Cookers for Meal Prep
Nothing saves time and energy quite like a kitchen cooker. These automatic heating devices are specialized for specific ingredients and dishes. Appliances like rice cookers and slow cookers can completely change the way you approach meal prep in the kitchen.
One of the best things about kitchen cookers is their convenience. Set and forget is the name of the game with many of these items, giving you more time to focus on other kitchen tasks. This is especially helpful during prep work when it can become easy to zone out to cutting down produce and meat, preventing core dish components from burning.
Pressure Cooker
Pressure cookers cut down cooking time tremendously with the power of steam which is produced in an airtight pot. The added pressure amplifies the heat inside, cooking the food at a much faster rate. Beans, stews, and chilis go from 4 hours to 1, helping you meal prep when time is not on your side.
The faster cooking doesn’t sacrifice flavor either. While it can’t reach the depths of an overnight simmer, pressure cookers are still great at penetrating bulky ingredients like pot roast and potatoes with flavor.
No need to fear either, while pressure cookers have been known to burst in the past, improvements in design have rendered them virtually harmless to home chefs. Though they are not toys, neither are knives or other things in a well-equipped kitchen.
Rice Cooker
A titan among kitchen appliance staples, rice cookers are ubiquitous time savers. They are available in nearly every size imaginable and cook rice of all kinds to perfect consistency. You’ll never have to fuss with back burner politics again when you have one of these running in the background.
Rice cookers aren’t just for East Asian cooking either. Some (either by design or fault) can run at temperatures hot enough to create rough versions of tahdig or additional ingredients can be added to the rice, like crushed tomatoes and onion to make Spanish rice.
Some rice cookers also include separate tools and add-ons for other foods like steaming vegetables or dumplings. This can open up your meal prep playbook with creative new ideas or more straightforward options like steamed vegetables.
Slow Cooker
When low and slow is the name of your game, slow cookers are the superstar. Similar to a dutch oven, these appliances feature large ceramic pots that are heated electrically to maintain low, steady temperatures. They are perfect for cozy winter stews or just developing your own stock.
A lot of slow cookers are also stove top safe, giving cooks added flexibility with how they want to prepare ingredients. A popular example is searing meat in the pot first, allowing it to brown with the maillard reaction for different layers of texture before slowly cooking it for the next few hours.
Perhaps the best advantage of all when using a slow cooker is how much time you save. Despite keeping it on for 4-8 hours, the amount of actual work you’ll do is minimal. Some basic chopping and measuring is all it takes before the lid is on and the time is set. The results will stun you.
Steamer
Containing steam is a powerful cooking method that can soften numerous ingredients. Similar to using smoke to cook, steamers capture heat from a boiling water source to cook food. This is really popular for health concise individuals looking to focus on core vegetable needs like steamed broccoli or cauliflower.
Steamers not only come in a variety of different materials, but design as well. Common metal steamers are placed above a small pool of boiling water in a pot, fanning out to hold vegetables as hot steam breaks down the fibers.
Wooden steamers are generally placed on top of a boiling pot of water, trapping the steam from escaping. This method of steaming is perfect for dumplings and other noodle or pasta type dishes as well as minced meats and filling.