Storing Pre-soaked rice
A food non-waster’s dilemma: I pre-soaked rice for dinner tonight, but then went out for dinner. I won’t be able to cook what I planned for another three days. A) do I put the rice and water in the fridge and cook as usual later? B) do I drain the water and freeze the wet rice? C) do I cook the rice and freeze it? D) do I toss out the rice?
Recommended by Food52
5 Comments
However, I have taken some food safety courses and rice is at risk of being contaminated with “ bacillus cereus” which can be quite toxic. I would definitely freeze the soaked rice until ready to cook, then cook and consume quickly. I am not a food scientist but my understanding of this bacteria is that it will live through the cooking process and will multiply quickly afterward, I only keep cooked rice in the fridge two days after cooking, but I would take into consideration that the soaking process may have activated the bacteria spores. I would factor the time the rice was soaking to the time the rice was frozen, then the time the rice was defrosted to consumption. For safety, I would want this to be under 48 hours.
Rice pudding is a great way to use up leftovers also.
Betsy in Chicago...ignore my notes and go with Wendy's advice.
Voted the Best Reply!
I find soaked rice can stand a day or two in fridge.
But that better solution is to cook it and then store in either/both fridge and freezer depending on what your meal plans are for upcoming few days.
Another non food waster.