Rice cooker, is it worth it?

[Kaido]

Well get rid of a dozen of instantpots. You will still have a dozen left.

No no, that's me not him lol

 

[Muse]

Well get rid of a dozen of instantpots. You will still have a dozen left.

Mofo, I have one only.

 

[Kaido]

I realize it's far less entertaining then a 5-page back and forth however allow me to sum this up with 2x Q&A:


Q: Do you (or anyone else) actually NEED a rice cooker?

A: Of course not.


Q: Do quality rice cookers do an excellent job at making rice?

A: Yes.


/thread

I think the late, great comedian George Carlin nailed it when he said "ya gotta wanna". Everything kind of eventually traces back to an arbitrary decision at some point. In this case:

1. Do you want to make rice at home?
2. If yes, then are you interested in using a gadget to make the process easier, more hands-off, and more consistent?
3. That's all folks!

Some people don't eat rice, some people get take-out rice, some people prefer to manually make their rice, some people prefer to auto-cook their rice. My view, for my situation, is:

1. 3 meals a day = 21 meals a week = over 1,000 meals per year
2. I enjoy cooking, but it's mostly a chore for me
3. Buuuuut I'd like to eat healthier, save money, hit my macros, etc., so cooking at home makes a lot of sense for me
4. Fuzzy-logic rice cookers & electronic pressure cookers do a great job is largely automating the process to help reduce the work & the mental burden of "ugh, I have to cook", no matter how simply the manual process is, because it's doesn't require a lot of babysitting
5. Not everyone cares about those things, so to each his own!

For me, part of it just boils down to an easier mental approach:

1. Rinse my rice in my rice-wash bowl
2. Pour in Instant Pot with the appropriate water ratio, press the button, let it do its thing, all done!

We can argue about it til the cows come home, but at the end of the day, like politics, it all boils down to personal preference. There's no right or wrong answer, just the one that you care about & the one you'll actually do, if that's something you want in your life consistently. I'm really grateful to have nice automated gadgets in my life like the Instant Pot & Sous Vide because instead of just window-shopping the idea of eating better, I actually do it because the tools are so accessible, both mentally & physically, which for me is kind of a big deal because I'm so scatter-brained & typically have good ideas with low execution, lol.

 

[sdifox]

Lol mea culpa

I cannot afford to have a pot on the stove just to cook rice. Taking up burner for no good reason.

 

[Kaido]

I have one only.

 

[Kaido]

By the way, I love how we can have a 5-page discussion thread about the merits of rice cookers on the Internet hahahah

 

[sdifox]

By the way, I love how we can have a 5-page discussion thread about the merits of rice cookers on the Internet hahahah

For the nth time at that. Not like I am holding a gun to everyone's head to buy a rice cooker.

 

[Muse]

View attachment 16091

Oh God! ... I do try to make do with less when possible, long as there's not much skin off my ass doing so. It's not just money at all, I have limited space, time too. Last couple months, I have set aside the byzantine AL pressure cooker I used for decades for a new SS 4L and now, the Duo60 6qt 7in1 IP, which I'm appreciating more every day. It was lonely and pouting on my counter for a month, sitting in front of my bread machine.

My IP is going to be my go-to rice cooker, I suppose. Look, I had a problem with condensation, excess humidity in my house during the colder months. This IP is a revelation for that. It seems that virtually no H2O leaks from it as long as I let it cool without venting! That in itself is a huge bonus for me.

Why would I need another IP? Maybe the 3qt would be better sometimes but I'd have to find a place for it. Yes, seems I can always find a place for anything, but... well, we'll see.

 

[Kaido]

Why would I need another IP? Maybe the 3qt would be better sometimes but I'd have to find a place for it. Yes, seems I can always find a place for anything, but... well, we'll see.

Nah, it's a bit of an inside ATOT joke, as I used to have 30+ appliances until I got the IP, haha! Needing more Instapots really depends on your cooking style & is not at all necessary for 99% of the people out there. Space-wise, I have a half-galley kitchen, which is very tiny. I keep my 6-quart IP & two slim upright Mellow sous vide units on my cooking countertop. I also have a 3qt & 6qt IP, as well as a jumbo 14qt version from another brand. I keep those in the basement on a shelf & grab them when I need them.

My current style of cooking is daily meal prep, meaning I make one meal a day, in a small batch, then freeze it. I use a combination of methods, but sometimes it's handy to have more than one IP available so you can do multiple things at the same time. For example, I've been going through a meatball phase for a few months now, and I can use all 3 IP's to make meatballs, veggies, and rice at the same time for meal-prep trays, then freeze those guys & have some ready-to-go microwave meals for cheap!

While I post a lot online, I'm usually away from home, babysitting computer installs, so my time at home is usually pretty limited. Technically, I could space out the cooking for multi-ingredient meal-prep trays, but sometimes I get home & I have like an hour before bedtime, so I just gotta bang out some food real quick. So it really depends on how you cook & what your available free time is. I really like coming home & being able to bang stuff out quickly as a chore instead of something to figure out.

That's also why I like my Mellow sous-vide unit...it has a chiller in it, so I can drop some meat directly from the freezer into it & then start cooking it later in the day, so like for my chili, I can come home, the steak is ready in the SV machine, I can chop the bacon into the IP to sizzle, sear the steak, chop it up, and then cook it all together in the IP for 18 minutes to get 6 quarts of slop ready to freeze into bricks. That way, my results are good-quality, my consistency is high, and my actual workload is literally reduces to mere minutes of hands-on time.

I use my meal-prep system to plan things out on a week by week basis, that way I have alarms that go off every day telling me what to cook, and I've already pre-selected the recipe and pre-purchased all of the ingredients I need from my shopping list, so most days, all I have to do is dump stuff into my IP or SV machines & let it do its thing. Super duper easy! Especially since I like to do smaller meals & snacks throughout the day (3 meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, 3 snacks - morning snack before breakfast, brunch snack, afternoon snack, plus dessert = 7 "meals" total)...that adds up to 49 meals a week or just over 2,500 meals a year, which is a stupidly large amount, but with this approach, it's a walk in the park!

 

[slayer202]

Your organization is admirable. How do you re-heat stuff, and do you think you lose much quality by doing so?

 

[Kaido]

Your organization is admirable. How do you re-heat stuff, and do you think you lose much quality by doing so?

My organizational approach looks ridiculously complex on the outside, but once you understand the checklist that drives it all, it's ridiculously easy lol. But that's for another post, haha! Despite talking about food endlessly online, I worry less & do less work than most people I know when it comes to cooking & meal-prep! As far as re-heating stuff goes, not many foods reheat perfectly, but generally if I can get it to be like 90% as good, then that's generally "good enough" when the hungry-mood strikes lol.

At home, I use an inverter microwave. Most microwaves only have one power setting and turn on/off quickly to simulate lower power levels; inverter models can actually adjust the power. Mine also has a pretty decent reheat sensor, so combined with actually being able to lower the temperature, your food doesn't come out all hot & gummy on the outside & cold on the inside. I have a review here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/comments/cmfu77

I have the large 2.2cf unit at home & the smaller 1.2cf unit at my office rental. If you plan on doing meal-prep & like warm food, it's definitely worth investing in a quality microwave oven. If you're on the road, they have a variety of options available. I reviewed some here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mealprep/comments/connv3/_/ewk4pjk

I use a HotLogic Mini (218F max) which is basically a hot pad that goes into your 12V plug in your car. My brother has a RoadPro (300F max), which is like a mini oven (also 12V) that can actually cook stuff, not just heat stuff up. Lately I've been using these special combo oven/microwave trays, which are unique because you can both bake them AND stick them in the microwave, so you're not limited on reheating choices. The downside is that they are a lot pricier than the standard plastic-only meal-prep containers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSu...d_some_dual_ovenmicrowavefriendly_disposable/

I use a special insulated lunchbox. They're not cheap, but they do have a lifetime warranty, and can fit your meals, drinks, protein shakes, and some other goodies. It uses slim packs with interior insulation to keep everything cold, and has both a top handle & shoulder strap:

Amazon.com: Meal Prep Lunch Box ISOBAG - Large Insulated 6 Meal Prep Bag/Cooler With 12 Containers, 3 Ice Packs & Shoulder Strap (Black) - MADE IN USA: Kitchen & Dining

Shop Isolator Fitness at the Amazon Storage & Organization store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Everyday low prices, save up to 50%.

www.amazon.com

I'm a big fan of nailing down my workflow so that I can just use it every day & not have to think about it, so my usable stack goes like this:

1. Alarms go off to remind me when to eat (I tend to run out the door & forget about breakfast, and work through lunch & forget to eat haha).
2. My lunchbox has chilled meals ready to eat cold or be reheated, and I either use a good microwave or a portable heater in my car.
3. I meal-prep using tools like the Instant Pot & Sous Vide machines.

The reheating thing was a bit tricky to figure out at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad. I use a toaster oven whenever possible (hence the dual oven/microwave trays), but mostly I just use a microwave, and tailor my meals to reheat well - stuff like the meatballs/veggies/rice above, or various types of burritos, and so on. There are some tricks you can do to help out the quality of the food, such as flash-freezing your meal-prep trays for a couple hours, then vac-sealing the whole tray in plastic, that way you never have to deal with freezer burn. Buying a better microwave helped out my situation a lot, because my old one didn't do nearly as good of a job. I've also learned little tricks like adding a splash of water to the frozen rice before reheating to help it be more moist.

So generally, I don't lose much quality when reheating, mostly thanks to (1) choosing foods that reheat well, (2) vac-sealing, & (3) using an inverter microwave. I'd say most meals are probably +/- 95% as good as the original meal using those three setups. I ended up investing in a deep freezer a few years ago & constantly keep it maxed out:

Freezer storage discussion thread

I have a thread over in H&F on meal prep. This got me going on the idea of freezer storage, OAMC (once-a-month-cooking), and other frozen ingredient & meal ideas: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/fyi-hefty-makes-tv-dinner-trays-convenient-bodybuilding-meal-containers.2336038/ I recently...

forums.anandtech.com

I need to get a second unit at some point, haha! This setup has not only saved me a truckload of money over the years, but also leveled-up the quality of my meals, because I'm not eating delicious crap all the time that I have to figure out in the moment - I'm eating delicious homemade food that I figure out ahead of time now, lol. Plus it's super nice to just grabbed prepared meals out of the freezer & go along my merry way, instead of having to figure out my food situation every. single. day.

 

[JujuFish]

[Thread reopened]

Q: Do you have room in your kitchen for a rice cooker?

A: Me... no!

Man, I totally understand this! I'd like a nice blender and maybe a mixer with some nice attachments, but I just don't have the space for it all. I do have an Instant Pot and my roommate has a rice cooker, though.

 

[Muse]

Man, I totally understand this! I'd like a nice blender and maybe a mixer with some nice attachments, but I just don't have the space for it all. I do have an Instant Pot and my roommate has a rice cooker, though.

A blender is something I won't do without. I use it to grind my coffee, make the occasional smoothie, have an attachment that grinds meat.

 

[sdifox]

A blender is something I won't do without. I use it to grind my coffee, make the occasional smoothie, have an attachment that grinds meat.

Also in the kitchen are a full sized fridge/freezer, full gas stove with oven, bread making machine, commercial microwave oven, toaster oven, instant pot and a couple of 301 disc CD players (stacked), a mini-stereo and two nice good-sized Yamaha bookshelf speakers. Gotta have that music! No dish washer!

wtf why do you have stacked cd changer in your kitchen? learn to use music server for crying out loud.

 

[Captante]

I could eat all 4 of those right now lol!

 

[Muse]

wtf why do you have stacked cd changer in your kitchen? learn to use music server for crying out loud.

Dude, why are you always so negative with regards to me, you're always on my case. Makes me wonder if I should blacklist your ass.

Music server has it's own issues. I'd need to have a computer humming all the time. With this I don't need that shit. besides, I have a ton of CD's. I'd have to rip them all to do that, time is not cheap.

I work at a radio station and have access to CDs. Ripping them to flac and accessing them is a level of complexity and PITA I don't need. These players feature CD Text, which is really cool and simple. Stop trying to get me to be down on myself, that's disgusting.

 

[sdifox]

Dude, why are you always so negative with regards to me, you're always on my case. Makes me wonder if I should blacklist your ass.

Music server has it's own issues. I'd need to have a computer humming all the time. With this I don't need that shit. besides, I have a ton of CD's. I'd have to rip them all to do that, time is not cheap.

I work at a radio station and have access to CDs. Ripping them to flac and accessing them is a level of complexity and PITA I don't need. These players feature CD Text, which is really cool and simple. Stop trying to get me to be down on myself, that's disgusting.

you are the one complaining about not having enough counter space, yet you got 2 cd changers stacked there... Tablet or rpi4 + ext usb hdd take up a lot less space than cd changers and you just control from smartphone.

It's your house, do whatever you want lol. and I shit on everyone. I am an equal opportunity prick.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm disappointed this long, old thread isn't primarily about hiring someone else to cook your rice to your liking.

 

[Muse]

you are the one complaining about not having enough counter space, yet you got 2 cd changers stacked there... Tablet or rpi4 + ext usb hdd take up a lot less space than cd changers and you just control from smartphone.

It's your house, do whatever you want lol. and I shit on everyone. I am an equal opportunity prick.

I'm not replacing my CD players with a goddamn rice cooker. I'm not "complaining," prick.

 

[sdifox]

I'm disappointed this long, old thread isn't primarily about hiring someone else to cook your rice to your liking.

why would you care if your serfs cook with rice cooker or pot?

 

[Scarpozzi]

why would you care if your serfs cook with rice cooker or pot?

My point is I thought the person cooking the rice was the rice cooker.

 

[sdifox]

My point is I thought the person cooking the rice was the rice cooker.

There is an appliance called rice cooker you know...

Small restaurant size cooker

Town RM-55N-R Natural Gas 110 Cup (55 Cup Raw) Gas Rice Cooker and Warmer

Making top-quality, delicious rice is a breeze with this Town RM-55N-R natural gas 55 cup rice cooker and warmer! Able to cook 55 cups of rice in just 22 minutes with a natural gas connection, this cooker has a cooked rice capacity of 110 cups and is designed to meet demands in your busy...

www.webstaurantstore.com

 

[DigDog]

my reminder that i have a redonkulous Zorushi clone that cost me $200 and while it makes pretty darn good rice and a swanky beeping sound when done, your run of the mill $30 cooker will do just as well.