent and more.

Check it out today and get back outside in the best way possible.

Happy travels! :)

Commercial Food Mixer: Essential Tips and Tricks

Commercial Food Mixer

A commercial food mixer is vital to any professional (or domestic for that matter!) kitchen. It’s an investment, after all. And like any investment, you want your money’s worth. So we thought we’d club together our best tips and tricks to help you get as much use out of your food mixer as possible.

Not only will we help you keep your mixer on the straight and narrow by maximising its working life, but we’ll also give you some helpful dos and don’ts when you’re using it. We’ll even give you some tasks it can perform of which you mightn’t have thought.

Commercial Food Mixer

Terrific Tips extending your mixer’s life

It’s an obvious one but making sure that you clean your mixer, both attachments and bowl, with hot, soapy water will go a long way and also keep your kitchen clean and healthy. Do check that your detergent of choice is friendly to stainless steel or other metals present on or in your mixer.

Keeping the internal workings dry is key when washing your mixer so you’d be best avoiding pressure washers when tending to the machine. Nevertheless, inspecting and lubricating the gears and belts inside the mixer would be a splendid idea. You should replace anything you find which may have had its day.

Having a log of the maintenance of your kitchen machines, including your mixer, is essential to keep track of when gadgets may be in need of some TLC.

Delightful Dos and Dodgy Don’ts

Now you’ve got your mixer in perfect working material, we’ll let you in a few really useful tips on how to use it to the best of its ability.

You always want to make sure the bowl and any attachments are securely in place before mixing begins unless you wish to do an unscheduled re-decoration of your kitchen!

Keeping any hands completely out of the way, starting to mix at the lowest speed and working your way up the gears to the desired level is always the best way to operate your mixer for largely the same reasons as above. When the mixing is over, move the speed down the gears before stopping the attachment altogether.

Once the mixer has begun, it must be stopped before adding other ingredients. Other than that, just make sure nothing goes into the mixer that shouldn’t such as clothes, utensils or body parts. That’s a crucial one!

Let’s Get Creative

We all know that a commercial stand mixer is brilliant at easily kneading traditional yeast doughs but we’ve got a few other ideas for you to try:

How about shredding a chicken? It can of course be done by hand with a knife and fork but if you want to save some time, a flat beater or paddle attachment should make mince meat (not quite literally) of your chicken in double quick time. Then with your newly shredded chicken, have a look at this simple-to-make recipe.

Commercial food Mixer - Shredded Chicken

If that doesn’t float your boat, you could have a try at making some home-made sausages. To most, this one be quite a daunting challenge, particularly making them by hand but the planetary mixer makes this much easier, especially when emulsifying sausage. Then, after freezing your meat, you can use your mixer to grind up the meat before adding liquid and spices into the mixing bowl for the final flourish. Here's a classic to have a go at yourself using your own sausages

For those of us who prefer our food to be of the vegan variety, your mixer can be used to create an alternative to eggs made from the liquid found in chickpeas cans, aquafaba. A mixer can whip the aquafaba into a meringue-like consistency. It can take a good few minutes to achieve this which makes the mixer even more useful. Check out this vegan-friendly recipe.

If you're yet to get your hands on a commercial food mixer of your own, look no further than our very own KuKoo models here.

Table Top Ideas

Hairpin Legs

Unique Materials for your Hairpin Leg Table

You’ve got your SkiSki hairpin legs? Great! Now what to put on top….

You could just buy a piece of new wood, but where is the fun in that? Get creative with your table top material and make interesting statement pieces of furniture for your home. Using second hand or reclaimed materials can also bring the cost down, an extra benefit of using your imagination. Design your very own bespoke furniture leaving all your guests asking where you shop.

Not sure where to start? We have some excellent inspiration for you. Here are the best, most creative table top ideas that we have seen.

Let’s Go shopping!

You can find all sorts of treasures in antique shops. Keep your eyes peeled for beautiful pieces of wood that may have once been something else. You can completely reclaim the wood to make it an unrecognisable but beautiful piece of furniture. Another idea is to keep it in its original form to create a funky furniture project and a statement piece for your home.

One of the most unique designs that we have seen is using an antique letterpress case as a table top. Top with glass and you have yourself the ultimate unique coffee table. Any book lover would not be able to resist!

Letter Board Hairpin Legs

Are suitcases just for holidays? Absolutely not

Thought suitcases were only for going on holiday? Think again. Hard cases make lovely side tables for your home. Not only have you created a handy table, you’ve given yourself some extra storage. Hide any unwanted mess in your new side table; pretty and useful. Why not keep an eye out for a second hand briefcase for your next furniture project?

Hairpin Legs Suitcase

Unique Furniture Every Time

A piece of a log is an excellent choice if you fancy a slight twist on standard piece of wood. Paired with our easy to attach SkiSki hairpin legs, you will have a side table created in no time at all!

The unique patterns in the log achieve completely unique and beautiful furniture pieces. The perfect addition to any home with a rustic style. You could even varnish your wood for a more contemporary finish.

Hairpin Legs Log

Get Creative with a Crate

Inexpensive and yet the end result is always beautiful furniture. Use an old crate to make an attractive side table. With all the fittings included with SkiSki Legs, this is a quick way to create stunning furniture.

We like the authentic crates with printing on them for an antique farmhouse look. Style with dried flowers to achieve a beautiful boho style.

Hairpin Legs Crate

Yet to get your hands on our very own SkiSki Hairpin Legs? We'd recommend these, click here to begin your DIY journey

Spare Wood Chip Tips

Spare Wood Chip Tips

Five Imaginative Ways to Use your Spare Wood Chips

A wood chipper is a superb way of devouring any excess twigs, leaves and branches, keeping your beautiful garden looking resplendent throughout the year.

However, when you’re done with a wood chipper, you’ll find yourself with an abundance of chips. But don’t dismay! There’s a plethora of imaginative uses for wood chips around a home and we’ve chosen the top five here.

Mulch ado about nothing?

Wood chips are naturally going to decompose over time. The bigger the chip, the longer it will take to break down.

As the wood chips break down on top of the soil as mulch, their goodness filters through and into hungry plants and trees allowing them to grow stronger than ever!

Keep those nitrogen levels nice and high by adding in some nitrogen-rich mulch with wood chips to make sure the levels in the soil remain lovely and full so your vegetation can feast.

Using wood chips as mulch will be brilliant at keeping pesky weeds below ground but also deter any naughty pests who would love to scoff down your precious flowers. Let’s not forget that they look stunning too! You can accessorise your garden with different colours, textures and sizes depending on which tree or branch has been chipped by your wood chipper.

Boom for your mushrooms

Wood Chipper - Mushrooms

Wood chips can be used as an effective substrate for yummy mushrooms.

Different substrates go best with different mushrooms. So, the best plan is to find out which fungi would grow amazingly tall with the help of your useful wood chips.

Chip and chase on gorgeous pathways

Wood Chipper - spare chips


Wood chips are a fabulous material to use on any path or walkway within your garden.

There’s nothing better than not having to pull up those troublesome weeds every five minutes! Wood chips down on a path are amazing at keeping unwanted plants at bay and they look gorgeous in the process.

Make sure you chip enough of them using your chipper to create a layer of chips which is big enough to compress and maintain a weed-free look. You’ll also need a regular supply to top up the chips as they continue to decompose over time so don't put your wood chipper away forever when you're done.

Kids play areas are also a popular destination for wood chips. They provide a sturdy material on which the children can play but also a softer landing for more exuberant play time.

Get raised beds and animal homes looking chipper

Wood Chipper - Butterfly


Gardens are full of life and that’s what makes them beautiful! With your excess wood chips, you can create a new place for your pets, or even wild animals and birds, to stay in your garden.

Pair these chips with wooden logs to create sensational shelters for a furry friend or a chirpy companion as well as making amazing bedding using soft chips with rounded edges only containing goodness and nutrients inside.

Wood chips are also super useful within raised beds as they continue to seep minerals into the soil as they decompose through the months and years

Fuel up!

Wood chips are a perfect source of fuel for a small or camping stove. When on an adventure and natural fuel for your fire isn’t readily available, if you have some of your spare wood chips on you, you’re going to be enjoying your pot noodle in moments (if that’s possible!).

Make sure to use your wood chips in size-appropriate stoves. They’re sure to get the fire burning bright in those miniature stoves. 

Now you know all the amazing things you can do with your spare chips, you'll also have to fuel up your chipper to keep on producing more chips to use around your garden. 


If you've got some spare wood and are looking to produce wood chips to accessorise your gorgeous garden then check out either a 6.5HP or a 15HP T-Mech Wood Chipper!

Spring Gardening Tips

Spring Gardening Tips

5 Tips and Tricks to Become a Gardening ‘Pro’ this Spring.

With brighter days on the horizon, we are all looking forward to getting back out in the garden and enjoying the sunshine. For many of us, our attention has turned to getting our gardens ‘spring ready’ by planting flowers and revitalising our outdoor space after a cold winter.

Our amazing garden range will give you all the tools you need to transform your garden this spring. This includes our beautiful composite decking boards which are perfect for any shape garden, giving you that dream look. Or why not try the 5 in 1 multi tool? Everything you need to maintain your garden all year round. You could even give your plants the VIP treatment with the retractable garden hosepipe. Watering your plants has never been easier with the extra-long hose!

Spring Gardening

Pair your new tools with a few of our tried and tested tips, making gardening that little bit easier this spring…


1. Lollypop Stick Labels

Reuse your old wooden lollypop sticks to get your plant post organised this spring. Write what is in each pot and put it in the soil so you can easily identify your beautiful plants as they grow.

Plant label


2. Yoghurt Pot Seed Starters

Recycle your old yoghurt cartons by turning them into plant pots to get your seeds off to the best start in life. Simply pierce holes into the bottom of each pot to add some extra drainage, fill with soil, plant your seeds and you are good to go. Place on a tray in your green house or on your windowsill and watch as your green fingered work pays off! Get the whole family involved by painting or drawing beautiful patterns, giving your yoghurt pots a new lease of life.

Yoghurt Pots


3. Herb Garden Stones

No lollypop sticks? No problem. A funky alternative is to write or draw the names of your plants or herbs onto pebbles, making natural looking labels suitable for any garden!

Pebbles


4. Sponges for Staying Hydrated

Cut up your old sponges and place in the bottom of your pots to improve the drainage system of a simple plant pot. The sponges retain moisture and stop the water just rinsing straight out the bottom of the pot, creating better conditions for your seeds.

Sponges


5. Plant Pot Storage

Use your old plant pots as storage for your small garden equipment. This could be sheers, trowels, forks, pens or even your new lollypop stick labels! Label your pots to keep tidy and organised all year round.

Wellies and Gardening Gear

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