Pretty shocked to see this with how ubiquitous they’ve seemed these last few years. Of all the recent kitchen gadgets this is one of the few that felt genuinely useful to me.
I guess everyone who wanted one got one and doesn’t need another. That or they realized food in it always turns out just a little overcooked and soggy.
What?! Blasphemy!
I use mine to make bean soups and chilis and stews, and stuff comes out fantastic.
Really depends what you use it for. Being able to make a good beef chili on a weeknight is fantastic, but people certainly try to use them for things that aren’t meant for pressure cooking.
Am I reading this right?
The maker of Pyrex glassware and Instant Pot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection … brands also include Corelle, Snapware, CorningWare, Visions and Chicago Cutlery, …
Pyrex seems like a way bigger deal than instant pot, and those others are also well-known. Is this just a restructuring thing where they will screw creditors and then continue on? Or they will sell off the brand names to some new companies that may or may not keep the same quality?
Only speculating but I think this is a symptom of late stage capitalism. Companies are staking enormous risk on leveraged finances to achieve impossible stock prices. And if they miss, they’re done. They collapse and get rolled into giant multinationals to funnel even more money to the top.
Its always been like this though. Back in the 60s no one would have thought the Victor Company and RCA were approaching deaths door step, but they made a few big mistakes and got out competed in just a short time.
Corning seems like a way bigger deal than Pyrex too… between them and AnchorHawking they essentially own the industrial glassware industry. Pyrex is only a small part of that; it also spans things like smartphone screens and lab equipment.
That said, Corning has bought a lot of companies of questionable quality in the last decade; sounds like now they’re being forced to divest some of those properties.
I think the ubiquity is what did it. When it becomes commoditized, the only way to differentiate is to be seriously good (see Kitchenaide).
Instant Pots are amazing if you cooked every single day, but when I started meal prepping, I stopped using mine as much. Instant Pots aren’t great for meal prepping, their capacities are too small.
I got mine to make Chinese beef noodle soup and in an 8 qrt instant pot I could make like 6 meals from it. I guess it depends on what kind of food you like to make. I haven’t used it in a while but I always think to myself I’ll use it again soon…
Before my Instant Pot, I had a Breville Fast Slow Cooker. They’re essentially the same thing, except Instant Pot made smaller versions too.
Nowadays, my Instant Pot is a big part of the weekly meal prep for my family, whether it’s a big batch of rice or dhal, or searing and pre-cooking a full roast, or boiling down a chicken carcass for soup.
I can’t imagine using one of the smaller models though.
They should have used a subscription model where it doesn’t work unless you have one.
