It can be tough trying to maintain a healthy diet. It seems like the world moves so fast at times, and creating healthy meals can take too much time and effort. Over the past few years, you might have noticed there is a lot of hype surrounding instant pots. Like many others, you might have been wondering what the big deal is when it comes to instant pots. Well, one of the reasons instant pots have been flying off the shelves is that they are much more than programmable pressure cookers. They also make it easy for everybody to cook healthy food without having to do much work.
Whether you want to slow cook dinner for all the family, steam rice, or make homemade yogurt, an instant pot is the all-in-one cooking device that might change your life! With people now spending more time at home cooking due to the ongoing pandemic, an instant pot might be the kitchen appliance that makes getting through the current situation that little bit easier.
1. Instant Pots Help You Save Time
Taking care of children, working long hours, trying to stay healthy, and cleaning the house makes it difficult to try and squeeze in time to make a healthy meal. To save time, it is much more convenient to just whip up a quick and sometimes unhealthy meals to make life easier. However, you can cook a meal in a fraction of the time using an all-in-one cooking device like an instant pot in comparison to other cooking appliances. Very little preparation is required when making a meal with an instant pot, and minimal cleaning is needed to keep your instant pot as good as new.
Okay, an instant pot won’t do your exercise for you; however, it will do all the hard work in the kitchen. One of the best things about an instant pot is that it works on your schedule. Instead of you running about with pots and pans, constantly stirring, and keeping an eye on everything to make sure your meal comes out perfectly, just add whatever it is into your instant pot, set your timer, and get in your run, cycle, or yoga session. If you spend too much time exercising, it doesn't matter; your instant pot has a built-in warmer, so your meal will remain heated. You also have the option to slow cook your homemade meals. If you want to slow cook (to marinate), you can use the Instant Pot slow cooker settings. The slow cooker settings (low, high, and warm) are a great way to cook some vegetables (like root vegetables), beans, and meats with phenomenal flavor! With the slow cooker, all you need to do is add some water and your veggies (or other ingredients), set the timer, and your meal will be ready when the timer goes off.
2. Instant Pots Can Change the Way You Eat
There are many ways in which an instant pot can make alterations to the way you eat. Here are a few examples of how an instant pot can become a life-changing device.
Hearty meats: It can often take a lot of time and work to make hearty meat tender using traditional methods, but with an instant pot, you can make mouth-watering and time-consuming meats (like short ribs) with ease.
Vegetables: Cooking vegetables with an instant pot is not only very fast, but it also helps keep the vegetables’ delicious flavors. You might find yourself eating more vegetables (like BEETS) than before! You can cook veggies fast using the pressure cook setting. Typically, root vegetables, like beets, can take a while to roast, steam or boil. Pressure cooking beets can have them ready to eat in about 15-20 minutes!
Healthy Snacking: Snack time is often when we eat unhealthy foods, but with an instant pot, there is often food left over for ready-to-eat healthy snacking options. When using an instant pot, people often add more ingredients than they need for the meal they are cooking. Therefore, when you want a snack, you can use the leftovers! This way you can easily snack on healthy foods; plus-you are helping reduce waste.
Healthy Desserts: Although cooking healthy food with an instant pot is easy, you can also make sweet desserts like cheesecake or key lime pie with the device. What’s great about using an instant pot for desserts rather than buying sweets from a shop is that you can decide how much sugar to add, and you have the freedom to alter the recipe ingredients.
No More Deep Fats or Frying for Meals, like Breakfast: It is sometimes tempting to fry a few sausages, eggs, and bacon in the morning; however, with an instant pot, there is no need to use heavy cooking oils. The device uses steam to cook meals which is a much healthier option than frying food. Here are a few examples of a few tasty and healthy breakfasts you can make using an instant pot:
Photo by Maple and Mango
Instant pots help create a delicious healthy breakfast for you and the whole family in a matter of minutes. For example, traditionally, steel oats can take 30 minutes to cook, but with an instant pot, the task can be completed in around 4-6 minutes.
3. Instant Pots Help You Plan for Future Meals
One of the hardest things about trying to maintain a healthy diet is consistency. Many people just go from meal to meal without planning ahead. This is a common reason why people break their healthy habits and go back to old ways. However, many people use their instant pots for meal planning. Meal planning can help you save time and money AND can help you maintain your diet.
4. Instant Pots Help You Make More Homemade Meals
With preparing more homemade meals, you may find yourself cooking healthier foods at home rather than ordering take out. Although may restaurants offer healthy menu items, sometimes our go-to quick foods may be high in sodium, unhealthy fats, and sugars. Making more homemade meals using your instant pot can be beneficial for your waist line AND your wallet. Also - because your food is in a sealed container, very few of the vitamins and minerals will be lost. Your homemade meals will be both delicious and nutritious!
Did you know that you can make yummy soups in an instant pot? Yup! Try Profusion Curry’s Wild Rice Soup (Instant Pot) for a healthy, hearty, and homemade meal! This vegan and gluten-free comfort soup brimming with flavor and nutrients is a one pot meal, making meals at home more convenient and time saving.
5. Instant Pots Allow You to Batch Cook
Batch cooking foods allows you to easily make meals for the rest of the week. This way of cooking is basically preparing food like you would normally but preparing more it! If you cook extra foods or ingredients in your instant pot, you have a simple way to eat prepared foods later in the week. Foods like potatoes, rice, root vegetables, and proteins can be frozen in advance to make it easier for you during the week. All you have to do is defrost them and add them back into the instant pot.
A lot of people who do not own an instant pot can’t get their heads around the fact that this one device can do so many different tasks. To help save you time, money, energy and extra space in your kitchen, an instant pot might turn out to be a fantastic investment.
During the current pandemic, many people have struggled with maintaining a healthy diet. Take out food, constant snacking, lack of routine, and lack of motivation have all been factors that might cause us to consume unhealthy diets. An instant pot could be the appliance that helps you get back to feeling great again!
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