What size rice cooker for family of four?

[Anonymous]

I want to replace our cheap rice cooker with a Zojirushi, but I'm confused about sizes.

My cheap cooker is labeled "3 cups" but I think this is actually the cooked amount of rice, and it holds 6 cups cooked. This usually seems about right for our family of four without any leftovers.

But I keep reading that for a family of four, we need a 5.5 cup rice cooker.

Maybe that's the size we really need? What size does your family have?

[Anonymous]

We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

[Anonymous]

I have a cheap 6-cup Zojirushi and it works fine for my family of 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a cheap 6-cup Zojirushi and it works fine for my family of 4.

That’s what we have too for four people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

OP here, thank you! I wish I knew what distinguishes the different models--wide price range.
Also, one review I read said it takes an HOUR to make the rice. Is that correct? I am so used to 20 min or so with my cheap cooker, so this will be an adjustment.

[Anonymous]

I have a Zojirushi, I used it to make oatmeal every morning. It has a timer I can set the night before. You can look up all the other things it can make besides rice, it's super useful.

It does take an hour to make rice. Maybe 90min if you have the setting for fancy GABA rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

OP here, thank you! I wish I knew what distinguishes the different models--wide price range.
Also, one review I read said it takes an HOUR to make the rice. Is that correct? I am so used to 20 min or so with my cheap cooker, so this will be an adjustment.

The timer definitely says an hour, but I feel like it's normally done a bit quicker, more like 50? But you can just set the timer in the morning before work, so doesn't really matter. And like PP said, great for doing steel-cut oats, too. Set up the night before and they're ready when you get up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

OP here, thank you! I wish I knew what distinguishes the different models--wide price range.
Also, one review I read said it takes an HOUR to make the rice. Is that correct? I am so used to 20 min or so with my cheap cooker, so this will be an adjustment.

It has a “quick “ setting that’s 40 minutes for white rice. Brown rice can tale 90 minutes. But you can also set it ahead of time for anytime you want it — it also stays nice and hot for hours. We’re never waiting on the rice to be ready.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

OP here, thank you! I wish I knew what distinguishes the different models--wide price range.
Also, one review I read said it takes an HOUR to make the rice. Is that correct? I am so used to 20 min or so with my cheap cooker, so this will be an adjustment.

If you want the rice cooked faster, get a Cuckoo instead of Zojirushi. The cuckoo makes white rice in less than 30mins I think. I usually made brown rice and it took like 35-40.

[Anonymous]

I'm not that picky, but we got an Instant Pot with visions of making lots of stews and other dishes, but ended up using it just a a rice cooker. It's generally 5 minutes cooking time (which means about 10-12 minutes all told), and the rice is much better than when I made it on the stovetop. And we do use if for other things occasionally.

[Anonymous]

Now that I have two teen boys and a tween girl, I wish mine were bigger.

[Anonymous]

I had a 5 cup Zo because it was the largest I could get while making as little as 1 cup of rice. Eventually, I just went back to my cheapie 3 cup because replacing the nonstick pot in the Zo cost more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have the TSC10/5.5 cup, and I rarely use to capacity for our family of 4, because it's so easy to make a fresh batch when I need it.

It's one of my favorite possessions. Go for it! So helpful for a working family, and WAY better than the cheap ones.

OP here, thank you! I wish I knew what distinguishes the different models--wide price range.
Also, one review I read said it takes an HOUR to make the rice. Is that correct? I am so used to 20 min or so with my cheap cooker, so this will be an adjustment.

57 min so almost an hour. My recommendation is use the one you feel comfortable with - rice will taste the same.