Why a Rice Cooker Is Absolutely Worth It (For Me)

I am one to generally avoid unnecessary kitchen appliances. While I love a good gadget, they often just take up too much space or are too much of a hassle to clean to make it all worthwhile. I mean, why buy an egg cooker – spend the money, find a space in my small-ish kitchen, and deal with meticulous hands-on cleanup – when I know perfectly well how to boil eggs myself?

I understand that for some, this may be life-changing, a timesaver for hectic mornings, a way to ensure a nutritious breakfast when taking 20 minutes for prep just isn’t feasible – but it just doesn’t fit my life most of the time. Maybe someday it will, but not right now.

However, one item has started to shift this somewhat stubborn stance of mine. That tool, for me, is this automatic rice cooker (click this affiliate link to shop).

Admittedly, millions of people have recognized its genius for much, much longer than I. It’s one of the most popular kitchen appliances in Asia, and for this innovation, I am utterly grateful.

While cooking rice isn’t the most complicated process, it does involve some knowhow, and plenty of consistency. You have to get the rice to water ratio just right. You should always rinse the rice beforehand, if you can. You can’t get distracted, let the rice cook fifteen minutes too long, and still be left with a lovely result. Sometimes, you may think you did everything correctly, and still be left with clumpy, kind of soggy rice. It’s not the end of the world, but it certainly doesn’t match up to restaurant-quality rice.

I now see the true value of a specialized kitchen tool, when it actually fits with my life. That’s the key idea here: if a specific tool will actually enhance your daily routine, save you time, or save your mental energy for something that’s more important to you, it is absolutely worth it.

More importantly, some things just make your life so much simpler, and when that happens, it can open the door to a simply better routine. For me, it’s lunch time.

I am always. forgetting. lunch. I’ll get into a zone, not want to break my precious, often elusive focus, and then realize it’s 3 pm and I haven’t eaten since 7:30. Then, I’ll be so starving, that whether I eat or not, I’ll feel too drained to do anything else for the rest of the day. After a few repetitions of this cycle, I’ll find my evenings becoming routinely tired as I regularly turn down social invitations and sit out one of my favorite ways to actively recharge, dance classes.

I find this to be a great example of how one mildly negative habit can lead to a whole slew of consequences, which in turn can become a much more difficult and tiring routine. As a dietician’s daughter, I am very aware that skipping nutrition on a regular basis can have pretty significant health consequences. It's generally better for your body and brain to, ya know, consume nutrients, so they can function.

For me, it was also missing out on a variety of things that are dear to me. They were the cherry on top, or the last grain of rice, so to speak. I don’t want to be so exhausted at the end of a workday that I can’t muster up the energy for time with friends or a creative outlet. One of my biggest values when it comes to work is creating a schedule that actually allows me to prioritize my wellbeing, and that just wasn’t cutting it.

Queue in the rice cooker (specifically, this one.) In truth, we had owned this bad boy for about a year before I actually started to realize its wonder. It was a hand-me-down from my partner’s family, and while I had noticed him use it once or twice, I had never really clocked it’s convenience until about a month ago. One day, I decided I’d make a little salmon-veggie-rice bowl for dinner. That’s the experience that changed my view, when it really hit me. 

In the time it took for the rice cooker to do its thing, I was able to oven roast seasoned butternut squash and crispy chickpeas (also a very handy, but hands-off method) and sauté two Atlantic salmon filets with an orange balsamic glaze to my liking. All the components were ready in about 40 minutes, including chopping and oven pre-heating time, and then I had enough leftovers for at least two more meals.

The most life-changing part? The rice was perfect! It was fluffy. It was fragrant. It was warm, fresh, and not sticky. Most importantly, all I had to do was rinse, add water and rice, and press a button. I was enlightened by this delicious, nutritious simplicity.

This one appliance helped me realize that sometimes, adding one pivotal tool to your life can really transform your routine, and thus improve multiple aspects of your day-to-day. It was a pleasant reminder of how sometimes, it’s worth trying something different, even if doing the same has seemed fine for a while. Making that change can lead to all sorts of cool revelations, making life more intentional, and often just, better.

Here's a little recipe for the salmon-veggie-rice bowls I’ve been scarfing down these days. Keep in mind, these ingredients can be easily swapped out! Think snow peas, carrots, and crispy tofu, or greek chicken rice bowls. The world is your bowl of rice! Or something like that…