Instant Pots and Air Fryers

food4thot said:

Should I just pour it down the drain or are there better ways to get rid of it?

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Just throw the jug of oil in the trash.

Oil down drain, bad, very bad.
Ed

Curt.P said:

Just throw the jug of oil in the trash.

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Exactly!

I had an Instant Pot for several years, and now have a Ninja Foodi for about a year. Each have a niche to fill, but neither is great at everything. I'd see people online trying to cook literally everything in their Instant Pots...hamburger patties wrapped in aluminum foil and pressure cooked? Blegh. Seemed like it's a device that works well for people that don't or didn't ever do much cooking and got popular because they felt it enabled them to make food they consistently liked. I like both device's pressure cooker feature for certain things, particularly those that traditionally worked well in Crock Pot style cooking. Green chile pork is still a regular dish in our house. But for me it's not a hammer in search of everything that might be a nail.

Nor is the air fryer feature on the Foodi, but I do like it a lot in certain scenarios. It reheats fried chicken and skin on chicken great, and quickly. Pretty much as good as when it came out of the fryer or the grill. I'll buy bags of cooked chicken wings from Costco or whatever and use that to cook them quickly and I like the results. I once tried pressure cooking a whole chicken and then using the air fryer function and it worked alright, but I didn't love it. Because I have the space I keep them around, and I do like using them for certain things in certain situations, but I could live without both and just use the stove or oven if I lacked the space and didn't mind the time for traditional cooking methods. The air fryer definitely does not replace a deep fryer, but it's good for quick lunches without a mess.

I got the instant pot and dual crisp lid for it and use it on a daily basis. Made wings, mozz sticks and potato skins with the air fryer and also made chili and chix soup for the week in the instant pot. I enjoy it and it really is a time saver.

food4thot said:

Thought about that. It's clean peanut oil, not butter or bacon fat which would congeal in the pipes. City sewer, not a septic tank.

How does everyone here get rid of used cooking oil? Containers thrown in the trash?

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Check your city's website. Mine says not to put used cooking oil (or engine oil) in the recycling container and cooking oil goes in regular trash. If you think it's worth the effort, you can also check your local recycling center to see if they take it to make biodiesel. Cooking oil is not considered harmful to the environment (at least in my area it isn't).

Have both the Instant Pot and the Instant Air Fryer.

Use the Air Fryer daily
for toasting, fries. and the small pot pies.

Instant Pot for rice and soups. Great job on those.

Just me in the house, very handy.

I look at all things like tools. I don't need a hammer, but it comes in handy when I have to drive a nail. I use my airfryer multiple times a week, as a mater of fact I am air roasting some carrots right now to go into a stew I am making for dinner. I use my instant pot less frequenting, but it still gets used. I keep the airfryer on the counter and the instant pot in the cabinet.
I have pulled off several good meals with the instant pot. But last xmas, I cooked cheesecakes in it and they turned out great. Again, they are just tools.

food4thot said:

Thanks. My plan was to empty the peanut oil, then put the jug in the recycling bin.

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The regular recycling in my town won't take glass anymore so I can put glass jars with oil in the trash and throw the plastic containers in recycling.:doh:

LloydQ said:

Cannot testify to air fryers, but my understanding is that they are a glorified convection oven.
As to the Instant Pot, it can definitely replace your slow cooker. I like that you can brown your meat in it without dirtying up a skillet. Also replaces a rice cooker if you use one.

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"Also replaces a rice cooker if you use one."

Not if you like rice.

Have not used either one, but the wife and daughters use the Insta-pot to make great yogurt. My wife just got one today from a close-out store and it does not have the yogurt button, so it may take closer watching to make good yogurt. Our daughter made an excellent venison dish in it.

I use my air fryer at least once a week and I think it does a great job on things like small Salmon filets, Beer Battered Cod, French Fries, Hash Brown patties, chicken wings, chicken strips, chicken thighs, tachitos, mini-tacos and a number of other things.
I keep it on the counter.
I have an Instapot and use it only periodically, mostly in the Winter when I haven't thawed something and don't feel like grilling in the cold.