Shopping

My first Red Thursday in the Canadian Tire Store was in 2017. A couple of months after we arrived in Canada driving from Mexico with a haul. On this Red Thursday before Black Friday, the store has really good deals that they don’t offer again during the year. I went to the store early morning, after I drop off my kids to the school. The store was crowded; I started browsing to see if I could find some things and they would be on sale. I found an activity desk for my little son, some kitchen utensils, winter socks, and a pair of snow spikes for the winter boots. I was also looking for a crock pot because it would help me to do my dinners more efficiently, as somebody advised. Finally, I was in front of the pallet with the crock pots and beside these were Instant Pots. I didn’t know anything about this Instant Pot. I just heard a nice lady recommending this pot to somebody else. She said it was a better option to buy an Instant Pot because it can also be a slow cooker as a Crock Pot. The next recommendation was that it could be used as a pressure cooker; it was fast, and it also had some other features. I thought, why not? I can try it. It was not very expensive at all. I arrived home with my personal pre-Christmas gift. I started reading the manual instructions and I watched some YouTube videos related to unpacking the Instant Pot. Its short name is IP. I followed all the recommendations. I started using it. I prepared chicken and beef soups, beans, boiled small potatoes, and other simple recipes. It’s amazing you can easily find videos and blogs with thousands of recipes of all kinds of food. One of my favorite places to search for recipes is Pinterest. I enjoy cooking with my IP because I just put all ingredients in the insert pot, pour some water, and I close it to start cooking. When I hear the beep, I know my meal is ready. Then I open the valve to release the pressure on time. I also set my Alexa to remind me louder. On top of everything, you can program a delay start and after the cooking is done, you also can program to keep warm. Now, I am also using it as slow cook and the beef and chicken are super tender and juicy. Two years ago, I bought a second IP Duo Crispy model. The advantage of this model is that it can be used not only for pressure and slow cooking, sautéing, steaming, but also for air frying, baking, roasting, and vacuum-sealed in a cooking pouch too. I love the sous vide function because the beef is extremely tender and pink, then you just need to sear flame? it with a torch. When my lovely husband bought me the second IP on a Black Friday, he thought I would sell or give to someone else my old IP. But of course not! For big meals like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or parties, I have my two pots cooking! If you don’t have one yet…. Plan your budget to buy one because is worth it. If you learn how to use it, you will agree. The Instant Pot is my favorite kitchen appliance because I just program the function I need for my recipe, and I can do other things unlike when cooking on the stove you need to be there in front of it taking care of your food. Obviously, at the beginning of the apprentice curve you need to be patient, try the recipe the second time considering your notes for the first time doing some adjustments. To conclude, Instant Pot is my magic pot because it’s a versatile kitchen appliance. I have been using it on daily basis. Try any recipe, experiment, and find the right period of time and water quantity. Enjoy your meals, save time, and be efficient!