Instant Pots became the latest ‘must-have’ kitchen appliance after they were launched. How to explain their popularity? Many gadgets and appliances are launched each year to varying success and their longevity depends on many factors. Some are just fads and others stay on the market for decades. Instant Pot sales have broken records and their sales keep driving forward.
What are the reasons that Instant Pots become so popular and remain so now?
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They are new but at the same time familiar
This may seem strange if you are the proud owner of a brand new Instant Pot with multi-functionality but these cookers have a long tradition of being used in family homes. They just looked different back then.
An Instant Pot is effectively a pressure cooker and they have been around for well over 300 years although they didn’t start being used widely until the last century.
Pressure cookers gained popularity in the 1940s due to women helping with the war effort and therefore having less time to cook at home. Pressure cookers can prepare meals far quicker than other methods and so they grew in popularity. They really hit their peak during the 1950s but started to go out of fashion afterward.
This was due to a few reasons, one was a belief that they were dangerous – due to the high temperatures and pressure that built up inside them. Then there was the arrival of TV dinners in the mid-50s. People also started to eat out more with fast food gaining popularity with restaurants and drive-thrus.
They have a wide range of functions
The Instant Pot is a far more modern version of a pressure cooker though. It doesn’t just cook fast it has a whole other range of features and this may explain why it is so popular with home cooks. They can saute, slow cook, it has a sous-vide function and they also have attachments available.
They are a one-pot cooking machine
When preparing your dinner you may end up using more than one appliance and certainly more than one saucepan. Instant Pots are designed as a way to cook with one pot. With the additional accessories and attachments, it means that you don’t have to buy other appliances either. For instance, if you were thinking of buying an Air Fryer but don’t want more workspace being taken up then you can just buy a special lid that fits on the Instant Pot transforming it into an Air Fryer.
Time-saving
Of course, the main purpose of an Instant Pot is to cook fast so it stands to reason that you will save time. It isn’t just because it cooks fast though. One of the functions of the cooker is that you can set whatever time you want for the cooker to start up. Throwing the ingredients and water into the cooker before you go to work means that when you come home you can have a meal hot and ready.
Money-saving
Even though the pot cooks at a higher temperature than an oven, for instance, they cook so fast that they actually use less energy. Thereby saving money on utility bills. This isn’t the only way they can save money. The cooking process of the pot means that cheap and typically tough, chewy cuts of meat are made tender and moist meaning you can save money on the food bill too. Because of the speed that they cook and being able to pre-set them might also take away some of the temptation to order takeout too.
There are loads of recipes for you to cook
The internet and book shops are full of recipes for you to try so you will never be short of a meal idea. They can cook almost anything and www.corriecooks.com has an extensive list of recipes and advice for these types of cookers as do many other sites on the internet.
Fits around your lifestyle
The functions and the way the pot cooks can fit anyone’s lifestyle. Having meals ready and waiting when you and the family come home is one aspect. Also, you can load the ingredients into the pot and let it do its thing while you go and have a workout. There is no need to watch over the pot, just set the time and temperature and it will do the rest.
It is a healthy way to cook
The pot cooks with steam not fat so there is no need to add oils to the process. This means food is lower in fat and the sealed pot keeps more of the goodness in that can escape with other ways of cooking.
In conclusion
These are just some of the reasons that the Instant Pot is so popular but there are more such as space-saving and being easy to clean.
