Save time, money with electric pressure cooker

With cooking being one of the major causes of deforestation and greenhouse emissions, several innovations have been in the pipeline to save the environment. 

Some of these include briquette making and  eco stoves among others. However, some of these still need charcoal to cook. Therefore, trees are still under threat.

However, there is another alternative. An electric pressure cooker can cook food in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. Some users share their experiences:

Ms Phiona Tinkamanyire bought hers in February 2023 upon seeing that it cooks fast. The first trial was cooking dry beans and these were ready in only 45 minutes without soaking them. She adds that it is efficient, clean, and produces no smoke. Additionally, beans do not bubble out when cooking as is with the ordinary pressure cooker. 

“I no longer have to use a lot of charcoal when cooking beans. Even smoked meat retains its wonderful scent, tasting as though it were cooked in what many call a ‘box’. There is also no noise and it does not consume a lot of electricity,” she says. 

Ms Tinkamanyire says previously, she bought two bags of charcoal (Shs60,000 per bag) per month and yet her power bill was also at Shs30,000. With the pressure cooker, the electricity consumption has not changed much meaning she saves 120,000 monthly. She adds that owing to the safety of the cooker, she has taught her children and maid to use it. 

“I instructed them not to touch the pan when it is cooking and even after, only opening it when it has cooled. 

Ms Tinkamanyire has so far bought two electric pressure cookers. The first one was at Shs281,000. The second one was through asset financing where she paid a down payment of Shs100,000 then monthly installments of Shs81,000 for three months.

Ms Melanie Patience Kagoya started the electric pressure cooker journey as a product tester because that was her job. 

“It was the first time I was hearing about it and needed to acquaint myself with the product hence doing cooking tests. I was amazed by how well it worked that I later got one for myself and I am pleased,” she says.
 
Ms Kagoya says that previously, she used gas but the thought of refilling the 6kg cylinder always filled her with dread as she needed to have approximately Shs60,000 at hand. 

“I now do all my cooking using the electric pressure cooker. The beautiful thing is that my electricity bill is Shs20,000 which also runs the other electricity needs such as ironing, and lighting,” she says.

Cutting out charcoal usage
While Ms Mitchelle Awino could not buy into the sales agent’s pitch until a demonstration, she is thankful to have an electric pressure cooker. From using Shs6,000 every day for buying charcoal, she is glad to use only Shs10,000 for nine days for all the house electric needs of a family of four. 

“I bought the cooker using the asset financing payment plan, paying Shs60,000 as a down payment then Shs51,000 per month for the six months,” she says. Ms Awino adds they were trained on how to use the cooker before purchase. One of the guidelines was that after cooking one meal, it should rest for at least five minutes before using it again to prevent overheating. 

“I use mine daily and have never had technical issues. Regarding cleaning, I only wash the insertable pan and wipe the cover,” she says.
The icing on the cake is that Ms Awino also uses the cooker for baking because it has a timer for that option. 

“It takes between 30 to 35 minutes. I also love the cooker because it has a valve that locks up as soon as it starts cooking. That makes it safe even in a small space,” she says.
Ms Deborah Nasumba began using an electric pressure cooker in 2022 and the pulling factor was it cooks fast and reduces fuel bills.

“I had done price market research and learned that while other companies sell it at about Shs550,000, the offer on the table was Shs250,000. At first, it was more of a trial and error but the experience has been amazing because fresh beans take less than 25 minutes, which has made my life easy,” she says. 
Just like Ms Kagoya, Ms Nasumba only uses the electric pressure cooker, for all her cooking. 

“With no other cooking alternative available, I do all my cooking, be it porridge and mingling posho in an electric pressure cooker. Although it  is not advisable to mingle in it. Besides, the cooker does not give me the fright that using gas does. I just press a button depending on the food I am cooking, say meat and the right cooking time is set which also means I do not have to monitor the food frequently,” she says. 

Ms Nasumba adds they are not like the old pressure cookers whose steam is deadly, in some instances. She uses Shs10,000 worth of electricity per month. 

Mr Aggrey Fred Kintu who used approximately Shs200 during the demo cooking, says the electric pressure cooker cooks fast and is energy efficient. 

“Where I spent Shs130,000 on a 12kg gas refill, I am only spending Shs30,000 of power per month yet we do not deplete it despite cooking every day.” 
The first one was bought on loan hence a down payment of Shs100,000 and then Shs90,500 per month for two months.

“I stopped buying charcoal and gas because we use it for all our cooking be it mingling millet bread or posho, frying and the like. Additionally, dry beans taste as though they were fresh,” he says. 

Energy-efficient
Mr Kizito says its efficiency prompted him to buy another cooker (Shs281,000) because they needed one for sauce and another for food.

He adds that they were trained on usage and it is not right to clean the pan using a scouring cloth or rough spoons or mingling sticks when to maintain the stainless steel surface. Furthermore, when using it, one should put it away from children’s reach to avoid accidents. He adds that he wishes they were bigger than the current capacity of six litres. 

Mr Joshua Mufumba is grateful for having finally acquired an electric pressure cooker at Shs250,000. Previously, he used a smart home charcoal stove and charcoal usage was high; one bag per month, which cost him Shs120,000. 

“With the cooker, I use between Shs10,000 and Shs20,000 for my electricity bill, only increasing to Shs30,000 when other activities such as ironing are added,” he says. 

Mr Mufumba only uses charcoal, which reduced to a basin of Shs25,000 per month for preparing posho or as a backup during power outages. He says the cooker can work for big families because there is a possibility of buying an additional insert-able pan at Shs30,000. 

Deforestation
Uganda’s forest cover is still declining. According to Global Forest Watch, between 2000 and 2020, Uganda lost more than 23 percent of its tree cover in both natural and planted forests. Additionally, an average of 20.8 metric tonnes (MT) of greenhouse gas emissions are released into the atmosphere annually. Cumulatively, 438 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide was emitted in the last two decades. 

According to the College of Business and Management Science at Makerere University, tree cover loss in Uganda is mainly attributed to rapid population growth and the need for land for settlement and agriculture, urbanisation, industrialisation and the increased demand for solid biomass for fuel. 

About 94 percent of Uganda households use biomass fuel (charcoal and firewood) for their cooking needs according to the Uganda National Household Survey (2019/2020). While 73 percent  of households use firewood , 21 percent use charcoal to cook. 

According to the World Bank, demand for wood fuel is on the rise, increasing by 9.1 percent between 2015 and 2019. Consequently, massive acres of forest cover in Northern Uganda, Nakasongola, Luweero, Kyankwanzi and Kiboga have been cleared for firewood and charcoal.

Continuous and ferocious deforestation has exposed Uganda to several hazards, leading to huge economic shocks. For instance, according to the World Bank climate change knowledge portal, from 1900 to 2018, Uganda has had 20 floods, 40 epidemics, nine droughts and five landslides.

This has led to more than 200,000 deaths and at least $80 million in economic loss. The portal adds that these effects point to climate change which is now recognised to have a big impact on disaster management efforts. Additionally, it poses a significant threat to vulnerable populations.