(Part 3) Top products from r/EatCheapAndHealthy

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.

1. An Instant Pot above everything else. Because it cooks food super fast even for fall off the bone tenderness. And is really easy to clean and operate.
   
   
2. Buy microwavable steamer bags. You want to cook potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, or just about any veggie? Cut it into chunks, shove it into a steamer bag with a sprinkle of water, seal it, and microwave it for 3-4 minutes, and you have perfectly cooked veggies. No mess to clean up, and you can't get faster than this. Even if you want to sautee or stir fry veggies, it is often a good idea to parboil or part-cook the veggies in a steamer bag, and then just get your pan ripping hot, add oil, and toss the half cooked veggies for a minute, with spices and herbs.
   
   
3. Meal prep on weekends. The biggest pain of cooking is actually in the prepping and the cleaning up after. Prepping or "mise en place" can also be done on the weekends where you can chop all your veggies and put them in airtight containers. Cooking then becomes super easy because everything is chopped up and ready to go. I chop my onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, cilantro, bell peppers, carrots other veggies like cauliflower or broccoli on Sundays. Buy a bunch of mid-sized airtight storage containers and store your mise en place in that.
   
   
4. For the weekend meal prepping, the chopping gets tedious. I've been experimenting with various labor saving devices. A mandoline works really well for large scale chopping. You can slice everything in a mandoline and then fine dice the slices into really small dice. Or keep them as slices. But this onion chopper is super useful too. It will dice an onion in seconds. I also use it to dice bell peppers and tomatoes.
   
   
5. Buy a box of peeled garlic and freeze it. When you need garlic, just take out a few cloves of the peeled frozen garlic and chop it directly. Bonus is that frozen garlic doesn't stick to the knife like fresh garlic. And frozen garlic tastes exactly like fresh garlic so there's no loss of flavor either.
   
   
6. Buy a handheld stick blender. It comes in super handy to make sauces and soups. Buy one that has a reasonably powerful motor. i have a 500W overkill one but 200W should also be fine.
   
   
7. Buy an tabletop toaster oven, not a toaster. A toaster oven is super super versatile. It takes only a few minutes to preheat to 350F or 400F if you need to use it as an oven. It also works great to reheat pizza and fried chicken. And of course, it will toast.
   
   
8. People tend to get overly fussy and pendantic over knives. I say this as someone who has close to 10 knives. Look, you can go the whole shebang and get a honing rod and whetstones and expensive knives and all that. But the truth is that you need a chef knife (240mm ideally), a smaller utility knife (180mm), a paring knife, and a good peeler. And you need to keep the knives fairly sharp at all times. And you can do this buy buying a popular recommended value for money knife like Victorinox Fibrox or any other. My favorite is a Richmond Artifex gyuto made with AEBL steel from ChefKnivesToGo. But you can buy any knife that you find comfortable in your hands. And if you're not going to geek out on knives but use it as a tool, just get a $5 knife sharpener like this one and ignore the honing steel and sharpening stone recommendations. It does the job fairly fine and takes seconds to keep the knife reasonably sharp.

Find someone to teach you the basics of preparing food. Mom, dad, grandma whoever. Tell them you need to learn the basics. How to know when stuffs done, how to cut up the food etc.

A simple, easy meal to make is to just cut up a bunch of veggies, put them in a skillet with some meat and fry it up. Just the other day I made a meal by chopping up some potatoes, red peppers, onions and bratwurst. Seasoned it with a bit of this stuff and it came out great. Easy and fairly quick.

Another good option is eggs. I know you said you aren't in to breakfast, but there's no reason you can't have eggs for dinner. Learn to make scrambled eggs, add in some minced peppers or onions and cheese for flavor.

Canned soup is a good one too.

I will note though. Almost any time you fry something in a skillet you need to have some kind of oil on the skillet (butter, vegetable oil etc.), keeps the food from sticking and burning at the bottom.

Seasoning might seem like an unnecessary expense to someone like you with such a small budget, but trust me, a little bit of seasoning can make a mediocre meal a great one, and if you are conservative with it a small amount can last for a long time. Salt and pepper are oblivious but that stuff I linked too up there is great imo and you can put it on almost anything, Mac and cheese, burgers, eggs, pasta pretty much anything you might put salt and pepper on, it's a good option for a beginner.

CHICKEN & BROCCOLI (or Beef & Broccoli)

Here's a recipe for beef & broccoli (but works for chicken & broccoli too). Considering it's essentially protein, broccoli, and rice with the barest of flavorings, I consider this clean eating.

The only thing you need to know is that the Chinese have a technique to make protein have a more velvet mouthfeel. It's called "velveting". That's what the marinade is about.

Marinade: (For the protein)

• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
  
• 1 teaspoon mirin
  
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil (I leave this out but if you like sesame oil, add it)
  
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  
• dash of pepper
  
  Mix together and rub into the protein with your hands. It's easiest that way. Wait at least 15 minutes. After you do this a few times you'll realize the proportions here don't really matter all that much. I just eyeball it now and make it a little wetter than you'll find this to be. Either way there's not much difference in the final product. In other words, as long as you're reasonably close to this part of the recipe, it'll turn out fine.
  
  Sauce:
  
  
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil (I also leave this out)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  
• 4 tablespoons water
  
  How to Cook Everything:
  
  

1. Do you have a rice cooker? If yes, make rice. If no, make rice. It's just more finicky without it. But seriously, consider a rice cooker. I like jasmine rice. They make a brown jasmine rice too. If you have a smart rice cooker, try that. Otherwise, stick with the white stuff. (Unless you like/prefer brown rice, then go crazy.)
   
2. After the meat has been in the marinade for at least 15 minutes, cook in a little vegetable oil, preferably in a wok. You may want to work in 2 batches so you can get better browning on the meat. After the meat is cooked, remove to a plate.
   
3. Chop up some broccoli and microwave it for 4-5 minutes until tender. Too much and it'll get limp and dumb. Too little and it'll be too crunchy. I usually microwave my broccoli with a little water in the container and with a lid. That way it steams up nice. If you don't have a microwave, steam on the stove top.
   
4. If you haven't burned anything to the bottom of the wok/pan when cooking your protein, go ahead and add a little more oil, a few minced cloves of garlic, some grated or finely chopped ginger (I recommend using one of these), and red pepper flakes (or break open some dried bird eye chilis if you have them). Adjust to your heat preference. I like mine with a fair amount of heat in it. (If you did burn something, wash the wok/pan out first and start clean.) Add all three to the oil and cook for 30ish seconds until fragrant. Add the protein back to the pan. Add the cooked broccoli. Add the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil. Serve over rice. Note: There won't be a lot of sauce. It'll coat everything but there won't be a lot of extra. That's because the dish isn't meant to be saucy.
   
   Anyway, try that. It's phenomenal. Personally, I buy sirloin and slice it to make beef and broccoli. But chicken works really well too.

I purchased this Cooks Standard set 4 years ago for $225 and I've been loving it. No need to worry about using metal or scrubbing hard. I do occasionally use Bar Keepers Friend to polish up the pans for a brand-new look.

If you don't want this brand/set specifically, for sure get at least tri-ply like already mentioned. I think metal pans (vs non-stick coating) are better for all around cooking. Sure, you need to use more oil/butter in your cooking, but moderate amounts of fat are important in a diet. Its highly processed, added sugars, and excess salt you need to worry about.

For when I needed a non-stick, like for eggs, I picked up this T-fal and the non-stick is fantastic, even after a few years of careful use.

I also have a Lodge cast iron dutch oven set which is great for when I use it, but I find it difficult to use effectively. Perhaps I'm just not using the proper techniques, so I don't get much use of it... but I do love to use it when I get around to it. Learning proper care for cast iron is essential - read up before you use (and possibly ruin!)

My honest opinion: If you can read, you can cook. Literally. Basic cooking is simply reading instructions and following them. Once your comfortable with how things taste together, timing, and what spices taste like, then you can move on to more advanced dishes.

I think a fun part of learning to cook is gearing up. Since most people here will give you a grocery list, I'll give you a list of helpful items that I use daily.

• 1 large, sharp kitchen knife and basic sharpener
  
  The knife if a bit on the pricey side, but trust me when I tell you it's worth it. You only need 1 and as long as you hand wash and dry regularly, it can last forever. Sharp knives won't cut you as often as a dull knife that sometimes slips.
  
  
• crock pot. This is good because it doesn't require any sort of culinary skills. Mostly just mix and wait.
  
  
• Liquid Measuring cup
  
  
• Dry measuring cups
  
  
• Flat spatula
  
  
• Other spatula (for stirring and wiping out sauces/batter/etc.)
  
  
• Tongs
  
  
• Very basic non-stick pots and pans I have a cheap set I bought from Costco that has lasted me 8 years and counting. Be sure to ALWAYS use wood or plastic utensils with non-stick or you risk scratching the non-stick surface and fucking it all up.
  
  
• Wooden Utensils These are nice because you can leave them in a pot of sauce and not worry about them expelling chemicals or melting.
  
  
• Also a holder for your kitchen items
  
  I assume you have basic dishware and silverware, so I've only included common cooking items.
  
  Hope this helps! I'll update if I can think of anything else you'll need.

This book brought me from making inedible soups (literally I would have to throw them out) to making awesome soup. https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Vegetarian-Meatless/dp/0764524836

There's a page about how to freestyle your own soup. The basic is start with a fat (like olive oil) and add aromatics (like garlic), and cook until it smells good. Then add vegetables and liquid (I'm forgetting which order the author recommended but it would probably be fine either way). He has lots of suggestions for how to get wild with different ingredients, and there's even an exciting page about how adding cabbage at different points in the cooking process can change the soup.

Also, treat yourself to an immersion blender. Makes vegan soups taste like they are full of butter and cream. (Also super handy for salad dressing recipes!)

There are definitely plenty of vegetarian meals out there for slowcookers. You can get a basic one pretty cheaply, and if you wait for Black Friday (or Cyber Monday) you can usually get a really nice one for under $20 too.

I use this one, and have been really happy with it. We've only got 2 adults and one toddler in my family, but this cooker does a good job with smaller meals and still gives me the flexibility to cook massive meals with lots of leftovers or feed 8-10 people when we have company.

As someone else has mentioned, you don't even need a slowcooker for most slowcooker recipes. Just about any of them can be modified for the stove or the oven. You can't really beat the convenience of tossing a few things into the pot in the morning and coming home to a ready meal, though. :)

Someone else made this recommendation so here is my two sense on the same knife.. this knife is AMAZING and will easily do everything you could ask for and more with a great price, I hope it works for you like it has for me.

//




Wusthof Pro Cook's Knife, 8-Inch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008GRUNOC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_iWWYAbKRZX22H

For breakfast, get a microwave egg cooker like this one or this one if you want more than two, and then buy the following at Costco: eggs, cheese slices, microwaveable bacon, and English muffins. Toast muffin(s), nuke bacon 45 - 60 seconds depending on your microwave, and nuke eggs for 50 or so seconds. Layer together with cheese. Voila! Delicious breakfast sandwich in under 5 minutes.

Edit to say: For convenience type items, I really like their microwaveable quiches. They're a four pack of a couple different kinds and they turn out pretty well in the microwave.

I picked up one of these "Japanese Washing Bottom Drainers" rice strainers on the cheap and it is DEFINITELY worth the coin to strain rice and quinoa. It's not metal so you won't run the risk of chipping away at the hulls of the grain if you get playful with the washing.

No affiliate link above, just good vibes for good grains :)

https://smile.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounces/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1540237328&sr=8-3&keywords=butter%2Bchicken&th=1

I like keeping this on hand for a super easy weeknight dinner plus lunches. I'll add chicken thighs, chick peas, onions, and spinach and season to taste.

Another one I like is this chicken and biscuits by tasty https://tasty.co/recipe/chicken-biscuits-bake. Delicious during the winter but not the healthiest meal. I just bake the biscuits while making it instead of they're way.

I'll keep a bag of frozen stir fry veggies and chicken thighs for chicken stir fry and rice or this stewed chicken https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/83421/trinidad-stewed-chicken/. Drumsticks are great in this recipe too and are cheaper too. Adding a carribean hot sauce/spices to this one helps a ton too over just red pepper flakes.

Zojirushi Bento Box

Trust me. This will change your eating experience at work. They make great thermos type coffee mugs as well. The quality is great.

If you love popcorn, get one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Wabash-Valley-Farms-Whirley-Pop-Stovetop/dp/B00004SU35

Cooks popcorn amazing and you don't have to use much oil at all! I use coconut oil and sprinkle on some nutritional yeast after cooking, very good popcorn!

Two things have helped me, well maybe 3. I always add a little dashi or stock. I have learned that some rice is better than others and I really like Sukoyaka Genmai, and after years and years of no rice cooker and crappy rice cookers I got a good one and it changed my life - I like the Zojirushi ones with the fuzzy logic like this one. Now brown rice is an absolute treat, and since it takes longer to cook I can program the rice cooker to have it done when I need it after work.

I love dry roasted edamame. It goes for $2 a bag by me, if you don't want to buy online, but the Amazon price is really good. It's crunchy and just a little salty, and a handful or two keeps me full for a while. They have a wasabi flavor, as well.

If you want to try a premix of spice- Golden Curry Sauce mix works great in a slow cooker.
https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Curry-Sauce-Mix-8-4-Ounce/dp/B0011UGYLM?th=1

Link just for reference, you can find it at the supermarket probably cheaper.

Also don't forget to check out /r/slowcooking for great crockpot recipes.

Here is the one I have:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001AO2PXK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1374773312&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY190
It's kind of expensive but you could get a cheaper version without a timer and meat probe.
I like it because it has a timer that will cut the pot over to "warm" after however many hours you set it for. I am at work or commuting 11 hours a day so I need that, but you may not if you're not gone longer than 5-6 hours.
I also like that it has a meat probe. Sometimes I cook a whole chicken in it and set it to cut to "warm" once the chicken is at 165 degrees. Hope that helps!

Dry Roasted Edamame.

20$ for 12 large packs on Amazon. Free shipping with Prime.

Super packed with protein and fiber. Only 500 calories per bag. I usually eat half a bag if I have some crazy munchies. They are super tasty and can be bought with different flavors. I prefer the lightly salted to keep the sodium levels lower.

If you can get your hands on Japanese curry cubes (Amazon sells it too but at a high markup https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Curry-Sauce-Mix-8-4-Ounce/dp/B0011UGYLM ,) this particular type of curry goes really nicely with apples!

Saute onions with butter in a pot, add potato and carrot chunks (optional) along with cubed apples, then add water and let it simmer for half an hour before adding the curry. Let it cool for another 10 minutes, then eat with rice and broccoli!

I cook a pack of bacon or sausage on Sunday and it eat throughout the week with some microwave poached eggs. They're way better than they sound and only take 1 minute to cook. I use one of [these] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00004W4UR/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1525624113&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=poached+egg+maker+microwave&dpPl=1&dpID=31wtCfwsirL&ref=plSrch) gimmicky things, but it works very well. You should be able to use something like a coffee mug too.

• One of these. in 1.6 and 6.5 qt
  
• One of these. Cheap, tri-ply (stainless and aluminum) induction-ready. No nonstick to coddle, no ceramic to chip, no weight like cast iron, read the reviews on how to use them and they are all you will ever need.
  
• One of these
  
• This to clean all the above. *optional, obtain a dishwasher-safe brush at walmart.
  
• A few of these. If you want to invest in them over aluminum foil and parchment paper. If not, omit.
  
• A bunch of these. Wood handles are important. Plastic will melt when leaned against the pot and then snap off.
  
• These for when those don't work.
  
• A ton of these. Like, 10. Get them at wallmart for $2. Cut meat? New board. Cut onion? New board. Grate cheese and get schnibbles everywhere? New board. It's like instantly cleaning your countertop.
  
• A set of these.
  
• Knives and some sort of block/bar. Those are personal thing, only you can choose those. Size-wise think one for cutting cherry tomatoes, one for pitting avocados, and one for cutting cakes.
  
  Everything else, crock pots, even measuring cups, is optional. Slow cookers, microwaves, electric kettles, and rice cookers are all nice, but there is nothing you can make in them that you can't make in a pot, like humans did for thousands of years. You'll want measuring cups for baking, but for cooking you're adjusting on the fly anyways.

In the last place I lived, my roommate had one of those stovetop popcorn things. It's amazing. Throw some popcorn kernels in, pour in just enough canola oil to lightly coat (I mean lightly). When it starts to pop, turn the handle. When the popping slows down and starts to stop, pour it into a bowl. I used melted butter and white cheddar seasoning. Probably not the most healthy way, but it's delicious.

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is a great, very comprehensive one.

I got one of those rice washing bowls from amazon a couple years ago and it really was a game changer for me. I just put the rice in and rinse it for 30 seconds or so, drain out the excess water and dump it in a rice cooker. So easy and the rice comes out amazing every time. I could never go back to instant rice at this point

I've been thinking about getting one as well, and I've seen this one mentioned quite a bit. I have it on my wishlist. It has a timer, good size, not very expensive, and it seems to have a lot of good reviews.

Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0016S7MJM?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

I love this set, it keeps things hot forever- even if you're outside and it's freezing. Comes with a little bag that boosts the insulation factor

My favorite Chef's knife is the Wustof Pro at about $30, I like it significantly more than the "good" knives I have (a Shun set) mostly because of the handle, which is grippy and not wood. I use it basically every day and have sharpened it multiple times.

IMO, a better option than buying pre-sliced apples is to buy whatever apples happen to be on sale and buying an apple slicing tool like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Easy-Grip-Apple-Slicer/dp/B000SOAT0Y

Where I live, sliced apples tend to be more expensive than a whole apple.

I got this little thing and I'm amazed at how well it works

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001CQTLJM?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_yo_pop_mb_pd_t2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004QZAAS2/ref=pd_aw_sim_hi_2?refRID=12QSGQ829GSG87HRN937

I use this, super cheap and great for rice and quinoa.

I use basically this to poach my eggs and they turn out beautifully in the microwave

You can literally add this to anything and it becomes delicious

http://www.amazon.com/Tony-Chacheres-Original-Seasoning-Shakers/dp/B00161FSZY

This is also available in just about every major grocery store I've ever been to if you prefer to get a bit cheaper while out shopping.

No forgiveness. Pack your 3 qt. Instant Pot that measures only 12x11x11 and make some rice! /s

Zojirushi's Mr. Bento is pretty good, and has a container with a screw top lid that will even carry soup, no problems. The capacity is quite large and might be surplus to requirements, though. Zojirushi also makes a Ms. Bento has a similar arrangement that's smaller capacity.

Or just get one of these http://www.amazon.com/Wabash-Valley-Farms-25008-Whirley-Pop/dp/B00004SU35 it a lot easier.

Ah! Well, here you go!

http://www.amazon.com/Roland-Pre-Washed-White-Quinoa-25-Pounds/dp/B000UWCZLA/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1416552133&sr=1-2&keywords=quinoa+bulk


You sure?

Does it make rice as well as a good rice maker?

It's a vacuum container. The bottom compartment is for hot soup which keeps the rest of food warm until lunch time.

Zojirushi Classic Bento Vacuum Lunch Jar - SL-GRE18 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0016S11VC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_SSJWCb2A64NQM

$21.70 on Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/truRoots-Organic-Quinoa-Premium-Quality/dp/B002BWS1OM/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1457217419&sr=8-1&keywords=truroots+quinoa

This is the one that I buy at Costco.

Its farr cheaper than anywhere else I can buy it. Most places charge $4 for 18 ounces of dried quinoa.

Its $7 a pound on amazon for example

http://www.amazon.com/truRoots-Organic-Quinoa-Premium-Quality/dp/B002BWS1OM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404966356&sr=8-1&keywords=quinoa+in+bulk

I have this Victorinox and also this Wusthof and I much prefer the Wusthof. Both are great don’t get me wrong, but I’d go for the Wusthof

I get this spice mix from Amazon: Kitchens of India Paste for Butter Chicken Curry, 3.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_EujDAbMZCPKT0
I like it a lot, I also add potatoes and cauliflower sometimes for variety and it turned out well.

If I'm having a bad craving for biryani I'll get the Saffron Road biryani from the frozen food aisle. I have seen it at Target, at some organic food stores etc. They nailed the smell, the spice is on the lighter side but it will satiate my craving.

Link for the lazy

Standard instantpot is 6 quart.

However,

There is a 3 quart mini instantpot

I got one of these and it changed my apple slicing game forever : https://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Easy-Apple-Corer-Slicer/dp/B000SOAT0Y

Quinoa, in 4 lb bags. Its ridiculous what they charge for a 7 serving box at the grocery store!

Edit: I just use amazon- either this one or this one, depending on which price is lower. (Though right now they look almost identical.)