Save Money by Cooking with a Pressure Cooker

One of the great things about cooking with a pressure cooker is that you can use recipes which would otherwise be too long for the time available. This can be a great benefit in modern working families where time pressures are often a constant concern. Delicious stews, casseroles and steamed puddings can become a commonplace, even in the most time-pressured homes.

Modern pressure cookers are easy to use and don't need constant attention. Once they are set up correctly you can get on with other things.

Save Money

Obviously, with savings in time and fuel, pressure cookers can save quite a bit of money. There are other ways you can save, too. It is easy to make delicious foods using cheap ingredients. Cheap cuts of meat, for example, can be used to make delicious, tender stews, soups and stocks. If you like to eat organic, a pressure cooker enables you to still produce inexpensive dishes such as casseroles. You just need to look for the cheaper cuts. Even bones and offal can be used to great effect. Cooking with a pressure cooker lets you get every bit of flavour and goodness out of the raw materials. And of course you can always make large batches, some destined for the freezer.

Cooking with a pressure cooker has nutritional benefits, too. Because the food cooks for a shorter length of time more vitamins are retained.

Do you need special pressure cooker recipes?

No, not really. Many recipes can be adapted for cooking with a pressure cooker. Just adjust the times to suit and use trivets to separate foods which need to be kept separate or which have different time needs. For the preparation of most dishes you will need from 1/4 to 1/3 of the cooking time compared to ordinary stove-top cooking.

Here is a recipe to try.

Lancashire Hot-Pot

Times

This takes about 15 minutes on high pressure (15lbs weight). If you are using a lower weight, you will need longer.

Ingredients

2 lbs of potatoes, 1 or two onions, 2 or 3 sticks of celery, 1/2 a pound of carrots, 1 1/2 - 2lbs of neck of lamb or mutton, 1/2 pint of stock, a bay leaf, salt and pepper.

Method

Slice the vegetables. Put all the ingredients into the pressure cooker with the potatoes at the bottom. Add the stock and seasoning. Close the lid and heat the pressure cooker until it is comes up to pressure. After 15 minutes cool the cooker quickly under running water to stop the cooking. (If water is scarce, use a bowl of water to dunk the pan. the water can then be kept for other uses.) Release the pressure and check that everything is cooked and tender. Now it's ready to serve.

Bon appetit!