Appliances like pressure cookers reduce energy consumption, save money, and lessen environmental impact.
Pressure cookers offer fast cooking, preserve nutrients, and improve flavor, making them valuable for chefs and home cooks.
Deep dives
Environmental Impact of Various Cooking Methods
Using appliances like pressure cookers, microwaves, and air fryers can significantly reduce energy consumption and environmental impact while cooking. For instance, pressure cookers trap steam to cook food quickly and efficiently, reducing cooking times and energy use. Microwave cooking can be cost-effective, where a single jacket potato costs 5 pence to cook in the microwave versus a pound in the oven. By changing cooking methods to more energy-efficient appliances, such as microwaves and pressure cookers, individuals can lower their energy consumption, save money, and lessen their environmental footprint.
Benefits and Efficiency of Pressure Cooking
Pressure cookers offer fast and efficient cooking methods that preserve nutrients and flavors. Professional chefs and home cooks are recognizing the benefits of pressure cooking in terms of speed, energy efficiency, and quality of cooked food. Utilizing a pressure cooker for preparations such as lamb shanks can result in tender, flavorful dishes in a fraction of the time compared to traditional slow cooking methods. While there may be upfront costs, the long-term savings and improved cooking outcomes make pressure cookers a valuable addition to culinary practices.
Promoting Sustainable Cooking Practices
Initiatives like Batch Cook Club in Bristol encourage communal cooking and batch meal preparations to make efficient use of kitchen resources and minimize energy consumption. By engaging in communal cooking sessions and promoting the use of energy-efficient appliances like pressure cookers, individuals can embrace sustainable cooking practices. Through collaborative efforts and educational programs, such as teaching simpler pressure cooker recipes, communities can reduce food waste, save time, and adopt environmentally friendly cooking habits. These endeavors aim to change cooking habits towards more efficient and sustainable practices in alignment with current environmental challenges.
Sales of air fryers, pressure cookers, slow cookers and even microwaves have been increasing over the past year, and it is not hard to understand why. All these gadgets save energy, which has undoubtedly become more important since energy prices shot up. But can using them do more for us than just save money?
In this programme, Sheila Dillon meets people who are obsessed with air fryers, pressure cookers and slow cookers. She hears from Belfast's Nathan Anthony about how his social media account "Bored of Lunch" has propelled his slow cooker recipe book to the top of the charts, and she speaks to Bristol's Square Food Foundation to find out why they are considering introducing pressure cookers on their courses.
And could the devices help outside the home too? Hospitality businesses are under pressure with rising costs, and customers with increasingly tighter budgets. In Somerset, chef and restaurateur, Nicholas Balfe tests out some low energy appliances to see if they could make any difference in the professional kitchen.
Are you now using a low energy cooker again, for the first time, or more than before? Tell us about what difference it's been making on social media. We are @BBCFoodProg on social media, or email thefoodprogramme@bbc.co.uk
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
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