Freezing cooked rice

I've just refrozen several pieces of salmon but it had only just been thawed from the first freezing so I'm hoping it will be okay.

Having thrown my innards up after a curry from the pub I am deeply suspicious of rice now!

Cooked rice bought from supermarkets has been treated in some way.

But I am sure you can buy bags of cooked rice in supermarkets. I always understood that the dangerous thing to do was to leave cooked rice or rice salad in the fridge for several days giving the bacillus a chance to develop.

On those very rare occasions when I buy a ready to eat curry for two from the supermarket, the rice usually goes staright into the freezer as soon as I get it home because we find that we cannot manage rice and a naan bread with curry. It is one or the other, which is one of the reasons we rarely buy curry kits.

GS has just walked in and asked me for some rice recipes as he would like to cook a load of savoury-type rice and freeze portions of it for later rather than spend on the packets you get in supermarkets.

So, I told him about the advice on this thread and we agreed if we were careful about chilling/freezing etc. it would be okay.

Bags your experience in Thailand is reassuring.

In rice-dependent countries, leftover rice is always fried in a very hot wok. The high temperatures deal with the germs. I ate masses of fried rice when I worked in Thailand and most of the places that I ate at (no cooking facilities in my lodgings) had no refridgeration. Never had a problem.

Think you were right to throw your rice out petallus left out all night is definitely not advisable. Properly frozen cooked rice must be all right - look at all the ready meals with rice.

I don't bother freezing rice these days as there's just the two of us and I measure exactly what we'll need. I always used to cook too much when all the DCs were at home and froze the surplus. I'd then forget all about it and repeat the process. When the freezer had it's annual de-frost I'd find bags of the stuff at the bottom which I fed to the hens along bags of breadcrumbs, stuffing, crumble mix, herbs and God knows what else.

So far no ill effects after years of freezing and reheating. But we do freeze as soon as possible and heat very thoroughly.

Plunging in a saucepan of boiling water is probably the safest, petallus. Take it out of its bag first though. Boil for five minutes then drain in a colander and pour boiling water from the kettle over it to rinse off any excess starch.

Microwaving is not safe because of the hot/cold spots.

It's a good idea to invest in a food probe. They are quite cheap now and very useful at Christmas when our ovens are often choc-a-block. The current recommended temperature, where bacteria no longer multiply, is 75C.

Any tips for best method of thawing/heating? Plunging into boiling water?

My rice story is that a few days ago grandson put a load into boiling water and then realised after a few minutes that he would not be wanting it after all so I drained it barely cooked and left it out to cool, then went away overnight forgetting to put it in fridge. Cooked it today and it was all lovely and fluffy but just lost my nerve and threw it out.

That probably qualifies for inclusion in a most boring post competition but I've gone obsessive about the waste.

In future will freeze rice using safe method mentioned on this thread.

It works well but you really must watch the food hygiene carefully. Cool it straight away and freeze it quickly, never leave it sitting in the warm and reheat very thoughly.
I have never had a problems doing this.
Merlotgran has posted about the bacteria risk.

Bacillus cereus is a bacteria which can multiply on cooked rice. It can cause severe food poisoning.

It's normally OK to freeze cooked rice if it's cooled quickly then frozen immediately. Freezing leftover rice is where the problems start.

Why hasn't absent replied on this thread? I felt sure she would know the definitive answer.

I have frozen rice and eaten with no ill effects....until I was told it was dangerous ..now I don't,just in case.

I freeze and re-heat without any problems. I think the potential problems arise before the freezing takes place. Un-used cooked rice has so many 'surfaces' that as it goes from hot to warm to cool to cold, bacteria multiply rapidly. By running the un-used rice through cold water immediately and leaving it to drain as cold rice in the fridge before freezing, the chance of bacteria is dramatically reduced.

I freeze it and have had no ill-effects, either.

Like Riverwalk I have frozen rice, reheated it and survived for many years.
What dreadful disease do you get from eating frozen , reheated rice?

Probably safest to freeze it as soon as it cools after cooking and reheat thoroughly. I never keep risotto in the fridge for more than a day and usually fry it up or make arancini (balls of risotto, egg & breadcrumbed then deep fried) The problem with rice is that it can pick up spores from the ground which are not destroyed in the first cooking and can grow afterwards. (Dim memory of Food Hygiene Certificate)

I've been freezing cooked rice for over 30 years, with no ill-effects!

Like all frozen foods it needs to be re-heated to a high temperature.

shouldnt freeze or reheat rice .learnt that on school meals xx

I meant to say 'cooked too much' not over cooked!

The dog gets mine! She loves rice . It's amazing what we've ate and survived [thinks back to student days and the cheap mince I used to buy that was one day labelled 'for pet use only'; probably used to eat that with reheated rice as well].

I have a feeling I froze and re-used rice before anyone told me I shouldn't and am still here and none the worse. But I wouldn't do it now - just in case. Next door's chickens seem to survive on my leftovers.