5 kitchen appliances to help you get dinner out faster

A pressure cooker can help cut cooking time in half.  (iStock)

Are you trying to budget for a vacation or trying to eat healthily? One of the best shifts you can make in your daily life to help you accomplish these goals is dining at home. The price of eating out has skyrocketed in recent years and can be a major drag on achieving money and health goals. 

Still, the convenience of a take-out meal is sometimes too good to pass up—especially if you are cooking for hungry kids, too. The good news is that smart appliances today mean you can get dinner out in record time—even if someone forgot to defrost the chicken.

Here are five kitchen appliances that can help you get dinner out faster:

Slow cooker: $49.96  

Slow cooking is an efficient way to cook a meal. (Walmart)

Reaching for the slow cooker to get a meal done fast may sound counterintuitive, but use it to prepare meals in the morning that will be ready when you get home. This Hamilton Beach defrost-and-go, programmable slow cooker at Walmart has a unique defrost function that knows how to safely defrost and cook meat according to USDA food safety guidelines. Try the GreenPan Elite six-quart slow cooker, $190.22 at Home Depot, for a workhorse option that is easy to clean and looks great.

Pressure cooker: $89

Instant Pot's pressure cookers are highly reviewed. (Walmart)

Don't overlook the genius of a pressure cooker to help put a speedy meal on the table for dinner. Pressure cookers use pressure and steam to increase the temperature inside the pot, which can sometimes halve the cooking time of certain dishes. The Instant Pot Rio on Walmart gets top marks for its ease of use, offering seven cooking functions and four customizable presets to save your favorite cooking settings. Or try the Breville Fast Slow Pro Multi-Function Cooker, $299.95 on Amazon,  for a multi-use kitchen appliance that can pressure cook, slow cook, steam, sear, saute, and reduce

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Air fryer: on sale from $99.99

Original price:$129.95

Air fryers are easy to preheat and to clean. (Amazon)

Air fryers can help reduce the amount of oil used to cook food, and they are also more convenient to use than an oven. The Instant Vortex on Amazon is a six-quart air fryer that can broil, roast, bake, reheat, and dehydrate meals. Plus, this air fryer has six customizable programs for one-touch meals like wings, roasted vegetables, and cookies.

Another great option is the Typhur Dome, $499 at Typhur. This versatile 10-in-1 appliance is self-cleaning, and you can use an app to monitor and adjust cooking settings from your phone.

Food processor: $249.95

Cut down on prep time with a food processor. (Amazon)

A food processor can cut prep time. If you can chop and dice ingredients for dinner faster, you can serve dinner faster. The Cuisinart custom 14-cup food processor is powerful, with a large feed tube that can hold whole fruits and vegetables and a small feed tube and pusher for liquids and smaller ingredients. Cuisinart mini chopper, $40 at Macy's, is perfect for smaller jobs.

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Immersion Blender:$49.99

Try an immersion blender t cut down on clean time. (Amazon)

Immersion blenders, like this one from KitchenAid on Amazon, are time-saving tools. There's no need to transfer ingredients to the blender or dirty extra dishes. The KitchenAid immersion blender comes with a three-cup blending jar with a lid for individual blending jobs. This Hamilton Beach two-speed immersion blender, $29.96 at Walmart, comes with a wand and whisk.