Yes, the Instant Pot is Worth it
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I'm always late to the party when it comes to trendy things. I just discovered the leggings and dresses look about a year ago, and I'm probably ten years behind on the blogging game (oh well!). So it won't surprise you that we just got an Instant Pot this Christmas after watching it pop up on my social media feed for almost a year.
I thought I was all set with gadgets, but I was wrong.
Just after Thanksgiving this past year my husband asked if there was anything specific we wanted to tell parents we might like for Christmas. It just so happens I was looking at an advertisement for the Instant Pot at that very moment, so I just blurted out, "I don't know, an Instant Pot?"
To which he responded, "A what?" (at least I can be ahead of a few people on trendy things)
Well, the rest is history. If you too have held out of getting an instant pot, thinking your old crock pot was just fine, I'm sorry to tell you that you are missing out.
Here are the top five reasons I love our Instant Pot:
It IS a slow cooker, but it's so much more. It is also a rice cooker, yogurt maker, saute-er (is that word?), warmer, steamer, and (most importantly in my opinion), PRESSURE COOKER. That means instead of 3 appliances and a stove top, you just need to work with one. Time to make some space in the cupboards.
It doesn't have lead paint. I've known for quite a while about the possibility that the ceramic glaze on crock pots could be leeching lead into our food; I am not going to admit how long we lived in denial on that, but our old hand-me-down crock pot has now been retired and I sleep a little more soundly at night.
It caters to my lack of planning. I love buying in bulk and I love the high quality taste of freshly cooked grains and legumes (beans), but I am never giving myself enough time to use them. Problem solved. You don't even have to soak them! The other day, I cooked dried black eyed peas in the pressure cooker in less than 30 minutes, and then got so excited we ate some form of beans for about 5 days in a row. I've found that many recipes are easy to adapt using the pressure cooker setting instead of the longer cook times.
It helps me avoid plastic. Some days I cannot believe the stack of quart-sized yogurt containers that we have perched precariously in our hall closet. Seriously, before we made bone broth a few weeks ago we were looking at close to 30 containers. I love me some yogurt, but now we can make yogurt in our Instant Pot using milk delivered in glass containers by our milkman and keep that stack to a minimum.
There are literally millions of recipes to try. Seriously - there are Instant Pot Facebook groups, blogs, websites, and articles everywhere you look. So there is a pretty good chance you won't run out of ideas. Heck, I might even share a few in the next few weeks ;)
This post is part our series, Helpful on the Homestead. This series is all about showcasing products, practices, and services that meet our standards for sustainable living. We share products that we use and love (our top 2 criteria) so that you can make informed choices about how to spend your money and time, hopefully in a way that aligns with your values.
