Drinking and eating when not at home!

DNC, a company you have probably never heard of, from whom we buy what I always used to call picnic ware, but now so much of it has morphed into "Hydration" or to sound a little less pretentious, water bottles, that it seems to have taken over! Though "Hydration" I feel bound to admit, is very big business these days, dominated at the top end by brands such as Chilly's, Swell, Built, Black & Blum and more recently Le Creuset. But in fact, such is the size of the market nearly every man and his dog are producing them these days.

So, coming back to DNC, they were one of the first companies in this market, 20 or so years ago, to sell a well designed water bottle and I think that this shows in their current designs, which are well thought through.

Polar Gear 750ml Hydration bottle
Now I've already alluded to one of the things I like about DNC, and that is the way in which their products have evolved over the years. The Polar Gear 750ml water bottle is a case in point. In talking with Em just now, down in the shop, she pointed out that this year's model is truly one handed in operation, easy to just press the button on the front of the bottle and up pops the drinking spout, so if you're out cycling, in the gym or driving it's really easy to take a drink and easy to seal it up again, no fumbling around. To be fair, this was possible on the old model, but just not as easy. This bottle has an internal straw reaching to the bottom that makes it easy for you to drink/suck pretty well every last drop out with ease and without any head movement nor inclination. Comes with a loop for hanging off your belt and is made of Tritan plastic, which is not only is BPA free, but is also virtually indestructible (same material that Magimix use for their Food Processor bowls). Yours for £9.99. 

Polar Gear Flip Cap Bottle
A similar bottle to look at, but without the straw and with a flip top that handily "gets the top out of the way" as you drink. It also sports a coarse filter that will stop your slices of lemon blocking the spout or large bits getting through into your mouth.

Otherwise the same size as the previous one at 750ml and the flip top will provide a water tight seal so long as you push down on the top of the lid when finishing your drink, and again a Tritan body for durability. £9.99.

Polar Gear Insulated Bottle
Now we are going up market with their Polar Gear Insulated Water Bottle. This is built like a proper thermos flask. It has a double walled Stainless Steel construction with a vacuum between the two walls, to reduce heat or cold transfer to the outside. It has a stainless steel and plastic lid to further insulate the contents and is coated (powder coated is my guess) for durability, in either turquoise, metallic plum or grey. And the grey is not only very smart but also has a rather nice textured feel to it...very up market in fact, bordering on the sexy.... They are 500ml in size, will keep drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12. And will set you back £15.99 which compares very well with the more expensive Chilly's, Black & Blum or Le Creuset bottles.

There is also a 900ml (huge) version with a much larger spout at £19.99. It's just been suggested to me by someone with whom I work, and who will remain nameless, that this bottle could be used for taking chilled white wine to the park in (my mental maths, concluded that indeed a bottle of wine would fit). Not sure why she'd want to hide it in a water bottle, to keep it chilled perhaps?

Not sure if she was thinking of drinking straight from the bottle or out of an appropriate Riedel Wine Glass. Not sure either, what it says about our recruitment and selection process...

Polar Gear Re Heat-Me Food Pod
Not a very sexy name really, nor does it trip off the tongue, but it none-the-less sort of tells you what it is and does. It's a plastic bodied Food Pod/Flask, made to take your hot (or cold) food to work with you and it's insulated.

When it comes to lunch time, you unscrew the top, remove the round shallow tray that's maybe holding your pudding, set that to one side and consume the contents of the main bowl with gusto, or maybe finding it's not quite hot enough for your taste, shove it in the microwave (without the lid please note) for half a minute to reheat.

If you have food that is better separated, then there's an extra liner that you can put in the bowl instead, with a central divider, also microwaveable.

In the lid there is a folding fork and spoon, and then to finish there is the tray that I mentioned earlier, in which you doubtless have something sweet, sticky and delicious. To suggest that this is all absolutely top quality and will last forever, would be exaggerating.

It is however I believe, a great product and very good value at £9.99. This is one my favourite products from DNC.

And that's because it so flipping clever and squeezes so much into so small a space!

Polar Gear Barista Travel Tumbler
When I first used one of these for my coffee, I was impressed by it. It's not too big, either capacity wise or height wise, meaning it will fit under pretty well any coffee machine. It's made of stainless steel and is double wall insulated like the water bottles above, comes in two colours and has a rubber anti slip base. It's leak proof (maybe not to the extent of putting it in your hand bag or brief case, but certainly good enough to not make a mess if it falls over in the car (providing that you remembered to close it). Which by the way is very easy, just press the button in the middle of the lid to drink and press again to seal it. The down side is that although you can clean the mechanism of the lid because it comes apart, leave an old milky coffee in there for a week which in turn has started to grow something interesting that Madame Curie would have been proud of, and perhaps the cleaning might be more of a challenge. But I'm sure you'd never do such a thing, so no need to even give this a second thought.....

DNC also do Personal Cool bags in a couple of colours, both at £9.99 and a very well priced squarish picnic blanket (approx 1.3m x 1.1m) for £14.99 that comes with carrying handles, is water resistant, is really nice quality and very well priced I think. And that is that.

Offer
For this weekend buy any two (or more) items from the Polar Gear ranges and we'll deduct 20% off them. Use the code POLAR at the checkout on the website, or tell us who you are if shopping in Reigate and Cobham and we, as I'm often prone to saying, will do the rest.

Babette
Babette is asking me to tell you all that she is a bit tired since having started a course of chemo and as a consequence is not full of energy. A huge thank you to those of you who have sent flowers. She has discovered by chance that cut flowers left outside in a vase lasts far longer than inside the house, and for those of you who know our house, we are very lucky to have bi-folding doors that look straight onto the decking, where the flowers sit on the garden table. A genuine patchwork of alive colours that give her, she says, a huge amount of joy.

I trust you have a good and peaceful weekend.

Kind regards

Andrew

Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director

PS Le Creuset have just sent us some very cute little Stoneware Tea Bag Holders in Deep Teal (Volcanic to follow) which Babette tells me have been asked for on Social Media. They are small, but big enough for the job, or perhaps to act as a small spoon rest alternatively. RRP is £9.99 and we have them on offer for £6.99 as a one off.

Andrew Bluett-Duncan, Director