This is not a sponsored post from Hello Fresh. This review is based on my own experience.
In this post I’ll answer:
How does HelloFresh work?
Are the ingredients really fresh?
Are the portions generous or skimpy?
Are the recipes family friendly?
Is this a good service for people who already cook regularly?
Do I have to know how to cook?
You may remember a couple months ago I posted a Hello Fresh Louisiana Red Beans and Rice dish that was delicious. But I just recently found out that I could share a coupon for y’all to get $70.00 towards your first order. Most times my orders for two people total 45-55.00 for 6 servings (three meals with 2 servings each) but there is an option to order additional servings.
If you cook dinner for yourself or your family this can be a fun way to decrease your time spent at the grocery store and still get some wonderful fresh ingredients to prepare a delicious meal.
This is an example of how the bags of ingredients look.
I was a bit skeptical…
When I first started, I was curious to see if this subscription service would enhance our lives or just be a drain on the budget. I was surprised to find a very fresh meal experience with several unique aspects that are personally appealing and may help any busy parent.
After opening up the box I really liked how everything is organized into individual meal boxes. I didn’t have to do inventory or try to sort everything according to meal. I can just put these in my refrigerator and grab the box I need when it’s time to cook that particular meal.
Note: The fresh meat is stored in between two solid ice packs underneath these boxes but I am including it with the box ingredients photos below.
Here is a look at all the ingredients inside one of my Hello Fresh ingredient bags for …
Hello Fresh Ginger Stir Fry
How does Hello Fresh work?
Visit HelloFresh.com, (Click here to get $70 off your first box using my referral code). Create an account and choose your plan. The website walks you through everything else. There is no time commitment or minimum number of deliveries, you can cancel at any time by clicking your name, settings, and then scrolling down and clicking “cancel my subscription”. Simple as that.
Your meal box is delivered at a date you choose, ingredients are separated into different bags, and a full color recipe card is included with photos and instructions of the simple steps and the full recipe.
A photo of one of the meals I made a few weeks ago: Juicy Apple Pork Burgers with Rosemary Potatoes and Green Salad
Are the ingredients really fresh?
Everything I received was well chilled and as fresh as it could possibly be, actually fresher quality than if I had of picked it up from a local grocery. Just make sure you get it the day that it is sent to avoid it sitting around. I forgot to pick mine up from the PO Box and it sat in there for almost 2.5 days. Even considering that, I was still able to use it and it was relatively fresh, That time I had ordered vegetarian dishes so I didn’t have to worry about any meat sitting out. To avoid any issue however, go on and grab it as soon as you can.
Whenever I pick my order up the same day it comes in, the salad greens are crisp and perfect, the fruits and veggies are firm and without the slightest blemish, and ingredients like onions looked freshly picked. When I order meals with it arrives well chilled and vacuum sealed, positioned between two layers of packaged ice.
Are the portions generous or skimpy?
It really depends on your appetite but for my 22 year old son (when he comes to visit his mama) and I and occasionally a guest or two I have found portions to be just fine. If you are trying to watch your weight and trying to avoid going for seconds or thirds, this is a good way to keep your portion sizes standard.
The Red Beans and Rice Dish I made in my first order.
Are the recipes family friendly?
I have some picky eaters in my house as well and I found these meals to be pretty family friendly, using fresh ingredients with tasty flavor combinations. As a result, I’m delighted to have some new favorite recipes to add to our rotation.
Is Hello Fresh a good service for people who already cook regularly?
I cook supper just about every night of the week, and often cook breakfast and lunch as well. I think most home cooks will admit to getting into a rut from time to time and these meal boxes are the perfect way to jazz things up a bit, discover new recipes, and not have to buy larger quantities of ingredients you may not end up using later. Each week there is at least one of the three meals we received in our box. I plan on adding two exactly as written to the regular rotation and a third I’ve already made with a different cut of meat.
Do I have to know how to cook?
This is an excellent option for cooks of all levels thanks to the clear photos and simple instructions. The recipe cards are well written and fully disclose all measurements and ingredients so you can easily go to your local grocery and duplicate the dish exactly. Steps are simple, straightforward, and in very few steps. I was able to make each meal, start to finish, in about thirty minutes.
In summary: This is an excellent option for eating in and not having to spend so much time in the grocery store. It’s a great way to try out new recipes and add new found favorites to your family recipe files. The food is fresh. The servings are normal size. The recipes are simple to make and laid out in just a few easy steps. And I love the recipe cards because they are laid out so that you can easily make them again if you like.
Click here to get $70 off your first box using my referral code
If you choose to take advantage of this 70.00 offer Southern Plate will receive a small affiliate fee. All of this affiliate fee will be directed to a charity to be determined (and I will post it here) to help those in need of food. Times are hard for many and Southern Plate wants to help. If you have any suggestions for a charity that can provide fresh food to families in need please email me at [email protected] to give me details.
You could say that Yedi Pressure Cooker is an appliance which in its name, sells itself short. It actually offers a 9-in-1 cooking experience. The versatile electric cooker includes pressure cook, slow cook, sauté, steam, make cakes, pasteurize, rice cooking, cake making, yogurt making, and keep warm functions. It’s also designed with 15 instant touch cooking programs, and 10 safety features.
Yedi Pressure Cooker not only provides versatility, convenience, and safety, but also taste, nutrition, health, and even money-saving benefits in just one appliance.
It cooks in less than half of the time in comparison to a normal cooker, in a way that helps to preserve its natural flavor and nutrients, resulting in more delicious and nutritious meals. Healthier too, without losing essential nutrients and while eradicating dangerous micro-organisms from your food. Its inner pot features a three-ply bottom that evenly distributes heat to ensure that food is thoroughly and safely cooked all the way through. It also has no chemical coating whatsoever, unlike most of today’s non-stick cookware.
Yedi Pressure Cooker gives you a variety of cooking and custom options to make meals on your time and in your way. If you stack the steamer on top of the inner pot, you can cook two meals simultaneously. You can cook, let’s say, a stew in the inner pot while you steam the vegetables above.
So, you can cook a wide variety of meals quicker, to save you time and with it, energy; and of course, money for that energy! Its impressive accessories package, meaning that you don’t have to buy anything extra, saves you even more time and money.
The 6-quart capacity model, that we tested and reviewed, is plenty big enough to cook a meal for a family of four. An 8-quart is also available for larger families or parties. However, a larger capacity also means that you can easily slide in bulky items like a rack of ribs or a whole crab, or simply make larger quantities of food to save you time later. This could also be more economical in the long run and provide further cost-saving.
Who’s It For?
Whether you’re an overwhelmed and rushed parent and/or an overworked and busy professional, you will probably appreciate and value any time saved in the kitchen. Maybe you follow a healthy diet, or at least would like to? Then, if you haven’t already, you should consider getting a multi-cooking device such as Yedi Pressure Cooker.
It provides a total package that does it all, and faster. Equipped with loads of features, this versatile appliance can shorten your cooking time by up to 70%, enhancing the richness and natural flavors of foods, and make it a lot easier for you to get a tasty meal on the table. Foods retain more of their nutrients and taste when cooked faster and using less liquid.
And as foods retain more nutrients with shorter cooking time, and using less oil or water, a healthier one too! Not only that, by providing temperatures higher than 212°F, pressure cooking can effectively eliminate harmful microorganisms.
This shorter cooking time results in an overall cooler temperature in the kitchen and saves energy. Not only because of the shorter cooking time but when cooking with more pots and pans on the stovetop, more heat rises from them and builds in the kitchen. Yedi Pressure Cooker instead retains the heat and steam, with none of it escaping to heat your kitchen.
You’ll feel more comfortable in a cooler kitchen, which is good for your pocket, saving you on energy bills, as well as the planet as global temperatures rise. And who doesn’t want that?
Or increased health and safety in the kitchen? Long gone are the days when stovetop pressure cookers could explode. A modern electrical model like Yedi Pressure Cooker has a long list of safety features, such as automatic steam venting and visible pressure indicators.
They’re also more versatile than their older predecessors. The Yedi, as we’ve seen, is in fact, a 9-in-1 multicooker; developed, designed, and built with more capabilities and functions, for greater convenience. You can cook a very wide variety of foods in numerous different ways. Sometimes at the same time as brilliant for one pot, or its two-pots, cooking. That’s far more efficient than using several pots on separate burners, and with it less washing up after.
You can also cook in different quantities. Yedi Pressure Cooker is available in six- and eight-quarts capacities, giving you flexibility depending on the necessity, or choice, of the amount of food that you prepare.
All of these benefits make it a product that could be for a wide variety of people. Not just for families, large or small. As it’s priced lower than many of its competitors and will make energy cost savings, it’s ideal for those with a smaller household budget. Or who live in a smaller home. As it’s electric and very portable, as well as clean and tidy, you can cook delicious meals in any room. You don’t even need a kitchen!
The preprogrammed digital controls provide maximum simplicity and convenience for beginners, and it’s dishwasher friendly and easy to clean.
In short, Yedi Pressure Cooker is for anyone who wants tasty, healthy, and fast cooking. And all of the many gains in benefits and savings in costs that it brings.
What We Like About Yedi Pressure Cooker
Most significantly its versatility is provided by its 9-in-1 different functions. But also, by its 15 instant touch cooking programs. These include, amongst others: meat/stew, poultry, bean/chili, soup, cake, rice, egg, multigrain, and porridge.
All of these are made even easier and more convenient, by the 4 intuitive icons and progress indicators of its stylish LCD panel. But also, unlike many other cookers available on the market, Yedi provides more flexibility to allow manual pressure level setting and cook times.
Yedi Pressure Cooker also comes with 10 safety features: temperature monitor, safety locking lid, electrical temperature & current fuse, auto pressure control, auto temperature control, smart lock sensor, anti-block shield, a system of pressure protection, system of pressure regulation, and cooking mitts for resisting heat. Additionally, the pasteurize setting lets you sterilize the bottles for a bacteria-free environment.
The durable and dishwasher-safe inner cooking pot is made of stainless steel so has no coatings of chemicals on it. This also makes it resistant to flakes like traditional ceramic pots that might develop over time. It has markings of 1/2 & 2/3 for safe pressure cooking, as well as measuring markings in liters. Its 3-ply bottom distributes heat to evenly and thoroughly cook food. The included stainless steel steamer basket enables you to cook 2 dishes at the same time.
With the incredible included accessories, you can utilize this appliance straight out of the box, without the need to buy anything else for it. And it comes with a detailed instruction manual, a recipe book, and a cheat sheet on how to cook various dishes with various settings. Yedi also uploads numerous recipe videos onto their Instagram account every week.
For handy storage, it has a detachable power cord. And if anything does go wrong, with a 2 years full warranty, your Yedi Pressure Cooker will be replaced or money will be returned for any issues found.
What We Don’t Like About Yedi Pressure Cooker
We were overall very impressed with this appliance, so our quibbles are relatively small ones.
Stirring is required, and a little bit of a hassle, when slow cooking. But that’s by no means unique to Yedi Pressure Cooker.
What might be is that we considered the lid to have a minor design or build faults. It could be improved with a little bit more care and attention.
Previous users have generally agreed that the Yedi Houseware Appliances website and mobile app for iOS and Android have errors, omissions, or typos. Also, they’re not that helpful regarding recipes. They almost always relate to Instant Pot models! Yedi should develop their own, unique ones to make their product more attractive and competitive against this bigger brand.
PROS
Offers instant start cooking options that save time
High quality and works well
Comes with a full accessories package
The stainless steel steamer basket enables cooking 2 dishes at the same time
Fantastic warranty and customer service
CONS
Straight out of the box, plugged it in and started beeping with an ‘Error 1’ message (faulty heat sensor)
One and a half years after purchase the valve jumped out
All of a sudden it stopped working. Touch control panel didn’t light up, and it wouldn’t turn on at all
What’s Included?
Yedi Pressure Cooker, tempered glass lid, 2 egg racks/steaming trivets, ladle, rice paddle, cooking mitts, extra silicone sealing ring, stainless steel steaming basket, stainless steel inner cooking pot, measuring cup, recipe book, ‘cheat sheets’, user manual, and 2 years full warranty whereby Yedi Houseware will refund your money and or replace your purchase if you have any issues with it.
Overview Of Features
Yedi Pressure Cooker is a 6-quart, 1000-W, multi use cooking device that measures 12.6 x 12.2 x 13 inches and weighs18.41 pounds. It has a stainless steel body with a tempered glass lid that is perfect for slow cooking and sautéing. The power cord is detachable for easier storage.
It has many advantages, among which saving time & energy, preserving nutrients, and eliminating harmful micro-organisms from food are the most significant.
This 9-in-1 appliance cooks meals in less than half the time. You can pressure cook, slow cook, sauté, steam, make cakes, pasteurize, make yogurt, cook rice, make eggs and warm, all in this one electric cooker.
Yedi Pressure Cooker has 15 instant-touch microprocessor cooking programs: poultry, meat/stew, bean/chili, soup, sauté/sear, cake, rice, egg, multigrain, porridge, steam/veggies, slow cook, keep warm, yogurt, and pressure cook (manual setting). Unlike most other cookers on the market, it gives you the flexibility to manually input cooking times and set different pressure levels as desired.
This is done by the LCD panel with 4 intuitive icons and progress indicators for various functions. The cooker symbol indicates the progress status of the heating or cooking process, the ‘P’ symbol indicates pressure cook program selection, the key symbol indicates the on/off status of keep warm function, and the sound-symbol indicates on/off when cooking begins and finishes.
Its 10 safety features include temperature monitor, safety locking lid, electrical temperature & current fuse, auto pressure control, auto temperature control, smart lock sensor, anti-block shield, a system of pressure protection, system of pressure regulation, and cooking mitts for resisting heat.
The dishwasher safe inner cooking pot of stainless steel has no coatings of chemicals on it. The 3-ply bottom gives an even distribution of heat. It has markings of 1/2 & 2/3 for safe pressure cooking, and also includes measuring with markings in liters. It comes with a stainless steel steamer that can be used to cook two dishes at the same time.
Yedi Pressure Cooker comes with a deluxe accessory kit. Included is a tempered glass lid 2 egg racks/steaming trivets, ladle, rice paddle, cooking mitts, extra silicone sealing ring, stainless steel steaming basket, stainless steel inner cooking pot, and a measuring cup.
It also comes with a recipe book and ‘cheat sheets’. Also, the Yedi Houseware Appliances website has lots of recipes and the Yedi Houseware Instagram has new content and recipe videos uploaded every week.
And if anything does go wrong, there’s a 2 years full warranty. Your Yedi Pressure Cooker will be replaced or money will be returned for any issues found.
Review Summary
Yedi houseware is a trustworthy brand whose advertising claims that it is “perfect under pressure”. It lives up to that promise with the Yedi Pressure Cooker. When it comes to a pre-programmed multi-use cooker packed with all kinds of features, you can’t go wrong with this appliance.
Whether you’re an experienced cook or a novice, this unit is a must-buy. It saves you time, energy, and money to deliver tasty, safe, healthy, and nutritious meals. If you want to cook these with ease, speed, convenience, and versatility, then remember the name ‘Yedi Pressure Cooker’. It’s the right device at a good price!
Pressure cookers, or rather the principle around them, have been around for centuries. Today’s pressure cookers retain the many benefits of pressure cooking, but are a lifetime away, from the noisy, spitting, and rattling pots of the past. For these reasons they retain their popularity; perhaps increasingly so, in tandem with their usefulness and convenience to today’s times and world.
As a result, there’s a huge choice of pressure cookers from many different brands available in the market. The Insignia brand has a wide offer of kitchen products, among which one of their best-sellers is this 6-quart pressure cooker.
With an Insignia Pressure Cooker, you’ll no longer have to be nervous about the heat settings in the different recipes that you may follow. Its multiple cooking modes and digital programming make cooking any dish simple and hassle-free. You can use it as a pressure cooker and a slow cooker, for a wide variety of foods, which will all retain their taste and nutrients. It’s dishwasher safe and extremely easy to clean.
We used and tested Insignia Pressure Cooker and reviewed it below, delivering our verdict to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
Who’s It For?
To determine who Insignia Pressure Cooker is for, we need to examine the numerous benefits of this type of cooking, for who it’s attractive to and suits.
Firstly, foods retain most of their nutrients and are even tastier from a pressure cooker. That’s because foods are cooked faster and using less liquid, and the longer foods are cooked, especially in liquid, the more nutrients are destroyed. The fact that foods are done in a shorter cooking time means they lose their color and flavor, as well as minerals and vitamins that are evaporated or diluted when cooking in large quantities of water for longer. Pressure cookers reduce cooking time by as much as 70%, so enhancing the richness and natural flavors of foods.
This shorter cooking time also saves energy. But also, pressure cookers lend themselves brilliantly to one-pot cooking recipes and are far more efficient than using several pots on separate burners. With the ever-escalating cost of electricity and gas, this can result in significant energy savings. And who doesn’t want to reduce the size of their monthly household utility bills?
Of course, this shorter cooking time also saves you time in preparing meals.
With foods cooking up to 70% faster in a pressure cooker, it’s a handy tool after a long and tiring day at work. With Insignia Pressure Cooker you can whip up a tasty and nutritious meal much quicker. Just throw in all the ingredients and it’ll be ready by the time that you’ve tidied up the kitchen and set the table, or even better, had a refreshing shower and relaxed.
With its automatic cooking mode, you can even prepare it before and set it to be ready for when you return home, or at a time to suit others in the household. The shorter cooking time, with less time monitoring the food, means that you get more time to communicate and connect with loved ones and guests. Or just to spend on rest, relaxation, or leisure activities.
These benefits above also result in an overall cooler temperature in the kitchen. Not only because of the shorter cooking time but when cooking with regular pots and pans on the stovetop, heat rises from them and builds in the kitchen. A pressure cooker instead retains the heat and steam, with none of it escaping to heat your kitchen. With summers getting warmer, as seen by the recent record heat waves across much of the country, you’ll feel more comfortable in a cooler kitchen.
And cooking with regular stovetop pots tends to leave more mess, not only on the stovetop itself but also its controls and often on counters and even walls. Liquid, steam, and oils more easily escape from such cookware than a pressure cooker with its well-secured lid. This requires some cleanup after cooking, as well as more pots to wash. Use a pressure cooker and there could be only that to wash!
It’s very apparent then, that these benefits, convenience, and flexibility means that Insignia Pressure Cooker could be for a wide variety of people.
It’s suitable for those with families, and also comes in an 8-quart size if yours is a larger family. It can be used to teach good habits to children, when you prepare tasty and delicious meals with it, on how to eat healthily and regularly.
As it’s a low-cost product, that will make energy cost savings, it’s ideal for those on a tight budget such as students and young people, including first-time homeowners, living away from their family home. The digital controls make cooking convenient and easier for beginners, and its dishwasher friendly and easy to clean. You don’t even need a kitchen! As an electric and very portable, as well as clean and tidy, you can cook delicious meals in any room.
Insignia Pressure Cooker is for those who want to achieve tasty and healthy, precise, and fast cooking. For ‘foodies’ and those who lead a healthy lifestyle. Or even for those who wish to; they could experiment with a pressure cooker without having to invest too much.
You can also use a pressure cooker to prepare food for canning to be stored for future use. If you’re a gardener, hunter, or homesteader perhaps.
It’s therefore ideal for a modern urban or more traditional lifestyle. Whether you live with a family or alone. If you’re cooking for others or just for yourself.
What We Like About Insignia Pressure Cooker
A modern and hip-looking portable electric device, Insignia Pressure Cook is as functional as it is stylish. With 14 pre-set programs, and three levels of pressure and temperature for the simplest of cooking. The automatic keep-warm function and 24-hour delay timer accommodate busy schedules and provide flexibility in mealtimes. Its 6-quart capacity lets you make generous portions for your family.
Despite its ample volume, Insignia Pressure Cook still manages to look sleek and compact, and it does not occupy space in the kitchen. And with its attractive stainless-steel body, you won’t mind it out on display. The rest of the materials used are equally durable, of high quality, and BPA free. The cooking pot is designed as a dishwasher safe non-stick Teflon.
The handle remains cool at all times, just one of its outstanding safety features. There’s also a lid lock, venting system, automatic pressure release, overheat protection, protection for the valve, and a gasket to seal the lid.
Insignia Pressure Cooker seals in steam to cook food faster at 1000W pressure. This preserves the food’s nutrients and color, delivering you healthy and flavorful cooking. And that’s across pretty much for any food type, for a full variety of recipes, dishes, and cuisines. Its three pressure and temperature settings, along with multiple cooking modes and presets, provides full versatility.
It allows you to cook with precision and reassurance; without you having to rely on intuition. The LCD clearly shows the temperature that is set and lets you make changes using custom settings.
The fast cooking times make it energy-efficient, which can save you money on electricity and gas. With the heat sealed in and not escaping, your kitchen remains cooler than when cooking with regular stovetop pots and pans. It also makes the cooking process less messy, meaning less cleaning after for you. But Insignia Pressure Cooker itself is easy to clean after use.
It has an automatic keep-warm function to preserve your food’s temperature, without overcooking it, until it’s time to serve it. And you can prepare your food ahead of time, leave the house, and return to a well-cooked and delicious one-pot meal, thanks to the 24-hour delay timer.
What We Don’t Like About Insignia Pressure Cooker
Really, not too much.
While we’ve written about the virtues of its multiple preset cooking modes and digital programming, the choice of manual settings would be good for more experienced cooks. Likewise, the non-stick Teflon inner pot is of course convenient and easy to clean. But for our money, you still can’t beat a stainless steel one.
PROS
It works great, and it truly makes cooking simpler with so many presets
Meals are so much quicker and healthier
You can actually taste the difference in your food
Wonderful quality at a great price. Highly recommended
Every family needs one!
CONS
Lack of manual settings
Stainless steel inner pot isn’t included
Insufficient user manual. It could be more comprehensive
What’s Included?
Insignia 6-Quart Multi-Function Pressure Cooker
Condensation collector
Cooking stand
Inner pot
Measuring cup (3/4 C capacity)
Rice scoop
Soup ladle
Stainless steel rack
User guide
1-year manufacturer’s warranty on parts and labor
Overview Of Features
Pressure cooking: It seals in steam to cook food quickly while at the same time preserving nutrients and ensuring healthy and flavorful results.
6-quart capacity: Provides ample room for ingredients, letting you easily prepare portions for family, friends, and other groups.
10 preset cooking functions: Choose from Rice, Multi-grain, Soup, Meat/Stew, Poultry, Fish, Steam Vegetables, Beans/Chili, Quinoa, and Cake.
24-hour timer: This allows you to ‘set it and forget it’ and delay cooking until the perfect time for you.
Keep warm setting: Maintain your food at an ideal serving temperature.
Digital controls: Easily select cooking options, see the time and change the cooking or delay time.
Locking lid: Keeps the lid locked firmly in place once enough pressure builds inside the cooker.
Stainless-steel finish: Adds a modern and trendy look to your kitchen.
Dishwasher-safe and nonstick Teflon pot: Ensures quick and easy cleanup.
Great accessories package is included: Measuring cup, rice scoop, soup ladle, cooking stand, and condensation collector are included for use right out of the box.
Review Summary
Cooking food in Insignia Pressure Cooker works 70% faster than regular stovetop cooking. This is the main factor in at least 50% of the nutrients and flavors being retained, providing food that is healthy and delicious. This efficiency uses less energy to conserve electricity, without the use of gas at all. Put simply, it takes less energy and water to cook food in an electric cooker, so conserving electricity and other utilities.
Enjoy cooking vegetables, rice, desserts, meat, fish, and other types of food to perfection, using the various methods that come pre-programmed for many varieties of cooking. Cook oats, lentils, cake, cereals, soups, stews, and anything you want to cook with this versatile pot. And when you’re finished, it’s easy to wash and clean, as well as less mess on the surrounding surfaces, with many dishwasher compatible parts and accessories.
Cooking with the preset modes couldn’t be simpler. You, your family, and your guests will be amazed by the results. And as the cooking time is much faster, you’ll enjoy more time to spend with them.
If you’re a family with young children, it helps them to be less fussy about foods, as you can make nutritious food that retains flavors. You can also receive the added benefit of showing them how easy it is to cook good and healthy meals.
Insignia Pressure Cooker lets you cook meals within a short time, allowing you to more easily prepare and cook tasty and healthy meals every day and on special occasions. Safely too, with its plethora of safety features.
It’s one of the best electric cookers available on the market, reducing the need for having many appliances on the go at once. It cooks a variety of dishes within minutes. You’ll be delighted and impressed at how fast you can cook inside this one-pot, no matter what your expertise level in cooking is.
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Juicy Apple Pork Burgers with Rosemary Potatoes and Green Salad
