Why You Should Be Cooking with Toaster Bags

August 01, 2011, By Christian Cawley 0 comments

You have an appliance in your kitchen that's underused—your toaster. If you're using it only to toast bread for breakfast, you're missing chances to save money and enjoy easy, excellent meals. As unusual as the idea seems, these meals are quick to prep and cook, and produce healthy, low-fat meals that require no additional fats during cooking. Toasting, grilling, baking and steaming—toaster bags will handle them all, and they're washable and reusable.

You can buy toaster bags from most supermarkets or online. A pack of two costs less than $10.

How it Works

The toaster pockets are made of a material not dissimilar to oven sheets that are designed to evenly distribute heat around the food being cooked.

For instance, if you heat a slice of bread in your toaster, you’ll notice varying degrees of brown as it toasts. This is due to differences in the elements that “cook” the bread. By using toaster bags, however, the heat is more evenly distributed around what is being cooked. Toaster bags are fully washable and don't leak, meaning that foods can be heated without risk of juices or fats leaking from the toaster bag and potentially damaging your toaster.

Some Suggested Toaster Snacks

Grilled cheese is a snap with toaster bags—and you don't need any butter to heat in a frying pan. You can also jazz it up by adding onion or ham. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. French toast (slices of bread dipped in whisked and seasoned raw egg, then fried) can be made with much better results in a toaster bag than in a frying pan.

Meanwhile, small portions of pastries or pizza can be heated in a toaster bag—paninis are delicious cooked this way, as are croissants. If your toaster doesn’t have a warming rack, croissants and pain au chocolat can be warmed much better than in the oven, as can naan breads.

Don't forget chicken nuggets, fish fingers, veggie burgers and other common frozen food can also be cooked in toaster bags. The trick is the food just needs to be thin enough to slip into the upright toaster opening.

NEXT: Cooking a Full Toaster Meal