White Rice! a few words from Grandpappy

I was recently asked a question about my suggestion of a 5 to 1 ratio of rice to beans as a basis for survival food stores to get started seriously to reach your 1 years worth of food. In the search to answer the question I found out some things I didn't know about "White Rice" and rediscovered "Grandpappy".
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Take a few minutes to check out what Grandpappy has to say about white rice, and his recipes.
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while you are there you might want to check out other areas of his informative site.
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Grandpappy's Basic Recipes - White Rice Recipes - by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.

 

Good info thanks for the link.

 

That is some good information - I didn't realize that white rice lasted so long and brown rice last barely long enough to use. It would be nice to see how long you could get brown rice to last through various packaging methods.

The other source of great recipes would be to get Far Eastern cookbooks (Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Indian, etc.) -- most of them eat rice every day, every_single_day, usually 3 times a day. Rice is basically the thing they get volume with, and anything they add is for flavor: veggies, fish, meat, other...

I'm pretty sure that's why brown rice fell out-of-favor over the centuries -- brown rice spoiled quickly and/or was eaten by bugs. It's better to have something to eat rather than nutritional food that won't last too long.

 

Click on the 'WORD friendly Printable" tab and he has a LOT more articles on a variety of subjects! Some great info here...... gonna keep my printer busy for awhile.....

 

As to brown rice, I'm currently using brown rice that I packaged 1.5yrs ago and it's just fine. I kept it in a mylar bag in a 5 gal bucket for one year, then rotated it out with new stock. I put the rice that was in the bucket into vacuum sealed bags (5cups of rice per bag) I've been using the smaller bags over the last several months.

I do have a white rice in my storage, but because my family likes brown rice we keep that as well.
YMMV, but we have had good luck with storing brown rice.

 

You're working well within the storage life of brown rice. The various brown rices and the brown/red/wild rice blend I buy all give roughly a year's "best by" date on he packaging, and we all know those are short dates. I, too, store brown rice sealed in heavy mylar bags, but with oxygen absorbers and in the deep freeze. It's done fine out to three years, which is all the longer I've had the freezer space. I'm guessing it's good 5 or 6 years this way, at the least.

 

My wife is Japanese and we use a small pack of seasonings to sprinkle on the rice and it adds a lot of flavor, I have thought this would be a good thing to store and use on the rice to give it some flavor and I think it would store well like other dried goods. What we use usually has seaweed, sesame seeds, salt, some other spices and some of them have dehydrated egg crumbles.

 

Parboiled rice lasts like polished white rice, lacks the fiber of brown rice, but packs a denser nutrient source than polished white. The "parboiling" (actually a flash steam cooking) forces the b vitamins deep into the grain, imparting it with the off-white to yellowish color. White rice lasts the longest because it is basically raw starch, with little to no fat, vitamins, or nutrient benefit. Also consuming "enriched" white rice, does not guarantee you will be consuming enough B vitamins to prevent Beriberi.

From the Utah State University Extension Office (have to LOVE those Mormons):

Enjoy!

 

I think you are right about brown rice lasting 5-6 years, especially in a freezer. I have eaten 2 year old brown rice that was just sitting in the pantry and it was fine.

Brown rice gets a bad rap sometimes and maybe rightly so but I don't think it should be omitted from your food stores. Even if it only lasted 2-3 years that's 2-3 years of good nutrition you wouldn't otherwise have. Just be sure and rotate it.

I've eaten wild rice that was 3 years old and sitting in the pantry in its original packaging too - it was fine. don't get too hung up on food expiration dates.

 

Good link, being from S Louisiana white rice is a staple. We keep at least 100 to 125 lbs on hand.

 

I store lots of Jasmine rice seems to do great!

 

If I make "red beans and rice", we call it "fragrant rump rice".

 

Fragrant Thai Rice and Jasmine Rice are one and the same. I can get 10# bags of jasmine rice at the Commissary; though bulk plain white rice and bulk kidney beans form the base of my longer term emergency food supply. Search on the 'Net and you should be able to find a fairly local source if - as has been pointed out, your local Mormons are a good source for emergency prepared ness foods, and they welcome everyone to shop at their co-ops.

 

I have stored some Jasmine Rice, but it's flavor and gumminess don't lend it too well to certain Southern dishes........

Uncle Ben's for this old Florida Cracker!

 

Not if you do it right. Bring the beans to a boil, then let cool for a bit, then change the water. Then add your spices and cook normal. The gas content is cut tremendously. Still gas x is something you can store.

 

Brown rice stores fine. We buy it in 25lb brown paper bags, all we do with it is put it into a large plastic barrel that has a sealing lid. We have stored it like this for over 2 yrs.

BWM

 

Cut up a lb. of smoked sausage and add to your red bean's while cooking...The more seasoned the sausage the better!!!