Post by StrawberryBlondie on Jun 15, 2023 8:48:56 GMT -5
I love my instant pot (and my air fryer) but one thing I discovered early on is that it either makes cooking certain things faster, OR easier, typically not both - but it was marketed as making things faster and easier. And for some things, that's true, but for most things, it's not.
I love that I can make homemade stocks in it in only an hour or two, including the time it takes to come to pressure. But it's not any easier than doinb it in the crockpot or on the stove. I love that I can get a pulled pork cooked in under an hour. But it's not easier than setting it in the crockpot in the morning.
Likewise, cooking potatoes, corn on the cob, and rice in it is super easy. But not faster than cooking those on the stove.
Cheesecakes in the IP are really a thing of beauty though. Even if I used it for nothing else, it would be worth keeping just for that.
Post by bookqueen15 on Jun 15, 2023 11:17:31 GMT -5
Older millennial here who loves my Pyrex and still uses it all the time but save for two dishes I bought right after college, the rest has all been passed down from our grandmother's and I haven't need to replace anything, because it's never broken! We have some Corelle that came from my DH's Grandma and I am now considering replacing all our old heavy everyday dishes with them, I love the bowls especially and most of the bowls from the everyday dish set we registered for over 13 years ago have broken.
Now, the instant pot, we have one and have used it once. I never really use my crock pot anymore either. But we use our air fryer pretty much daily!
Single Xennial who uses my instant pot once a week. I think people found them really useful during the pandemic when they were making family dinners most days of the week, but I think everyone who wanted one has one at this point. It’s a once every 10-20 year purchase.
Post by breezy8407 on Jun 15, 2023 14:06:48 GMT -5
I make this Instant Pot chili quite a bit in the winter: www.wellplated.com/instant-pot-chili/ Of course you can use the slow cooker, but this takes less time.
pixy0stix A lot of frozen Costco things like chicken nuggets for us. Works well to reheat leftovers. H makes a chipotle pork tenderloin in it, but I don't have the recipe handy. The biggest thing for me is not heating up the kitchen in the summer. Our kitchen gets really hot when you use the oven in the summer.
I got one for Christmas a few years ago, used it once. It smoked up the house so badly I cleaned it and packed it up for return. I've since used a different one (not mine), and it was okay, but didn't do anything my Oster toaster oven couldn't do, so 🤷♀️
I'm more inclined to think this is a private equity investment firm overextending and not watching the market vs. an actual product issue. They're owned by this brand: cornellcapllc.com/ "Cornell Capital is a U.S.-based private investment firm with approximately $6 billion of AUM and offices in New York and Hong Kong. Leveraging decades of global investment experience, the firm takes a disciplined approach to investing across the consumer, financial services, and industrials/business services sectors, often in companies that can benefit from the firm’s Asia presence and cross-border expertise. Founded in 2013 by Senior Partner Henry Cornell, the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, the firm is led by a highly seasoned team with decades of shared investment experience. We take a value-driven, partnership oriented approach to investing, targeting companies with significant potential to unlock growth through our industry, geographic and value-creation expertise."
This is what I heard on the radio. I admittedly don't have a deep understanding of financial markets, so I heard "something something private equity something leveraged buyout something Regan's fault " and also something about pyrex vs PYREX with the latter being better.
I gave our instant pot away, so I guess I helped kill it. We used it for occasionally boiling eggs, and that's pretty much all. Neither slow cook setting seemed to actually get high enough to cook our food, and the one I got was a little smaller than either our pressure cooker or slow cooker, which was both my fault and annoying. Corelle wear and PYREX I love and wouldn't kill on purpose. We use Fiestaware, which I love for the colors, but I do miss the small stacking and light weight of the corelle wear I grew up with (which I still have a handful of in excellent 70's patterns).
Whenever I look into getting an air fryer I always wonder what I would use it for.
When our toaster oven dies (15 years and going strong), I will get an air fryer that hold small sheet pans. I can see myself using one like this for frozen pizza, rolls etc... We bought my mom one for Christmas last year, and now she almost never needs to use the oven because she usually only cooks for 1-2 people daily. It seems better from an environmental standpoint to use less energy. The basket style have no appeal for me.
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Whenever I look into getting an air fryer I always wonder what I would use it for.
When our toaster oven dies (15 years and going strong), I will get an air fryer that hold small sheet pans. I can see myself using one like this for frozen pizza, rolls etc... We bought my mom one for Christmas last year, and now she almost never needs to use the oven because she usually only cooks for 1-2 people daily. It seems better from an environmental standpoint to use less energy. The basket style have no appeal for me.
Yeah, this is my plan too, even if I can't figure out what I'd use an air fryer for now. LOL!
It's funny, I have plenty of glassware but I couldn't tell you what brand most of it is offhand - the brand loyalty in this thread is interesting to me. I thought I had a Pyrex measuring cup, but I used it today and noticed it was actually Anchor. I've probably had it for at least 15 years.
I wanted to replace my cracked and busted up wedding registry dishes with corelle and I couldn't find any patterns I really liked.
I've always thought the patterns looked dated so I bought solid white Corelle. It's the Dazzling White, which has unfortunately been discontinued, however. It looks clean and classic.
We have two air fryers (a basket style one and a toaster oven style one) and they are constantly used (DH is gluten intolerant so we keep one of them GF). For just the air fry function, we make wings, vegetables, bacon, and any frozen food (mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets etc). Also really good for rehearing stuff like chicken drumsticks. I like the toaster oven style, as that replaces my toaster and range so I rarely use my range.
I rarely use my IP. I make hard boiled eggs in it sometimes and I made popcorn in it before my mom gave me a silicone popcorn marker. I’m not really a crock pot meal person and we’re both home all day now and DH loves to cook, so he will grill or smoke our main dish most of the time.
This is also where I can say I use my Pyrex regularly but have never operated the Instant Pot. Even got a cook book and everything but I’m somehow afraid of it. But I did my part and bought 2 of them, one for me and one for my mom so this Gen X did not kill them.
Okay but PYREX?! I guess the “problem” with Pyrex is that they are solid and last forever, so once you have them, you’re kinda set for life.
I mean, all the pyrex I have was my grandma's, so...
yup. When my grandmother passed, I took her whole pyrex set and I love it. People comment on it when I bring dishes to their homes for potlucks or something in the old pyrex containers. "Oh my grandmother had that, too!" etc.
As for Air Fryers, I genuinely do not understand why you would use one instead of your oven?
When our toaster oven dies (15 years and going strong), I will get an air fryer that hold small sheet pans. I can see myself using one like this for frozen pizza, rolls etc... We bought my mom one for Christmas last year, and now she almost never needs to use the oven because she usually only cooks for 1-2 people daily. It seems better from an environmental standpoint to use less energy. The basket style have no appeal for me.
Yeah, this is my plan too, even if I can't figure out what I'd use an air fryer for now. LOL!
I got mine specifically to make rotisserie chicken.
I don't use it as often as I should but I'm always happy with it when I do I use it.
DH and I have debated an Instant Pot for a long time and so far have come down on the side of "nah." I am not really sure why, some combination of not being comfortable with a pressure cooker because I haven't used one before, and being sort of suspicious of something that claims to do so many different things and wondering how well it actually does any of them. He did get me an Instant Pot rice/grain cooker, though, which is kind of funny because why only get the one with a single function? But I use it fairly frequently.
I love my slow cooker, but the crock has a long crack across the bottom and while it's holding together, I think I'm going to have to replace it sooner rather than later.
Our oven has a convection setting and we use that a lot for dinners. But I feel like a countertop toaster oven or air fryer would be nice because it's smaller and can heat up faster for things like quick lunches.
This is also where I can say I use my Pyrex regularly but have never operated the Instant Pot. Even got a cook book and everything but I’m somehow afraid of it. But I did my part and bought 2 of them, one for me and one for my mom so this Gen X did not kill them.
I mean, all the pyrex I have was my grandma's, so...
yup. When my grandmother passed, I took her whole pyrex set and I love it. People comment on it when I bring dishes to their homes for potlucks or something in the old pyrex containers. "Oh my grandmother had that, too!" etc.
As for Air Fryers, I genuinely do not understand why you would use one instead of your oven?
We have one of the stovetop convection types that have the little basket and it takes a lot less time to pre-heat than the oven and re-heats things more quickly. Whether it is or not, IDK, but it feels more energy efficient and doesn't heat up my whole house when it's hot as balls out.
I also think it makes things like frozen fries more crispy on the outside. Whenever I make those in the oven, they're almost always either limp and undercooked or burnt to a crisp. But that never happens in my air fryer.
I wonder how much is space related too. If lots of milennials aren't getting into homes they may just not have space for extra appliances. We keep the instant pot on top of our fridge. Our mixer is up there too. We own a home but the kitchen is small and cabinet space is limited. We had to convert our coat closet into a proper pantry. We keep some of the less often used kitchen appliances in the basement but it gets dusty down there and we just forget stuff is there.
If I DID have an air fryer I would use it for all the yummy trader joes appetizers, lol
Our oven has a convection setting and we use that a lot for dinners. But I feel like a countertop toaster oven or air fryer would be nice because it's smaller and can heat up faster for things like quick lunches.
We use our countertop Oster all.the.time for this very reason. I never had a regular toaster oven, didn't grow up with one, but this thing converted me Oster Toaster Oven | Digital Convection Oven, Large 6-Slice Capacity, Black/Polished Stainless a.co/d/7djP11w
This is also where I can say I use my Pyrex regularly but have never operated the Instant Pot. Even got a cook book and everything but I’m somehow afraid of it. But I did my part and bought 2 of them, one for me and one for my mom so this Gen X did not kill them.
I mean, all the pyrex I have was my grandma's, so...
yup. When my grandmother passed, I took her whole pyrex set and I love it. People comment on it when I bring dishes to their homes for potlucks or something in the old pyrex containers. "Oh my grandmother had that, too!" etc.
As for Air Fryers, I genuinely do not understand why you would use one instead of your oven?
It’s faster and more energy efficient than heating up your entire oven. And if you don’t have a convection oven (I have never had one) then it makes things much crispier and juicer than a regular oven. And it cooks faster.
Post by dragon's breath on Jun 16, 2023 20:05:25 GMT -5
Air fryer-- for me, it's mostly used in the summer when it is just too hot to turn on the oven (much of summer is over 100° and does not cool down much at night, it will be in the 80s or 90s at midnight). I don't have a toaster oven though, so I'm not comparing the use to something like that, just compared to heating up the whole oven (which makes it hot enough that my AC loses the battle to keep the temp in the house down).
Post by mcppalmbeach on Jun 17, 2023 7:04:29 GMT -5
I got a basket air fryer as a gift and really liked how it did frozen foods, but it wasn’t large enough and I hated batch cooking. Trying to keep foods warm for dinner in the oven kind of ruined the air fryer effect.
So I bought a countertop air fryer, which still isn’t really big enough, but it is better. A quick meal I’ve started to make in them is pork chops with like a Shake and bake coating that has a flavor. The other night I accidentally set the oven to bake instead of air fry and I could immediately tell the difference. The coating was moist instead of crispy and they were not as good at all. The problem with cooking meat in them though is that you really need the air fryer basket or wire rack and then it drips down and makes a huge mess. I line the bottom of it with foil, but it still gets gross.
I make this Instant Pot chili quite a bit in the winter: www.wellplated.com/instant-pot-chili/ Of course you can use the slow cooker, but this takes less time.
pixy0stix A lot of frozen Costco things like chicken nuggets for us. Works well to reheat leftovers. H makes a chipotle pork tenderloin in it, but I don't have the recipe handy. The biggest thing for me is not heating up the kitchen in the summer. Our kitchen gets really hot when you use the oven in the summer.
This is why I love my air fryer! It doesn't heat up my apartment in the summer. We use ours to reheat leftovers, pizza, anything that is usually fried in oil (we just made my dad's mashed potato balls in it and they turned out perfect!), homemade french fries (once Miss R learned how to do this ... livesafer!), pizza rolls, DIY chicken tenders, salmon .. its the rare kitchen appliance I trust R with when I'm not home.
Post by EvieEthelGarland on Jun 19, 2023 11:59:37 GMT -5
This thread has inspired me to get rid of my InstantPot. A friend saw my Buy Nothing post and I will be delivering it to her at our weekly trivia game. win/win!
We have long been toaster oven devotees, but even though its a fancy $$$ brand with convection, it's not nearly as good as the air fryer for things that need crisping. My only problem with our air fryer usage is that I'm afraid I'm not teaching DS how to cook for real.
I wonder how much is space related too. If lots of milennials aren't getting into homes they may just not have space for extra appliances. We keep the instant pot on top of our fridge. Our mixer is up there too. We own a home but the kitchen is small and cabinet space is limited. We had to convert our coat closet into a proper pantry. We keep some of the less often used kitchen appliances in the basement but it gets dusty down there and we just forget stuff is there.
If I DID have an air fryer I would use it for all the yummy trader joes appetizers, lol
My small kitchen is actually what makes me love my IP. I don’t need several different small appliances. So even if a one-purpose appliance can do the job better, I just need the IP to do a good enough job.
I made jam this weekend. And I used my instant pot to sanitizer the jars and the steam setting to steam can. I’ve never done this, but huge improvement over waterbath.
As for Air Fryers, I genuinely do not understand why you would use one instead of your oven?
While it's not terribly hot in western WA, I hate turning on my oven in the summer. Why preheat my oven for 10 minutes and then cook chicken breasts for 20 minutes while heating up my house, when I could cook them in the air fryer for 10 minutes and they taste better?
I guess I'm one of the few who looooves my air fryer. I have a Ninja brand that has a larger square insert. For just the two of us, it's perfect. I'll cook our meats first (chicken, pork chops, fish, etc) then while they are resting I'll cook the veggies for 5-6 minutes. Really fast meal prep with minimal cleanup.
When we replaced our range this spring we opted for the air fryer function but have not yet mastered it. Meaning, I can use it without setting off the smoke alarms. We'll find the balance yet. But there's no preheating required with the air fryer feature, so it's still quick.
Pro tip: the "air fryer" function is all marketing; it's just convection cooking. If you already have a convection feature on your oven, it's practically the same thing.
I rarely use my IP though. Boiling eggs and cooking a pork roast quickly is about it.