Reddit reviews Aroma Housewares ARC-743-1NGR 6-Cup (Cooked) (3-Cup UNCOOKED) Pot Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer,Red

Yes! I have this rice cooker for reference. I do about a cup of steel cut oats, any salt/cinnamon/fruit/whatever I'm adding, then fill with water almost to the top. Stir it up, turn it on, and check back when the indicator says it's done (usually about 30 minutes). Stirring periodically while it's cooking helps, but isn't absolutely necessary.

OK, so it has some startup costs due to it needing a rice cooker and crock pot plus Quinoa is expensive if you buy it in smaller amounts, but you're a bachelor so it's likely you've got a little extra money.

A rice cooker is going to be an important addition to your cooking tools because fuck using the stove and burning shit or having to stand over your cooking. It's easy to use, easy to clean, and it's pretty much automatic, you fill it up, plug it in, flip it to on...and blam that shit's cooking. When if flips itself to off, your rice or quinoa will be done.

A big ass crock pot will serve as the main cooking device for your meals. Again, screw the stove, you don't want to have to stand over the damn thing...pour stuff into this bitch flip it on and go to work on what you'd rather be doing. The bowl comes out and goes right into the dishwasher. I'd have starved to death without a slow cooker when I was a bachelor. As you're making meals for several days here...your mother's little 5 quart version isn't going to cut it, spend the 35 bucks and get this one. The reason you aren't buying a bigger one...they don't make one bigger that isn't 200 bucks.

Quinoa This stuff becomes your "rice" except that it's MUCH better for you than rice. If you're poor or don't care all that much about nutritional value, then by all means, buy rice. But seriously...25 pounds of dry quinoa will last you a long fucking time. Get a big tupperware container, pour the quinoa into it, and leave a 1 cup measuring cup in it. If you're looking to cut some costs but still get some of the nutritional value, mix it half and half in your tupperware so you don't have to mess with it when you're making the meals. The water to food mix is the same for both, 2 cups water, 1 cup quinoa (or NON instant rice).

Meat...buy whatever is on a good sale, never pay more than 3.99 per pound for beef (we aren't buying steaks, look for top or bottom round and buy what's on sale, after 12 hours in a crock pot you won't be able to tell a filet from rump roast), or 1.99 per pound for chicken, pork, or 80/20 ground beef (for the love of your colon don't go worse than 80/20.) Shop the sales, have your mother or sister or grandfather or thrifty co-worker look at the sales fliers and find coupons if you don't have time. Buy in bulk, but freeze in smaller quantities ~ 2 pounds each in generic 1 quart FREEZER bags, not the cheap sandwich ones or you get freezer burn. I buy the Walmart brand freezer bags in boxes of like 100 and they're fine.

My wife still laughs and says she can always tell when I find good sales because when I do, I revert to bachelor shopping style. Thursday I came home with 12 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Stop and Shop because they were on SUPER cheap sale as they were getting close (3 days) to expiration date, they were a buck a pound, I bought as much as I figured I could fit in my freezer.

Vegetables. This is where you're going to get a good chunk of your nutritional kick. When I was a bachelor I would go to the grocery store on Sunday morning and hit the "it won't last much longer" shelf in the produce aisle. I would buy pretty much whatever vegetables they had if I could chop them and toss them into the crock pot, and because I was going to start cooking it in like an hour, I didn't give a shit that it wasn't going to last another 5 days. I found that I was eating a ton of shit I had never heard of, but it was almost always delicious and amazingly more nutritious than eating from a box.

Vegetables that you should always keep on hand are onions, whole carrots, sweet potatoes, and turnips. They're all cheap regardless of sale, they last a long time if stored properly too. I would buy 10 pound bags of onions, 5 pound bags of carrots, for sweet potatoes and turnips I just made sure I always had like 5-10 pounds. To keep these lasting a long time, get a wire cart thing from Staples or Walmart for like 20 bucks, the wire mesh keeps them open to the air and dry, to help prevent rot. It's also on wheels so if the onions make a mess you can move it and just vacuum under it plus you can drag it over to the kitchen with you when you cook.

To make your meals, you start this the night before you want to eat.
Take out 2 beers, start drinking one, pour the other into the bottom of the crock pot.
Cube your meat (or if it's still frozen then fuck it toss it in whole,) chop your vegetables and add both to the crock pot at about a 1 to 1 portion ratio, if the meat is frozen pack the vegetables around it evenly, if you remembered to thaw the meat and cube it (which will improve your meal quality) then mix them in the crock pot. Season this any way you like. I buy spices cheap from Atlantic Spice Company as they're better quality and a lot less money than grocery store spices. I like the smoky meat flavor so I also add a capful of liquid smoke or toss it with Taco Seasoning once in a while, regardless this is up to you, but when in doubt, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper. Once you've got like 2 pounds of meat and 2 pounds of vegetables packed into your crock pot, put it on low then walk away. I normally started mine at like 8-10pm.

About 30 minutes before you want dinner, toss 2 cups of quinoa into the rice cooker with 4 cups of water along with some salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder. Push the cooking thing down on your rice cooker and walk away. If you were cooking a frozen chunk of meat instead of cubed meat, take this time to shred the fuck out of it inside of the crock pot, no need to mess up any more plates or anything, use a fork and a big ass knife and get the meat evenly shredded to like a pulled pork consistency, then stir the vegetables into it.

When it pops up then take a ladle of the meat and vegetable mix over a scoop of your quinoa and enjoy a badass meal. You'll find that you can fill tupperware containers with the quinoa and the meat/vegetable mix and freeze them or toss them into the fridge for lunches/dinners throughout the week. I would often freeze half of mine and set the other half in the fridge for lunches, the frozen ones would get rotated out so I wasn't eating the same thing lunch and dinner 5 nights a week. If you freeze them, at least date them. I never bothered to label what it was other than that, but they keep like 6 months in the freezer and it's nice to have a mix of different meals.

Look into a rice cooker, they don't have an open heat source so they should be allowed. I can't recommend them enough. You can find one for about $20 online and then you'll be able to cook rice, beans, pasta, oatmeal, etc (all ridiculously cheap options).

Here's the one I recommend

It comes with a steamer so you'll be able to stream food too, opening up a ton more options.

I have a $16 rice cooker from Aroma. Best investment ever. You put rice and some water in and let it cook. You just need to watch for when it turns from cooking to warm because if you leave in there to long it will brown.

Skip to 4 minutes and John Stewart will yell at you.

Have you considered getting an actual rice cooker? I don't know if it is in your budget but I have used an inexpensive one for many years and they work very well and are versatile. I cook most of my meals in the rice cooker and toaster oven for a variety of reasons. One of my go-to meals is rice in the bowl of the cooker and a handful of frozen veggies and frozen salmon in the steamer tray on the top. Everything comes out perfectly every time, uses very little electricity, only a few dishes to wash, and it doesn't heat up my home as much as the stove/oven does.

This is the one I've been using for the last 5-6yrs:

http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-6-Cup-Cooked-Cooker-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1425857837&sr=1-3

Maybe it is an option for you?

If "easy recipe" can include buying some mixed ingredients ahead of time, here are a couple of my favorites.

1. Mini Tacos - see my recipe here
   
2. Stir Fry - (a) Make some rice. A rice cooker makes this extra easy. Recently bought this one for $17 and love it. (b) Throw tofu and mixed veggies in a pan (no oil needed). For tofu I like firm, diced. For mixed veggies, Trader Joe's sells fresh asian stir fry veggies--a huge portion for maybe $4. (c) Toss in some sauce. I've been mixing the following together: Soy Vay's Hoisin Garlic, lime juice, fresh minced or dried/ground ginger, fresh minced or dried/ground garlic, honey, red pepper flakes. (d) Put all three parts--tofu, veggies, sauce--on high heat until veggies cook through. (e) Pour cooked mix over rice.

This was my list for a previous, similar post -

I would buy the following items in this order, if it were my $80:

1. A $29 Victorinox Chef's Knife
   
   
   
2. A good cutting board for $12-15
   
   
   
3. A cast iron pan for $15-$20
   
   
4. A utensil set of some kind for $15-20
   
   
   
   From there I'd get a solid set of pots and pans and/or a dutch oven. A rice cooker also is pretty helpful. I use mine constantly. Good luck!

A rice cooker/food steamer

Would you like a falafel with that?

I use Zero and Lose It apps. I’ve seen others using MyFitnessPal and the LIFE app, and I’m pretty sure they’re all reasonably comparable.

If your campus cafeteria uses SYSCO or a similar food distribution company, you will be able to look up the calories of many of the foods just through Lose It, MyFitnessPal, or tracking apps/nutrition websites, etc. I know it may be embarrassing to be “that person” carrying around a food scale but it’s vital to learn what food servings look like and weigh. There are SO many posts from people who are doing IF, saying they’re eating below their TDEE, eating lower carb/Keto, etc and confused why they aren’t seeing results and it’s often bc they aren’t weighing their food and they’re overestimating portion sizes.

Bulk up on vegetables and dark leafy greens, skip the salad dressing and either use your own or get used to a squeeze of citrus or a splash of vinegar or use wet ingredients in place of dressing (guacamole or cottage cheese for example). If you’re able to, get an instant pot or crockpot, you can control exactly what’s in your meals. You can even make a reasonable amount of food just from rice makers with steam baskets like this one.

Buy this

You can cook the rice in the cooker and the soaked beans in the steamer in like 10 minutes DINNER IS READY. If you're feeling rich, add cheddar cheese.

http://smile.amazon.com/Aroma-6-Cup-Cooked-Cooker-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1413729834&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=rice+cooker

It's $15, that's the price of what? like five packs of instant rice? just buy one. If you don't like it then throw it away. It's not like you're making a huge investment here.

That's the one I use and it cooks just fine, there are certainly better cookers on the market but if you're on the fence what's $15 to try something out?

I need a rice cooker. You see, my boyfriend was incapable of making anything that wasn't in a microwave, so I showed him how to make instant rice one day. Mistake. Apparently he can't keep it in the pot when he stirs. I keep finding rice grains in the stove, on the counter top, all over the floor... its a mess. I figure with a rice cooker it might be somewhat more contained.

and I want to soak in a hot tub. badly.

Not so; I've had this one for a year. It's awesome.

I bought my cheapy old reliable rice cooker for just about $15 in a local True Value store (kinda like Harbor Freight/OceanStateJobLot but for appliances housewares etc,) and it's not fancy but I've had it for 2 years and it's still going strong. It makes pretty good rice, though I am just as used to making good rice on the stove it is just easier to have 1 burner free if I need it. Rice doing its own thing off to the side.

I've only used plastic or wooden utensils in my rice cooker pot and wash it gently after a soak, with a soft sponge. Basically never scratching it if I can help it, and it's held up very well.

I live in a very poor household, believe you me, but there may come a month where you do find yourself with an extra $15 in your wallet. Instead of buying those few coffees, one CD a month, 2 six packs of beer, whatever your vice; invest in getting yourself some things that make life seem more normal once in a while. Things that keep you well fed, well rested, and able to find transportation should never be looked over ;)

lol i love the imaginary friend, maybe we have the same imaginary friend O_O

anyways could i say two things? because i feel bad about entering with a high priced item

but the relatively high priced item that would change my life would be this mini fridge because i live with 7 other people and the stuff that i buy ALWAYS gets eaten before i can eat it like i'll buy food to eat for work and it'll be eaten or i'll buy like stuff to drink and it'll be gone before i can even drink it so in the long run it would probably save me money and frustrations because this cycle makes me angry xD

the not so crazy item would probably be this cooker because i'm terrible at cooking but this seems really simple and probably a healthier way to eat then going out all the time so hopefully with that i can maybe eat better and eat at home more often.

:3

If you're looking for something pre-packaged and healthy, I feel like you might have a difficult time. As far as something simple goes, frozen fish is a favorite of mine. Thaws in five minutes, cooks about in about the same time, and you can throw it on some rice. Or into a taco.

My sister-in-law is also a fan of home made sushi, and it really isn't hard. Just some avocado and a little bit of that fish you've cooked up. Light mayo and sriracha make a great sauce.

Speaking of which, this is why I want this rice cooker. I myself have been looking to eat healthier and can't cook rice for the life of me. It's a quick and easy thing and you can set your rice concoction to cook for the day so you have a meal to come home to as well.

I for one know that if I had rice on the ready at all times, I would spend less money eating fast food.

Also wraps! Spinach or pumpernickel with turkey...and maybe some alfalfa...oh god I'm hungry.

Get rice cooker/steamer. Basically It's just a rice cooker but it has a steamer pan as well. I use it to cook rice, chicken, and broccoli all-in-one. Less dishes and pretty much the "set it and forget it". I happened to get an extra steam tray for mine because my roommate left it with me.

Also, near apartments, I noticed that when my neighbors move out at the end of their lease (most people are Aug, Sept year leases so the time is now) They dump all their unwanted stuff near the dumpster. So far I scored a few decorative boxes, a couch, a couple desks, a couple lamps 2 suitcases and a really nice big gym bag, a few shelves, 2 shoe racks... You get the idea. For me, no shame in dumpster diving! D: haha.


Also cruise on craigslist, you'll come across super needy people selling awesome stuff, or angry girlfriends selling their BF's xBox, TV, etc


If you wanted to get an awesome TV (don't know if you have the money, but this happened to me), Go to Best Buy, get one of the clearance TVs. Most times they are clearance b/c they are open box returns. Return policy needs the TV to be back in 15 days. My TV had the last owners Netflix logged in. And her Pandora (good music taste). But yeah... That was cool.

¿Básica como esta? https://www.amazon.com.mx/Aroma-ARC-743-1NGR-Arrocera/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1535909478&sr=8-5&keywords=arrocera+aroma

I think I have the same cooker. Is it this?

I made the decision to stay at home for the spring before returning back to Boston for school. XD

flabbergasted

Edit: Oppsie forgot to add a link. Maybe something that'll help me move back in. Rice cooker!

this rice cooker is 5 bucks more but has better reviews (the Black Decker seems to have longevity problems as of late) http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Arc-743-1Ngr-Uncooked-Cooked-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1375161090&sr=1-2&keywords=rice+cooker

Okay, I thought I did this already, but I guess I didn't LOL My standard housewarming first place gift is a rice cooker and a spice rack. Crockpots are awesome as everyone says. Just make sure it has the removable crock and same thing if you go for a Foreman Grill type implement or Waffle Iron, make sure that the plates are removable. OH and don't forget a plunger LOLOL

Here is a cheap one on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057XGM5W

From my experience, that won't cook rice anywhere near as well as an expensive one.

You can often get different types of fish fairly cheap. I know I can often find frozen salmon for $5-6 USD/lb. Its not as cheap as chicken, but if you just have one fillet(~1/4 lb) it stretches. You can dress fish up many different ways as well. I think it might help if you narrow down the type of food you like.

One useful food "hack" that I used a lot in college is a rice cooker with attached steamer, such as this one.

Its quite useful for fast cooking and you can make a variety of meals quite easily in it.

Chopped onions, peppers and tomatos + rice, broth and spices = spanish rice. Throw a piece of fish in the steamer on top, add a little lemon and you have a nice meal.

You can do rice and beans as well. I have even used it to make pasta. If you get a smaller one, you can just make single portions and eat out of the cooking vessel after you remove it.

If you can point me toward what kind of food you like, I can perhaps be more helpful.

get yourself a Rice cooker. Start rice before going to class, return to hot rice. The pot will store leftover rice in a fridge and one pot should be good for 4+ meals.

At the grocery store get cans of beans (look for them on sale), a can of Ro-Tel, a rotisserie chicken, tortillas and cheese. You can make 1,000,000,000 burritos or soft tacos just using a spon of this or that and 30 seconds in a microwave.

Is this closed already? If not, we could really use This item since rice is a staple and only one person knows how to make it and she's often not home or asleep. Here's the wishlist:

An air gun is a fun gift for a young guy. It's not something you would buy yourself, but they're fun at parties.

Alternatively, you could buy him something for the house, since he just got his own place. A rice cooker is super handy and easy, especially if you don't cook well/often.

I got this rice cooker recently: http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Arc-743-1Ngr-Uncooked-Cooked-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370856164&sr=8-2&keywords=rice+cooker

It'll help you stay frugal by making rice ridiculously easy to cook. My next frugal'ish purchase is a water filter. I tend to drink a lot of canned beverages, because I keep them cold and don't like city water (grew up drinking well water). With a water filter pitcher, I can keep it filled up in my fridge and drink on that all day, saving me .25$ a can I've been paying.

buy a rice cooker.

buy lots of rice. brown is better for you but get a variety.

buy lots of veggies to put in the tray at the top.

put rice and water in the rice cooker.

put veggies in the steamer.

plug rice cooker in and flip switch to 'cook.'

in like 20 minutes you've got healthy rice and veggies.

i've been making a week's worth of lunches every sunday evening using the rice cooker and making salad-in-a-mason-jar.

I honestly have no idea why it's happening! I thought it was that I was overfilling the pot (rated for 6 cups), but really all I cook at once is 8 oz uncooked brown rice in 16 oz water which isn't very much. Then maybe I think it's getting old, but honestly I don't know how to fix that. If yours works then keep chugging away, haha 😅

Is this the style you have? This one is the model I got:
https://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Housewares-6-Cup-Cooker-Steamer/dp/B0057XGM5W

This one from amazon. I would recommend you guys not buy it. I'm planning to change to a different model (at least) once this stops dead.

Something you may want to consider to make cooking more convenient, get a rice cooker/steamer just be sure you get one that has a steamer basket. they're only about $20 and takes up very little space even less than a small microwave. you just need a power outlet and some water. Obviously don't use it to make rice. I have one of these and it's great for steaming meat and vegetables.

For rice, look for a short or medium grain rice. Long grain rice is what's typically served at chinese restauraunts and doesn't have the sticky texture that shorter grain rice has. In the US, it's much cheaper to get California-grown rice than getting Japanese imported rice. Also look at Korean brands of rice as they tend to be similar to Japanese rice. Many brands offer small bags (5 pounds or less) so you can try them and see what you like best and is also wallet friendly.

For a rice cooker, you can get away a basic $20 rice cooker. It won't make the best rice in the world, but it'll be tolerable if you want to save up for a high-end rice cooker.

Some high-end brands of rice cookers are Zojirushi, Tiger, Panasonic, and Cuckoo. The price tiers are similar across the brands and each tier incorporates more/different technologies. The levels will be basic (mostly just cook and warm settings), fuzzy logic/micom, neuro fuzzy logic, induction heating, pressure cooking. Some brands also have unique features like 'diamond coated cooking bowl' and they seem to be more gimmicky than anything else. Price ranges are ~$100 - micom, ~$150 - neuro fuzzy logic, ~$250 induction heating or pressure cooking, >$350 induction heating and pressure cooking. I have a Zojirushi rice cooker that I bought 3 years ago and still works perfect.

Rice cooker cup size will affect price too. Also, cheap rice cookers measure in cooked cups where more expensive models measure in uncooked cups. More expensive does not equal faster cooking (until you reach the pressure cooker level). A $20 rice cooker will cook rice in about half an hour, where a $250 induction heating rice cooker will take >45 minutes. The added time is because it includes soaking time for the rice and it operates at varying temperature levels during cooking, where the $20 rice cooker would just boil it the entire time.

Since this apparently came from my comment like mine on the ramen thread I though I would add a few more details.

First a simple pot style rice cooker works just fine and gets more use in my house than my more expensive options.

Now visit a few Asian, Latino, and Middle Eastern markets in your area to come prices and find one you like.

First buy yourself a big ass bag of rice(15 lb+). Short grain white rice will be the most flexible to begin with but basmati, jasmine, brown etc will add variety down the road.

Of now for easy ass beans and rice dinner. No need to soak your dry beansbut expect them to need to simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Start your beans cooking and about a hour later start your rice.

Slice up a small onion

Smash up a clove of garlic

Throw some olive oil or butter into a HOT pan.

Throw the onions and garlic into the pan and cook on low to medium to soften both and create some flavor.

Now add a .5 to 1 packet of Sazon your bought at the Latino market and stir till you get a paste. Now you have a cheap sofrito. Turn of heat and wait add to your pot of beans for the last 30 minutes of simmering.

When both are done throw those beans on rice and enjoy. Keep some hot sauce nearby for those that want it.

Need a protein? Pork shoulder is your way to go. Get. 5-10 lb pork shoulder for less than $1 per lb and a slow cooker and cook that shit on low for 8-12 hours. Now divide that shit in portions and freeze. From there you can make Kalua Pork, carnitas, pork and beans, Cuban sandwiches, pork curry, or Puerto Rican Pernil.

Cheers!