By Annie Hill, Senior Advisory Board Member, Madriella Doula Network
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I have been asked frequently about my Instant Pot® usage over on my personal FaceBook. Often by other doulas or midwives, but just as often by a busy mom who is looking to find something that they can prepare easy for their family, or maybe use that as a basis for something for meal train to help another community member out.
Let me start by saying I’m not affiliated with Instant Pot®, Madriellla isn’t affiliated with Instant Pot®, and my personal opinions on it are earning me nothing but added time with my family.
Pressure cooking these days is nothing like what my grandmothers did… once you get past that initial learning curve, you may fall in love with this machine.
I sure have become and enamored with mine, and actually would be overjoyed if I had another one or maybe even two. I will be buying lots of accessories in order to do things like pot in pot cooking, so that way I can make multiple things with one IP.
The very first meal after your client or wife/partner or daughter has given birth is critical… sometimes culturally (the Korean culture comes strongly to mind at this moment) as well as physically. Most hospitals will have a sandwich in the refrigerator, but what happens if you have dietary restrictions and can’t eat bread, or cold cuts don’t agree with you? Bringing a special meal to be the first meal after the babies born can hold great significance, not just physiologically, as a means to help a woman recover – but sometimes emotionally – if it’s someone special to that person’s recipe.
For dinner last night, I made a delicious oven roasted 7# baked chicken, and we saved the bones… I’ve been saving the cut ends from veggies and kept them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer Instead of throwing them into the garbage. It was super easy to make bone broth with all of this.
I threw in the previously cut veggies, a 2-inch length of turmeric that I sliced thin, & some salt. I topped off the pot to where it said two thirds full of water and mixed it all up with a wooden spoon. Two hours later I was straining out the beautiful golden elixir, that has so many health and convenience benefits.
I got nine (12 oz) jars of the bone broth/chicken stock (around 100+ ounces) from that chicken carcass & veggie ends (plus the turmeric.) These are going into our stand-up freezer now that they’re cooled, and I have homemade bone broth free from artificial anything, that I can use for a soup base, I can use a cup of it at a time in the pressure cooker as instructed – or to give it a sick family member over winter as chicken broth.
Now if it’s that easy to use at home, don’t be afraid to use this tool if your client wants help preparing food for that all important first meal after the baby is born. Meal prep is a great way to spend your last prenatal visit before the baby is born – allowing you allowing you and your client to reach a higher comfort level with each other.