Can I bulk cook/freeze rice and pasta?

zebidee1

I'm probably going to need quite a lot of rice and pasta over the next couple of weeks and it's a bit of a pain having to cook it at 7am every day. Can I cook panfuls of the stuff and freeze it or cant you do that sucessfully with plain rice/pasta (no sauce)?

RustyFlange

I didn't think you could freeze pasta for some reason, will be watching this thread as I too would like to know ... I always freeze rice but never think to bulk cook it and freeze.

Bargain_Rzl

I frequently bulk cook both rice and pasta and freeze in fully made up meal portions.

As far as I know, the only thing to be careful of is to make sure the rice is cooled down as quickly as possible after cooking, as there's a danger if you don't that it can release a toxin which can cause done poisoning, and can't be destroyed by thorough reheating as some other bugs can.

Bargain_Rzl

Sorry, that's FOOD poisoning not DONE poisoning - posting this from my mobile with predictive text!

ALIBOBSY

Probably better to slightly undercook as well so either the rice or the pasta don't go too soft after reheating.
Agree re the rice cool quickly-in a sieve under cold tap works well. Drain well for both pasta and rice and freeze asap.
ali x

zebidee1

Mmm...toxin bit worries me a little. The purpose of the rice/pasta is to feed my dog who has colitis and has problems on commercial dog food so it might be a concern if he was worse affected by toxins.

I suppose you could just drain the rice then run under the cold tap before freezing, that would cool it quickly? At the moment, I cook a days worth in one go and leave to cool then refrigerate........I assume it's not just freezing that's the issue and I should be trying to cool it quickly in this situation too?

zebidee1

Didn't see your post ALI before I posted mine, lol.

Gangstabird

Ok I am going to add something to this. I want to freeze portions of chicken with rice & black eyed peas. I have never frozen this before but I want to know that I will not die a terrible death:beer:

Generali

zebidee1 wrote: »

Mmm...toxin bit worries me a little. The purpose of the rice/pasta is to feed my dog who has colitis and has problems on commercial dog food so it might be a concern if he was worse affected by toxins.

I suppose you could just drain the rice then run under the cold tap before freezing, that would cool it quickly? At the moment, I cook a days worth in one go and leave to cool then refrigerate........I assume it's not just freezing that's the issue and I should be trying to cool it quickly in this situation too?

If I make rice to use later I run it through under a cold tap for about a minute and make sure each grain gets a good soaking. Then I'll only keep it for a day.

AFAIK, the number one cause of food poisoning worldwide is rice. Of course it's probably the #1 staple.

cgallegos

:rotfl:
Hahaha, I think you are all hilarious! I was looking for ideas about how to freeze rice partially cooked to save time later and not have it get too mushy. I have 2 points to make:

1. You DO NOT have to cool your rice off quickly! I believe that there are many many cultures which make rice that is not plain. There is no way to rinse rice that is not plain (saffron rice, Mexican rice, puerto rican rice, or any of the other rices that I make) without ruining it. Your rice will not spoil in the time it takes to cool off at room temperature.

If your dog is having digestive problems, he is very likely allergic to some of the junk in the super processed dog food. I would understand not wanting to give him something that might make him sick, but again the rice will not spoil in less than 24 hours.Let it cool down a little, package it and stick it in the freezer. You don't have to worry about the texture because your dog won't care.

2. You DO NOT need to eat your rice the day that it is cooked. I make large amounts of rice and it stays in my fridge for UP TO a week (I don't trust it any longer, but believe me you can smell when it goes bad YUCK!)

Rice might be the number 1 cause of food poisoning, but remember that it is also the number one staple, especially with communities that are poverty stricken and hungry, and these people do not have refrigeration.

Good luck!

carolinejane_2

I always thought the danger with cooked rice was not reheating it thoroughly?