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The cheapest Panasonic rice cooker is their SRG06FG 3.3-Cup Automatic Rice Cooker. This machine is available for a very reasonable price. There are in fact machines made by other manufacturers such as Aroma and Black & Decker that are even cheaper. However if you buy a Panasonic SRG06FG you are getting a Japanese rice cooker rather than one from an American company. Due to the fame of the Japanese electronics industry and the fact that people in Japan eat rice every day and therefore require the best appliances available, the best rice cookers come from that country.

This Panasonic rice cooker is admittedly a very simple model. It does not have the fancy electrical components nor the sleek design of many other Japanese machines. However it is a fraction of the price of units such as the Zojirushi NS-TGC10 or the Sanyo ECJ-PX50S. These are more appropriate choices for people who have more money to spend and demand a machine that can cook a range of different styles of rice. Also, it is only really worth buying a more expensive rice cooker if you plan on using it regularly. If it ends up just sitting on your kitchen counter then it would be a waste of money to do get one.

What I like about the SRG06FG is that it can easily be used to make hot pot style dishes too. This is not so easily the case with a more expensive model. This is because the Panasonic cooker has a glass lid that you can just lift off to give your food a stir. Also the fact that you can see into the cooker without having to take the lid off makes it an appropriate choice for anyone who wants a rice cooker to make more than just rice. As already mentioned, this is a basic rice steamer. It would be a good machine for a student. It is easy to make up your own hot pot recipes. Just chuck in some things that you like, flick the switch to on and see what happens. There is nothing like a bit of experimentation in the kitchen. This kitchen appliance would be perfect for anyone living alone, couples and even small families. If you have more than five or six people to feed then the Panasonic SRG06FG would probably be a bit too small for your needs.

It is simple to operate. It has an on/off switch with an automatic shut off when the rice has finished cooking. Even though it does not have specific settings for different kinds of rice, this does not prevent you from using it to make whatever type of rice you want. It comes with a measuring scoop so you just add the amount you require. Then as with any rice cooker it is best to wash your rice before cooking. You do not have to but it makes for a better final product. Then add the appropriate amount of water. This is easy, you just add the water up to the line equaling the number of cups of rice you added. So two cups means you have to fill up the cooking bowl to the line marked two. Brown rice may require a bit more, just use your discretion.

Three tips to help your rice have a better texture and taste great are:

1. Wash the rice in the cooking bowl before you start cooking – you can find out how to wash rice here.
2. When you have cleaned your rice and added the water to the pan, let it sit for between 10 minutes and half an hour, then start cooking.
3. After the machine switches itself off let it sit for a little while, 10-15 minutes or so, and then serve.

These tips will help you get the best out of this budget rice cooker.

Other rice cookers in this class include the Black & Decker RC3303 3-Cup Automatic Rice Cooker and the Aroma ARC-733G 3-Cup Pot-Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer. If you want something larger then it might be worth considering the Aroma ARC-838TC 8-Cup Digital Cool-Touch Rice Cooker and Food Steamer.

The Black and Decker RC3303 is possibly the cheapest rice cooker available today. Firstly, you can probably tell that this model is not a Japanese rice cooker. However while this site is primarily about Japanese rice cookers I still want to write about the best value rice cooking machines available today so therefore had to include a Black & Decker RC3303 review.

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This machine makes it easy for you to quickly prepare restaurant quality rice at home. It is a very simple rice cooking machine to use. The Black & Decker RC3303 has a 3 cup rice cooking capability. This is aperfect size for couples or people living alone. All you have to do is add some rice, measure the appropriate amount of water, then make sure to was the rice thoroughly and finally turn the unit on with a simple press of the switch.

When the rice is ready, the machine will automatically switch over to its warming setting. This maintains your rice at an ideal serving temperature without over cooking or drying it out. On top of this, the Black & Decker RC3303 has a removable nonstick pot which ensures that your food comes out easily and you are able to quickly clean up after use.

The Black & Decker RC3303 has some other features including lights that indicate what mode the machine is in, either “cook” or “keep warm”; handles that do not heat up even when the machine is turned on; and a glass lid which allows you to see what is going on inside. The glass lid is useful when you are cooking things like vegetables so you can see their progress.

Even though this machine is not a Japanese rice cooker, I hope you have found this Black & Decker RC3303 review useful.

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The Aroma ARC-733G 3 cup rice cooker is even cheaper than the Aroma ARC-838TC 8 cup rice cooker. It is surely one of the cheapest rice cookers on the market today. Even though it is small, 3 cups is still perfectly adequate for a small family as well as being more than enough for people living on there own. It is a no frills rice cooker that can be used to steam anything you like. The Aroma ARC-733G is well worth checking out if you are on a budget or if you are just beginning to get interested in eating more rice in your diet.

This basic rice cooker from Aroma can cook almost any kind of rice. You simply have to add the number of cups you require and the measure the appropriate amount of water and then turn it unit on. It can be used for a wide range of other types of cooking including homemade soup or stew and can also be used to steam seafood, poultry or vegetables while simultaneously cooking rice thanks to the included wire steam rack. On top of this, it comes with a tempered glass lid with a steam vent which keeps in heat and moisture and allows you to check on food easily.

After switching the Aroma ARC-733G 3 cup rice cooker on there is nothing else to worry about. Once it has finished cooking your rice it automatically switches to keep-warm mode. This keep-warm mode maintains an ideal serving temperature without over-cooking. This may well be the best rice cooker for your needs. It certainly is a very low priced model.

This rice cooker has a cooking bowl that is made of aluminium and is not coated in Teflon as many other cookers do. This may be a good or bad thing depending upon your point of view. Rice will certainly tend to stick more to this type of cooking bowl however for those worried about possible health concerns of Teflon, this may be a more suitable rice cooker for your needs. While rice will stick to the bottom of the pan, this is easy to clean simply by soaking it in water.

The  Aroma ARC-733G comes with a measuring cup, rice spatula as well as a wire rack for steaming. At under $20 this really is a bargain U.S. made machine. Even though it is not a Japanese rice cooker I still feel it is worth writing this review.

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The Panasonic SRG06FG 3 cup rice cooker is a great budget model Japanese rice cooker. It is designed for household use. Its relatively small size being able to cook up to three cups of un-cooked rice is perfect for couples and people living alone as well as students. The machine is very reasonably priced on Amazon at under $25 which makes it an excellent entry model for anyone interested in starting to eat rice more regularly. This cooker has a clear glass lid which allows you to see the food that you are cooking. This makes the Panasonic SRG06FG great for things other than just rice like vegetables for instance.

The Panasonic SRG06FG does not have all the fancy options that you will find on Zojirushi rice cookers however it has all that is required to be able to cook standard varieties of rice. Once you have cooked your rice in this rice cooker there is a setting that allows you to keep it warm until required. This is all that I typically do with my Japanese rice cooker even though I have many more fancy options. The price of this model means that even if you do not plan on eating rice more than once a week, it is still great value for money.

The Panasonic SRG06FG 3 cup rice cooker boasts some useful features including a non-stick coated cooking dish. Admittedly any decent rice cooker will have this. It also comes with some stay cool handles. These are positioned on either side of the rice cooker as well as on the lid. This means that should you need to take the lid of while it is cooking then it is quite easy to do so. That said if you are cooking rice, simply leaving it to do its job is the best idea. Inside the cooking bowl are marks that tell you how much water is required for varying amounts of rice. For example if you want to cook two cups of rice, after the rice has been washed, you would have the rice in the cooking bowl and then just add water up to the “2″ mark on the inside. This ensures you have the exact amount of water that is necessary to cook perfect rice. This is why opening the lid while the machine is cooking rice is not best practice. The non-stick cooking bowl is by virtue very easy to wash up afterwards.

You can find this cheap rice cooker on Amazon for a very reasonable price. I hope this Panasonic SRG06FG 3 cup rice cooker review has been of some use.

Despite this site being primarily about Japanese rice cookers we also want to provide as complete information as we can. So with that in mind we want to mention the Aroma ARC-838TC rice cooker which in not actually Japanese but is manufactured by the Aroma Housewares Company based in San Diego. This is a great rice cooker if you want to start eating more rice but do not want to buy an expensive appliance. This is a basic model BUT to cook plain brown or white rice it has all the functionality you need.

This rice cooker from Aroma is a fairly large model that can cook up to 8 cups of rice at one time. This is enough to feed about 12 people. If you do not need a rice cooker this size, you could instead buy an Aroma ARC-733G which is a 3 cup rice cooker. The Aroma ARC-838TC certainly looks more basic than many of the top of the range Japanese rice cookers. However you have to ask yourself how much functionality you really need. My Zojirushi rice cooker has settings for normal rice, a speed cook setting, rice porridge and one for rice with red beans as well as a warming setting that can be used to keep the rice ready to be eaten for up to 12 hours. After living in Japan for over 5 years, I have only actually used the first of the cooking settings and the warming functionality.

U.S. made Aroma ARC-838TC rice cooker

The Aroma ARC-838TC appears to have just the basic options of cooking and warming. For me, that’s all I really need. So before going out and splashing over $100 on a luxury rice cooker, think about a cheaper model from a U.S. company and consider buying an Aroma ARC-838TC rice cooker. At under $35 they are a very affordable entry model into the world of rice cooking. You can find a host of cheap rice cookers on Amazon. They are a great place to find the best price.

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