Recently I was waiting for my son to finish a soccer evaluation and I overheard two parents talking about an "Instant Pot."  I love to cook and try new things but I had never heard of this before!  It took everything I had to wait until I got home to look it up and what I discovered was very promising. After researching which brand and model I wanted, I settled on a 8 qt. Instant Pot Duo80.  This thing is amazing!  I know pressure cookers have been around for a long time and I never felt the need to own one but this is different.  For a busy mom who is constantly driving kids to activities or someone who works, the Instant Pot allows you to put delicious healthy meals on the table quickly. To me that is like winning the lottery!  According to Instant Pot (Instantpot.com) it is a programmable pressure cooker that was designed by Canadians.  It speeds up cooking by 2-6 times and reduces energy usage by 70%.  It replaces your pressure cooker, rice cooker, saute pan, stock warmer and yogurt maker.

I love this gadget for so many reasons.  First, if I can pare down what I have in my kitchen.  I can retire my slow cooker to the basement because the Instant Pot has a slow cooker function. Second, it frees me up to do other things while the food is cooking.  For example, I made risotto for dinner and it took 30 minutes from start to finish.  Normally with risotto you have to stand at the stove and stir constantly.  Not so with the instant pot!  After sauteing the vegetables in the pot I then dumped all the rest of the ingredients in and walked away.  I was able to make a salad, put some groceries away and run up to the pool to pick my son up from dive team practice.  Now that's efficiency! Finally, it cuts down on the number of pans you have to use to make dinner.  The Instant Pot has a saute/brown function so unlike the traditional slow cooker where you have to use a separate pan, the Instant Pot allows you to do it all in one!

If you decide you can't live without one like I did I highly encourage you to buy the 8 qt. if you are a family of more than 2. It's worth the few extra dollars.  There are so many websites that have recipes and videos on how to cook in an instant pot that you will never want for new ideas for dinner.  If you are in a dinner rut or simply can't find time to make dinner, try the Instant Pot.  It will blow your mind!