I have 25# of rice in a cloth sack that I bought in April of 1999. It looks fine,smells a little stale, but wondered if it takes on invisible molds or other bad things. Also what kind of container should I store it in? Plastic OK? Thanks. By the way, I LOVE this forum. Marilyn

-- Marilyn in CO (www.tomeatbeef@aol.com), April 17, 2002

Answers

Some of that Y2k stuff, I still have lots of rice too. I don't think there is any thing wrong with it. After all you are going to be boiling it. I got mine in Dollar Store glass jars, with tight screw on lids. Also you could put in freezer for a couple of weeks, that should freeze out any molds or what ever and then put in containers.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), April 17, 2002.

Rice has a regular shelf life of 36 months. It still might be okay though as long as it looks okay and there are not insects or any type of debris. What I would do is to cook up a couple of tablespoons and taste it to see if it tastes okay or if it is too stale for your taste. Just boil some in a pan of water and drain and taste. I would be curious to know whether it tastes okay.

By the way, you can keep rice or other grains almost indefinately if you put them in a sealed mylar bag inside a lidded plastic food-grade bucket. I just bought a bunch of mylar bags on ebay. You seal them with an iron. For added protection you can also drop in a few oxygen absorbers (available from various sources online). I will be starting a series on stocking up soon and listing some sources and information for those who didn't do the Y2K thing but feel compelled to do so now with the world situation as it is.

-- Karen (mountains_mama@hotmail.com), April 17, 2002.

We had rice tonight for supper that is older than 1999------I made fried rice----with stir fry veggies--& veggie egg rolls----

Since I made fried rice-----if it tasted old we didn't notice it!!!

I had this in bags stored in large plastic trash carts on wheels---I guess this cart got pushed to the back of my storage pantry----I also had bay leaves on top of the bags inside of the cart--- I had no bugs- --all was fine-----hubby even said how good supper was---

-- Sonda in Ks. (sgbruce@birch.net), April 17, 2002.

Karen what is a Mylar bag? I also agree with you, I believe we should be stocking up, cause what is comeing down the pike will make Y2K look like a Sunday in the park. Every morning when I get up and turn the radio on, I expect something to happen. There saying on short wave now , that we will start getting the suicide bombers in this country any day now. I could go on, but since this is a food forum I will quit. So stock up gals and gentlemen.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), April 18, 2002.

Thanks everyone for replying. I fixed some of the rice last night and it tasted really good. We didn't even notice a stale taste. I invented a new recipe of sour cream, purple onion, hardboiled eggs and mixed it in the rice. Hubby thought the rice was so much better than the instant I've been using. Of course it is much better, but I thought it was soooo much more time consuming but I read on another post about 15 min. rice and boiling it like pasta. Wonderful, I love it - it works. We shall have the good stuff from now on. Ha! Yes the sack of rice was a Y2K supply that I totally forgot in my basement pantry.

-- Marilyn in CO (www.tomeatbeef@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

here is something that we have used on 'old' brown rice (from '99). for when sometimes it has that slightly off smell......

for every cup of rice, put it in a bowl, add 1 T baking soda, and some water, swish it around some, rince and cook as usual. it will be like new.

-- gadget in nm (barn@afweb.com), May 08, 2002.

The answer is depends on the type of rice. Brown rice has oils that go rancid. White rice lasts longer because the part of the rice that contains the oils have been removed. Rancid food is not a healthful thing to eat.

-- Brian Knobular (brianknobular@yahoo.com), January 06, 2003.