It's kind of frugal-related since I bought the bigger bag of rice because it's cheaper unit-wise. :wink

Can I freeze my brown rice and just take some out as needed to cook? I find that over time uncooked rice (brown anyway) develops a bit of an "old" taste. The price for the small bag was ridiculous as compared to the bag about 2.5 times its size.

I couldn't read and not respond. We eat a lot of rice in this state and I've never heard of freezing uncooked rice until now. We tend to buy big bags of rice since it's more economical. We keep our 25 pound bag of rice in an airtight container stored in the pantry. It's humid here but the rice doesn't spoil. The rice doesn't have to be in an airtight container at all. My mother has kept the rice in the very bag it comes in. She just rolls down the opening she makes at the top of the bag. I suppose you could freeze the rice but I would think that would affect the taste more than if you kept it at room temperature.

How are you storing the rice? Are you making the rice in a rice cooker or on the stove?

We don't freeze our rice, either. I store it in relatively airtight jars (mason jars with screw-on lids) and it keeps well. I also buy it in the 25 lb bags. :)

We keep our 25 lb bags of rice in the freezer. We find that if we don't, we get moths in it. We just cook it normally, no problem at all.

We keep ours in the fridge.

Liz

I keep mine sealed in food-grade 5-gallon buckets with sealing lids. You can also seal them in mylar bags to preserve freshness, but we eat rice almost every day, so this method doesn't work for us.

Smaller amounts (white medium grain for spanish rice for example) are kept in gallon-sized hermetically-sealed jars.

I've found that glass (with a hermetic seal) maintains the best freshness.

I found that if I keep mine in our cabinets, the rice starts to taste like...well, musty cabinet :lol So yes, I keep mine in our chest freezer, I cook it using the normal method--no problems. It doesn't affect taste or quality at all. It just takes a little longer to boil because the water is colder :)

ETA, we also have an ant problem 5 months out of the year, so I'm paranoid about keeping it on the floor anywhere.

I keep both brown rice and whole wheat flour in the freezer. Whole grains retain their natural oils, which can go rancid if improperly stored for a significant amount of time. Freezing them helps keep them fresh longer. :D

You learn something new everyday!:lol

I wonder if the reason I don't know anyone who keeps rice in a freezer is because we eat a ton of rice here in Hawaii. Our family eats rice daily so we go through a 25-pound bag quite quickly.

We eat rice really quickly too! I buy it in 20 pound bags. I never heard of anyone keeping it in the freezer... although I suppose that does make sense if you don't eat it every day or nearly every day. We put ours in a big container someone gave us eons ago, but it only holds 10 pounds. We leave the rest in the original bag and go through the other 10 pounds quickly enough so I never noticed any issues with it.

Thanks!! I use a rice cooker and only eat rice a couple of times a week, if even that often. I've just been storing it in the bag in the cupboard, using a twist tie to close the open end. I haven't put it in the freezer yet because I didn't want to kill it unintentionally but I will store it in there now. I'm not sure how to describe the taste other than "old".