PART I: Right things to invest in your kitchen
Most of the times we women ignore about our health, and bakers like us we completely let down our health by over working, over using our body by physically tormenting it.
I am baking for the last 4.5 years and the first 1.5 years baking was an addiction and i was over obsessed, any kind of addiction is bad! You will realize it only when your body shuts down. I would work 100 hours a week, sleeping just for 4-5 hours, I didnt have the money to invest in a stand mixer nor did I have knowledge about how beneficial a stand mixer was. For large orders to whip 2 litres of cream I would use two hand beaters in both left and right hand to whip it quicker, this happened for almost 1.5 years along with over 4-5 hours of Mobile phone usage to take orders, facebook posts etc, this made my shoulder and neck breakdown while i was only 26 years old! I have visited a lot of Ortho doctors, a few suggested physiotherapy and a few would scare me saying it can be cured only by a surgery.
I have taken physiotherapy for years with one of the Bangalore's most efficient sport physiotherapist but nothing helped in all this 4 years. Pain, money and energy only where getting spent but no recovery. Here are a few things I wanted to share with you if you are undergoing any of the below issues
1. Shoulder Pain because of hand beater, phone etc
2. Neck Pain or Arm pain or Elbow Pain
3. Lower back pain due to long hours of standing
4. Knee pain or Joint Pain
Things to change in baking
If you decide baking is going to be your profession, invest in right tools or Of you are baking 4-5 times a week
1. Stand Mixer, the best bet is Kitchen Aid 4.8. Best time to buy is during Christmas you will save about Rs 6000, best place to buy is their own website or sometimes Amazon, check both the places before buying. All other low cost alternatives like wonderchef or Philips will live only for 2-3 years and most of the times its not repairable. Today most of our mobile phones cost nothing less than Rs.35000 and we change it at least every 3 years, so investing in a kitchen aid that's going to last for at-least 10 years is not at all expensive. If you still think its expensive then buy it from the USA, Since its the manufacturing country you will save on a lot of hidden import, shipping charges and taxes making the price almost reduce by 50%. But remember you will have to buy a step down converter and if at all the motor faces a trouble its going to be really painful to fix it.
2. Hand blender, I have been using Kitchen Aid and it works like a dream, this is also a best bet. Although I don't make too many ganache cakes, I invested in this (Rs.5000) for all my fillings and chocolates. So if you are a fondant artist, who makes ganache cakes every other day invest in this. This takes a good load upto 2kg, but if you are making large quantities of ganache then investing in a Carpigiani 1500 rpm emulsifiers are a best deal because they are much powerful and effective. I haven't used philips, bajaj or other emulsifiers.
3. Heat gun, I use black decker. If you are into pastry, entremets, cheesecakes, set cakes then this is an essential. Many use a hair dryer but i would recommend a heat gun as its much efficient and not very expensive. Just Rs.1200 during sale its at Rs.900
4. Hand Beater, Picking up a low weight, high performance hand beater is always best. Not every time you can use stand mixer, if you want to beat just 1-2 egg whites for 20 macarons or to soft whip egg yolks hand beaters are best. best deal is Philips(about Rs.2000), works for years, lighter in weight, lower noise than other counter parts. Kitchen aid is good but is slightly heavier than philips and slower.
5. Although kitchen rules strictly ask the chef to be on the feet all time, I recommend having a high rise chair/bar stool in your kitchen counter. (Best brand with seat rise, rotation- Rs.5000-6000)
6. Chopping chocolate is the most painful of all, Use a heavy duty knife, slightly expensive but saves so much stress on your shoulder. Or follow one of the technique i have shared before oven melting.Search on amazon on heavy knife, basically your knife should be heavy and thick in gauge. Rs.600-1000, If you have money and passion in kitchen(cooking) then invest in better ones too. Even Homecentre, @Home, IKEA all have good heavy duty knives for cheaper price
All of the above put together will not cost you more than 55-60k, but one shoulder correction or a knee correction surgery will cost you nothing less than 3Lakhs and months of misery!
I never had the money to buy everything at once, so i decided every Christmas I will buy something new for the kitchen and i continue to do. Or you can buy during the sales, Flipkart sales, Great India Amazon Sale, Diwali sale or festival sales. Buying online is always better than buying it offline because, you have much flexibility in product return/exchange/easy EMIs/More offers/discounts/free deliveries or above all better customer service than the counters
Most of us know to earn but not to spend in the right places, I hope this article helps at-least a few women out here!
Part II: What to do if you are already having a problem?
Will share later this week. Will discuss on many treatments on my experiences with ortho, physios, chiros and fitness etc., so do follow!
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