Earlier this week I talked about adding a slow cooker to your preps because it affords you options, including being hands-free, saves precious fuel resources for other purposes, more efficient if combined with the “wonder box” technique, and OPSEC. Well, I got to thinking about utilizing a pressure cooker for it’s intended purpose too: cooking!
You see, even though I have one of these very cool All American pressure cooker/canners, I’ve ONLY ever used it to can with and, sadly, it’s been a long time since I’ve done even that. And, believe it or not, you can actually use one of these to cook with. 🙂
The best part is that you can use a pressure cooker to cook foods fast. In fact, much faster than you could using any other method. How much faster, you ask? Well, I found this useful Pressure-Cooking Times & Instructions that lists typical times to cook a wide assortment of foods, from meats to vegetables, grains, fish, and more. Looking at the list you’ll see most times listed as a matter of minutes, not hours. That’s fast!
You know why it’s a good thing to cook faster? Because it saves fuel. Oh boy, I’m excited now!! You see, if I can cook a meal in, let’s say, twenty minutes using a pressure cooker as opposed to 60 minutes using traditional cooking methods and equipment (e.g., camping stoves or campfire) then I can conceivably extend my precious and finite fuel resources three times as long. Certainly, it’s not that cut-and-dry and I doubt I could honestly extend my fuel that much but even if I could get 50-100% more out of my fuel by employing a pressure cooker, doesn’t that make sense? I think so.
Granted, I actually need to do it, so, I can’t vouch for how well this idea works or whether or not my thinking is correct but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out. You might think… well, because you still have to heat water, for example, in the pressure cooker before you can actually apply the referenced cooking times it doesn’t really work out. Well, you would still have to heat that same water in a pot using a camp stove or over a campfire so it’s a wash, if you ask me. In fact, the water would probably get heated faster inside a pressure cooker because it’s a closed system.
Now, how does a pressure cooker compare to a slow cooker? They’re really completely different types of cooking. According to the website I referenced above: “A pressure cooker can cook the same types of delicious recipes that a slow cooker can and so much more, but cook them substantially faster (click for pressure cooker recipes). How about making a cheesecake in a slow cooker? Or hearty oatmeal for breakfast? Can’t be done.” Looks like I’m missing out!
Of course, I would actually need to do some testing for a while before I can say for sure that a pressure cooker is a necessary addition to your preps, but considering that it’s already a great addition for canning, I can’t see how you would go wrong. What do you think? Good idea or not?
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