To Instant Pot or Not

TBH I'd rather eat In-N-Out than use an instant pot or whatever the new trend is cooking is

What’s it called when you’ve never seen/heard/been on the radar of something and then you hear/read/stumble upon it one time and keep noticing it over and over? That’s a thing, right? 

Last week at work I heard some people talking about the instant pot and then two separate food blogs I read mentioned this instant pot thingy. Is this the hot new trend in food? Does everyone have an instant pot except me? 

So I googled this new fangled contraption and stared at my computer screen agape as I read the wonders that is the instant pot. A pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a rice cooker, a steamer and a yogurt maker all in one? That is one sophisticated piece of technology. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve finished cooking rice and was like, damn, I could really use a side of freshly made yogurt to go w/ this rice, but I’m all out of Chobani and I don’t feel like running to the store oh wait, my instant pot! 

All joking aside, I was really contemplating an instant pot. Rave reviews, quicker cook times and easy clean up were enough to entice me into reading more. For everything you’re getting, the prices seemed pretty reasonable, at least for the lowest model, which is certainly all Brent and I would need. I found a recipe for meatloaf that looked good enough to almost make me click the “buy” button on Amazon.

Then I took a step back and asked myself if I really needed another appliance clogging up my cupboards. I reminded myself that I deliberately didn’t put a pressure cooker on our wedding registry b/c I don’t even know how to use one. I thought of all the times I’ve made rice for dinner in the past few months and came up empty. I was blatantly honest w/ myself and knew there was no way in hell I’d ever make yogurt. The only time I would use the instant pot would be if I wanted food quicker than in my slow cooker. I think that’s called an oven; I’ve already got two of those that I barely use (see my confession here).

Maybe I’m wrong. Hey, any of my three blog readers, do you have an instant pot? Have you looked into one? Has it changed your life for the better and I’m missing out? Or is it just another piece of equipment cluttering up your kitchen next to your crock pot and rice cooker and yogurt maker you’ve yet to get rid of? That’s probably what would happen to me. Except I don’t have a rice cooker and yogurt maker to donate and I love my slow cooker, so instant pot will have to do its magic elsewhere.