My first time trying to meal prep at a friend's house was a disaster

So my buddy Mike invited me over last Sunday to do a big batch cooking session, said he'd show me how to save money on lunches. He had this fancy $200 Instant Pot and I got cocky, tried to dump in dried beans without soaking them first because his recipe said 'no soaking needed'. Three hours later we were eating burnt chili at 9 PM and I learned that '15 minute beans' is a straight up lie, at least on his model. Has anyone else had a kitchen gadget totally fail on a budget meal plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

rodriguez.cora8d ago

Yeah honestly I used to be one of those people who thought you could just throw anything in a pressure cooker and it would be fine, like magic or whatever. But my sister had this same exact thing happen with an off-brand Instant Pot knockoff she got at a yard sale, tried to do black beans from dry and after two hours they were still crunchy little rocks in tomato paste. I actually changed my mind completely about trusting the hype on those "fast cooking" gadgets after that night, because there is no shortcut for soaking beans if you want them to actually be edible. Now I just stick to my old Crock-Pot for chili and soak everything overnight like my grandma did, and yeah it takes planning but at least I'm not eating charcoal at 9 PM.

dylan_stone338d ago

@rodriguez.cora soak your beans overnight and skip the headache, old school always wins.