Product recommendations

I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon when something new comes out. It took me a long time before I decided to buy an Instant Pot. It was after Sheila and Mandy had talked about how much they enjoyed theirs, and Crystal H. posted that they were on a good sale that I decided to get one. It is now one of my most used small kitchen appliances! I love how you can use it to saute, slow cook AND pressure cook. Plus it is great for making yogurt. It is also supposed to be good for proofing bread, although I haven't tried that yet. I love an appliance that is so versatile! The main thing with the Instant Pot is getting over your nervousness about using it and just dive right in. The internet has a ton of recipe ideas for it! I subscribe to one blog that is dedicated to cooking with Instant Pots. She has a lot of helpful hints and well as recipes for pretty much everything! If you want to check out her blog, here's the link: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/category/cooking-method/instant-pot/.

The one small appliance that I resisted buying the longest, though, is a vacuum sealer. I can kick myself for putting it off! I finally bought one around the first of this year, and I use it pretty much everyday! I'm either sealing up leftovers for putting them in the freezer or heating up something in them that I had previously frozen. Cooking for two means we have a lot of leftovers! Dennis has never been a big fan of eating leftovers, which is weird to me. He is one of the most boring eaters I know. He has a few things that he really likes and will eat them every day if given the chance (grilled cheese sandwiches, fried eggs, tacos or enchiladas to name a few). But if I cook something for supper, he doesn't want to eat it again for a week or more. So my vacuum sealer saves the day (or the food)!

I have also been preserving the fish that Dennis has been bringing home using my vacuum sealer. I have yet to cook any of the fish, since he is bringing home a mess every week right now. I'm cooking a batch and freezing the rest. The bags hold 2 bream each, which is about a serving for us. So when I am ready to use them, I'll just take out what I need to thaw. They ought to thaw quickly too, since they are a single layer. SO much better than the blocks of ice that we used to freeze fish in! (Those things would take all day to thaw!)

The thing that I really enjoy about it is that one day every week (sometimes two), I just rummage through my leftover basket in the freezer to find something for supper and heat it in a pot of boiling water. Super simple meal! No big mess to clean up either!

So if any of you are worse than I am about putting off buying kitchen gadgets, I really recommend that you get a vacuum sealer! I don't think you'll regret it.