Appliances for when you’re sick

July 6th, 2012

Appliance Talk

A particularly nasty cold and flu has been making its way around our section of the Appliances Online office, felling each of us for a few days at a time, until we’re well enough to drag ourselves back to our desks and pass on the bug to the next lucky sod.

This is not an unusual occurrence for an office in winter, and something similar can happen in a busy family household, even if you’ve all had your flu injections (most of us did!).

If you too are being struck down by plague this winter, here are a few ways you can use appliances to help to ease your pain and make things a touch more bearable.

Store a supply of miracle foods in the fridge

You may feel like gorging on comfort food when you’re unwell, but eating healthily will give your body the energy and fuel it needs to fight the plague, without burdening it with the extra work of digesting nonessential fats and sugars.

By adding plenty of fruit and vegetables to your diet, you’ll boost your levels of plague-battling vitamin C, antioxidants and other good stuff.

A fridge with climate-controlled storage for fruits and vegetables will help preserve their vitamins and minerals for as long as necessary, meaning you won’t need to drag yourself down to the shops or wait for grocery deliveries as often.

Get nourishment from a soup maker

Folk wisdom tells us that chicken soup is the best way to fight a cold.  If you’re a believer, a soup maker from Tefal or Morphy Richards will take the ingredients and transform them into a hearty and nutritious soup that cures what ails ya.

In a pinch, you could use a slow cooker for the same purpose.  With just a little effort in the morning, a nourishing meal will be ready for you in the evening, right when you’re feeling your worst and need a pick-me-up.

Soothe your throat with an espresso machine or kettle

No, you won’t be making coffee.  Bed rest is important for beating a cold, and getting caffeinated isn’t going to help.

But you can use your espresso machine to quickly boil water for some tea, which is renowned as a cure for what ails ya, especially when you add extra ingredients such as lemon, honey, or ginger.  Green tea is also full of antioxidants, which can be helpful.

Some espresso machines come with a handy tea-making setting, but otherwise you can use a standard kettle.  One kettle from Morphy Richards is specially designed just for tea.

Create a superdrink with a juicer

Here in the Appliances Online office, one of our colleagues is notorious for offering ‘vitamin bombs’ – fizzy concoctions of water and powders made from who knows what – to anyone showing signs of disease.

If you don’t like the sound of this kind of brew, perhaps you’ll prefer to produce your own cure-all from the natural ingredients stored in your fridge.

With a cold press juicer, you can extract the juice and good stuff from a variety of fruits and vegetables, combining them into a single healthy drink that will go a long way towards getting you cured and most likely won’t make your pee turn bright orange (a known side-effect of the vitamin bomb).

Feel hygienic with a washer/dryer combo

You’ll want to keep your clothes nice and clean while you’re diseased so as to not spread the contagion on to your loved ones through fabric contact.

But when you’re sick and lacking in energy, the chore of doing the laundry, then hanging it up or putting it in the dryer, can seem nightmarish.  It’s all too easy to find yourself  shuffling around the house in the same pyjamas for days on end.

Using a combination washer/dryer gets an entire laundry cycle done in one go, saving you effort and energy, providing you with fresh clothes, and leaving you with plenty of time for bed rest.

Create a healthy environment with an air purifier and vacuum cleaner

Keeping your loved ones safe from your spreading disease can be made simpler by keeping your home environment as germ-free as possible.

An air purifier won’t just help you to breathe easily by removing sneeze-inducing dust from the air, it will remove a great deal of the disease-causing germs as well.

Many modern vacuum cleaners integrate HEPA filters that trap dust and allergens that lurk buried in your carpets.  Opting for a lightweight model won’t just make it easier to maneuver through tight spaces in your home, but will take less effort to use, which is great when you’re literally sick and tired.

Got a favourite cure for the winter sickness?  Let us know!