Should I buy an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot)?

Should I buy an electric pressure cooker, and if so, what brand?  This may be a question you have asked yourself; I know I did.  My answer to you would be a resounding, "Yes!"  

• The brand Instant Pot with the word "instant" in the name leads people to believe that food is cooked in a matter of minutes, which is a bit of a misnomer in most cases.  By the time you take into account the preparation of ingredients, the pot coming to pressure, the actual cooking time, and then the pressure release, recipes can take as long to cook as they do in traditional ways.  However, you don't have to stand at a hot stove to adjust the heat, stir the contents, or monitor liquid evaporation.  You will usually only have one pot to wash.  While the electric pressure cooker (EPC) does all the work, you can do other things.
• EPC's excel in cooking things that traditionally take a long time in the oven, slow cooker, or on the stove top like meats, stews, soups, and beans.  Yet they still taste like they've been simmering for hours.
• The pot's pressure forces liquid into foods making them tender and adding flavor.  Also, when you pressure cook vegetables, you use shorter cooking times, which keep nutrients in the food.
• You can cook meat from a frozen state.  (This works best with small cuts of meat.)
• You save money using a pressure cooker over a stove or oven as they use less energy, have shorter cooking times, and my favorite part...they don't heat up your house!
• EPC's are very safe to use as they have several built-in safety features.  
• When the pressure cooker time ends, most EPC's switch to the Keep Warm setting, which keeps your food at a safe serving temperature.

Now that I've convinced you to buy one, which brand should you get?  There are many good brands out there--Instant Pot, Mealthy, Fagor, Cosori, etc. My advice is to purchase a brand that has easily available extra parts, accessories, and great customer service.  Go to the website of the brand you're considering and see what is available to purchase.  Contact customer service with a question or two to see how they respond.  Look on Amazon to see if you can purchase parts/accessories, and if the EPC you're considering is available for sale on Amazon, read the reviews.  See if the company has an official FB page and read customer posts.  These suggestions will help you purchase the brand that is right for you.

When I was ready to purchase an EPC using the above criteria, I narrowed my choices down to the Instant Pot Duo Plus and the Mealthy Multipot.  I wanted 9 functions, low/high pressure, a stainless steel pot, and an LCD screen.  Both machines have almost identical buttons, so any recipe I found for one would work for the other.  I ultimately chose the Mealthy Multipot available on Amazon or at https://mealthy.com/.  It offers a lot of bang for the buck with an LCD screen including a cooking graph along with several included accessories like a steamer basket, silicone mitts, and an extra gasket.  I contacted customer service (CS) by chat, phone, and email and received fast, accurate replies.  The best tribute to their CS department is that one time, I called with a question but received a recording stating that their CS reps were busy and to leave a number and message.  I chose not to leave a message, but a few minutes later, a CS rep called back to see if they could help me in any way.   A person can't get a company to call them back when they DO leave a message...let alone when they don't!  I was really impressed by that.

Here is a well-respected blogger's (This Old Gal) opinion of the two machines:  https://thisoldgal.com/mealthy-multipot-and-instant-pot/

Which size and model should I get?  Most recipes are written for 6-quart machines, and that size is great for small families.  If you cook for a lot of people, you might consider an 8-quart.  Adjustments are pretty easy to make for the 8-quart, and you can always cook less in an 8-quart but not more in a 6-quart.  I have a 6-quart, and it is plenty big for the two of us allowing leftovers most of the time.  At this time, Mealthy makes a 6-quart model and an 8-quart model. Instant Pot has several sizes and models explained well in this article:  https://www.hippressurecooking.com/which-instant-pot-model-is-right-for-you/

How do I work this thing?  Because the Mealthy and Instant Pot are so similar, this video will help with either choice!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjj08liF8aw

First things first--the water test:  To get comfortable using your machine and to make sure it is working correctly, do the water test.  This video shows how:  https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-water-test/

Now what?  Where do I get accurate recipes?  Your EPC will come with a recipe booklet, but you will find yourself quickly wanting to make more deliciousness!  Until you feel you are knowledgeable about your EPC and what constitutes a good recipe, any of the sites I've used above are trusted sites with many good recipes.  I do not recommend Pinterest.  There are a lot of people posting recipes who have no idea what they're doing, and the recipes will fail.  

In addition, I have found the official Facebook pages for the Instant Pot (Instant Pot Community) and Mealthy (Mealthy Multipot Pressure Cooker Community) to be invaluable.  You'll find the same bloggers mentioned over and over again along with the same recipes.  For example, when someone requests a good recipe for rice pudding, the same recipe is often recommended, because it is good and it works.  And, of course, any recipe I post will be from a trusted site, and I will have made it at least twice to test for accuracy before I post it.

I highly recommend Salsa Chicken Burrito Bowls for your first foray into pressure cooking. In about an hour with very little hands-on time, you'll have a perfectly cooked, complete meal made with 5 ingredients. Prepare to be impressed!

Click here for the recipe!

How do I clean my EPC? Amy and Jacky of Pressure Cook Recipes explain:  https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-cleaning/  Consult your owner's manual for lid care. 

Jeffrey Eisner of Pressure Luck Cooking also has a good cleaning tips/other information video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym-659M6KkE

There is so much more I could write about--what accessories I like, how to customize the presets, trouble-shooting advice, what the different settings mean, cookbooks I like--and I may in a future post.  But a lot of this information is available online if you google it.  I'll leave you with one last video--Pressure Luck Cooking's Top Ten Instant Pot Tips.  Jeffrey Eisner's recipes are fantastic, and he includes videos of them to help you, as well.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=y13_5yaWWjI

If I can help in any way, please reach out.  Happy pressure cooking!