Recommend a steamer

[TooNice]

I feel like eating a bit healthier and add some veggies into my diet (at the moment, my '5-a-day' consists solely of fruits). A steamer sounds like a good way to go, can anyone suggest one that is low maintenance (easy to clean) and not too big (I eat for two, but it's just for me).

[finlay666]

Cleveland

The Cleveland steamers are very big though
http://www.clevelandrange.com/?xhtml...l=homepage.xsl

[Sumanji]

HAHA classic!!!

[g8ina]

Buy Chinese, deep wok and bamboo steamers. Its the only way

[merdat]

Cheapest would be a bamboo streamer but I use a 'Morphy Richards' one which can have up to 3 sections as you require, you just stack them up - works a treat.

[scaryjim]

I'd recommend something like this 3-tier steamer set. They're very versatile, giving you an extra largish saucepan, and you can boil rice / pasta / potatoes in the bottom whilst steaming your veg in the top. Also if you have veg that would normally cook at different rates you can stack the faster cooking veg in top and it will get slightly less heat (as some of the steam will have condensed on the lower basket). They're pretty ubiquitous, so shop around before you buy, and don't worry about getting a larger one than you think you need - remember you can always cook less food in a large pan, but you can never cook more food in a small pan!

The other option, cheaper but less flexible, would be a collapsible steamer that sits inside a pan - again, pretty ubiquitous so shop around before you buy. An excellent - and cheap - option, and because it collapses up it will fit in pretty much any saucepan you own; the downside is obviously that it needs its own pan and you can't stack several things in top of the one pan and use the residual steam. Also if you're having more than one type of veg you need to make sure that they're cut into suitable sizes to all cook at the same rate - you can't differentially stack veg like you can with a stacked steamer set!

I own both of the above and use them in fairly equal measure depending on the complexity of the meal I'm cooking. I've not noticed any real difference in the quality of the end product, so I think the choice is down to whether you definitely just want an easy and cheap way to steam veg for one or two people, or if you want the flexibility of having an extra proper pan and being able to stack up several different types of veg.

Cleveland

See, now I'm nostalgic for living in community and having access to a fully kitted out professional kitchen

[scottyman]

I've got a Miele steamer, and it's fantastic. A separate appliance, but is the business and you can program in a complete menu for what you want to cook. They do a lovely benchtop unit as well, but they are expensive. I'd love to get one of their pressurised units, which are pretty amazing to cook with.

[pre]

I'd recommend something like this 3-tier steamer set. They're very versatile, giving you an extra largish saucepan, and you can boil rice / pasta / potatoes in the bottom whilst steaming your veg in the top. Also if you have veg that would normally cook at different rates you can stack the faster cooking veg in top and it will get slightly less heat (as some of the steam will have condensed on the lower basket). They're pretty ubiquitous, so shop around before you buy, and don't worry about getting a larger one than you think you need - remember you can always cook less food in a large pan, but you can never cook more food in a small pan!

That looks good option - although one person in the reviews says it's too small. Any idea how big it actually is?