This is one appliance I KNEW I did not need. But I felt inspired to buy one to help me prepare foods I could digest better.

I LOVE this little machine. Truly. It does things I NEED, because it makes my life EASIER!

1. Rice. This is my rice cooker now. I use it to make lots of rice (freeze the leftovers), I cook food WITH the rice to make entire meals, and I often season the rice to make pilaf. Easy peasy, set it and forget it.

2. Potatoes. Seriously. It is not FASTER, it is just EASIER. Peel, or DON'T peel, the potatoes. DON'T cut them in pieces... Well, if they are enormous, cut them down to regular potato size, but otherwise, LEAVE them in big pieces. Run it on a SHORT RICE cycle, with ONE CUP OF WATER (twice that if the potatoes are old and shrively, they absorb more water). Drain it, and you have either baked with skin on, or boiled with skin off. Mash them all for lots of leftovers (very handy), OR pop those jacket spuds into a large zip bag, and use off them all week. I cook 5 lbs of potatoes at a time, and then we have mashies, bakers, potato salad, or seasoned or skillet fried potatoes fast and easy. Like I said, it isn't faster, really, it take the same length of time from start to finish, but we cut them up less, and we don't have to stir them - just hit Start and go do something else while they do their thing.

3. Soup. Done in less than an hour. Just bung everything into the pot - including the meat, without even cooking it - and run it on a soup cycle, and it is DONE. No stirring.

4. Chili. Three cycles since I need my beans overcooked to digest them well (and yes, this DOES reduce gassiness). I put the beans in on the longest and hottest bean cycle, with lots of water, and run that. Then I drain the water until it is just 1/2" above the beans, and put two or three lbs of hamburger in there (solid lumps), and the seasonings over the top of that, and run it again. Then I break up the meat, and put in the tomatoes (they go on the last cycle only so they do not burn), and the rest of the goodies, and run it a third time. KEEP IT JUST A LITTLE SOUPY so it is less likely to burn. If it is very thick it WILL BURN. I can the leftovers, and it does not turn the beans to mush.

5. Swiss Steak and Mongolian Beef. I adapted a recipe to use in the Instant Pot.

6. Frozen Roasts. Mostly those little Smithfield marinated Pork Loins. Cook those from frozen in about half an hour, to tender.

7. Finishing that Grilled Pork Roast that didn't get done enough to be tender... Ok, so this one is rarely seen in my house, but it has been tried, with success.

8. Making Chocolate Sauce for my husband. 3 1/2 Qts at a time, from a mega big recipe. I put this on a short rice cycle, and it just DOES it, without boiling over. Now, you DO have to make sure your gasket is sealing properly or it can make a royal mess. But it does this so easily. I have a second electric pressure pot for this, just to keep the mess from happening in the one I use all the time (different kinds of gasket retainers).

This is the one I thought I'd never use, and that could not justify itself in my kitchen, and now I find it is one of my most used appliances.