No, but I am intrigued by them. I do have an electric pressure cooker that I love. It also browns and is a slow cooker too!

I just bought one but haven't used it yet. I need to read the instructions better. I'm interested what others have to say.

If I have any money left over from my insurance claim after I fix everything I think I am going to buy one and hopefully I will use it. One of my friends has the largest one and loves it. He loves the idea that you can saute and brown your meat before you cook the food in the Instant Pot. He has made some fantastic meals with it. One of the other features is that you can make yogurt. I have always been afraid of pressure cookers because I recall when my Mom's blew its lid when I was a child. These new ones are really safe to use.

I don't eat meat, so, for me a crock pot is fine. Don't need a pressure cooker for meat or for canning. I remember canning beans and tomatoes every year.

I have a six quart instant pot. DH loves to use the crockpot, but to me everything just tastes way overcooked. I especially dislike chicken in the crockpot. I had a couple of stove top pressure cookers and an electric one that quit working in less than a year. Last year when amazon had a super sale, I snapped up the instant pot. My only regret was not buying the eight quart instead. It's more hands on than a crockpot, but I'm much happier with the results. I also had a steamer, but I wasn't impressed with what it did for the amount of space it took up. DH LOVES the Apple cider ribs that come out of the instant pot. And I do use it to make a batch of yogurt and fill eight ounce jars for lunch at work. I'm pleased with my purchase and gave away my stovetop pressure cookers.

Edited to add: I do not use it as a crockpot. I would not expect it to slow-cook things any differently than a crockpot.

Instant Pot is just a brand name. Nowadays the digital pot can encompass all aspects . It eliminates the need for a slow cooker, pressure cooker, et al. It's no different than having a crock pot. That's really just a slow cooker, but the brand name is crock pot.

I have one, though I haven't used it for much. I made some rice, and some chili in a crockpot. I didn't read the instructions though and my chili was still cold 6 hours later. I thought it was a dud but I realized it was my mistake! I thought timer meant how long I wanted it to took, so I put 6 hours, but it meant how long I wanted to wait before it turned on. :)

I'm scared to try the pressure cooker part for some reason. I don't really have reason to as we don't eat meat, and I don't mind slow cooking soups.

One thing I do like is that you can saute right in it, which is nice for onion and other things that get browned before going in a crockpot.

I will be following this thread closely. I was thinking of purchasing slow cookers for my 2 young adult children for Christmas... The insta pot intrigues me though. Same kind of food , but much quicker. If you respond, please give your opinion on the flavor of the food.

My daughter thought she needed one. It produces flavorless food so it's on the shelf in her basement awaiting a Goodwill run.

Someone else just asked the same question and go some great responses a few weeks ago, I don't know how to find or link the thread. I got an instant pot on the Amazon sale and have been very happy with it. Prior, I had never used a pressure cooker. It speeds up beans, as well as meat, etc. I like that it can be set and left, and the feature to sauté in the same pot makes it one less pot to wash than using crock pot. Soft and hard boiled eggs are perfect and easy to peel. I have a separate rice cooker and feel it does better than the instant pot for rice. Have cooked while chickens, ribs, brisket, and stock in the instant pot. Stock is terrific and quick (and no minding it). Think that is one of IPs strongest features, not to have to mind it. Personally my crock pot has a bit of a mind of its own, whereas the IP follows the directions I set. I do love my kitchen gadgets, though! ETA: seasoning seems to run more on crock pot style, need to have some in initially and then bump it up when finishing a dish.

We have an Instant Pot and love it for some things. I'm not sure why Brushworks' daughter thinks it produces flavorless food. Things we have made like pot roast are so flavorful and tender! I like it because you can sauté in it before cooking the food. Also, instead of cooking things like the pot roast for a couple of hours in the oven, it can be done in 35 minutes and taste just like it was done in the oven. Nothing has been dried out....yet. I hear it cooks rice and hard boiled eggs really well, but I like my current cooking methods for those things so don't use it for them. I don't care for food made in the slow cooker, and I never liked the idea of leaving the crockpot cooking all day while I was at work. With the Instant Pot, we can easily cook when we get home from work, so it doesn't need to be set up ahead of time and left all day. I have not yet used it as a slow cooker.

I don't know anything about them, but I don't cook anything very much....I think even my crock pot got tossed when I cleaned up after the flood...so I wouldn't use one.

I bought the Instant Pot a few months ago and I have only used it 3 times. 1st time: Boneless pork ribs...not impressed, they were dry and pale in color, even though I browned them prior to adding liquid. My SIL told me they need to go on the grill or under the broiler for a few minutes to finish them & give them the yummy sticky sauce. Well, no thanks to dirtying another pan & using TWO cooking methods. I will just grill them same as I always did. 2nd time: NE style baked beans, very impressed that I could make baked beans from start to finish in just over an hour. That includes par boiling them & they were delicious! 3rd time: Chili, I didn't like that I couldn't open & taste throughout the cooking time. But it came out about the same in flavor as it does when I cook it stove top.

To summarize: I don't like it enough to justify the kitchen space that it takes up & I honestly enjoy cooking things the old fashioned way, smelling it cooking, tasting, adjusting seasonings, etc. I aslo think it's very confusing to learn to use & I am not a stupid person. My DD has been considering buying one because she has a family of 5 to feed & both parents work FT outside of the home. I can see it would be a great convenience for them. I may give her mine, undecided at this point.

Suzieque, thanks for starting this thread--it's what I've been thinking about doing myself. I've been intrigued with the Instant Pot for some time, but was pretty sure I'd use it only for making rice, etc. I hardly ever make anything resembling a stew. I do make soup, but I like having an iron kettle simmering on the stove. I also like to steam vegetables, but my simple stainless-steel stove-top steamer is fine. My days of making my own yogurt are behind me.

This thread confirms that buying an Instant Pot would be a waste of money (or, more accurately, Amazon points) for me. I might look into a rice cooker though. After decades of cooking rice and other grains, I wouldn't mind turning it over to a new appliance. :-)

As stated it's just the brand name of one of the many multi cooker pots. I had several of the aroma brand multi cookers, lost them all in the flood even the one in the rv. But I just got a new one Saturday! My host went to Costco and I asked her to pick one up for me because they are only $40 there. I used it yesterday to cook Mia's chicken. I absolutely love them. Mine doesn't do pressure cooking but it does lots of other stuff. I don't use a pressure cooker anyway. I have tons of recipes for cooking in the aroma. It is not only a slow cooker it is a fast cooker also. With the saute and simmer function you brown your meat and vegetables right in that pot, add the rest of the ingredients and shut the lid it cooks it perfectly then turns it to keep warm. You don't have to set a time it automatically knows when it's done. Amazing. Beef stew chili, spaghetti, you name it. It has a soup setting and a slow cooker setting. Makes awesome oatmeal. I should be a salesperson for them. Can't beat the price at Costco.

OH yes and it makes the best rice lol. Every kind plus quinoa.

This is the one at Costco, the price is now $39.99 here

http://www.frugalhotspot.com/2017/07/aroma-rice-cooker/

Tons of recipes online for these especially on pinterest. I made a cheesecake in it before the flood it was very easy and good.

I love mine! I've never had anything come out "flavorless". One of the best features to me is being able to put in frozen foods and having them cook perfectly. I don't always think ahead to thaw chicken or a roast and quite a few times I've put them in frozen and they've come out great every time. It just takes longer than thawed because the water has to come up to temperature before the cooking can begin.

We don't eat rice and I'm not sure what we could use one of these for. We've tossed all gizmos that offer no unique capability and only duplicate what regular cooking implements do. This seems like one of those. Our skillets, saucepans, soup pots and dutch ovens are easy to clean and ready to go.

There are many good vids on YT showing how well these work. Pressure cuts the time and adds flavor often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUQY8Na144

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jA8mZIFA88

I don't have one, and at the moment I'm not looking to get one. But I am glad to read the pros and cons people are posting here. My rice cooker is awesome for rice and quinoa, and my slow cooker is awesome for brisket and a few other things you may or may not want to hear about (awesome beef tongue...) Brisket especially was wonderful in the slow cooker because I could go off to work at 7 am and get home at 6 pm and dinner was perfect. I certainly didn't want to get home and have to start up an Instant Pot at 6 pm, which is when I wanted to eat!

But, down the road, who knows? I am retired, now, but I still do travel a bit during the day. I am glad to hear that Costco has low prices for the things.

(This may be weird for me, because I love many cooking gadgets, and I am glad I am building a home with room in the kitchen. But.. no, the Instant Pot hasn't caught my eye, yet. Probably because I haven't seen something I could cook there only, but in nothing else that I already own.)

Several have them and seem to love them (or at least their facebook posts say they do) but I like plain old things and although I have a crock pot (which i do use even though I am home most days), I'm not sure my using it would justify the cost. I really like to cook food the old fashioned way.

I have seriously thought about getting a 6-quart Instant Pot. This conversation has likely tipped me toward getting one. You would think it is fairly useless, but here is the thing for me. I am sometimes a spur of the moment cook. You know, how about a great pot of pinto beans? Well, unless you had that thought 4 hours ago, it just won't happen, and by tomorrow I may be out of the mood. I'm retired now too and you would think I have more time to plan ahead, but I am busy volunteering, going to workout, run, and a thousand other things that occupy my time.

My brother, who is a fabulous cook, bought one this summer and he has used his a lot for fresh veggies, especially peas and beans, from the garden. I chatted with a friend today and she and her DH eat very healthy all the time. She's a believer and is going to send me a list of things she prepares. She borrowed her Mom's IP and then ordered her own.

Yes, I like to use my old fashioned cookware, and use my big crockpot for some things exclusively (a big batch of apple butter is one).

Yeah, how could anything cooked in any pot come out flavorless unless you didn't season the food properly? I don't get it.

Yes, sadly I have a really good one that was generously given to me as a gift. It's been used exactly 1 time in 2 years and if you lived close by, I'd give it to you. It's not that it isn't fabulous, I'm sure it is or they wouldn't be so popular, I'm just not into it.

I've thought about one of the multi-pot things since I hear so much about pressure cooking and I've been interested in trying it. Nearly bought one from Aldi, they sell them for about $30. However after doing some research I decided against getting one for several reasons. They don't get the pressure that a good quality conventional pressure cooker gets, therefore they don't cook as fast and a conventional pressure cooker. Next issue is the timers on them generally require a lot of attention. It's not a set it and forget it. Many don't allow less than 10 min or more than 60 min of cooking time so you have to stop it for shorter times or reset it for longer times. Probably not a big deal but still the gimmicking around that I'm not sure I want to start. Next issue is cleaning. You have to be very careful with the gasket on cleaning and not damaging it and I'm not sure I'd have the patience. Next, I don't really see it doing too much more than I can do with my Nesco. Sure, the Nesco doesn't pressure cook but I like slow cooking ribs. Not sure I'd like pressure cooked, but won't know till I try. Another perceived advantage to the multi-pot was cooking beans. Well, in reality, no, there's not a big advantage there. People talk about cooking beans in an hour or two. Big deal. Put beans in a pot, cover with water a couple inches over, bring to a boil and let it sit for an hour. Done. With a pressure pot, you also have to wait for it to build up pressure and for the pressure to come down although depressurizing is faster if you use the fast release but that still takes time. Next issue is testing/tasting as you cook. PITA when under pressure and it has to build up pressure again after you check it.

To me, a far more functional unit would be something like the Ninja Cooker 4in1 and I'm guessing Raven's Aroma cooker is similar to it? Again, not much advantage over the Nesco except it's quicker for searing than the Nesco. For ribs it'd be advantageous and faster although I can brown in the Nesco if I wanted to, and have, but for instance with ribs, it's faster to pop it under the convection oven and broil for a few minutes, the put it in the Nesco. Faster than an Instant pot or Ninja.

Probably other reasons but that's the top ones I can think of offhand. For me, I won't be spending the money on it. Not enough reason to have another item taking up room and it wouldn't replace anything so I wouldn't be getting rid of something else. HOWEVER, all that said, I'd SURELY recommend it over buying a slow cooker! LOL Slow cookers are the washboard of kitchen appliances. Useless today other than a conversation piece.

As for pressure, high pressure on an IP is about 12 pounds I think (exact poundage is in manual) which (to my experience) only adds a few minutes to most cooking times. It's math. The timer on my IP can be set as low as 1 minute and I haven't explored the longer ranges but have set for 90 minutes. The gasket does require care and cleaning.

Cynic, what is a Nesco?

I use my Instant Pot a lot. I live alone, hate cooking, and like the simplicity and speed. I make large portions in it, and freeze most of it in freezer bags. It is easy to use and clean.

Arnt there nesco roasters, dehydrators, slow cookers ect ect...what nesco do you use Cynic?

Nesco is a brand name of appliances and they became famous for their electric roasters. Bigger ones used at holiday time for the turkey, pies, etc. For years people just referred to their Nesco electric roaster as their "Nesco", and I started doing it too, much like people calling a slow cooker a Crock-pot. Usually I tend to not use brand names but this one, for some reason I do. Yes, Nesco now makes a number of different items. They bought out American Harvest so they own the American Harvest dehydrators. I have a 4 qt and a 6 qt roaster and the Roast-Air conversion kit for the 6 qt. They're actually an oven. Though some compare them, they're not even comparable to a slow cooker, they're so far superior. Generally cost less and always do way more. FYI, Nesco comes from National Enamel Steel Co.

A friend uses hers to cook food for her elderly dog with few teeth. :)

I think the one sitting in my pantry is a Nesco. Yes, very popular.

I have an instant pot and I use it at least twice per week. The food that comes out of the pot is excellent. I does save time on a lot of things. I also just find it really easy and non-stressful to cook in the instant pot. There's no checking on stuff, no basting, no stirring, no worries if you're not ready to eat as soon as the food is cooked or you get busy doing something else and forget about dinner (the pot will just keep the food warm for you, without overcooking), etc. I do not babysit the instant pot.

When I first got the instant pot, I didn't quite know what to make of it and I didn't really see how it would be that helpful. But, after I started cooking different things in it, I really started to appreciate it. It just makes things easy. Of course, it's not for everything you might want to cook (nothing cooks everything). But, it does save time and effort on a lot of things and, for some things, it really does make them better. I don't find it hard to clean.

A turkey breast takes about an hour, total, including the time for the pot to reach pressure. It takes about 15 additional minutes if you want to let the pressure release on its own vs manually releasing the pressure. The turkey breasts that come out of the pot are moist and flavorful, the best I've ever had. All I do is put a turkey breast into the instant pot, add about 1/2 cup of water, then turn it on and walk away. There's no checking, no basting, no worries that it'll get overcooked, no worries that it'll dry out. I just put it in and ignore it completely. If you eat skin, you should know that the skin does not brown in the instant pot. I don't eat the skin, so it's not a problem for me and I just take the skin off. My instant pot roasts are tender and also flavorful. It seriously makes the best pot roasts I've ever had. I sear the roast before cooking, which probably takes about 15 minutes. Then, I pressure cook for 35 minutes, open the pot and add potatoes, then pressure cook an additional 10 minutes. I like to let the pressure release naturally. Then, I take the roast and potatoes out (when I'm ready) and I make gravy right in the pot. It probably all takes about 1.5 hours from start to finish, but my time in the kitchen is minimal because I do not watch the pot. I just ignore it and do other things. Afterwards, there's only the one pot to clean (plus serving dishes). Artichokes take about 25 minutes, total (including the time for the pot to reach the appropriate pressure) and my house doesn't get all steamy and smell like artichokes cooking. When I want chicken breasts to shred, I can have them in about 20 minutes, or less (this includes time for the pot to reach pressure). My best chicken chili comes out of the instant pot, made with dried beans, and the whole thing might take about an hour because I cook the chicken breasts in the pot first, then the beans, then combine (with the rest of the ingredients) and cook for a few more minutes.

I have actually been thinking seriously about getting a second instant pot so I can have both of them going at the same time! :-)

I had to look up what this gizmo actually is.

LOVE my Instant Pot! I bought my first one in 2012 and traded it in for a newer model a couple of years later. Like anything new, there is going to be a learning curve. I have a friend who recently bought one and called me, very upset, because her first attempt came out terrible. "Did you read the instructions?" "Uh, well, not really." Turns out she hit the timer button instead of the pressure button. It may not be the appliance for everyone, but I urge folks to try a few things before giving up. And, ASK FOR HELP! There are FB groups and forums a-plenty out there with people who are always happy to help.

Some of my favorites are: stocks, soups, pot roast, poached chicken, cooking pasta or potatoes (no more giant pots of boiling water!), steaming veggies, cheesecake. And, it makes fantastic yogurt.

Not all pressure cookers are alike. IP has a great reputation and they have excellent customer service. It is also one of the few pots that has a stainless steel insert, instead of non-stick. That is a big deal breaker for me.

And, regardless of what some say, this is not going to replace all of your appliances. And, I do not care what that informercial guy says, you CANNOT safely pressure can in it.

A couple of weeks ago a drugstore chain in western Canada had these on sale for $89.99. They sold out in a couple of hours. Canadian Tire has them for $129. I'm starting to do more reading on them to see if we'd use one and the advantage over me cooking the traditional way.

I love my slow cookers......no I don't use canned soup and onion soup mix. Pork, ribs, beef, and chicken all come out beautifully in the slow cooker.

I also love making a simmered stew, spaghetti sauces etc, tending and stirring. I also love my enameled dutch ovens, cast iron skillets etc. :-)

Thanks for bringing this post back up, Jasdip. As it turned out, Amazon had a one day sale on them last week and I bought one. It's the 6 quart size and was $30 off, so $69.99 vs $99.99.

I've unpacked it but haven't tried it yet. Thank you to everyone who responded to my query.