Vent: my $9 rice cooker beat my $80 one and I'm still mad about it
I finally tried a cheap rice cooker after my fancy one died on a Tuesday in March, and the difference showed up in my grocery bill within 2 weeks. The $80 model never got the bottom layer right and I was tossing about a cup of crunchy rice every single batch, which added up to real money. The $9 one from the corner store on 5th cooked a full 3 cups fluffy the first try, no burnt ring, no soaking overnight. My partner laughed at me for keeping the receipt like I was going to return it, but I was honestly mad I hadn't switched sooner. Has anyone else had a cheap kitchen tool just flat out beat the pricey one, and what was it?
That burnt bottom ring is the worst, my old Zojirushi did the same thing and I kept telling myself it was "the good one" so the rice had to be fine. I was scraping and soaking that pot almost every night and tossing the crunchy layer without even adding up what it cost me. When it finally died I grabbed a $12 one at the grocery store just to get through the week, and it cooked better on the first try than the fancy one ever did. I get the receipt thing too, I think part of me wanted proof that the cheap one was somehow the mistake and not three years of bad rice. It stings because you trust the price tag to mean something and then it just doesn't. Sorry your fancy one strung you along that long.