Food steamer recommendations

purpleivy

ceridwen wrote: »

Yep - frequently. Brown rice - 45 minutes cooking time.

That's good as well, I was looking at the microwave rice cooker from Lakeland the other day but they didn't have it in stock. If the steamer will satisfactorily do rice I'll be happy. I hate standing over pans, waiting for them to come to the boil, even if I have used the hot water from the kettle! I like things I can just leave!

purplepatch

Yep, further to my post before christmas I bought the tefal one in the end. It wasn't big enough for the christmas pud after all that investigating :rolleyes: but I decided to keep it anway. Not used it that much yet, but it makes lovely rice, never goes stodgy, perfect consistency. I do white basmati for 25 mins. Certainly won't be cooking it on the hob anymore.

technogirl04

Hi everyone,

I have been reading ur posts on steamers and they are quite varied. I would like to start steaming veggies, i dont think i will do rice or fish etc in it (Microwave is just fine for those other ones), just veggies. so wat do u guys recommend. An electric one or those 3 tier saucepan ones u place on a hob.

P.S- I also would like to save a bit of money on electricity. Would the saucepan one steam the veggies faster than an electric one and therefore save me some money?

weemissy

Thinking of buying an electric steamer, had one before but it cracked when I switched it on with no water in it:mad: . Saw a really cheap one on the lloyds pharmacy site - looked okay. So what have you all got?

MRSMCAWBER

Hi

I have the tefal vita cuisine thingy -the one with the bowls side by side instead of stacked..it wasn't cheap but it gets much more use than the others I have had -in fact its on most days

this one;-

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Tefal_VS400116_Vita_Cuisine_Steamer__6712415

Pink.

Hi weemissy,

There's an earlier thread with steamer recommendations that should help so I've added your thread to it to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

weemissy

Thanks MrsM - Tefal seem to be the most popular

Thanks Pink - Winged- the previous posts have been useful:T

sb44

I have just won a Tefal Steam Cuisine steamer on ebay (pic below) and have a couple of questions if anyone can help please.

What do you do if you want to cook fresh chicken with frozen veg?

I mean, frozen veg may take about 30 mins to cook but say a boneless chicken breast or thigh may take 20 mins, so you would normally put the veg in the bottom basket and the chicken above it but surely you will get blood dripping from the chicken over the veg as it cooks, is this ok?

The other question is regarding cooking things in foil. I have read that some cook fish or chicken in foil so that they can add herbs/butter etc. If you use foil do you just make a kind of foil tray and put the meat/fish into that or do you wrap it so that it is fully enclosed in the foil.

Oh and last but not least if anyone has the same model that I have won what do you think of it?

Ta!

Paulie'sGirl

Hiya,

I have a cheap and cheerful ASDA steamer, which gets a lot of use and has never failed me yet.

I would cook the chicken on a piece of foil doubled over and then raised up at the sides to make a shallow dish IYSWIM... I would put that on the bottom tier and then the frozen veg on the next tier.

I've found veg cooks much quicker than normal in a steamer, so maybe let the chicken cook for a 5/7 minutes before you put the veg on.

I hear good things about the Tefal, and if my trust cheapo dies I'll be replacing it with the one you've won, so happy steaming!!!

PGxx

sb44

Paulie'sGirl wrote: »

Hiya,

I have a cheap and cheerful ASDA steamer, which gets a lot of use and has never failed me yet.

I would cook the chicken on a piece of foil doubled over and then raised up at the sides to make a shallow dish IYSWIM... I would put that on the bottom tier and then the frozen veg on the next tier.

I've found veg cooks much quicker than normal in a steamer, so maybe let the chicken cook for a 5/7 minutes before you put the veg on.

I hear good things about the Tefal, and if my trust cheapo dies I'll be replacing it with the one you've won, so happy steaming!!!

PGxx

Yep, I know exactly what you mean about the foil, ta.

I have been using the cheap one that I got form Lloyds chemist but the timer button has broken so I have to turn the dial with a knife blade and put the timer of my mobile on to time it!

Got the Tefal for £12 and I can collect to save on postage so quite a good buy.