Looking for a cheap Instant Pot? Sage Fast Slow Pro is only £129, cooks meals just as well and looks a lot classier

Although Instant Pot may be an American invention, just as with rock and roll, the rest of the world now wants to sell a shiner version back to the USA. And why not? It's a great idea, but maybe a bit too American in its design at present. We all want convenience, but come meal times that’s often to the detriment of taste and freshness. If you’re a microwave fiend then you’ll know a little white box can often be your best friend, but the downside is the lacklustre way food is cooked, or reheated (unless, of course, you go for a combi oven). The UK's classier looking, less-snappily-named Instant Pot rival is the Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker. Try saying that after a few gin and tonics.

Like an Instant Pot, this brilliant appliance blends the best bits of a taste-preserving slow cooker with the fast and efficient appeal of a pressure cooker. That means you’ve got a raft of speedy meal making options at your disposal.

• Buy Sage Fast Slow Pro at John Lewis for £129.

And, if you’ve got some time to kill then it’s pretty ace at pulling off an impressive slow cook for something like a meat joint. Sandwiched in between is the ability to cook just about anything else, while the capacity for choosing from one of its preset programs means the potential for a mealtime catastrophe is all but eliminated.

Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker comes with half a dozen preset Smart Settings, and these allow you to choose from the likes of full-on pressure cooking and slow cooking while the appliance will also happily sauté, steam and reduce with ease. What's even more useful about this unit is that it’s pretty smart, in that sensors keep tabs on what is cooking and make automatic adjustments.

That’s another bonus if you’re not great in the kitchen, too busy to cook everything manually or just plain old lazy. More confident? Then try the Custom option for making your own time adjustments for cooking meals.

• Buy Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker at John Lewis for £129.

We’ve just got our hands on a Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker, and while we’re still playing around with its potential we’ve also found that it feels safe. While pressure cookers in days gone by were fearsome things that you’d prime and then duck behind an upturned kitchen table, a Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker feels easy to use and unlikely to cause any issues. We also love the way it keeps food warm once its been cooked, without reducing it to dried mush.

• Buy Sage BPR700BSS The Fast Slow Pro Slow Cooker at John Lewis for £129.

We rather like its brushed stainless steel finish and bold styling too, while the spec and performance is great. It’s got a 6 litre capacity and is dishwasher safe, though the unit is very easy to keep clean thanks to those shiny surfaces. We were also taken how high-end this appliance feels, even though it’s keenly priced.

Other options if you’re not taken with the Sage? We’re already big fans of the Instant Pot, the American tub of tech that allows you to make meals quickly, easily and all in one container. And, if you’re a skeptic and think that will result in a bowl of tasteless crud then think again. These appliances are really good at getting your cooking done, but they’re also brilliant at retaining taste and freshness.

• Best pressure cookers