# Rice long term storage, instant or regular?



## WWhermit (Mar 1, 2012)

I'm ready to mylar bag big amounts of rice. I'm considering either regular calrose rice, or Minute Rice. Let's hear from the experts.

The only reason why I would consider Minute Rice as an option is if I did have to depend on these resources in a SHTF situation, long term, I think cooking fuel would be a great commodity, and it seems that instant rice would be a better option.

Nutrition and storage come into play as well, and I think regular rice would be better in that respect.

Thoughts? Opinions?


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

I tore mostly regular myself and then for quick n easy I have plenty of the rice a roni and fried rice mixes thrown in. If coking fuel is getting to be a hardship you can pre soak rice a good while to speed up it's final cooking. If using it as a trail food I"d put some in a thermos with hot water with my morning meal and let it soak while I travel or do whatever then it should finish quickly in the evening and water should still be warm and therefore heat up quickly. The real reason though is cost the regualar stuff is just a bit cheaper and I wouldn't doubt that it stores better as well but I don't know that for sure.


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## Nadja (Jan 12, 2011)

Extra long grain rice, if packaged in mylar correctly should last about 20 years. Rice a roni, maybe a couple of years or so.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

I store regular rice. I have opened 5 gal buckets that were 10 years old and used them. I don't use mylar bags. I just throw a couple of O2 absorbers into the bucket and seal it up. 

I use a rocketstove to cook so fuel is not a problem.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

Store what you eat now. Stick with White rice since the brown rice tends not to store well. Be sure you get a good mylar bag.heavy weight it best. What you may want to consider is putting rice, beans, pasta, etc. all in the same Mylar bag since that way you will not be exposing all your rice to air at once. Little bit of this and that to give you a variety of products. Date your bucket and use the oldest one first. I don't want to sound like a broken record but always store what you eat. Too many people store stuff because they got it cheap and never taste test it before they put it up for storage. GB


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

I store both. We use instant rice & the already seasoned packets of rice as part of our regular diet so we store a good amount of it but we have buckets of regular rice stored as well. We use Mylar & O2 absorbers in our buckets. Instant rice takes up more space than regular rice, BTW.


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## ilovetigger (Aug 10, 2011)

I have basmati stored in canning jars with O2 absorbers and oxygen sucked out. 10 minute cook time. (Instant is 5 minutes anyway.) Just had some of it today. You can replace the water with broths for flavor change.

We use the some of the rice mixes and stored rices as part of our regular diet.........And plan to increase our rice stores even more.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

To avoid the high price of instant rice, you can make it yourself.

Just dehydrate cooked rice, thats all their is to it. You can make as much or as little as you want without paying an arm and a leg for it. 

When you make flavored rice dishes such as Spanish Rice or Dirty Rice, that can also be dehydrated and used like regular instant rice.


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## jsriley5 (Sep 22, 2012)

I use the rice as the filler im my buckets I get 12 to 14 cups of rice in a bucket I fil it with all the other stuff like gravy mixes seasonings salt sugar powdered milk etc, then use the rice to fill in and use all the space up in the mylar lined bucket I figure it saves the o2 absorber a bit of work by filling in the spaces and crowding out air. Then seal em up got a variety when I open it and rice to use for calories and filler with meals. Soon as I get my grain grinder gonna so the same with wheat. Cmon collapse gimme three more months Please!!


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

instant rice will not store as long, nor does it expand as much as 'regular' rice. I store regular; each 1 cup rice cooks up to 3 cups, whereas minute rice 1 cup only makes 2 cups cooked. If cooking fuel is a problem, use a thermos or wrap cooking technique, dramatically slashes fuel useage.


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