Dangerous/OK to Freeze rice???

[hannahken180]

Currently doing batches of frozen potatoes, veg etc. for 2 year old DD since 2 week old DD is making planning mealtimes more problematic. I'd like to be able to do rice as well (freeze it or keep it in the fridge) but have heard that this can cause food poisoning? What do you think?

I think the advice is not to reheat cooked rice due to some food poisoning bug thing. So I wouldn't freeze or keep it in the fridge.

we regularly freeze and reheat rice. just need to ake sure it's piping hot (as you would with chicken). Never had any ill effects.

Apparently very dangerous, don't know why though!

Even hot reheating doesnt kill whatever causes the food poisoning. That said we eat reheated rice all the time and never suffered.

My dh (a chef) has instructed me never to freeze rice as the problem is it is dangerous to re heat.

There is a food poisoning bug (b cereus) which is found in rice, hence the caution. that said I do freeze and reheat plain boiled rice and also risotto for ds's and have never had a problem (I do always make it v v hot on reheating). afaik if you heat it hot enough (and also freeze quickly, don't let it stand aroudn at room temp after cooling) the bugs should be killed (otherwise presumably we'd all be getting food poisoning from freshly boiled rice?)

I've heard that it is dangerous too but then many recipes for fried rice recommend cooking the rice the day before...

B. cereus fod poisoning can be nasty, used to work in a microbiology lab, but poor addled post children brain couldn't remember much about it! this might help though.

Elliot - that's exactly what I thought too - surely if you cook the rice as normal and then freeze it immediately not leaving it to sit around then there is no more risk than with eating normal rice. The problem comes if it's left to sit around. And the other problem is that because the consequences of the food-poisoning are so awful some people feel the safest advice is never to reheat.

I regularly freeze rice for us and dd - it was actually recommended in one of the baby food books I got, written by an apparently very sensible nutritionist.

My Collins Gem 'Food for Freezing' book says you can freeze cooked rice on its own for 6 months; in dishes containing other foods, 3 months.

Ive also frozen cooked rice dishes for DS and didnt realise it could be so dodgy. He has never been ill from it though i have to say.

I've never heard of this, and my question is the same as Pabla. Does this mean we can never eat fried rice again? And no more Chinese takeaway leftovers?

I have been musing on why people seem more worried about freezing/reheating rice than about meat - after all e coli and salmonella can be pretty nasty too - and I wondered whether perhaps it is because we tend not to think of rice as causing food poisoning, and so do more 'risky' things with it - like eating old rice cold in salads or making fried rice with rice that's just been left cold for a day or so.

KATG, up to you of course, but personally I wouldn't eat leftover rice from takeaways as you don't know what they've done with it beforehand! Whereas I am happier to freeze my own cooking as I know how I've handled it - I just make sure I am as thorough about reheating as I am with meat dishes.

Seems like it is the way it is stored before you frezze it, not actually teh re heating.

read this

That's interesting northerner - thanks for the link.

Thanks everyone for the info. clickit.go2net.com/search?pos=2&ppos=0&plnks=1&uplnks=9&cat=web&cid=239170&site=srch&area=srch.noncomm.inktomi&shape=textlink&cp=uk.dogpl&cluster-click=0&pd=0&coll=1&query=storing+cooked+rice&rawto=www.ochef.com/48.htm Have a look at this as well. I think for my own conclusion it is to cool it quickly - freeze it quickly - keep for about 3 months or keep in fridge for 3 days (6 days/months seems rather long). Also it doesn't look like keeping take away rice is a good idea as you have no idea if it has been cooked/fozen previously.

Here's your link.

Leftover Chinese is one of the great pleasures in my life! I guess I'll just have to get noodles instead of rice!

One of the main sources of bacillus cereus food poisoning is rice that has not been kept refrigerated being insufficiently re-heated. It used to be a big problem with Chinese takeaways - mainly because the rice was pre-cooked then not refrigerated (it doesn't fry up as well when it has been stored in a fridge - it makes the grains more sticky so a lot of takeaways weren't storing it in the fridge hence the problem). If you are doing rice at home, there's no problem - don't leave it lying around too long, chill quickly (freezing is fine) and make sure it's properly re-heated.

Personally I would never re-heat a takeaway (I used to, in my pre-kid days but I wouldn't risk it now!) You don't know how many times it was heated before you got it!

I've had rice food poisoning (not from home-cooked food, I hasten to add) and it isn't nice! But I do freeze dishes for ds containing plain boiled rice. I cool it straight away after cooking (under cold running water) because as others have said, this is when the bugs can multiply (they are present in the rice as spores which can survive the boiling and then start to grow in warm, damp conditions). I thaw it in the fridge and then reheat it very thoroughly. No problems so far.

i've been wondering about freezing rice dishes; though the annabel karmel recipe book has one or two freezable rice dishes, one with mincemeat and basmati rice, and one rice pudding recipe. so, as long as these are cooked, and then cooled and frozen quickly they will be ok??

I've made the minced meat and rice AK recipe and frozen it and DS hasn't had any problems with it. I defrost it in the fridge overnight and then reheat it to. I knew that rice was a dodgy one but just thought you had to check it was piping hot. I always check there's steam coming off takeaway rice and if not bung it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.