Do I need an Instant Pot?

[CrazyOldBagLady]

I've heard a little bit about instant pots and on the blurb they sound quite good. I'm a mum to a very clingy one year old and I look after him more or less single handedly through the week. A big challenge at the moment is making sure we both get three nutritious meals a day. My DS gets upset if I'm ignoring him for too long whilst making food and I sometimes find it hard to make sure he has his evening meal early enough to get to bed on time.

Could an instant pot help in this way or even end up being a hindrance? I'd love to hear from people in a similar position who have one, and any favourite recipes would be great fully received.

I'd get a spare silicone ring for it. They're not too expensive, sometimes they can retain smell a bit. it can be dealt with, but you can't use the pot without it, so I like having a spare.

I believe it comes with a spare.

Love ours.

Use the delay timer abc come down to ready to eat porridge in the morning.

Also make our own yogurt and marmalade and curds.

@Grawnye how do you do your chilli with rice at the same time?

Does anyone have an amazing Indian curry recipe?

Another,

You put the chilli makings in the bottom, then sit an oven proof pot above it with the right proportion of rice and water in it. Cook on the rice setting.

picklemepopcorn thanks. I've always done them separately in my IP - that's a game changer

I've been wondering about one but is it worth it for a veggie? (Keep reading about doing whole chickens etc)

I have the crockpot express version and I love it.

The vegetable tagine recipe in the book that came with it is lovely.

The main thing I love it for is risotto - so easy and perfect every time. We do a butternut squash one , a simple vegetable one and a mushroom one.

Shredded BBQ chicken is so quick and easy too - soften onions and peppers , add a can of Coke and some seasoning and optional chilli flakes. Cook on poultry setting for 15 mins. Discard liquid and shred the chicken before mixing with a nice bottle of BBQ sauce.

Chilli and bolognese is so quick using it too.

The keep warm function is really useful too.

Total game changer for me. I've used mine pretty much every day for the last 3 years. I do loads of soups, grains, lentils, stews/casseroles/chillis/bolognese and rice/risotto/porridge. Rice pudding is amazing, I also did a banana bread in it which was out of this world. Tried it for yoghurt but found it a bit faffy.

I totally thought you were talking about Pot Noodles....

I have a cheaper Chinese rip-off version (which works the same as an instapot) and I like it. It's cleaner and quicker than cooking on the hob and I much much prefer the results vs a slow cooker. Plus once you've started it and it's come to pressure you can go away and do other stuff.

It won't change your life but it does allow you to rustle up, say, a spag bol sauce in 20 minutes flat.

It helps if you have used a pressure cooker before - I used to have a manual one that I used a lot.

I LOVE mine. I did spend at least six months doing my research though.

Try having a look at the groups on Facebook and also 'This Old Gal' website and FB page for ideas.

Thanks everyone, Instant Pot ordered, along with the steamer basket thingy that @picklemepopcorn suggested. I'm hoping my usual steamer basket might work for cooking rice above the main dish.

evaperon sounds like you've got a bad recipe problem, not a slow cooker problem tbh. Or are you intentionally putting in less stock, less salt, less anything-with-flavour?

Not really needed any accessories for ours but I did buy lots of lock & lock pots for ours. It is great for making up batches of food for freezing. With a toddler you can freeze just enough to have a variety of meals. I also make lots of vegetable soups, then just add pasta, potatoes or rice to make a toddler meal really quickly.

@ladominate you need to use uht milk for yogurt. That way you literally put milk and a bit of live yogurt in the pot, presss yogurt button and walk away. So easy

There’s a great Facebook group called Instant Pot UK Community which I’ve found invaluable for recipes and tips.

Is it worth it for single people? I do batch cook but was debating getting the smaller 3L pressure king as I don't have a massive freezer. Definitely like the idea of making yogurt, that would be really useful.

Watching with interest. I hated my slow cooker as everything was watery and lacked flavour. Does that mean that i will hate the instapot too?

No, pressure cooked food is different + the sauté function means you can brown meat, onions etc so they have a better taste.

Re yoghurt if using pasteurised milk you just need a cheap cooking thermometer so you can heat the milk to 180F first then cool it. I haven't tried making yoghurt by putting cold milk directly in the pot but the normal method (heating the milk first) works extremely well.

I use UHT milk for yogurt, just put it and a spoonful of live yogurt in, press the button and wait. Straining it to make thick Greek style yogurt is a little messy, but I've found a routine for that now too and it's very straightforward.

@MeetOnTheLedge, can you give me the details for straining please? It was that bit I found messy and cumbersome and very time consuming!

Kernogal I have a small 2 litre pot (Chinese instapot copy), that I bought for my student daughter but haven't given to her yet. It's big enough to cook rice or make small portions of pasta sauce, yoghurt etc. I actually reckon it's big enough for 3, so a 3L instapot would be more than enough for one person, as long as you don't want to cook a whole chicken. Plus it will take up a lot less room in your kitchen.

Can we have some links please for some of these cheaper Chinese versions which I suspect may well be just as good as an instantpot

The reason I got an instant pot is for the stainless steel inner. All others I've seen have nonstick, and that doesn't last for me.