Instant Pot Ideas

Instant Pot Ideas

Erin Burt

The slow cooker is every mom's best friend. But every mom has also experienced the panic induced by not starting the slow cooker, not plugging in the slow cooker, or just totally forgetting to make dinner at 9am. That's why the Instant Pot is so popular. All the convenience of the one-pot slow cooker meal without having to make dinner before you've made your coffee.

You probably heard about the Instant Pot last year. Quite the craze in pressure cooking, the Instant Pot brand name created quite a sensation through word-of-mouth and Amazon Prime specials in 2016.

To be clear, the pressure cooker is not a new thing nor is Instant Pot the only one. For example, the Pressure Cooker XL has, for several years now, sold online, in store, and through television offers. We purchased our other-brand machine after hearing rave reviews from my mother-in-law.

So maybe you’ve got one. Maybe you are on the fence. Here is what you need to know: It can cook rice, slow cook, pressure cook, bake cheesecake, boil eggs, and even can. The cook time on long roasts is cut in half, sometimes more. Check out videos on You Tube and read up on some pressure cooking 101 via any number of cooking and mommy blogs out there. These tips and tricks can help you learn about the pressure valve and more.

If you’re a fan of the recipe in hand, on paper, there are numerous books for your holding pleasure. Even if they are brand-specific the recipes easily translate to any pressure cooker.

If you like the old-school sharing of tried and true methods and love a good photo, try joining a Facebook group specific to pressure cookers. They exist. That is how excited people are about their food and new gadget! Seeing others’ photos and experiences can help fuel your creativity as well as figure out tricks of the trade.

And don’t pitch out those old recipe books yet. Once you learn some of the basics, like how long meats take versus potatoes, and so forth, as well as what pastas work better in the cooker (the more robust, the better in our experience), then you can accommodate old stove-top and oven recipes to your cooker, and cut the amount of time you spend in the kitchen. 

Lynette is a mom of three children from one year to age five. She has cloth diapered all three since birth and enjoys all things eco-friendly and mindful living.

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