In recent times, many people have adopted a raw food diet to maintain vitamins lost during cooking. Sound drastic? Don’t worry, there are alternatives to this extreme-sounding diet. If you are not quite ready to ditch your kitchen appliances, you may want to consider steaming your meals.
Boiling food reduces water-soluble vitamins by up to 60%. That means you are reducing your vitamin intake drastically. Frying food often requires a lot of oil which is an unhealthy alternative.
Want something better? Steaming food is both good for your body and your taste buds.
The benefits of a steamer
You’ll never burn or scorch your food with a steamer. You will also lock in plenty of your food’s flavor and maintain more of its raw texture and color.
A food steamer often has multiple layers so you can steam different foods at the same time, while keeping them compartmentalized. As such, steamers are both a space and time saver.
Steamers are easy to clean. When the juice of meat, fish, or vegetables leak onto a baking tray while baking, it can be difficult to move because it becomes “baked in”. With a steamer, any juices from a food source will remain humid and less likely to stick.
If you find it difficult to cook meat or fish in the oven without the food becoming dry, steaming is a great alternative. With constant extreme humidity locking in meat or fish’s natural oils, it is difficult to produce a piece of dry meat or fish with a steamer.
Types of steamers
Traditionally, steamers are an assortment of pots with holes in the bottom. These pots stack on top of a boiling pan of water. All the pots cook using the same steam from the boiled water.
This type of food steamer is great if you are cooking something in boiling water anyway. It saves on space and water. However, it does not save time. Electric steamers are much more time-efficient. Not only do electric steamers cook quickly, they also have timers for specific foods, so you can set it and forget it, knowing dinner will come out perfect.
Best Food Steamers
With so many products available on the market, it could be difficult to know which food steamer to buy. We thought it best to introduce you to two of the best steamers on the market today.
The Ovente Triple-Tiered Electric Food Steamer is our favorite steamer. It has three stackable compartments that clip apart for easy clean up. There is enough space to cook food for a medium-sized family. It boasts five pre-set modes for rice, eggs, fish, vegetables, and meat. These modes have timers based on the quantity and the food type you are cooking. This product is perfect for first-time steamers because you never need to calculate how long you need to cook things for.
This steamer has an auto shut-off to protect you when the timer goes off or there's not enough water in the tank. You can purchase the Ovente Triple-Tiered Electric Food Steamer for about $40 at the time of this publishing.
Another one of our favorites is the Sunsella Vegetable Steamer. This basket steamer is a low-tech, long-lasting basic. Place your veggies in the steamer and all you need is a pot of boiling water! The Sunsella Vegetable Steamer is a simple, traditional, and easy to clean. If you are thinking about buying this steamer, it will cost less than $20.
A healthier way of living doesn’t need to be less convenient or tasteless. Buy a food steamer today and get the best of both worlds!
