To Instapot or Not

I have been using a pressure cooker for almost as long as I can remember.  The one I have, I believe was my grandmother’s.  I have replaced the seal on it a few times and it is just as good as it was when she used it!  

I have always prided myself in being able to use very efficiently something that apparently a lot of people are afraid to use or don’t know how to use.   So when the whole “InstaPot” craze began a few years ago, I wasn’t on that.  It sounded like just another kitchen gadget  to take up room in the pantry.  I already had my “instapot” and wasn’t afraid to use it!  hmph!

This year the instapot craze has seemed to reach an even higher level of crazy and I was hearing more and more about them.  Rice cooker, crock pot and pressure cooker ALL in one?? hmmmm…. maybe there was more to it than I had originally thought.  Nah….. I have a rice cooker (working on wearing out my second one in 10 years), a crockpot (15 plus years old and looks like a spaceship, but works) and a pressure cooker (well over 40 years old!).   Why do I need some new fangled thing?!

The instapot sears and browns meat in the same pot you slow cook in?  Wait…. you say you can make yogurt in this thing?  You don’t have to stand over it vigilantly watch the weight on the top and monitor the temperature?   (Hahaha….. there was that one time when the weight got bumped and I had to clean chicken and chicken grease off the ceiling. That was exciting, to say the least.)

Maybe, just maybe I might want one…. but let’s be perfectly clear.  It is NOT because I don’t know how to use a pressure cooker!!  These new things DO look pretty cool…….did you know they have a steam setting AND there is a delay timer?!

Ok, yes…. I do want one…. I think.

Then for my birthday, my dear friends bought me one!!  WOW!  This thing is pretty cool!  I spend the first week reading up on it and looking at recipes for the Instapot.  I was not horribly impressed with the recipes I found on Pinterest etc.   Meh… I wanted to make the things I like to make but make them in this fancy new pot!  So…. that is exactly what I did.  

My birthday is the 8th of November.  Today is December 12.  I have used my instapot nearly every day, sometimes twice a day after that first week.   I have adapted so many of my recipes to use in that thing!  I make homemade chicken stock and doing it in that has been sooooo much easier!  And faster!

I’ve done, pot roast, goulash, pierogies with ham and broccoli, cheeseburger chowder,  beef curry, a corned beef (from frozen even) chicken wings, pork chops (I don’t recommend that… they dry out), chili and many other things!

I can officially say that I am part of the instapot craze and I do highly recommend them!   I am home all day but this would be a total lifesaver for those of you working outside the home!  Either with the delay timer, slow cooker or the “oh crap, I forgot to get something out of the freezer” feature! 

My instapot is a CrockPot brand and I am really impressed with it!  I have the 8 quart for our family of 5 people.  There is a 6 quart also if you don’t need one so large. 

You can purchase yours with the links below!  You won’t regret it!  I would love to hear what things those of you with an instapot have done with yours!

The 6 quart!

This is an 8 quart.  I couldn’t find an 8 quart in the Crock Pot brand to save my soul but Instapot is a great brand as well! 

Happy cooking!