We eat a lot of rice, and we rely a ton on our rice cooker for it — it takes longer, but you dump the rice in the rice cooker and the rice cooker cooks it until it's done (it has a temperature sensor that figures that out) and then stops cooking and keeps it warm until you remember to go check on the rice. It also works for brown rice, quinoa, and, according to college friends who made stuff in dorm rooms, pasta.