Just buy one of these (for Aussies, they're rebranded in Kmart for AUD$40).

You can cook rice and steam meat/veggies at the same time, and it's a slow cooker (the good kind that get to temp quickly and maintain). Everything you make with this thing you just cut up, dump in and walk away.

Tips:

• You can put stuff in the water when cooking rice; a tomato, Chinese sausage, or you can go all out and make Takigomi Gohan. Don't worry so much about replicating recipes, take away key principals (don't mix, cut meat+veg up small so they cook through etc.) and make it up as you go. If it tastes like nothing at the end, add a teaspoon of chilli oil and it'll taste amazing every time; you'll find it at any Chinese supermarket (the adventurous can make their own).

• Slow cooking is amazingly easy and cheap; there are literally thousands of simple recipes on YouTube. Cut stuff up in the morning and dump it in, leave it cooking while you're at work or whatever and it's ready to eat when you come home.