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5 Reasons Why The Instant Pot Changed My Life and how it will change yours!
It was about a year and a half ago when I first heard of the Instant Pot. I was intrigued for sure, but didn’t know quite what to think. At the time, we were eyeball deep in Grad School so the idea of an Instant Pot never went past the idea stage. Fast forward 6 months, we were able to fly and visit our parents and siblings for a few weeks. There, I learned that my Mom had an Instant Pot and I became obsessed. I was cooking dinner every night in it! Then, it was time for us to say goodbye to our families (and the Instant Pot).
After we had a baby, graduated school, landed our dream job and moved across the country my Mom surprised me with an Instant Pot of my very own. Cue the happy dance. Honestly, I haven’t used my CrockPot since and I’ve only used my oven for baked goods or to finish off a meal that was started in the Instant Pot! The Instant Pot Changed my life! This is how it will change your life too.
5 Reasons Why The Instant Pot Changed My Life
1. I don’t have to think about what we should eat for dinner, until dinner!
I don’t know about you, but I always had the hardest time getting something thrown in the CrockPot in time for it to be done when dinner rolled around. In order for the food to be done and not completely CrockPot mushy, I had to be putting dinner together about an hour after I ate lunch. I was not hungry at all, therefore NOTHING sounded good and I didn’t know what to toss in there! Most nights we ended up with chicken nuggets, frozen pizza or leftovers.
With the Instant Pot, I get to figure out dinner at 4:00. AKA the time when I am actually starting to get hungry again! The best part is, dinner is still at 5:00.
2. Freezer Meal Prep Is A Breeze!!
How many times do you Pinterest ‘fast healthy dinner’. I’ll raise my hand to that! But, how many of those times to you read the recipe to find out it the recipe calls for ‘cooked, shredded chicken’ or ‘cooked ground beef’? Welp, that recipe just went from 15 minutes to over an hour quite quickly.
With the Instant Pot, it is now so easy and tasty to have cooked meat in my freezer. I always have some. Like always always. It makes those crazy weeknight meals quicker and healthier. I can now prep 2 chicken breasts (I shred one, and slice the other) in under 20 minutes, with NO babysitting. Here are the links for my shredded beef recipe and my chicken breast recipe.
3. No Babysitting!
The Instant Pot is a set it and forget it type of small appliance. I make Alfredo in my Instant Pot weekly and never have to worry about water boiling over, stirring the pot, or overcooked noodles! Just toss everything inside, seal it, set it and walk away.
4. Homemade Yogurt & Bread Proofing
You haven’t tasted yogurt until you’ve tasted the homemade stuff. Trust me on this. It is to-die-for. I won’t ever buy store made again. I even make my own Gogurts now! Using the same setting as the yogurt, the Instant Pot stays at a constant, perfect temperature to proof dough QUICKLY. Like, my rising time is cut in at least half for every bread recipe and I love my bread. That is quite apparent by the sheer number of bread recipes I have on my site.
5. Dirty Dishes Are a Thing of the Past!
No longer are my evenings filled with washing every bowl and pan I prepped things in and then the large glass dish I baked the meal in. Not to mention the CrockPot liner. Please tell me I’m not the only one that would change out the soapy warm water for DAYS before being able to get the stubborn stuck on food off of the liner? Bleh. I have never once had to leave my Instant Pot liner in the sink to soak. I was initially worried because it doesn’t have a nonstick surface, but I was amazed at how easily it cleans! Plus, the majority of the time, EVERY step of the recipe is done right in the pot! My skillets thank you, Instant Pot. And so do I.
All in all I LOVE my Instant Pot and would 10/10 recommend it to everyone! If you have further questions about why I love mine so much or you just want to gush about how much you love yours too, comment below!
Don’t have an Instant Pot yet? What are you waiting for? Get your’s here!
Hi Karli,
I couldn’t figure out how to comment on the IP French Bread recipe directly. My questions are in regard to that recipe. I made it last weekend. My family ate it up and loved it. However, it didn’t turn out exactly right. Can you double check the measurements on the yeas and sugar? Is the yeast a full packet or should it really be 1 and 1/2 tablespoons? Same thing with the sugar…should I have measured out 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and then taken 1/2 teaspoon of that amount out to “feed” the yeast? Finally, my IP is an ultra and the yogurt button doesn’t have a normal setting. The default yogurt setting is medium. Any idea if that’s the same thing? Sorry for all the questions, but I want to perfect this bread. If my family loved the messed up version, they will adore the perfect one. Thank you!!!
Hi Rachel!! I’m happy to answer your questions!! Yes, it is 1 1/2 tbsp. That actually converts to 2 packets of yeast. ? yes, that is exactly what you do with the sugar! Just take 1/2 tsp (it doesn’t matter the exact amount, I usually just eyeball it!) of the sugar out of the total 1 1/2 tbsp of sugar. On the ultra, the setting will be medium. ? hope this helps you a bit! Feel free to ask any other questions that might arise, even if you in the middle of making the bread, I’m usually pretty quick to comment back. ?