Steamers

Steaming on my electric hob was a pain, produced lots of washing up and steam and seemed to take forever.    I used the microwave a lot but it was a bit hit and miss at times. So I was toying with the idea of an electric one (particularly when we had a batch of potatoes that fell apart if you boiled them! )  and one came up on freecycle, so I thought I would give it a whirl.  No way would I give it back now! 

It is a Tefal 3 layers, very simple to washup.  We are in a very hard water area so I make sure I empty it properly after use and occasionally (maybe once a year?) run it with some white vinegar to get the scale off the heating block. But mostly the scale just falls off the black smooth plastic.  And that is that.  Mostly I do veggies in it, potatoes in the bottom layer, beans or parsnip or carrots in the next and leafy veg on top.  It doesnt boil over, doesnt burn things and stops when the timer says stop - so if I wander off, they don't over cook.  And the loud PING summons me back!

I've even blanched small quantities of veggies in it for the freezer, when there has just been the one portion.