Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Why You Should Buy an Instant Pot if You Haven’t Already

Instant Pot

You may think you don’t need any more kitchen appliances taking up your precious counter space, but you’re wrong. If you don’t already own an Instant Pot, then it’s high time you considered buying one. With some of the best Black Friday kitchen deals going on right now, you can pick one up for relatively cheap and you will not regret your decision.

  • Instant Pot Lux60 6-Quart

    — $30 off
  • Instant Pot Duo60 6-Quart

    — $20 off

I bought my first Instant Pot over two years ago right when they started gaining popularity. At the time it felt like I was buying into mainstream hype with a frivolous purchase. After all, I already had a slow cooker at my disposal and it worked great for much the same thing. What I didn’t realize, however, was how much easier it would make the cooking process. Sure, I could toss a roast in the slow cooker and have some tender and juicy meat hours later, but that requires forethought and planning. With an Instant Pot, I can get that tender juiciness in less than an hour.

And that’s really the main draw of the Instant Pot, it utilizes pressure cooking to dramatically cut down cooking time for a lot of things. For me, it really opened me up to making more delicious meals more often. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so farfetched for me to make homemade spaghetti sauce, soups, roasts, and rice dishes that would have taken up my entire evening otherwise. Now that I’m cooped up at home more than ever, I’ve even gone as far as experimenting with making wine in the Instant Pot — yes, it’s possible.

What Instant Pots are Available for Black Friday

Personally, I own an Instant Pot Duo. It works great for most things and is one of the cheapest versions available today. Of course, there are more models to choose from now than when I purchased mine. Each option has slightly different features and settings. You can even get a version that acts as an air fryer too if you want an all-in-one kitchen appliance.  Here are a few of the different Instant Pots currently available right now.

  • Instant Pot Duo60 6-Quart:

    This is your standard model with some easy to use settings. It’s great for soup, stew, meat, rice, and yogurt. Whether you want to pressure cook, slow cook, or saute, it’s got you covered.
  • Instant Pot Viva 6-quart

    This is your more advanced model and comes with a few extra features worth mentioning. On top of the normal functions, it comes with three new programs: Cake, egg, and sterilize.
  • Instant Pot Duo Crisp:

    If you’re looking for the ultimate experience, the Duo Crisp is the way to go. Beyond all of the other functions, this beauty also works as a fully functional air fryer.
Jacob Kienlen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jacob Kienlen was a culture writer for The Manual. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his…
Why you should stock up on this Costco fan-favorite beer
This beer will get you through the holiday season
Close-up of a glass of beer

This time of year, festive, glittering cocktails are prominent at every at-home celebration, office holiday party, and post-Nutcracker soiree. The more ornate, the better, garnished with everything from crushed candy canes to coconut shavings made to look like freshly fallen snow. They slosh prettily in their frosted glassware and look beautiful paired with sparkling cocktail dresses.

And the wine that flows this time of year is equally exquisite, with many hosts opting to spend a few more dollars on better bottles, blaming their extravagance on festivity. For these libations, we are grateful. And it's because of them we have the patience to make it through Aunt Susan's annual ornament exchange. They are our supportive friends at the party, convincing us with loving encouragement that we're better dancers than we are. And they certainly make it a lot easier to endure Angela in human resources, rambling on about her snow globe collection.

Read more
The benefits of cinnamon, and why you should be eating more of it
Cinnamon tastes great, but there are a ton of health benefits, too
Ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks

Unfortunately, the foods that are really good for you are not often considered the most delicious. On the other hand, the foods that we consider to be the tastiest are often loaded with sugar and fat. While very few people would argue against the fact that broccoli has a preferable nutritional profile compared to Oreo cookies, there are still foods out there that taste great and provide many perks. There are numerous benefits of cinnamon, for example.
Fortunately, there are plenty of delicious foods that are packed with health benefits, including spices and seasonings like garlic, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. We often think of cinnamon as simply a flavorful accent to sweets like apple pie, spice cookies, and oatmeal, but cinnamon does more than just bring a scrumptious taste and aroma to your food. Keep reading to learn about the benefits of cinnamon.

What is cinnamon?
Cinnamon is a culinary spice made from the inner bark of cinnamon trees. After the cinnamon trees are cut down, the inner bark is harvested by stripping off the outer bark. The inner bark is then dried. As it dries, the bark curls into "cinnamon sticks," which are rolls of the inner bark. Cinnamon sticks are used to flavor things like tea and mulled cider and then removed before eating. Ground cinnamon is made by crushing and grinding the cinnamon sticks.

Read more
Why you should stock up on honey, sugar, salt, and white rice
No need for expiration dates here — these shelf-stable ingredients will last for years
Honey jar

According to Feeding America, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization consisting of more than 200 food banks, Americans waste 119 billion pounds of food every year. And while commercial food waste makes up more than half of that amount, wasted food from individual homes accounts for about 40%. As shocking as this amount may seem at first glance, it makes sense when we stop to consider how many times per month we rifle through our refrigerators, tossing something that seems to have wilted overnight or sprouted some fuzzy green hairs since you last opened the lid. Straight into the trash those things go, along with our money and good intentions.

Thankfully, though, there are some ingredients that magically will never go bad -- ingredients that, in some cases, have far longer shelf lives than we do. These are the ingredients that, with proper care, will never see the inside of a soggy, wet coffee ground-infested garbage bag.

Read more