Destiny Survival

            Could a small pressure cooker be the survivalist’s answer to microwave cooking?  Based on an item I read recently in Mary Hunt’s Everyday Cheapskate newsletter, I think the answer could be Yes.

            Mary Hunt uses a 5 quart pressure cooker for cooking everyday meals.  There are a good many benefits for doing so.  For one thing, pressure cookers are quieter, safer and more convenient to use than in days past.  Because food heats faster under pressure, much less energy is used to cook it, but you won’t heat up your kitchen.  Cleanup is easy, too, since things won’t boil over.

Cooking is obviously done much faster than in a slow cooker, making time saving a real plus.  Food cooks 70% faster under pressure.  For example, rice or pasta that would take 15 minutes to cook will take about 5minutes.  The texture, flavor and nutrition of your food stays in.

            Pressure cookers come in sizes from 2-21 quarts, or even larger.  A 5 quart size, such as the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 5-quart model, would be manageable for making meals or useful for small canning jobs.

            The Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 5-quart model is made from stainless steel with solid aluminum core in the base and heats quickly.  It has a spring-loaded precision valve, integrated lid locking, and 5 safety releases.  It’s dishwasher safe and comes with a 10 year warranty.  It has a 4.8 of 5 star rating on Amazon.com.

            Back to my querry about the survivalist’s substitute for the microwave.  If pressure cooking uses 70% less energy for cooking, as is claimed, could a fairly small pressure cooker be perched on a campfire or put onto a camp stove?  It seems to me that a pressure cooker would be a fantastic thing to have in the survival kitchen for more than canning vegetables or meat.  I’d welcome any feedback you have on this.

            You’ll be glad to know the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 5-quart pressure cooker comes with a free copy of the Quick Cuisine Cookbook, a $14.00 value.  If you want more recipes to try, get Miss Vickie’s Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes, by Vickie Smith.  According to reviews, it has recipes and cooking times for numerous meals, including sandwich stuffings, and desserts.  Smith gives a history of pressure cooking as well.

            Both the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic 5-quart pressure cooker and Miss Vickie’s Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes are available through Amazon.com.  Click on the logo for either one to be taken to the Amazon.com page featuring that item, and you can place your order from there.  If you go to the pressure cooker page first, you’ll see Smith’s book shown on the page as an item customers buy along with the pressure cooker.

            We’ve gotten used to fast, convenient cooking.  With a pressure cooker in your survival kitchen, you can still have this, even when we’re deprived of many other conveniences we’ve come to know.  Remember, think survival!

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