Can I freeze rice?

[evansmummy]

Home cooked basmati with nothing else in it. And if yes, would i have to cook it after defrosting or could i have it cold in a salad?

Well, the advice is to be careful with eating leftover rice as it can grow nasty bacteria very quickly. If you do freeze it, make sure that it is cooled and then put in the freezer asap and not left sitting about. When you come to use it, make sure it is heated very thoroughly to kill off any nasties. I do freeze portions of homemade risotto for my toddler, and he's never been ill - I always heat it through very thoroughly.

I've frozen rsotto with no problem but also cooked basmati just in a freezer bag & then poured boiled water over it to reheat. Ds has always been fine.

So i couldn't defrost then use cold in a salad?

At work we precook the rice then freeze it. When it is needed, it is cooked in the microwave from frozen for 4 mins.

there's a nasty bug found in rice which cannot be killed by heat, called something like bacterius cerius. advice is to cool cooked rice rapidly and use next day, don't know how this affects freezing. of course you're not very likely to have it, but still a risk and it is the only food thing (apart from raw chicken) which i don't mess with.

aha it is here - sorry can't do links on this keyboard, no backslash. doesn't mention freezing at all.

www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/keepingfoodsafe/asksamcooking/