# freezing rice/ rice storage ??



## LynninTX (Jun 23, 2004)

OK trying to wrap my mind around this and knowing I am just dense.

I have stored grains over 5 yrs in buckets & lids... no mylar bags... no oxygen absorbers... no de... no freezing

NOW 

no bugs ever in my wheat
lost *some* rolled oats

but I have never stored rice that long....

dh just picked me up 100lbs... and I do not want to lose it...

I was going to freeze then store in buckets...

but then I read... on Alan's site



> Put the product into your freezer and freeze it to 0Âº Fahrenheit (-18Âº Celsius) all the way through the package and keep it there for three days. If there is enough air humidity in your house to cause condensation on the outside of a glass of ice water it is a good idea to put the product in a moisture proof container before freezing, otherwise you can leave it the way it came from the store.


OK... I have no moisture proof container that is going to fit well in my freezer (the advantage of just putting in the bags).... so I pulled them right back out. 

I have no mylar bags, no oxygen absorbers, and do not really want to use de... though I could with rice....

So those in the hot/humid south.... how do you go about storing your rice??

I really would prefer to kiss. I also do NOT wish to waste anything!

There are currently 10 of us at home... so the less complicated for larger qty the better.... ie I do not have time to food saver 200lbs of rice.


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## Mysticdream44 (Dec 29, 2004)

I don't have a 100 lbs of rice, but a few years ago my DH mother gave us a 10 lb bag of rice. We vacumed packed it and put it in the freezer, I found one the other day and it was perfectly good. No problems with it at all. 
Do you have a vacum pack machine you can use or maybe borrow one?


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## LynninTX (Jun 23, 2004)

I have a vacuum pack machine, but I have a new baby, goats, rabbits, garden, home school, chickens, etc... and the idea of vacuum packing 100-200lbs of rice is a touch overwhelming.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

If it were me, I'd go the Mylar bag and 5 gallon bucket route. It takes less time than vac sealing smaller bags. Plus the buckets stack neatly, unlike 50 hard blocks of vaccuumed rice. But I wouldn't take shortcuts since that's a lot of rice to lose if bugs get into it. I have some 5 gallon buckets I don't plan to open for as long as possible. And I also have vac sealed rice in 5 pound packages, which is just about how much I'd want open at a time.


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## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

Since you have a little time to work with before your rice is in danger of being compromised, I would just fill a few zip lock bags and cycle them through the freezer a little at a time and after they've spent time in the freezer, let them come back to room temp and dump them in your bucket. You could even recycle the zip lock bags for the next round of rice. That way it wouldn't be so overwhelming.

I freeze flour and grains all the time in the blue Glad zip lock bags and have never had a problem with condensation when I take them out of the freezer. There's just not room in my freezer for fifty to a hundred pounds of anything so I have to do it that way.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

Now you have me wondering how long my rice will stay good.  

I left it in the 50 lb bags that it came in and put them inside plastic totes I picked up at Wally World. 

Should I take them out of the totes and freeze them for a month or two? I hope to leave them in the bags they are in. I don't want to spend a lot of time repacking if it can be avoided. I repack when I open a new bag to use it, but I don't want to set and do all the bags at once.


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## Protus (May 17, 2008)

Spinner said:


> Now you have me wondering how long my rice will stay good.
> 
> I left it in the 50 lb bags that it came in and put them inside plastic totes I picked up at Wally World.
> 
> Should I take them out of the totes and freeze them for a month or two? I hope to leave them in the bags they are in. I don't want to spend a lot of time repacking if it can be avoided. I repack when I open a new bag to use it, but I don't want to set and do all the bags at once.


rice in plain jane buckets will last you years 5+ easy and into the the 10 yr mark if not longer. 

The bags they come in are junk and will degrade/dry out over time. Best but is to pack them in the totes( i like buckets better due to the lid seal) it doesnt take long to repack.
IMHO if you useing t otes you should mylar becuase they dont really seal that well at the lids.

On the frezzing issue. I have never froze any grain. STuff ive pack or stuff i just have laying around. Ihave un bagged,un frozen stuff in my short term event stocks thats going on 3+ years old with zero issue. THATS down here in the south...

here is a two part vid. that shows that even food that was not stored to standard(ala internet wisdom ) or in suitable locations is still good and ready to use.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoKCSFA1lQ[/ame]

You'll see how 10+ yr old rice looks, and yes its just as edible as stuff you just bought.
Im not saying to skimp on packing your storage foods becuase the movie proves rice to not turn to dust with out mylars. but to ensure your stocks are still edible and good to go 15 yrs down the road it would be wise to pack correctly! With the price of food going up i would personally try and take every percaution i could to make my stuff last!

YMMV


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## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

I'd like to comment that there are different types of zip-locks. One is for storage and one is for freezing. I use the freezing type as I believe it is less apt to absorb moisture through the plastic. I bought a case of them at Sam's a couple years ago.


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## LynninTX (Jun 23, 2004)

thank you all VERY MUCH!! I will try the freezing in the ziplocks then moving to buckets!

THAT is doable for me. Just trying to be honest.... there is so much to do and too easy for me to get overwhelmed. 

I am also going to I think try 1 batch without freezing as an experiment and see how it does.... I'll mark it.


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## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

LynninTX said:


> thank you all VERY MUCH!! I will try the freezing in the ziplocks then moving to buckets!
> 
> THAT is doable for me. Just trying to be honest.... there is so much to do and too easy for me to get overwhelmed.
> 
> I am also going to I think try 1 batch without freezing as an experiment and see how it does.... I'll mark it.


Lynn, I'm between Tyler and Dallas, very humid here. I just put 80# of rice in the buckets. I've had them in the freezer a few weeks because I didn't have buckets to put them in. They were in 1# bags that we got on sale for 4# for a dollar. What I did is take them out of the freezer and let them thaw over night. Then took a paper towel and wiped every bag well to make sure there was no more moisture left on the bag. They had air dried. The paper towel didn't even get damp. Then I stored them in the buckets in the wrapper (plastic bag they came in.) I think you can do the same unless yours is in paper, then you would have to put it in ziplocks.

I think I will do the same thing with my wheat. It will come in 100# bags and I know I don't have room for 100# bags in my freezer.


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## LynninTX (Jun 23, 2004)

What I was getting was in plastic... but what dh just brought home almost half price is in kinda funky woven bags....

And... nice to meet a *neighbor*!


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

The basmati rice I buy at Costco comes in a burlap bag too. Inside the bag (it has a zipper) is a plastic bag full of rice. We love basmati the best, and the bag is nice for other uses - I have one I'm filling with dryer lint, one with cleaning rags, etc. I even used one on the floor as a wipe-yer-feet when it was muddy out.


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## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

Boy am I glad I do not have to store staples in the freezer! But I have been thinking about how I can comfortably store the stuff, out of the bags it came in. Buckets are great but they only hold about 35 pounds of flour, for example. Where and what are these "mylar" bags everyone keeps mentioning? Sorry to sound ignorant here, lol


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

If the rice is in solid plastic bags you can freeze as is. If in the funky woven plastic you can put the rice, bag and all, inside a trash bag first. Seal the bag with a rubber band and don't take the bag off till the rice is room temp. Those woven bags will let the moisture into the rice and it will mold. BTDT.


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## Crickandkit (Oct 23, 2007)

Newbie question...why do you freeze the rice and then remove it from the freezer for storage?


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

Crickandkit said:


> Newbie question...why do you freeze the rice and then remove it from the freezer for storage?


kills the critters and critter eggs that like to munch on your rice.
--sgl


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## Horse Fork Farm (Jan 3, 2006)

Go to a grocery store that has a bakery and get their used 2 gallon buckets. They usually have icing powder or dried eggwhites shipped in them. I f I remember right you can fit about 12-14 lbs of rice in those and that size bucket fits right into the shelves of my freezer. Freeze for at least 3 days (I do a week) and pull out the bucket and store where you want to. The icing/ eggwhite buckets have a rubber type seal built into the lid that seems airproof. Never have a prob this way. Kat


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## Guest (Jun 17, 2008)

If you already have the buckets and don't want to go any further then just do what Wildwood suggests and freeze the rice a little at a time in whatever you've got that will keep the condensation out while the rice is coming back up to room temperature. Once warm and dry pour that rice into the buckets and repeat until you've done all of it. The important thing is not to allow the condensation that forms on the frozen rice to get into the grain before it is all dried up. 

Fill the buckets, seal well, and you'll get probably four or five years good storage as-is if you keep them inside of your climate controlled house.

If it were me I'd spend about two bucks or so on a pound of dry ice and get the job done that way just as I outline in the FAQ. Works well, is about drop dead simple, and is cheap. You'll also get a longer storage life as well. Just pay attention to burping the buckets as I state in the directions. Some folks are concerned about pressure build up though I've never known anyone ever to have a problem with it.

The thing about weevils/moths in grains is that we never know if there are any in the stuff we just brought home. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Chances are there aren't any, but if you're anything like me I cannot abide uncertainty in my storage foods so I pack my stuff to preclude weevil problems. The Rice Weevil is common in the humid south and while I've had only rare problems with weevils in my untreated grains before it was rice that I had the problem with nearly every time. Easy to deter or eliminate though.

In food storage just like anything else you get what you pay for. If you want 10+ years good storage life then pack food to get that storage life. If you don't need to keep it so long you can cut back somewhat depending on the foodstuff.

.....Alan.


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## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

Spinner said:


> Now you have me wondering how long my rice will stay good.
> 
> I left it in the 50 lb bags that it came in and put them inside plastic totes I picked up at Wally World.
> 
> Should I take them out of the totes and freeze them for a month or two? I hope to leave them in the bags they are in. I don't want to spend a lot of time repacking if it can be avoided. I repack when I open a new bag to use it, but I don't want to set and do all the bags at once.



I lost quite a bit of rice like that last summer.


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## mj1angier (Jan 3, 2006)

Pouncer said:


> Boy am I glad I do not have to store staples in the freezer! But I have been thinking about how I can comfortably store the stuff, out of the bags it came in. Buckets are great but they only hold about 35 pounds of flour, for example. Where and what are these "mylar" bags everyone keeps mentioning? Sorry to sound ignorant here, lol


This where a lot of folk get them from http://www.sorbentsystems.com/mylar.html


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## no1g8r (May 1, 2008)

Pouncer said:


> Boy am I glad I do not have to store staples in the freezer! But I have been thinking about how I can comfortably store the stuff, out of the bags it came in. Buckets are great but they only hold about 35 pounds of flour, for example. Where and what are these "mylar" bags everyone keeps mentioning? Sorry to sound ignorant here, lol



Another source that some of use is Frugal's Store , as their prices are good and they are preppers, as well as just good folks.

I've got no affiliation with them, I just buy from them and enjoy their website.


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## JGex (Dec 27, 2005)

I thought some of you might find this interesting:

I'm cleaning out the shed where most of our belongings got packed away in Nov. of 2005 by the jack leg that was working on our house. I had forgotten that I had some stuff stored in a couple of plastic cat litter containers until a week ago when I found them. There were several bags of stuff like powdered chicken and beef broth in mylar, some spices and in the bottom of one of them was a 10lb bag of store brand long grain white rice. Now bear in mind this stuff was already a couple of years old when it got moved - I'm guessing purchased in 02 or 03.

At first, I thought it was no good, but the ick I thought (dust, other sediment) was in the bag was actually on the outside of the bag. I showed it to DH and asked him if he thought I should throw it out, but he said to pour in something else, look closely for bugs and let's see if it still cooks. Therer were no bugs, sooooo......

I opened it, transferred it to 3 half gallon Ball jars and we cooked some for dinner. Tasted just fine!

I am amazed that with rats in the building and in the type container it was in (no seal), that this stuff survived the Georgia heat so well.

The only thing I ended up throwing out was a mylar bag of toasted soy nuts. They were rancid. Everything else seems to be usable if not completely OK.


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## Protus (May 17, 2008)

JGex said:


> I thought some of you might find this interesting:
> 
> I'm cleaning out the shed where most of our belongings got packed away in Nov. of 2005 by the jack leg that was working on our house. I had forgotten that I had some stuff stored in a couple of plastic cat litter containers until a week ago when I found them. There were several bags of stuff like powdered chicken and beef broth in mylar, some spices and in the bottom of one of them was a 10lb bag of store brand long grain white rice. Now bear in mind this stuff was already a couple of years old when it got moved - I'm guessing purchased in 02 or 03.
> 
> ...


There is a similar post on the web with similar result's. The myth that it must be climate control is just that myth. I'll add there is also a vid on youtube showing the results of time,heat and improper packing of foods. It seems those all turned out ok as well.
IMHO, you dont need a/c to store your food!


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## Guest (Jun 18, 2008)

Protus said:


> There is a similar post on the web with similar result's. The myth that it must be climate control is just that myth. I'll add there is also a vid on youtube showing the results of time,heat and improper packing of foods. It seems those all turned out ok as well.
> IMHO, you dont need a/c to store your food!


 It is only a myth if you want simplistic answers to food storage questions.

She only mentions _"powdered chicken and beef broth in mylar, some spices and in the bottom of one of them was a 10lb bag of store brand long grain white rice"_ and a Mylar bag of toasted soy nuts that she said was rancid. The food dated from 2002-2003 and was stored outside since November 2005. Actual outside storage was about two and a half years. The rice had no weevils in it at the time it was packed and none got in while it was in storage. Nor did it get wet enough to spoil.

There's not a lot in white rice to go wrong in such a short period of time if it's protected from weevils and doesn't soak up a lot of moisture. It's been pretty droughty in the Southeast these last couple of years.

The fact that the soy nuts were rancid does not surprise me either even if they were packed with oxygen absorbers. They are a high fat processed food. They don't keep long even in good conditions.

Storage food is not all the same. Some things keep well even with minimal packaging and poor conditions while other things will not. The devil is in the details.

.....Alan.


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## Protus (May 17, 2008)

> It is only a myth if you want simplistic answers to food storage questions


in Internet land simple is better!
Ive seen way to many and know way to many that refuse to put up food storage in sheds, garages, or other NON climate controlled areas for fear of losing their food preps all becuase of what they have read on the "net". I've seen,eaten and talked to others in person that have had zero issues with food stored non climate controlled areas in the "deep" south! Myth maybe,simple maybe....were's Myth busters when you need them




> I am amazed that with rats in the building and in the type container it was in (no seal), that this stuff survived the Georgia heat so well


below from a different forum and not me.



> Years ago a well meaning family member helped me place a bunch of buckets in storage before we moved up here. Years later I found a couple of stacks 6 and even NINE buckets high!!! A couple of buckets were a total waste. Most of the bottom ones had there lids destroyed. We removed all buckets from storage that were suspect and put them in the rotation of animal feed if they were whole grains like wheat and rice.
> 
> Well that was several years ago now, 3 or 4. One lonely bucket has been sitting out by our chicken pen for years now with a BROKEN lid. Today I was scrounging around looking for buckets to pack some more food in and thought- "it's time to pitch that stuff" in that one lonely bucket.
> 
> ...


here are two pictures from the above post-


















Since the OP was asking specifically about rice ,i find this write up, the one i originally quoted and the vids on youtube to be worth while looking into.


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## Guest (Jun 19, 2008)

Protus said:


> in Internet land simple is better!


And sometimes simple gets you a mess too when the question is complex.


> Since the OP was asking specifically about rice ,i find this write up, the one i originally quoted and the vids on youtube to be worth while looking into.


 Yes, the OP was about rice. The post you responded to from JGex was also about rice AND other foods as well, some of which had gone bad.

White rice is about as drop dead simple to store as it gets. It is very nearly nothing but carbohydrates. Not much else in the way of nutrition, but it is at least carbohydrates. Keep it dry and keep it protected from weevils and it will stay good for years whether it's in a hot shed, a water filled bucket, or a deep freezer. That Mylar bag in the broken bucket plainly never got a puncture or a pin hole leak which is pretty good considering how susceptible Mylar is to leaks if not well protected. Since it's seal integrity was never compromised then why should anyone be surprised that the rice within was still good? We have no way to know about the vitamin content, but the rice would still be edible just the same.

But to generalize that one can store other types of foods in similar conditions for similar lengths of times is to fall into folly as you and I have discussed before. SOME foods will take heat for a pretty good time if they are otherwise protected. MANY others will not, especially if they are not really well protected. Sometimes even if they are well protected they'll go bad anyway as was evidenced by the rancid soy nuts.

.....Alan.


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## Protus (May 17, 2008)

A.T. Hagan said:


> And sometimes simple gets you a mess too when the question is complex. Yes, the OP was about rice. The post you responded to from JGex was also about rice AND other foods as well, some of which had gone bad.
> 
> White rice is about as drop dead simple to store as it gets. It is very nearly nothing but carbohydrates. Not much else in the way of nutrition, but it is at least carbohydrates. *Keep it dry and keep it protected from weevils and it will stay good for years whether it's in a hot shed, a water filled bucket, or a deep freezer. * That Mylar bag in the broken bucket plainly never got a puncture or a pin hole leak which is pretty good considering how susceptible Mylar is to leaks if not well protected. Since it's seal integrity was never compromised then why should anyone be surprised that the rice within was still good? We have no way to know about the vitamin content, but the rice would still be edible just the same.
> 
> ...


well, you seem to have soy on the brain...

so to point out what i had highlighted from Jgex



> I am amazed that with rats in the building and in the type container it was in (no seal), that this stuff survived the Georgia heat so well.


How this had to do with soy is beyond me. Yes yes they talked about Soy in that post. If i was wanting to dicuss the short term storage nature of soy and other food items i would have bolded them as well , but i didnt. I mearly posted it and the underlying story as evidence that even in high heat and not packed correctly(frozen,DE,ice,zombie guts) food will still be edible. 

but on to frezzeing. the real question from the OP. Ill stand by what i said earlier in the thread that it is not needed. It lies in there with the bay leaves,DE and dry ice deals. Just another step that folks can chose to take if they wish to ensure that their food stocks are g2g when the time arises!
I mean from your FAQ alone, it shows that white rice goes south after 2 yrs, yet im sitting with in 5 ft of some thats 4 yrs old and not sealed or frozen.
Just sitting there,bug free....exactly like the OP plans to store thiers!

The OP wanted a Kiss answer i gave it 
Spinner asked a question i answered it and added some info from other sources!

the only person debating soy/other foods and its short term storage is you, and i wont stop you,go for it, but i feel you have already derailed it into that.
FWIW sides this public forum i havent dicussed any thing with you, so you've got me mixed up with someone else.....maybe tyrone......or dave...
ymmv


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## LynninTX (Jun 23, 2004)

thanks all... I have not ever messed with dry ice yet.. maybe I'll see if dh feels brave... 

:lol feeling like a chicken... but a slightly overwhelmed chicken at the moment.


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