[AgentR]

1) As far as I know, all white rice that is shipped now has lots of vitamins added to it.

2) You aren't SUPPOSED to eat rice by itself. Rice w/pickles; Rice w/fish; Rice w/raw veggies; Rice w/eggs; etc. Most of what we think of as "healthy" food, has squat for calories; rice provides most of the calories; the add-ons provide the protein, fats, and vitamins.

3) If you shop around, you can find some packaged in sealed, air tight bags. Rice should keep a very long time inside such packages, though they are often somewhat more expensive. (though still very cheap)

One thing I myself am more curious about; is the process of going from harvesting the rice by hand, to having a storable dry product that will last for some years.

[JJ]

is jasmin rice the same as white rice nutritionaly? We eat tons of it...Bing said the farmers are protecting their fields now in the Philippines at night with armed guards...I asked her how do you steal rice out of the field, she said you can get enough for you family in a night (her experience)

[oliveoil]

Re: DoomWarrior

I don't know if supplementing white rice will work. I wouldn't touch it right now, but these are good economic times. We are talking about long term emergency supplies for survival, so it may be useful.

The superior grain is, whole grain rice, a complete food that brings its own vitamins.

AgentR is correct in saying that they do add vitamins back in white rice, but I am suspicious of this. I mean, why take them out in the first place? They add the nutrients back only because the government tells them to, and probably in minimum quantities required.

He is also correct about having to eat rice with other things. So big bags of rice and cans of beans/vegetables/fish etc may make good emergecy supplies.

JJ, looking at picture of Jasmine rice (on Wikipedia) tells me its white rice. Thais (where this rice comes from) generally only eat white rice, and the quote that it sticks during cooking also means its white rice. Brown rice does not stick. If a label does not say wholegrain, avoid it. Even "brown" rice can sometimes be just coloured white rice, which is ridiculous. Dont trust anyone

I hope this is not too much off topic. The OP's question was on preserving white rice.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oliveoil', 'H')i,

It may be useful to look into nutritional values of white rice. Some people say that its very much akin to white sugar - in that it's an anti-nutrient. This means that as a pure carbohydrate with no vitamins, it drains vitamins from your body, in order to process it as a food source.

I won't go into more details but just consider an example of countries which (during war, Vietnam) run out of whole-grain rice and were helped out by the US who imported huge quantities of white rice, with the result of masses of people becoming ill with beri-beri and other diseases. (Sugar Blues, William Dufty)

You are right, brown rice only keeps for 6 months, but it may be useful to know that you won't survive on white rice alone and may need to supplement it somehow.

[Cashmere]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his means that as a pure carbohydrate with no vitamins, it drains vitamins from your body, in order to process it as a food source.

[NeoPeasant]

Your prospects of meeting your caloric needs from your backyard garden are poor. Your prospects of meeting your needs for micronutrients from your backyard garden are much better provided you have a source of starch for bulk calories already.

At least that's the theory I've been planning around.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'Y')our prospects of meeting your caloric needs from your backyard garden are poor. Your prospects of meeting your needs for micronutrients from your backyard garden are much better provided you have a source of starch for bulk calories already.

At least that's the theory I've been planning around.

[skyemoor]

The storage life of brown and white rice is covered at Walton Feeds.

The short of it: people have successfully stored brown rice over 10 years; temperature and oxygen removal are key to preventing the oxidation of the oils in the germ.

The dietary comparison between brown and white rice is found all over the net, just google "nutritional comparison white brown rice"

The short of it; removal of the bran and germ take most of the nutrition out of white rice, though modest amount of 3 of the 25 removed nutrients are added back in.

[TreeFarmer]

I've read that you get various nutrients from different types of beans and that the bean mixes (9 types of beans?) go a very long way toward giving you a balanced diet.

Therefore, I would suggest putting back about 1 lb of beans for every lb of rice. You could store the bean mix or buy a variety of different beans (I'd go for the latter if it were me). If you put back a good assortment of spices for soups and maybe some tomato powder you could cook a variety of dishes.

TF

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'Y')our prospects of meeting your caloric needs from your backyard garden are poor. Your prospects of meeting your needs for micronutrients from your backyard garden are much better provided you have a source of starch for bulk calories already.

At least that's the theory I've been planning around.

[bobaloo]

One other idea for keeping rice...before sealing it up we toss the bags in the deep freeze for a week or so to kill of any bugs or eggs that might be lurking in there. I've opened stored rice that had "cobwebs" in it before, haven't had that problem since we started freezing it. Vacuum packing will probably do the same thing.

[Golgo13]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('skyemoor', 'T')he storage life of brown and white rice is covered at Walton Feeds.

The short of it: people have successfully stored brown rice over 10 years; temperature and oxygen removal are key to preventing the oxidation of the oils in the germ.

[PeekOil]

I have been looking at the Walton Feed and have a couple of questions that someone here may be able to answer for me. I am thinking mostly about wheat and rice here.

1. They talk about moisture being an issue but then are a bit dismissive about using dessicants. They indicate that it would require too much dessicant to be worth while. They give an example of one of their buckets which holds around 22kg of grain and that by their calculations, it would take around 3Kg of dessicant to bring 15% moisture levels to the preferred 10% moisture levels. Tossing in a few bags of dessicant is clearly not going to do the trick. Q. Could I use silica gel cat litter instead? - I can pick it up by the kilo quite cheaply and could put that in a cotton or paper bag. I'm not really worried about losing 2 or 3 Kg of storage space for my long term storage. Any thoughts on this, has anyone tried it? I am intrested in this for part of my storage that will hopefully last many years. I plan to have different levels of storage - no point in having system in place that will store for 20 years and then opening it up in a year.

2. With the oxygen absorbers, they indicate that as oxygen is absorbed, the tablets will heat up. They also indicate that they will use up all their oxygen absorption capacity quickly (20mins). I was thinking of keeping them in the freezer so that they will only start working when they have been out for a while - basically trying to slow the INITIAL oxygen absorbtion. They seem to indicate that refrigerating is not a good idea. Are they right in the circumstance I describe? Surely when cooled, they will take longer to start absorbing oxygen even if they do eventually catch up?

Any tips and tricks about what you guys do in the real world much appreciated.

[mystiek]

The End Times Report has some good ideas on different types of food storage. I have emailed the folks who did this web site with questions and they were very helpful. I have been using their method to put up flour, sugar, pinto beans, wheat so far. I also have done some of the applesauce cake in a jar and canning butter. Its really not that hard to do.

[frankthetank]

What if you freeze brown rice? I freeze flour. I'll be able to tell you if its good in a few years

[PeekOil]

Freezing it should be good but make sure it stays dry and is in a low oxygen environment.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cashmere', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')his means that as a pure carbohydrate with no vitamins, it drains vitamins from your body, in order to process it as a food source.

[Wren]

I would have to agree with Cashmere on this one, calories first, balance second.
Rice of any kind is a great food. Beans, of themselves are a gift, a true miracle food- there are so MANY kinds of beans and they can mix with rice for sure.
I've eaten white rice my whole life. My parents are vegetarians, my husband and our kids are vegetarieans. None of us are overweight, none of us take perscription meds, none of us have health problems. My father is 57 years old, works outside in all conditions year round, lifts heavy equipment and to stay employeed he is required to take an indepth physical every year, just like all the people at his company. Every yera the doctor tells him he is in TOP physical health. He has a better heart than guys in their 20s. He maintains endurance and musculature at peak levels. He eats white rice at least 3xs a week.
I grew up eating a strict vegetarian diet, including a lot of white rice, (as well as other rice, true) and studied classical ballet for hours a day for more than 14 years.
Lack of protien is not really a problem for mist of us, nor is lack of calories. vitamin and minerals, are somewhat more of an issue in the western world. But I would blame a convergence of many things before I would blame white rice.
And i would also say, having white rice when starving is MUCH better than sarving.
Good luck perserving rice. I'd say you're ahead of the game for most people. And I appreciate the question. I'm learning a lot, too!

[PeekOil]

Anyone else try emailing Walton Feed and get no reply? I tried emailing to 2 different email addresses on their web site but got nothing back. It has been over a week now. I just wanted to get an idea on the shipping costs.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'Y')our prospects of meeting your caloric needs from your backyard garden are poor. Your prospects of meeting your needs for micronutrients from your backyard garden are much better provided you have a source of starch for bulk calories already.