I’ve acquired a new gadget in the kitchen, and I’m hoping it’ll make life a lot easier once I’ve refined my recipes a bit to suit this new mode of pressure cooking.

I got this Instant Pot in a flash sale last week, and despite my hectic schedule have already tried my vegetable soup and a new three-bean vegan chilli recipe in it. It’s quite an exciting prospect as it ticks a few boxes for me; plenty of scope for one-pot meals (my favourite), it uses significantly less energy than our gas hob cooker (green), easy to clean (bonus) and overall needs less of my brain power to get everything cooked to perfection (practical).

The Instant Pot isn’t just a pressure cooker – you can slow cook in it, saute (with the lid off), cook grains and pulses (from dry, in a matter of minutes), make bread and even create yoghurt. And more, probably. I haven’t got that far yet, I’m just getting used to the nuances of cooking under pressure using the manual button and having to adjust liquids to account for the lack of evaporation.

I’m not a bad cook at all – in fact, Rich says that my roast potatoes are the best (apart from my mum’s, who is a master at cooking and baking). I’m just lazy and forgetful, and with our cheap stainless steel saucepans, I have a habit of getting wrapped up in something else and burning things quite easily. I’m definitely an advocate of one-pot cooking, which is why the Instant Pot has appealed to me for a long time.

With the baby due in August, I thought it would be a good investment. Once the cooking time has finished, the Instant Pot automatically goes on to “keep warm” mode for up to ten hours. For a busy mother, I’ve been told this is a bit of a God-send. The function has already come in useful, when I had my chilli* on and my sister called me. The IP went into keep warm mode for fifteen minutes before I got around to serving it up. Had that been on the hob, it would have been a crispy disaster.

My aim is to be able to reduce my monthly food budget by buying in less tinned pulses and more dry pulses, cooking in bulk and freezing for later. The IP means I don’t have to do an overnight soak (I really don’t have the patience or pre-planning abilities to do this kind of thing), and I can cook chickpeas (one of my main food groups) from dry in 40 minutes, and other dry pulses under 20 minutes. I can sling everything in the pot, press a few buttons and let the magic happen and allow my attention to be diverted. I’m also hoping that with more homegrown veg on the agenda this year, I’ll be able to produce bowls and bowls of homemade soups, stews, curries and more using homegrown produce. And maybe, just maybe, I might even get around to making my own bread.

For help and support with Pressure Cooking and the Instant Pot, you can join a dedicated Instant Pot Facebook group here

*I’ll post the vegan chilli recipe once I’ve refined it a bit!