Looking To Save Time Cooking In The Kitchen?

Because most people are quite busy, they often don’t have much time to spend cooking. Of course, it goes without saying that meals prepared at home are usually much better for you than pre-prepared food or fast food.

One way to make it easier to cook at home is to look for time savers in the kitchen. It’s interesting to note that two of the best time savers in the kitchen use cooking methods at opposite ends of the speed spectrum. One cooks foods fast, while the other cooks foods slow.

#1 Way To Save Time Cooking – The Slow Cooker

Slow cookers are electrical countertop appliances that come in varying sizes. Although the term slow cooker and Crock-Pot are often used interchangeably, Crock-Pot is actually a trademark name for a specific brand of slow cooker.

A slow cooker, as the name implies, cooks foods slowly. However, it is still a great time saver. Put the ingredients for your main dish or an entire meal in the slow cooker in the morning before you start your other work for the day, and that evening you’ll have a meal ready and waiting.

To save even more time the next morning, prepare the ingredients the evening before, so they’ll be ready to put in the slow cooker.

#2 Way To Save Time Cooking – The Pressure Cooker

Pressure cookers are back in style, and they have many more features than the old models of the 80’s. Today’s pressure cookers are much much safer and easier to use.

Even though a pressure cooker may look like other kitchen pots, the lid makes all the difference. The contents of the pot build up steam because the lid completely seals the pot. The cooking time is much shorter because the steam is under pressure and at higher temperatures. It’s really very simple to use, even if it sounds somewhat complicated.

Sturdy metal that conducts heat well make the best pressure cookers. Models like the Presto Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker have a bi-metal clad base that provides great conduction for cooking, plus a great looking and durable finish. There are various sizes for pressure cookers, from 4 to 8 quart sizes. A popular choice for a family, the 6 quart size may be the best pressure cooker for you, too.

The pressure cooker can help you cook something in a short time, sometimes even faster than a microwave, if meal time rolls around and you haven’t anything prepared. It has the added advantage of keeping the vitamins and other nutrients intact, while sealing in juices and flavors.

Give Yourself A Break And Save Time In YOUR Kitchen

Make preparing food easier. You might want to consider buying these time savers if you don’t already have them. Start saving time cooking by choosing the best pressure cooker and slow cooker you can find for your needs.

Often a gathering place, and certainly one of the most used rooms in the house, the kitchen is a very important part of the home. Since meal preparation is a vital part of maintaining good health, the kitchen needs to be equipped with healthy pots and pans to make it easier for the cook to prepare nutritious, good-tasting food.

What Makes Healthy Pots And Pans?

There is such a wide variety of cookware available today that choosing the right set of pots and pans for a healthy kitchen can seem a very daunting task. Each type of cookware has some unique features, with different types of lids, handles and cooking surfaces. However, the biggest difference is the specific material used to manufacture the pots and pans.

The most common materials for cookware are aluminum, copper, steel and cast iron. There are even pots and pans made of glassware, allowing the same pot to be used on the range top, oven, broiler, refrigerator, freezer and microwave.

Healthy pots and pans will allow you to cook your food safely, without any of the materials from the cookware leaching into the food.

Pros and Cons of Different Cookware Materials

Aluminum is one of the most commonly used materials for cookware because it is such a great heat conductor. However, there is some controversy as to the safety of aluminum since it is thought to contribute to health problems, and some aluminum may leach into foods cooked in that type of pan. This process is accelerated when a pan is dented, or when used to cook highly acidic foods such at tomatoes or citrus fruits.

Anodized aluminum cookware is a safer alternative. The electro-chemical anodizing process prevents the aluminum from leaching, and makes a good cooking surface that is scratch-resistant. Calphalon hard-anodized cookware is an example of anodized aluminum pots and pans.

Copper is a very efficient type of cookware, because it is also a very good conductor of heat. It allows for even cooking and an efficient use of energy. However, this material can also leach into food as the cooper heats up, so the interior cooking surfaces are usually lined with another material, such as steel.

Stainless steel is often considered a good material for healthy pots and pans. Since it is made of a mixture of different metals, including nickel, chromium and molybdenum, there is some possibility of these leaching into foods. However, unless the pots and pans are pretty beat-up with lots of dings and pits, it’s not likely much of these metals would actually get into food, so stainless steel is generally thought to be good cookware for a healthy kitchen.

Paula Deen 12×20-in. Cast Iron Double Burner Griddle

Cast Iron Makes Healthy Pots And Pans

Cast iron cookware has been around for a long time. This material makes heavy pots and pans that take a long time to heat up, but the cast iron also holds the heat for a long time, even at a low temperature. Besides that, it cools off slowly, and these characteristics are sometimes advantageous when cooking.

The weight of the pans make them great at heat distribution, but the disadvantage is hefting the pans in and out of storage and onto the stovetop or in the oven. One way to make this easier is to use a rack for hanging pots and pans close to the stove.

Cast iron is also one kind of material that is okay to have leaching in small amounts into your food since iron is an essential nutrient for human beings. It also has the advantage of building a natural non-stick surface through the carbonization process of heating oils and fats on the cooking surface.

However, one of the biggest drawbacks to cast iron cookware for some people is the fact it is not dishwasher safe. Once it’s well seasoned, it is easy to clean, but for cooks that don’t want to deal with the seasoning process, enameled cast iron can provide a good alternative. This makes the cookware dishwasher safe and somewhat nonstick.

Glass Or Ceramic Cookware

Non-porous glass-ceramic cookware is non-reactive, so does not absorb food odors or flavors. It also does not react with acid-based foods, or leach materials into the food. It is ideal for water based cooking and dishwasher safe. Corning Ware and Visions Cookware are a couple of better known examples of this type of healthy pots and pans.

Ceramic (pottery) cookware is made with clay that has a glaze, a sort of glass coating. The wrong kind of glaze or decorative pigments can cause health problems. For instance, in the past lead was often used in glazes and leached into food. Lead is now known to be a health hazard. Stick with a reputable manufacturer from a country that has safety standards in place for ceramics used for cooking.

Making A Choice Of Materials For Healthy Pots And Pans

All these various materials have different advantages and disadvantages when it comes to healthy cooking. Choose one that fits your criteria and lifestyle, and aim for healthy pots and pans in your kitchen!

A good pressure cooker can take the pressure out of cooking, and Presto makes good pressure cookers!

They’ve been in business for over 100 years, so they have plenty of experience in making pressure cookers. In fact, they introduced the first saucepan-style pressure cooker for homemakers, giving us a method of cooking foods in one third the usual time while keeping the vitamin and mineral content of foods intact, and saving both food flavor and color. For some foods, a pressure cooker is even faster than using a microwave!

The Presto company is reliable. They pioneered pressure cookers. They’ve been in business a long time. Choosing one of their products makes good sense! 

Buying a Presto Pressure Cooker is a wise investment, even in tough economic times. In fact, a Presto Pressure Cooker is especially good for tough economic times, because it allows you to save time and energy in the kitchen, and save money cooking.

The 6-Quart Presto Pressure Cooker is a popular size for families. It’s big enough to cook a good-sized meal in it, but not so cumbersome to handle and store as bigger models. It comes with ergonomically comfortable black plastic handles that do not transmit heat, so stay cool.

Presto 6 Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker w/ Bimetal Clad Base

As with other Presto Pressure Cookers, the 6-quart model has a strong-lock lid with steam vent, pressure indicator and overpressure plug. There’s also a rack included for steaming food or for canning. One more major plus, it comes with a 12 –year warranty, so you know you’re not going to throw your money away on something that doesn’t work!

You can use your Presto pressure cooker for weeknight dinners or just any time you need to make a meal fast! It comes with a booklet containing several recipes, including soups, stocks, meats, and even desserts. The pressure cooker really shines when it comes to tenderizing lean cuts of beef, making it possible to save money cooking by buying cheaper cuts.

The booklet also includes detailed instructions for using the pressure cooker. With proper care, a pressure cooker is perfectly safe cookware and a wonderful addition to the healthy kitchen.

More advantages of the 6-Quart Presto Pressure Cooker include:

• Cooks lighter, healthier meals, fast and easy
• Special bimetal clad base for even heating
• Luxurious stainless steel for easy cleaning
• Rated #1 by the American Culinary Institute

My grandmother had a Presto Pressure Cooker, my mother had a Presto Pressure Cooker, and I have a Presto Pressure Cooker. We’ve used the smaller models like the 6-quart Presto Pressure Cooker for cooking, and had larger models for canning lots of produce from the garden. Other than occasionally needing a new gasket, our Presto Pressure cookers have withstood years of hard use.

It’s safe cookware, you can save money cooking, and it’s fast. The 6-quart Presto Pressure Cooker is a great addition to your kitchen!

Presto 6 Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker w/ Bimetal Clad Base

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