The Instant Pot is Preparing me for a Post-Quarantine World

Credit: 2020 Creative Commons User ajay_suresh

I never thought I needed an Instant Pot. When it seemed like everyone wanted one in 2016/17, I honestly didn’t get the fascination. To me, it just seemed like a lazy way to make meals, and one really didn’t require any skill or cooking know-how. So why would I, someone with an elevated interest in cooking and food, ever want to own one? But that was my old mindset.

I used to think I was too good to even think about using an Instant Pot. But that was the old me. I was still comfortably at college, spending the weekends out with my boyfriend (yes, Sanjeev), trying all sorts of restaurants around Boston, when everyone else was probably out partying. I was thinking about the future, which would probably involve someday sharing an apartment with Sanjeev, and dreaming about all the fancy cooking devices and tools I would own. An Instant Pot never seemed like it would be one of those things.

Fast forward to 2019. I was finally living with Sanjeev, beginning to settle into life away from home, in my new home, learning what it means to be independent and figuring out my life post-college. A lot of this “figuring out” involved cooking, and learning how I wanted to cook, now that I wasn’t relying on dining halls or my parents putting food on the table. This usually meant trying lots of fancy recipes, my mother amazed at how much time and energy I put into meals. Just moving to LA I was still figuring out my career (hell, I still am), taking a job I ended up hating and leaving. Even when I landed a part-time job with unpredictable hours, I still used whatever time outside of my barista job, at the grocery store or in the kitchen. Two comfortable, familiar places for me, among some of the unfamiliarity of my new life.

It’s the end of 2019/start of 2020. I’d juggled three part-time jobs for a few months now, working well over 40 hours a week, now struggling to find the energy to get creative in the kitchen. I was beginning to lose the old Taylor that dreamed about having her own kitchen to get lost in. But I didn’t always want to have to rush to make a meal, something that I normally would have enjoyed making, just to turn around and scarf it down, alone, then run out of the apartment to make a night shift at work. But at the same time, food started to seem like it might be the thing I wanted to do with the rest of my life (which you’d think I would have realized a lot sooner). But I kept falling into the same rut, the same one that had me at three part-time jobs, not knowing where they’d lead me.

March 2020. COVID-19 hit the US, and we all were quickly forced to live our lives sheltered at home for the next few months, baking too much bread, binging way too many shows. I wasn’t working three jobs anymore, Sanjeev and I finally got to spend more time at home. Although there was the scary fact that I was now jobless, I finally had what I wanted: time. That for me meant getting back into the kitchen, excited to take on massive projects and break out all my favorite tools. I felt connected to food again, energized and excited to see if I could really turn this passion into something serious. But that COVID rut set in. Days blended together and suddenly almost two months had went by, and I still felt like I made no headway with my career. I was cooking again, sure, but I didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere. I was still worried about getting a full-time job, paying my loans. I had lost my motivation once again. Then I rediscovered my Instant Pot.

My parents gifted Sanjeev and I one for Christmas, after telling them hey yeah, if you want to get it for us, we’ll find a way to use it. That’s what Sanjeev said at least. But I still had that cocky mindset, and shamefully enough spent the first six months I had it, hardly touching it. And when I did the few times, not putting much effort into really learning how to use it.

Well, that has certainly changed, as a lot of things have. Yes, now I have more time to focus on planning well-thought out meals, lots of it, but I also want to use that time to focus on my career. A lot of that does involve exposing myself to more food, recipes, etc., but still, I don’t always want to spend hours in the kitchen. And what I finally realized, is that the Instant Pot really can be a way to try lots of different recipes, experiment with cooking methods, and just because it’s only one tool, and you really only need to push a couple buttons, it does require skill and understanding to use the machine right. And you really can get sophisticated, deep-flavor-profile dishes out of it – curries, stews, heck I’m making yogurt as we speak!

But I digress. The Instant Pot is but one small entry into my life as a home chef, but a big reminder that when I no longer have the luxury of time on my side, that I still have the ability to flex that creative muscle in the kitchen, experimenting with making different types of dishes and food.

I originally thought this article was going to be some sort of “love letter” to the Instant Pot. And really at the end of the day, its nothing miraculous or life-changing. But, it served for me as a very important lesson: it’s not always about employing fancy techniques or pulling every single tool out of your cabinet. It’s about being proud of what you made and how you got there and learning more about food along the way. I’ve taken the time to appreciate the Instant Pot for what it is: a low stress, high-flavor yielding way to make something – it’s quick, and doesn’t leave you with a sink full of dishes (and god, what a blessing that is). It can help expose you to making things you never thought you’d try, different cuisines, homemade versions of once store-bought items. I feel that I’ve gone through so many stages in my life in the past year, and now I’m finally ready to make food a permanent part of my life, and I’m not ashamed to say that the Instant Pot has helped along on that journey.