I bought some steel cut oats a couple of years ago, after hearing how healthy they are. I thought they would be a nice alternative to regular oatmeal. After realizing how much time they took to make in the morning, they ended up in the back of my cupboard. I didn't have the heart to get rid of them since they were so healthy for you. Well, now that I have an instant pot, there is no excuse. I finally decided to try them this morning. They only take 4 minutes to cook, but you need to add another 10 minutes to pressurize before and 10 minutes to naturally let the pressure out afterwards. But, during that time, you can be doing anything you want to do. You don't have to stand by the stove cooking them. You can shower, make your lunch, make your bed, etc. It is a win-win. I think steel cut oats may just make a come back in our home!
I had some freeze-dried fruit from several years back. I opened up three cans. Why buy expensive stuff like that if you aren't even sure you sill use it or like it? Well, I decided to open up one of every kind of food storage item I have and try it to make sure we like it. Once we know we like something, then we can decide if it is worth the money to buy it. I am fine with just buying stuff from Costco and rotating it regularly. It is much less expensive and more palatable! One day I will find the right balance, but it is good to try different things to see what works. I can't see spending hundreds of dollars on food that we aren't used to and may never eat.
This is what the freeze-dried bananas, peaches, and blueberries look like:
The steel cut oats in the Instant Pot were SO good. They had a nutty flavor and texture and weren't mushy, which is one of the drawbacks with oatmeal especially with kids. We may just start to eat steel cut oats all the time now. I really like the texture. I found two recipes, which used different amounts of water. In my 6 quart Instant Pot, I tried 4 1/2 cups of water which was the average of the two recipes I looked at. I would probably put a little more water next time, but not less than that.
As for the freeze dried fruit, we were very pleasantly surprised. They tasted really good. I still don't know if I will buy any more because of the high cost, but the freeze-dried fruit tastes good.
