Top products from r/BreakingEggs

buahahaha - I thought the same thing, but honestly I'm a total convert to it now!

Here's a link

The basic gist it that it's a hot plate with a removable stainless steel lining. The top has a gasket on it to make it a pressure cooker, and you can get a different lid for it so you can use it as a crock pot as well.

Pressure cooker basically does the job of a crock pot in about ohhhh 20-45 minutes depending (not necessarily including the time it takes for the content to get up to a boiling temperature and create the heat/pressure). Pressure cookers can be a little intimidating because back in the day they used to explode a lot. Instant pot has a lot of safety features to prevent that.

Last night I made bacon and corn chowder in mine - cooked the bacon in the pot on the "browning" feature, pulled that out, and added onion, potatoes, leftover grilled corn, garlic/salt/pepper to the bacon fat in the bottom of the pan and let that cook for just a few minutes then added flour as the thickener, and a whole box of chicken stock and less than 20 minutes later had soup that tasted like it had cooked all day. I finished the soup off with sour cream/milk/cheese and top it with the bacon I cooked before and some chives - seriously amazing.

Also instant pot would've worked great for your dr pepper pork! And it likely would've taken less time than anything else. Also cooked potatoes for your potato salad in 1/4 of the time as well. ;)

This is the recipe I made two weeks ago using my instant pot It turned out so good we made it 4-5 more times since then.

And as one more "holy moly big sell" here, I take chicken breast from the freezer, put it in the instant pot with a whole jar of salsa and a packet of taco seasoning and set the instant pot for 40 minutes, and I'll have perfectly shredded chicken. :)

Seriously, this thing is a life saver!

Whatever you send, be mindful that they will treat their lunch box like a basketball. Anytime I send somewhat delicate things, half of it comes home smashed or in pieces because 'it was like that when I opened it up'. FFS children, berries will not hold up to that!

OK for the actual advice you requested....

1. Thermos - you can pack leftover pasta, chinese food, mac n cheese, or yogurt...you get the idea. Don't tighten them TOO much or kids can't open them. Jury's still out on reusable spoons/forks, I got these camping ones and my youngest already destroyed his...
   
   
2. Sistema cubes are great, they have two sides, once for sandwich and the other is divided in two for snacks. I always send a carb (chips, cookies, pretzels) and a fruit or veggie (apple slices, cukes, carrot sticks, grapes). Putting everything in one container saves time.
   
   
3. I don't buy single serving packages of stuff, but I did buy a bunch of little containers and pre-package dry things like nuts, chips, veggie straws, cookies, etc. That way I can grab the snack when packing lunch, since I always pack lunch + snack.
   
   
4. Water bottles have been tricky...we don't do straws or sippy type bottles because i hate washing them. And we don't do juice boxes. The nalgene flip top bottles like this are pretty easy for them to open/close and are a good size (not too big) for the next couple years. And again, they are dishwasher safe ;)
   
   My kids are older (9 and 11), so I'm actually thinking of having them plan out their lunches by week for the whole school year, to avoid the 'what do you want me to buy for lunches' nagging EVERY week. If I can get their attention to do it once, it's a lot better than trying to do it while also meal planning and also bugging the fam for meal ideas.

I actually got it out of a "pregetinis" book my friend got me while I was pregnant. It's a bunch of cocktails without the booze for you to enjoy. And they're targeted to help relieve certain pregnancy symptoms. This was in there. They also tell you what you can add for those around you that aren't pregnant. They do make great popsicles!

https://smile.amazon.com/Preggatinis-TM-Mixology-Mom---Be/dp/1599214547/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466124746&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=pregetini

Some advice: Wash your rice. It gets gummy and sticky when you don't rinse it first. Rinse and drain until the water is clear when you stir it about with your hands.

Second: Get a rice cooker. Seriously. You won't regret it.

I have this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-TSC10-Uncooked-Cooker-1-0-Liter/dp/B0074CDG6C/

But there are cheaper ones. The key words are "fuzzy logic." That's the tech that keeps the rice from getting burned to the bottom of the pot. Most will even cook different kinds of rice... Because white rice cooks differently than brown, etc. You can even make oatmeal and mixed meals in 'em.

It's great. There's a reason why any asian kitchen has one. Even if you can cook great rice on the stove, these things make it 100x easier.

I LOVE Bread Baking for Beginners. From a woman who runs Alchemy Bread in Modesto (if you do Instagram she has an awesome feed and will even respond to DM’s).

Bread Baking for Beginners: The Essential Guide to Baking Kneaded Breads, No-Knead Breads, and Enriched Breads https://www.amazon.com/dp/1641521198/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IbIxCbWRR6KTA

I had never really baked bread before, I got this for Christmas and now I bake a loaf or two a week!

Super simple:

• 1lb ground beef (or we usually use ground turkey)
  
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  
• ~1 bag of frozen tater tots (I personally prefer the tater rounds myself, but whatever)
  
• A couple shakes of Montreal Steak Seasoning (optional)
  
• However much grated cheddar cheese you want.
  
  Brown ground beef/turkey. Add cream of mushroom. Transfer to 9x13 baking pan. Cover with tots. Bake at 425 for about a half hour. Top with cheese.
  
  Optional: Top with Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce
  
  You could always get fancy and add some garlic and onions or bacon or frozen corn to the beef, but we usually keep it pretty simple.

When I was little I loved the Magic Spoon Cookbook. It comes with the magic spoon, which might make your kid enjoy helping you out in the kitchen.

When I first "converted" to vegetarian, in order to make the transition I made everything mostly the same but using meat substitutes like Gardein products, which worked really good with pasta bakes, sloppy joes, chili, etc, and my kids love the fake chicken and fake fish tenders. Stir-fry works really good with those products too. Once I was 100% veg, then I started getting more adventurous about straight veggie recipes without meat substitutes. And hey, I am not a very talented cook, either, so I recommend this book, vegetarian the 5-ingredient gourmet. No crazy exotic ingredients and they are all really simple to prepare (like under 1/2 hour). Consider also a vegetarian slow cooker recipie book. You just toss everything in and drink your wine all day and pretend you slaved over this delicious dinner. I have the Fix it and Forget It vegetarian cookbook.

Being vegetarian isn't hard once you get used to it but the transition takes getting used to.

These are more fun! I got my mom this one for Christmas last year. I'm not sure how well they work compared to standard infusers, but they are fun!

I have had this one for 3 years:

https://www.amazon.com/EZ-Tofu-Press-Removes-Texture/dp/B007LLGMG2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498322407&sr=8-1&keywords=ez+tofu+press

It goes in the dishwasher every time and it still works good as new. It doesn't take up too much space and it's totally worth it if you cook with tofu regularly.

I got a stack of these:

EasyLunchboxes 3-Compartment Bento Lunch Box Containers, Set of 4, Classic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004S129AQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gSIsDbQVZK3AE

Big part: pb&j, I got a set of sandwich cutters on Amazon that cuts them into dinosaurs and stuff.

Medium part: fruit, usually berries

Small part: 5 Ritz crackers (6 won't fit as well) and slices of cheese

Then I got a set of plastic containers from the dollar store, that work well for goldfish or another snack. Add a juice box and she's good to go!

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-3-Piece-Nylon-Knife/dp/B002Q5YH9C

Plastic serrated knives!

If you feel adventurous a pariing knife with a rounded tip would also work (like stafty scissors)

Big fan of Seriouseats.com and I have The Test Lab cookbook but haven't cooked anything out of it yet :(. I also checkout http://www.budgetbytes.com/, http://www.thekitchn.com/, http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ and Alton Brown recipes.

We have 3 (boy was I wrong) 5 America's Test Kitchen cookbooks:

• The Make Ahead Cook
  
• Cooking School
  
• Slow Cooker Revolution
  
• Slow Cooker Revolution 2
  
• Six-Ingredient Solution
  
  These get used frequently.

It's like a crockpot and pressure cooker had a baby who learned how to make yogurt and rice, steam things (best hard boiled eggs), and sauté things.

Edit: https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-IP-DUO60-Multi-Functional-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ They're pricy but usually go on sale around Thanksgiving/Christmas. I paid $75 for ours.

I have This one that works just fine. It has grooves on the top that would make decorating annoying if you aren't using a cake board.

I use one of these.

RSVP Stoneware Grease Keeper - Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017U5DZY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_WH12wbQMDQ4H2

It has a removable strainer inside.