Instant Pot

The Instant Pot has to be my favourite purchase for the house to date!

One of our Nurse Practitioners mentioned it in passing so I looked it up and knew I needed (wanted!) one! Then, I described it to my mum and she was the same so we both ended up with one soon after!

For those, that don’t know, it is an electric pressure cooker. This sounds simple, but it is actually very versatile. When describing it to people, I have taken to saying ‘It does everything except wash your knickers!’ Please excuse the slightly crude phrase, but it does impress me if you can’t already tell…and no, I don’t have shares!

It has quite simply revolutionised my life in terms of speed, ease and convenience of cooking. This may sound dramatic but, certainly for me, it is true. It enables me to prepare food much more quickly and easily in the context of being busy, tired and caring for young children.

So far, I have mostly used it for normal every day cooking. I always do my veg in it now; just 3 minutes of high pressure and they’re done and are much more nutritious and flavoursome than when cooked by other means. Stews that taste slow-cooked only take about 20 minutes. I also do all-in-one pasta dishes like bolognese; again, in a very short time. Not everything is necessarily quicker, but then convenience wins over for me. For example porridge; pop it all in and switch on, leave it to it whilst getting everybody washed and dressed then eat at the point we’re ready for it. No supervising; that is the winning factor for me when usually dealing with young children at the same time as needing to cook. There’s also less mess and less to wash up. These days, I have to dust my hob….!

I haven’t yet ventured much beyond this but I gather making yoghurt and cheesecakes are well worthwhile.

There are different models and sizes; I started with the 6L 7-in-1 but now have the 8L too!

For anyone interested, I highly recommend having a look at the Facebook group where there are lots of recipes stored and informative posts. There is also a pinned post with useful information; handy tips and recommended websites and books. Also, one of the customer services reps (Maria Bravo) from Instant Pot UK is on the group and is brilliant at answering queries and troubleshooting; the customer service is absolutely excellent.

Here are some accessories that I also find useful:

• Wilko Steamer Baskets – the easiest to use for veg in my opinion.
• Kuhn Rikon Steamer Basket – bought this one before I discovered the Wilko one but it’s handy to have two.
• Silit Basket – another steamer basket but more useful for things like making stock (acts as sieve too).
• Extra inner pot – saves quick washing when using again straight away or if food stored in one.
• Silicone Lid – good for storing food in the inner pot.
• Glass Lid – useful for saute mode (frying in effect) and slow cooking (which I rarely do as prefer pressure cooking).
• Oven-proof dish for ‘Pot in pot’ cooking – any will do as long as it fits with a space around it for the steam. I like this one with the lid to store left-overs afterwards. It’s also thicker glass than some so feels more resilient.
• Tall steaming stand (for Pot in pot).

I will continue adding to this blog in due course…