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About Nicky Washida

Nicky Washida is a freelance writer and mom of 3. Originally from the UK, she has lived in South Africa, Australia and Japan, and now resides in California. Her dog, her wine bottles and her caustic wit are her most prized possessions. She nurses a not so secret crush on Jon Bon Jovi. Her dream is to be a Victoria’s Secret Angel, by age 50.

Insta-what?! – Ultimate Must-Haves Guide To Instant Pot Accessories

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Insta-what?!

I don’t think I’m a real woman. I mean, biologically speaking I am. Anatomically everything appears to be roughly in the right place, give or take after 3 children. But when I admit to certain people that I can’t decide which I hate more, cooking or shoe shopping, they look at me the same way they look at Target and their gender-neutral restrooms – they’re just not sure what category I should fit into. Part of the problem is that I learned to be a mother in Japan, where if you don’t spend at least 4 hours of an evening lovingly sacrificing yourself at the 4-ring gas altar, you are not doing it right. How can I hate cooking so much when I have children? Well, feeding them is basically a necessary evil. The Jetson’s promise from my childhood of a machine that just does it all for you has yet to materialize. Miraculously, against all odds, we all seem to be thriving.

So asking me to write an article on instant pot accessories, is a bit like asking a fish to write a thesis on the War of Independence.

Instapot Accessories

My first google search was “What is an instant pot?” Good start, I thought. It turns out these clever little contraptions DO kind of do it all for you. Instant pot rice cooker. Instant pot vegetable steamer. Instant pot something-else-clever-sounding-involving-cooking-times. A 7 in 1 miracle appliance for the kitchen that saves you time and money. The Instant-Pot cooking times are something like 20 seconds or thereabouts (I may be exaggerating slightly). Well, sign me up for some of that, please!

But – isn’t there always a but?! – these things appear to be almost as high maintenance as I aspire to be. This is not a case of plug in and go for it (that’s a separate appliance for an altogether separate article). These things come with more instructions and accessories than the Starship Enterprise. I believe a sexy captain is also an optional extra.

Googling “Instant pot sexy captain” didn’t yield quite the results I was expecting but was nonetheless an interesting diversion. For about 3 hours. Meanwhile, “instant pot accessories” took me into a whole new world, seeking out new life and new civilizations. I learned all about directional steam and rubber thingys. Which frankly IS a whole new world for someone to whom “instant” means “dial-a-pizza”. Here’s what I discovered:

I probably would be tired of my instant pot shooting steam up into my wood cabinets and creating a breeding ground for bacteria and mold if I actually had one, and didn’t associate mold with life-saving penicillin (my glass has always been of the more half-full variety). But this clever little InstaPot steam release accessory shoots it wherever you want to go. In my case that would be away from my cabinets and straight into my face for a dual action cooking-slash-facial steamer. DON’T try this at home kids.

Now this next accessory is something I DO know something about. It’s well known and generally accepted that steaming your veggies retains more of the good stuff than boiling the crap out of them. I’ve had a steamer for years, and although it works brilliantly, it’s a total pain in the arse to take out, put together, use, take apart, clean, store away, yada yada yada. So an Instant Pot steamer basket is frankly GENIUS and I would not be remotely surprised if they WERE on the original USS Enterprise, and if not, they bloody well should have been. You can Instant Pot Buyers Guidebung anything in it (yes, “bung” is very much in MY kitchen instructions), give it a blast, and voila! Healthy veggies or meats or whatever else you wanted to get steamy with (within reason – these pots are not captain-sized).

Which brings me nicely to the rubber thingys.
Needless to say they come in different colors and sizes.

Now this is where I start to hyperventilate through sheer choice, but in a nutshell, your rubber thingys that seal your insta pot can degrade over time, and you need to replace them every 18-24 months, or when degradation sets in. They’re a bit like dodgy boyfriends in that regard, except that you can pick up brand spanking new ones on Amazon, and, like dodgy boyfriends, they come in various sizes and colors, according to your instant pot ideal size. Beyond that, I simply can’t say more without blowing steam out of my own orifices in every direction, so here are the options, pick your ideal rubber thingy accordingly. Or, if we are going to get all professional about this, your Instant Pot Replacement Silicone Sealing Ring.

So what do you get for the girl who already has the pot that does everything? Something to put (bung?) it on would be my guess. And this little set of mini-mitts, mat and sealing lid do the trick perfectly. And here was I in the OC thinking silicone only ever had one specific use.

Instantpot Accessories

The great thing about all these little gizmos, is that they are all made here in the USA by a small, family-run business called Instant Perrrt, who have these weird and almost obsolete old-fashioned ideas about excellent service, and getting to know their customers personally. I know! Rad!

Oddly enough, this little foray into the world of kitchen gadgets has got me starting to think….maybe….could I?…should I? Stay tuned as I report back on my google search for “whizz bang steamy kitchen rubber thingys that Do It All”…