Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Alright, y'all. So after much deliberation, I ordered an Instant Pot last Monday. I was hesitant because I'd recently purchased a Dutch oven and a sous vide immersion circulator and three different blenders before deciding that I should probably stop buying kitchen appliances considering I hardly even cook and generally consume most of my meals in a nutrient sludge meal replacement (that plug will have to wait for another day). But ultimately my unbridled consumerism and constant hunger for new gadgets won out (they always do in the end) and before I knew it, I had a 6-quart Instant Pot 9-in-1 DUO Plus sitting on my counter. Being that it was 11pm on a Wednesday night by this point, I decided I would wait until the next day to try out my new toy. But being that I was extremely hungry for both food and instant gratification, I immediately changed my mind and brought out a chuck roast I had been thawing for this very occasion. This was the test, you see. The electronic, pressurized crucible. Could this shiny, button-covered cylinder the size of a large rice cooker make a pot roast faster than my slow cooker? Surely it couldn't make it as *well*, but could it get at least 85% of the way there in a fraction of the time? Turned out the answer was a resounding "yes". In fact, the meat was exactly the way I like it, tender but still slightly firm. Easily pulled apart, but not yet a tasteless mush. And the whole process took about an hour and a half, including the time it took to brown the roast and pressurize/depressurize the pot. From that moment, I was completely sold. See, the problem I had with even just a pot roast in a slow cooker was that I always ended up having to plan my day around it. It wasn't enough to just dump in the ingredients and let them sit. I'd found that 6 hours was too short, but 8 hours was too long. I needed to leave it in for 7 hours, but my workday was 8 hours long, not even counting the commute. Plus I had to add in the vegetables 2-3 hours before the end so that they would cook but not have all the nutrients obliterated into a mush. Thus, pot roasts were for weekends. But even then, if I wanted a pot roast for dinner, I had to get up early and do all the prep, just to let it sit for hours while I salivated in torment. And I had to make sure I was there at the end to turn it off. The Instant Pot eliminates most of these issues. I can set a timer for when I want it to start. I can set a cook time, after which it will either turn off or go into a "Keep Warm" mode. I can dump ingredients in the pot in the morning (though probably not something with raw meat) and have them freshly cooked and ready to eat right when I get home at night. I made the pictured beef stew earlier and cooking only took about an hour. Without a pressure cooker, it would have taken several hours. I'm seriously considering bringing this thing to work and just cooking my lunch there. I mean, why not? Assuming I have ingredients prepared, making a meal in this would be easier than making a sandwich. I've only made two things in it so far, but I'm already really digging this thing. Four years ago, I bought a slow cooker and it was probably the best thing I'd ever bought myself up to that point. My Instant Pot is shaping up to take up that mantle. There's a lot of hype around the Instant Pot. People describe it as "magic". It's not magic-- it's food science. But when you can reduce a several-hour cook time down to about an hour, is there really a difference? (Note: I realize this review, especially that last paragraph, probably sounds like I'm some paid, professional reviewer, but I assure you I am neither paid nor professional; I just really dig this thing and I'm a decent writer. Not that I would turn down a company who wants to send me free stuff to give my honest opinion on! ;) )