Been uhhming and ahing about investing in a food steamer? Honestly, me too. Whether you’ve always been on autopilot, boiling your veggies and rice, or maybe you already use a steamer insert with your trusty best saucepan set?
Either way, if you’re looking for a simple way to cook lots of vegetables at one time, or for an easier (and tastier) way of cooking them that doesn’t involve your hob, then a tiered food steamer might help you out in more ways than one. ‘Steaming is a simple, effective way to prepare healthier meals without compromising on flavour,’ claims Richard Joseph, founder of Joseph Joseph.
One of the biggest reasons to invest in a food steamer is for your health. ‘It helps retain more nutrients than boiling and requires no added fats or oils, making it a naturally healthier cooking method,’ explains Richard. Not just for vegetables, but you can also cook certain types of fish and steam potatoes in a tiered food steamer. Technically, you can cook an entire meal in a food steamer, which means less faff and little washing up.
As a busy parent who feels like I spend way too much time waiting for pans of water to boil, a food steamer has quite literally shaken up the way I prepare my dinners – and how long it takes. I recently started using a 3-tier food steamer from Salter (£27.44 at Amazon), and in short, I love it. Not only for feeding my toddler’s broccoli obsession, but it’s a total game-changer when it comes to cooking rice, which is arguably my least favourite food to cook, but also my number 1 choice of carb.
Salter
3 Tier Electric Food Steamer
This is the affordable steamer I added to my kitchen.
Saucpan vs steamer
Yes, I did spend (or waste) years boiling my vegetables, but the very day I first used a food steamer, I knew I’d never look back. My vegetables tasted so much better, they cooked faster, and I found it so convenient. The only downside? It’s difficult to store in my busy kitchen.
As a family that eats a lot of vegetables, it’s safe to say I wish I had invested in one of these bad boys years ago. Now, as someone who has used both cooking methods, I thought I’d compare steaming vs boiling in a pan, because, simply enough, you might not actually need to invest in a food steamer. Here’s what I’d recommend:
If you often cook vegetables, and a lot of them at one time, then a food steamer makes this easy. Preheating several different-sized pans with water is more difficult than adding a tiny amount of boiled kettle water to a food steamer.
If you’re not one for washing up, your pan might be a trustier option, as some food steamers are not dishwasher safe. Obviously, the main unit will never be dishwasher safe, but my food steamer from Salter even recommends hand washing the cooking baskets.
If you have curious hands forever reaching onto your worktops, a food steamer is a safer option than using a naked flame. The boiling water that is used to steam is nestled under cooking baskets, away from wandering fingers, while even if you get distracted and a food steamer runs out of water in its tank, it usually automatically turns off. The same cannot be said for your hob.
Vegetables definitely do taste better when cooked in a food steamer; there’s no doubt about that, as I performed several taste tests on my husband. Richard chimes in to say, ‘if you’re looking to create quick, nutritious meals with minimal effort, investing in a food steamer is a great choice’.
Then comes the issue of space. If you’re really tight on kitchen space, you’ll need to consider where your food steamer is going to live. These are quite sizeable and more often than not, they’re not collapsible or space-savvy. If you use yours every day, it might be worth dedicating some worktop space for it.
Who will a food steamer suit?
A food steamer is great for large households that often cook lots of veggies each mealtime, and also don’t want to take up several hob rings at the same time. It’s also a great buy for busy homes as most food steamers offer an added safety element since they automatically switch off once the timer goes – or once the water tank is empty. Unlike a hob, which, if left on by accident, quickly becomes dangerous.
Otherwise, the food steamer that I own from Salter is particularly good for those who often enjoy rice dishes – it comes with a special rice cooker bowl.
Should you buy the Salter 3-Tier 7.5L Food Steamer?
This particular Salter steamer comes highly rated by reviewers, with a 4.3-star rating from more than 8,000 shoppers. It has a timer dial that you can set for up to 60 minutes, and it works over 3 tiers. You can use all 3 tiers at one time, or just a single tier at once, and it even has a rice bowl insert. It has a 7.5 litre total capacity over its 3 levels, while the machine will automatically shut off once its water tank is empty, for safety purposes.
One of the reasons I love using this food steamer is its ease. I found it so easy to use, and with children around, it’s also a lot safer than using my hob, as I can set the timer and walk away from it with peace of mind.
One of my favourite things about this food steamer is that it comes with a rice bowl, making steaming rice a total breeze. Seriously, I won’t cook rice any other way now.
You can pretty much use this food steamer to cook an entire meal. Think vegetables on its bottom tier, fish like salmon or mussels in the middle cooking basket and at the top, rice or potatoes. It’s recommended that you cook rice at the top if you’re cooking other foods at the same time, only because the other foods could alter the taste of the rice if cooked above. In the manual, you can find a cooking guideline table, which tells you approximate cooking times for all types of foods.
Other than that, I love that it’s pretty much ready to use straight away, since you only add boiling water to the machine’s tank, and it’s ready.
Even better? The handles on the basket lid, although plastic, never get hot – just be aware of the ventilation holes as these can burn you if you’re not careful. What’s more? Even if your food needs to be steamed for different times, removing and adding tiers to this steamer is simple.
When it comes to cleaning, the BPA-free cooking baskets aren’t dishwasher-safe, but they are super easy to clean by hand, and the same goes for the rice bowl.
This steamer’s only downfall is when it comes to storing it away. Being honest: I don’t have room for it on my worktop, and I don’t want it on display, either. So, you need to ensure you have plenty of cupboard space for it. It measures roughly L19.8cm x W21.8cm x H28.5cm.
Do you swear by a steamer in your kitchen too or have I persuaded you to consider one?
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