Ask HN: got any food hacks?

There are rice cookers you can purchase which will finish the rice according to a schedule. They're more expensive than the the average, but if you're going to use it frequently and you want rice ready when you get home, it's top notch.

Essentially, you measure you rice, clean it (as always) then add the water, leave it in the cooker, the the timer you want it to finished, and the cooker does the rest.

Edit: A thought on top of this: Sushi is often a mix of rice, vinegar, salt and sugar, then seaweed and a meat. If you have the rice cooker, most of the time for prep is taken out.

Quinoa FTW! My girlfriend likes to make Quinoa salads .. She'll just make a basic quinoa pilaf style, but without the sauteed onions, then add corn, spinach greens, heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, the super crunchy japanese cucumbers, some apple or jicama slices, and some blood orange (or regular orange).

Quinoa also makes a good porridge. I've mixed a cup of cooked qunoa cookd porridge style with a cup of softly cooked (and drained and rinsed) black beans with hot milk and a TBsp of agave syrup for a super awesome breakfast.

subway sandwiches are probably the cheapest, quickest, and healthiest 'fast food' that you might tolerate eating on a daily basis. you can get a decent sandwich for ~$4.

1) get a rice cooker, preferably one with a top basket that lets it double as a veggie steamer. Rice with some veggies and lean meat is fairly healthy, tasty, inexpensive, and requires little active prep time (which is what I assume you mean by "quick".) You may have to cook the meat separately, depending on the type.

2) get a slow cooker. Much of the same applies, only instead of a rice base, use potatoes and/or beans. This works pretty well with larger portions of meat (chicken is cheap.) IIRC you can do some pasta dishes in a slow cooker as well.

3) For variety, change up the specific mix of veggies, the type of meat (may need to be cooked separately), and the spices in both of the above. You'd be amazed how different rice with chicken, carrots, onions and potatoes tastes when you spice it with oregano vs. curry powder vs. garlic and ginger.

4) Hit up the day-old bread rack, the reduced-price meat section, and so on. It's a good way to add occasional bits of variety at a low cost. I also get most of my produce from a small neighborhood produce stand, rather than the big grocery store.

5) [EDIT]: one simple dish I've started making on the stovetop recently: Throw some pasta, canned/frozen/fresh-cut veggies, and a can of concentrated soup (tomato, cream of chicken, etc.) in a saucepan with the appropriate amount of water. Cook it just like you would cook plain pasta. Again, you can add a bit of meat and change up the spices, veggies, or soup type and have a totally different meal.

Get potstickers, use ~5 for every bowl of ramen. Eat the raman, then a carrot.

I am highly anticipating Roger Ebert's book "The Pot And How To Use It." A rice cooker pot, not marijuana -- I got excited, too. The book sounds like it'll be a compilation of the best food hacks ever.