[DougGaveld]

Wondering if anyone has advice for long term storage of brown rice. I know brown rice has a far shorter self life due to its more raw state than white rice, however can anyone think of, or does anyone know of, a way to store it as to significantly increase its shelf life?

Although the health benefits of brown rice are undeniable, it may be one of those things that isn't worth fighting for in the end -- considering that if it were a few months into fallout from a TEOTWAWKI/SHTF event, I probably wouldnt care less what color the rice was...

 

[PastTense]

There have been several threads:
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=101669
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=163203
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=3470
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=11098
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=45343

 

[OhioMan]

How I wish there was a way of long term storage of brown rice, the oils in the brown rice prevent that from happening.

There are lots of other things you can store to make the white go down easier, spices etc. White rice was my largest item I stored, wheat is 1# now by far. Consider all your options but try to have as many options as you can.

 

[BuginBoy]

I have some brown rice vacuum packed and frozen. I'm think'n it'll last a lot longer than 2-3 yrs. When the electricity goes out it'll still be vacuum packed and will probably last longer than I do!

 

[TexasHomesteader]

We went with parboiled (converted) rice. it stores like white but is healthier like brown. check it out

 

[MikeK]

I have some brown rice vacuum packed and frozen. I'm think'n it'll last a lot longer than 2-3 yrs. When the electricity goes out it'll still be vacuum packed and will probably last longer than I do!

Vacuum packing still leaves a lot of O2 in the bag. An O2 absorber would have reduced it a lot farther. It's the O2 that reacts with the oils in the brown rice bran that causes it to go rancid.

It will last well in the freezer, but once you take it out, you're back into the 6 months to a year max range. Even with an O2 absorber, it only has about 2 year life expectancy under ideal conditions.

Brown rice is just not an optimal long term storage food no matter what you do. This is why most of the long term food storage companies don't offer it. And the few that do, usually give a warning about it's shorter lifespan.

 

[MikeK]

We went with parboiled (converted) rice. it stores like white but is healthier like brown. check it out

That's just about the only realistic option for long term storage. And I often wonder how much of the oils are driven into the kernal during the conversion process. If there's much of it, then the lifespan will reflect that. I'm starting to put away a little of it, but I'm not willing to depend on it until I have more data. But rice isn't my main storage grain anyway. I eat a lot of rice now, so it makes sense to store a lot. But since I eat more wheat and barley, I store more of them.

 

[DougGaveld]

thanks for the info and input guys. Ill prob. continue storing white rice in bulk predominantly... time to learn how to grow rice.