Why Use a Pressure Cooker? Back to Library menu.   What's on This Page A Healthier Lifestyle Ecological/Economical Friendly Recreational Use Emergency Preparedness Time Saving Money Saving Saves Space & Other Cookware Safe and Dependable The goal of this website is to show people how versatile, beneficial and useful a pressure cooker can be in your busy life. This section has many articles about how to cook a variety of different foods to help both novices and experienced cooks get the most out of their pressure cooker investment. A good quality, stainless steel pressure cooker is a long term investment that will last for 25-30 years, or longer. I use my cooker almost every day, and I hope that you will find as many reasons to use your pressure cooker as I have. Also see What Can I Do With a Pressure Cooker, and The Benefits of Using a Pressure Cooker. A Healthier Lifestyle If you want to get in and out of the kitchen fast and serve your family wholesome, nutritious, home cooked meals, then use a modern pressure cooker. No more junk food, no expensive fast food or prepackaged "dinners" with their high fat, salt, chemicals and other unwanted additives. Pressure cooking uses superheated steam under pressure to force the flavor into foods, so steaming will always be better than the destructive effects of boiling which is constantly washing the flavor out. Cook nutritious meals in record time and preserve vitamins and essential nutrients because foods cook quickly in an almost airless environment with very little liquid. Pressure cooking is virtually fat-free cooking, as foods are cooked in a steam atmosphere, so fats can be cooked out and drained away. This super-heated steam actually intensifies natural flavors, so you can use less salt and still get great taste. This preserves the most vitamins and minerals and preserves the color of vegetables and its great for cooking low-fat and vegetarian recipes. Ecological Friendly A good quality pressure cooker can be used on ALL heat sources, natural gas, propane, electric, including magnetic, heat induction stoves and even solar, wood or charcoal fires. The decreased cooking time required for foods cooked in a pressure cooker results in proportionally reduced consumption of energy. A pressure cooker is energy efficient and can save up to 70 % of the fuel used for cooking purposes. A good quality pressure cooker pays for itself in energy savings, which is not only good for the environment but your wallet too. The new generation pressure cookers help cut pollution and minimize the greenhouse gas emissions from your gas stove, and reduce electric power consumption when using electric stoves, and that means electric plants use less energy to generate power. Economical Super fast cooking means lower fuel bills and more for your money at the supermarket. Whatever type of fuel you use for cooking it is costing you money. The difference can add up quickly when you compare the savings between 8-10 hours in a slow cooker or 1-2 hours in the oven or using a regular cooking pot. Increase your buying power at the supermarket with the cheapest cuts of meat and serve it tender , moist and delicious. An additional benefit, especially on hot summer days, is that the kitchen doesn't heat or steam up when a pressure cooker is used as it does in conventional cooking methods, so you don't waste more money in cooling bills. Safe and Dependable The old style pressure cookers like this, the ones we all remember from visiting grandma's house, are a thing of the past. The noisy, rattling and hissing 'jiggler' on top, the thing that scared everyone out of the kitchen... is gone. This type of flimsy, underperforming pressure cooker is harder to use and more apt to scorch your food... all the while spitting hot water at you and puffing out clouds of steam while you labored to keep the thing chugging at the proper rate. Today, we have the new, sleek and totally re-engineered, state of the art, modern pressure cookers that are silent and 100% safe, and very user friendly. All the guesswork of operating a pressure cooker is gone. The modern pressure cooker with its improved valve systems and advanced features is very easy to use with an easy-to-read pressure indicators and well-written instructions. Using just 1/2 cup liquid and emitting very little steam, the new pressure cookers require just one heat adjustment,compared to the clunky old fashioned cookers that needed constant fiddling around with the stove. With as many as 6 safety systems, the modern pressure cookers are totally goof-proof, dependable and reliable. Fast - Time Saving The pressure cooker is the original 'fast food' machine. The fast cooking action of pressure cooker can cut the cooking time to just 1/3 of the cooking time of conventional cooking methods, and that's time you can spend on other activities. You can do a beef stew in 15 minutes. Imagine a hearty bean soup in less than 10 minutes, that's faster than you can set the table. Cheaper cuts of meat will be more tender and flavorful, and there is almost no loss of e nutrients. Money Saving Save 70% of energy normally used when cooking with a pressure cooker. A good quality pressure cooker pays for itself in energy saved! And your summertime kitchen stays cooler and less humid and that cuts down cooling bills. You can buy inexpensive cuts of meat, beans and legumes that would take hours and hours to cook by ordinary cooking methods, and have dinner on the table in just 15 minutes. Buy food in bulk sizes and take advantage of sales and cook up a weeks worth of main dishes in just a couple of hours with a pressure cooker. Because cooking times are so fast, even the busiest cook can serve a wholesome meal in minutes and avoid the expense of fast food. Saves Space & Other Cookware Your pressure cooker is very versatile in whatever size kitchen you have. Whether your kitchen is in a house, an RV, a boat or a makeshift camp stove, you can use a pressure cooker for simmering, braising, steaming, baking, boiling, poaching, sautéing, frying, canning, and warming. Cook everything from grains, meats, chicken, vegetables, casseroles, soups, make a hot drink and even serve desserts. Many cookers come with accessory pans to cook a wide variety of foods so you can cook one dish or an entire meal all at the same time without intermingling the flavors. Use the bottom of your cooker as a heavy saucepan to avoid scorching stews and sauces. It can also serve as a deep fryer without the lid. Use it to bake bread, with or without an oven. Use the cooker as a boiling water water bath canner for small batches of jams and fruit butters or pie filling. It can be used as a regular Dutch oven without pressure. Use the cooker as a steamer for crisp-tender veggies, and as a rice/risotto cooker for quick side dishes. Use your cooker instead of the microwave, while it takes only a few minutes to cook one potato in the microwave, but eight potatoes takes a long time. In the pressure cooker it takes only minutes whether you cook one potato or eight. Emergency Preparedness Use a pressure cooker during an emergency to cook food without wasting limited fuels, and even cook on a wood fire. If you are cooking over an open fire and don't want soot on your pot , just wipe soap all over the outside, covering the bottom and sides before putting it over the fire. Afterward the soot will wash off easily. Use the cooker as a water distiller, or purifier, to provide safe drinking water in any emergency. With a plastic hose and copper tubing you can take sea water, swimming pool, pond, or river water and get fresh drinking water, approximate 1 Quart per hour. Use the cooker as the everything pot for washing clothes, dishes and even the baby. Recreational Use RV travelers and vacationers will find the pressure cooker convenient for cooking several foods at the same time, one pot does it all. A pressure cooker takes up less space, and serves as a multi-purpose all in one pot. Hikers, hunters, fishermen and campers can use a pressure cooker for high altitude cooking on wood campfires, charcoal grills, and even solar stoves. Mountain climbing enthusiasts will find a pressure cooker to be indespensible at high altitudes. Boaters will find a cooker essential galley gear for quick, hearty meals, even bake bread in the pressure cooker, and in rough weather foods can't spill.     Questions or comments on this article? Click here.