Slow cooker or Instant Pot Duo?

[MakeMineALargeProsecco]

I'm about to become a single parent & am trying to think of practical ways to make life a bit easier.

I'd like to use a slow cooker for meals eg spaghetti bolognese, chilli, sausage casserole.

A friend raves about her Instant Pot - it's about £60 - and I'm wondering if it's best to go for this or just a standard slow cooker?

I don't feel entirely confident using a pressure cooker.

And when DP had a slow cooker the carrots were still hard after cooking.

So any recommendations or thoughts?

I have no experience of a instant pot but have a cheap slow cooker and love it

I think I'd go for it - I've just bought a separate pressure cooker and slow cooker (new kitchen = loads of new kit!), but only because I'd never seen one/heard of them.

Both have their advantages - pressure cooker is very quick and also will make sure that your veg is soft. But if you're not sure about it, then the slow cooker is possibly a better bet for you. Disadvantage, of course, is that it takes hours for everything to be cooked!

Absolutely the Instant Pot, it has a slow cooker function too but tbh I never use it, it's so much easier to pressure cook everything. Got one last Christmas and have never looked back.

Instantpop has a slow cooking function as already said but the main advantage is you can throw things in when you get home from work rather than having to be organised before work for the slow cooker. Pressure cooker much better than a slow cooker imho

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Some silly questions: do you have to brown sausages/mince etc when using the slow cooker?

Do veg cook ok in slow cookers?

I use my instant pot for stew type things and soup all the time. I had a slow cooker that I never used and very seldom use the slow cook function on the instant pot. I was not organised enough to get things ready in the slow cooker in the morning, way easier to do something in the pressure cooker in the evening, as Cam said.

I have an Instant Pot. I use the pressure function to cook curries, soups etc. For anything with a packet mix (I use one for chili), I use the slow cooker function.

Yes, you should brown the mince / meat using the sauté function before either using the slow cooker or pressure functions.

So it does sound like the instant pot would be best then.

I can categorically say that I will not be organised enough in the morning to do the prep.

Was hoping to do it the night before & fling the ingredients in before I leave for work. There will be no cooking in the morning!

I got my son the Instapot Duo for Christmas, he was allowed to open it early and is best described as a bit in love with it. It's very annoying to be told his gammon was a bit overdone in 40 minutes when mine took 8 hours!

InstaPot is ace, I use mine all the time. It's a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one (you need a separate lid for slow cooking!), and you can use the sauté function to brown meat etc before cooking. I think you can so make yoghurt and rice but I haven't. Some people use it for certain types of cake (?) and for popcorn. It's also, surprisingly, brilliant for eggs! Loads of recipes online and Facebook groups.

If you do get one I wouldn't get hung up about the number of programmes available out of the box, the only variables with a pressure cooker are pressure (low vs high) and time, so you can make everything without having a special programme iyswim.

I love my instant pot! You’ve got the option of slow cook, we did a beautiful beef in ours at Christmas! But also stuff like spaghetti Bol cooks in 10 minutes including the pasta. My sister said she did an amazing risotto in her’s recently.

Definitely an Instant Pot! I got mine over two years ago now and now very rarely use my oven and hob.

I have both and have yet to fall in love with the results from the instant pot. It's great at cooking a gammon joint quickly but I've had some barely passable results for things like bolognese and mac and cheese from online Facebook group recipes. I can't accept the philosophy on those groups that it's "trial and error", I can't afford the time and money of a recipe not working. Recipes should be tested to ensure there are reliable, repeatable results.

Those who rave about the instant pot, can you please link to your best recipes? I wish I could get better use of mine.

Another vote for instant pot.

It has a sauté function, so I sometimes sauté my meat and veg in the evening, pop the inner bowl in the fridge overnight then back into the pot on slow cook during the day. Or use the pressure cook option when I get home.

Can also pressure cook your stew the night before then use the IP to cook some rice whilst you heat the stew up on the job or in the microwave.

I also make porridge in mine on the timer so it’s ready in the morning. I tend to make 4 portions and on following 3 days I just nuke the left over porridge.

I haven’t made yogurt in mine yet but keep thinking I will get round to it someday but I haven’t used either my slow cooker or my rice cooker since I got it.

I’m going to get a pressure king 6L, a spare inner pot, loads of Tupperware & batch cook the shit out of 2020.

*hob not job!

Another vote for instant pot.
I use mine daily.

Got DH an Instant Pot for Christmas and we've used it several times already. Seriously impressed: tonight we did a risotto in about 10 minutes, which turned out wonderfully, and our turkey on Christmas Day took about 40 mins all in (heating up and releasing pressure etc.) so it's been great so far. You can also use it as a slow cooker so it gives you a bunch of options - having had a slow cooker for a few years but using it sporadically due to the sheer length of time it takes, I'd suggest the Instant Pot.

You don't need a separate lid for slow cooking-just leave the vent in the open position.

I love my IP!

I've not used my slow cooker since, and I used to use it a lot. It takes a bit of experimenting to get confident, but it's great- much less scary than traditional pressure cookers!

I love my Instant Pot. It gets used a lot. However, the slow cook function isn't a patch on my old slow cooker - even on the highest setting it can't maintain a simmer, even if I've previously pressure cooked or sauteed the food to heat it to boiling point. If (hopefully when) we have space after we move, I want a slow cooker. As well as the IP, which is still very useful.

The instant pot offers more flexibility. It's not the be all and end all, but it's a useful but of kit.

I love my InstantPot. Slow-cooker went to the tip.

We make a lot of curries, risottos, noodles etc in the instant pot and they all turn out great.

I have an instant pot (lookalike), was nervous about it too, but I love it and use it several times a week and use pressure cook as well as slow cook. Amazing for risottos (was sceptical but they are great) and lentils and things like that.

i have the 6l Duo (maybe lux) my slow cooker function is brilliant and I use it quite a lot....got rid of my slow cooker and steamer within the week

I always saute off the veg and brown any meat if only using the slow cook function, even with the basic slow cooker as it does improve the background taste...and using the saute function for that means you don't have an extra pan to wash up

tbf I start most things off with the saute function, I think that properly sweating off the onions/spice base is the main thing to do to get some decent flavour into food.

i heartily recommend the Instant Pot in all its guises!