This affordable Instant Pot cooks delicious food for less

The Instant Pot Lux 6-in-1 V3 multicooker has lots of the same features you find in the company's premium pressure cookers.

You use a valve on the lid to seal in steam pressure or manually release it.

Like other Instant Pot models, the Lux 6-in-one has a mostly stainless steel exterior.

Part of the Instant Pot's secret to creating delicious food is its stainless steel pot that evenly distributes heat.

Here's the Instant Pot Lux next to a new rival, the Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker.

Browning meat in the same pot that you make stew ups flavor and cuts down mess.

Both the Instant Pot Lux (top) and Crock-Pot Express (bottom) could sear steak. The Lux, though, managed to create more caramelized flavor.

Long grain white rice I cooked in the Instant Pot was on the mushy side.

Once I tweaked the Instant Pot's egg mode to my liking, I was handsomely rewarded. 

The Instant Pot Lux made short work of cooking black beans.