Rice in fridge?

0utshined

Does anyone know how long you can keep rice in the fridge or freezer?

I find it easier to cook 2 days worth at a time but am wondering if it would be safe to do more? Would it be okay to freeze it and microwave it as needed? Also what's the best way to store it in the fridge, covered\uncovered etc.?

Thanks.

The Sweeper

Boil it, let it cool, cover it, keep it in the fridge for four days. Freeze it for up to a month.

When reheating, I find the best way is to boil the kettle. Cover the cold rice in boiling water. Drain. Cover in boiling water again. Then either boil on the hob for a minute or two or nuke it for a minute. Kills the heebie gerrums and works for me.

0utshined

Thanks, that allays my fears a bit.

Just wondering though, when you cover it in the hot water the first time how long do you leave it covered for? Also, would it be the same for pasta as well?

NoDayBut2Day

We keep rice in the refrigerator. We just keep it in a Ziploc Bag and heat it up in the microwave that way. It keeps for quite awhile. Then again, we never have it in there very long; we eat rice almost every night!

noby

To avoid poisoning yourself you want to cool the rice as quickly as possible. If you cook rice, then leave it cool slowly (eg at room temp.), you're more likely to get food poisoning, no matter how you reheat it.

Run the rice you want to keep under a cold tap in a colinder, then put it in the fridge/freezer. 4-5 days in the fridge; a few months in the freezer.

rubadub

You can load rice into empty jars with the correct amount of water with a loose lid. Then pressure cook them for 45-60mins @15psi. Take them out and tighten up the caps. The rice is now sterile and will keep for months in a kitchen press, just like uncle bens microwaveable rice bags.

Shabadu

Woah- sorry guys- speaking as a chef, 5 days sitting in the fridge is WWWAAAAAAAYYYYY too long for cooked rice. Even if you boil the bejaysus out of it after it, that is food poisoning waiting to happen. I really don't want someone suing boards because they half killed themselves with dinner. 72 hours max imo- and make sure it has been at a temperature of above 75 degrees for about 3 mins before serving.

If you are freezing it- make sure it is in a proper chest freezer. A freezer compartment in a fridge is suitable only for maintaining already frozen foods, not freezing ambient food.

Rubabdub's method is good, but frankly, it takes 20 minutes to cook rice! It seems like a lot less bother to just do it fresh.

RuggieBear

does that mean finishing the half eaten chinese that was left out the night before is a bad idea?

I didn'y know you were a chef Shabs...work anywhere i'd be able to taste your creations?

Shabadu

Arr, I'm an ex-chef now that I'm a mammy to be honest

Last restaurant I worked in in Dublin was Eden, in Meeting House square. That was about 3 years ago though. God I'm old.

RuggieBear

Shabadu wrote:

Arr, I'm an ex-chef now that I'm a mammy to be honest

Last restaurant I worked in in Dublin was Eden, in Meeting House square. That was about 3 years ago though. God I'm old.

lol...
Ah yeah been in eden once or twice...don't remember the rice:D

rubadub

Shabadu wrote:

Rubabdub's method is good, but frankly, it takes 20 minutes to cook rice! It seems like a lot less bother to just do it fresh.

20 mins will cook, but it will not sterilize it. As a chef you may have access to a large pressure cooker. You could prepare plenty of jars and do them all at once. A normal pressure cooker will fit 4-5 jars. So you can do a few portions in one go.

gonker

I remember hearing from a friend that the most common cause of food poisoning in chinese restaurants is the rice not the chicken:eek:

Shabadu

rubadub wrote:

20 mins will cook, but it will not sterilize it. As a chef you may have access to a large pressure cooker. You could prepare plenty of jars and do them all at once. A normal pressure cooker will fit 4-5 jars. So you can do a few portions in one go.

Sorry rubadub, what I meant to say was why go to the bother of pressure cooking it when it just takes 20 mins, less in fact, to cook fresh. It seems like a cool idea though.

Gonker- that is absolutely true. I remember the horror stories/cases we had to read in college. :eek:

0utshined

Thanks all for the advice\suggestions.

I find it usually takes about 40 minutes for me to get it fully cooked though, using brown rice.

byte

Wow! I didn't know that! Ya learn something new every day

el Bastardo

Oops! I regularly eat rice that's been sitting on the stovetop overnight. I've never suffered for it though

Hagar

If it's any help I have Edmund Ignatius Rice in a freezer since 1844...
but he keeps molesting the frozen chickens.

gonker

Thnink he is scarier than anyother rice:D