Do you have an instant pot? You also have a sterilizer for bottles and more

Instant pots are all the rage - and rightly so, we might add - because of the simplicity with which they prepare meals. They are also an incredibly useful tool for parents as you can use them as a sterilization autoclave for baby bottles and more.

Germs hate heat. That's why we pasteurize milk, why we boil water contaminated with bacteria to make it drinkable, and why hospitals and medical centers autoclave reusable instruments to make them sterile.

You may have used microwave bags to sanitize bottles, breast pump parts, and other items. The bags are fairly inexpensive (as long as you dry them properly and store them for reuse), but if you want to reduce the use of plastic or avoid the expense of buying the bags, there's a pretty nifty way to you do without. them: your Instant Pot.

You may have only used your Instant Pot for making easy-to-prepare chicken meals or delicious rice, but the principle at work in your Instant Pot (or other pressure cookers) is the same as used in hospital steam autoclaves. They bring in forceps and you bring in chicken, but the pressure, temperature, and time kill the pathogens either way.

You can do the same thing the hospital does, but with bottles, bottle nipples, breast pump covers, and whatever else you can throw in a steam sterilizer bag. In fact, Instant Pot reports that endospore samples from the bacterium Geobacillus stearothermophilus - a bacterium used to test autoclaves because of its resistance to high temperatures - were destroyed after a trip to the Instant Pot. The research was done by students at Dakota State University, and you can read their study here.

So, with that out of the way, how can you take advantage of it? All you need is a steamer insert or the metal grill insert that came with your pan. First mix two cups of water. You still need enough water for steaming in the Instant Pot and two cups will ensure you have it even if you run the cycle longer than usual.

Lower the insert, then set your Instant Pot to "Steam". (If you have a newer model with a dedicated "Sterilize" button, use that.) Both settings allow you to set the time up to 4 hours, but that's a bit excessive for our purposes.

In practice, almost all bacteria and pathogens will be destroyed after 15 minutes. If you're curious why you'd do it for longer (say up to 120 minutes), check out this study we've linked to above.

For most people, although looking to replace using a microwave bag, 15 minutes is already a considerable excess to sterilize a healthy child's bottles. The instructions on the microwave bags only tell you to do 1,5 to 5 minutes, depending on your microwave's power rating, after all. And, in the demo video above, they only run it for 2 minutes. (If you're in no rush, however, 15 is a good number to use.)

Run the cycle, let it cool and release the pressure valve naturally, and take out your baby gear or other items.