Rice - can you keep it for later?

[Laura032004]

DS is on a gluten & wheat free diet, so has porridge made from millet and rice flakes (from Sainsburys). This is a pain to make up, so could I make lots of it and keep some for later?

Also, he has basmati rice in his tea most evenings, same question - could I make giant portions and freeze some for later?

Look forward to your answers, or any pointers to information, as I'm sure there is a problem with reheating rice, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.

Thanks

[Lonelymum]

I am not sure about freezing rice but I know for definite that you should not keep rice very long and be careful about reheating it. Whenever I have any left over, I always throw it out because I know I won't use it in time.

[Lonelymum]

Might this help you?
Rice

[NannyJo]

freezing is fine as long as it is only re-heated once and is thoroughly heated through so to kill any bacteria then allowed to cool so it is ok temperature to eat.

[mrspink27]

probably going to be majorly proved wrong here, but i always freeze leftiver rice and make sure it is defrosted thoroughly and pour boiling water over it!... no ill effects yet, but i bet someone will give a reason why thats bad! ... i know you shouldnt keep it for long after you have cooked it because of the risk of food poisoning, something about rice grains having a large surface area for their volume and therefore being a bigger place for nasty bacteria!

[CarrieG]

Think it's keeping it hanging around in the fridge that's dodgy - mind you, I always do that at home & no-one's died yet! But when I had a pub, rice was always one of the things Environmenmtal Health obsessed about - we were advised to freeze individual portions & defrost/re-heat thoroughly in microwave, so that's possibly the safest thing for you to do for ds?

[jane313]

I freeze rice and reheat it throughly. I also have it overnight in the fridge and also reheat thoroughly. I also make rice salads too. Have never been ill yet. There is some strain of rice food poisoning but I thought that happened when you kept it half warm for ages. Sorry if it says that in your link.

[NannyJo]

cold rice is fine the problem i think is when it is partially heated which then encourages the bacteria. heated right through kills that and cold hasn't been able to grow.

[Lonelymum]

According to the link and other links I found, the key is to cool the rice quickly and if you are going to reheat it, reheat it in small portions to ensure it is reheated thoroughly.

[Laura032004]

That's all really useful, thankyou. Thanks for the link too Lonelymum - very informative. This will save me cooking a tiny pan of rice every night! Will definitely not scrimp on reheating rice from the supermarket after reading the info!

[singersgirl]

I know loads of people have posted, but just to add my support to the 'freezing rice' brigade - I freeze rice in small portions and keep it in the fridge for a day. I reheat thoroughly in the microwave or as fried rice - no-one's been ill yet. I wouldn't reheat takeaway rice, though.....