Lunch ideas and does rice need reheating

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I’m hoping to take in more of a substantial lunch to work each day. I keep seeing people meal prepping. I’ve bought some cooked chicken breasts. ID like to take some of the cooked chicken breast into work with salad some days and other days sigh broccoli and rice.

im just not sure about the prep and cooking for it.
if the chicken is bought cooked, and I’m using microwave rice, do I add the cold chicken to the container I’m taking to work with cooked broccoli and cooked microwave rice and eat cold at work the next day? Or do I reheat it all again the next day?
any suggestions for sauce?

aim is to eat healthier and with more protein.
thanks in advance

I'd heat it up at work.

So put the rice straight from the microwave packet into a container with the chicken the night before and then cook at work?

Any reason you can't cook your own rice at home rather than using microwave pouches? Its so much cheaper. I cook a 1kg bag at once, then freeze into portions. You could add flavours like coconut milk, turmeric or spices whilst cooking if desired too. Rice needs to be piping hot before eating though.

Crumbed chicken drumsticks or thighs are good. I used to take them to work with a side salad or coleslaw.
Stir fries, lasagne, pasta bake, shepherds pie etc ca all re reheated at work.

I would bring the microwave packet to work and zap it there, then dump it in with the chicken. I'd just want to ensure that I cooked the rice to food safe temperature. I wouldn't eat cold rice.
You could also stir fry them together at home with some vegetable you enjoy, I like broccoli or peas with mine.

Me again! I asked google and microwave rice is fully cooked and sterilized so your original idea was just fine.

Isn't the advice not to reheat rice?

Yes, but it’s wacky and expensive to be buying chicken and rice ready made and putting it in pots to reheat at lunch. It takes no time to cook chicken and rice. Do it Sunday as you are cooking your normal dinner, let cool and put in pots in fridge before you go to bed. Very easy.

Reheating rice is completely fine as long as it’s been stored properly in the fridge and is heated properly. If you couldn’t reheat rice there would be no such thing as fried rice!

OP - I’d either cook some rice at home and reheat or tip the rice out of the microwave bag. As pp said the microwave stuff is already cooked so I wouldn’t bother heating it again until you want to eat it,

If you are buying ready cooked chicken I'm not sure it would be very nice reheated, it might dry out. I would just eat it all cold.
As pp say much nicer to make your own. You could add flavours and veg to the rice as it cooks then a dressing to make it like a rice salad.

My entire bloodline would never have existed if rice wasn't reheated over many generations!

Also for OP, if you want tastier leftovers, use thigh instead of breast - breast can get very dry. It's also cheaper.

@yonem , @singthing : to my surprise also, @concertinacornflake is correct. And my family has been reheating rice for generations also!

When DH had cancer, his (NHS)chemo nurses took different attitudes towards diet. His personal nurse specialist was like ‘no raw seafood or unpasteurised cheese’, whereas others were much stricter. But each of them made a point of saying ‘No reheated rice’.

It can literally kill, and not just cancer patients. There was a recent MN thread - I forget on which Board - where some were writing in to say ‘My family always reheats rice’ and others were replying ‘We did too, until it landed one of us in the ICU’. It got lively. The poisoning is rare but grim.

Those par boiled packets have been sterilised so they ate fine.

@ncforthisxxx the food standards agency says reheating rice is fine as long as you’ve stored it properly and you heat it thoroughly. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-food-fact-checker/home-food-fact-checker

This Q&A is chock full of caveats! The main one is that reheated rice should be eaten within 24 h of when it was first cooked. Another is that it should be cooled carefully and stored in the fridge, not a rice cooker.

I suspect that even the strictest nurse would be fine with these protocols

Who stores it in a rice cooker?? It’s probably fine for a few days but I’d never store leftovers of any prepared food outside the fridge, that’s not specific to rice by any means. It’s like leaving your stew in the slow cooker!

Many Asian people do this. Particularly students.

Some rice cookers advertise how long they will keep rice warm as a positive feature. It really isn’t.

Rice is fine reheated as long as it hasn’t been sat at room temp for ages, and it’s reheated thoroughly. I batch cook rice all the time - it’s important to cool it quickly so I rinse it through the sieve in cold water then freeze. Has to be piping hot when reheated.

And not kept for more than 24 h according to the FSA. Happily most people will be lucky most of the time and it sounds like you have been amongst this group.