My Newest Love - My Pressure Cooker

After canning a bunch of dried beans, I was chatting with a friend of mine about how great it is to have canned food ready to heat up.  She shared with me how much she loves her smaller pressure cooker, designed to cook and steam food rather than can it.  I was intrigued. My mom had a small pressure cooker while I was growing up. All I could remember her cooking in it were the dried pinto beans that we ate with ketchup...this alone would not have sold me on the ease of a pressure cooker (wink).  So I started researching....The newer ones they have now are much simpler to use than my mother's was, and to me a lot less scary.  Cooking and steaming foods in a pressure cooker not only cooks them incredibly fast, it also helps preserve those precious nutrients that our bodies need.  These necessary nutrients are desperately needed today where so much of our food is processed and stripped of its original vitality.

I've had my Fagor pressure cooker for just under a month now, and I've used it almost everyday.  I'm not exaggerating!  We use it to cook soup, steam all sorts of veggies, cook fish, chicken, beans, and even rice to name a few. Right now I just threw in some frozen beef bones with seasonings, and I'm making a beef broth.  The size of pressure cooker I bought (8 qt) can also be used for canning small batches in glass jars.  This is nice when you only have a little canning to do because the larger pressure canners can take quite a while to build pressure.  It's important to know that with any size pressure cooker, the cooking time does not start until you have reached the correct pressure. So far the only mishap was when Kent didn't make sure the lid was seated correctly, and the water boiled away when we were going to steam corn.  This is obviously the fault of the user and no fault can be blamed on the cooker (smirk). Luckily the cooker is no worse for wear :-)

If you're interested in purchasing a pressure cooker these were some of the considerations I looked at:

• Size (I have a large family, obviously)
• Positive reviews
• Ease of use
• Cost
• Material (whether stainless steel, or aluminum)

Concerning size, I wanted one that could make a large quantity of soup and could at least fit a large chicken. The 8 qt has been perfect for that, and I love the steamer basket insert.  It fits plenty of potatoes, broccoli or other veggie we are steaming.

I don't know how I ever purchased confidently before I could read reviews on products! I always check Amazon for its reviews.  If you click on this link it will take you to a list of pressure cookers at Amazon. Reviews are always toward the bottom of the particular product page.

 Reading the reviews also put my mind to rest that this particular cooker would be simple and safe to use.

Without question, I want to know I'm getting a good "deal".  Kent teases me incessantly that my family cherishes a "deal", and then hastens to add that it must be pronounced "dill".  It must be my Southern Utah accent coming out :-) After reading all the reviews, I head to Google to find all the sites that have my product, then I click onto www.retailmenot.com to find corresponding coupons for the sites I have found.  After finding the site with the best discount coupon (free shipping, for example) I make my purchase!  I really do love getting a "dill", it's almost as enjoyable as getting the new item!

I know that most large pressure canners are made out of aluminum.  Canning food in glass inside of these is safe. However, aluminum is NOT a safe metal to cook regular food in.  It leaches into the food, and can be dangerous to one's health.  I knew that I would only purchase a stainless steel pressure cooker.

Overall, I am in love! This cooker has done so well for us. The best part is how it saves time in preparing our healthy meals.  LOVE IT!