How to Store Rice

Description: Readers share their best tips for storing large quantities of rice.

Tip #1: Home Depot or Lowe's sell huge buckets for $3-5 in the paint area. Just wash it and it's ready to go! I store my rock salt in one for the winter - I just leave it outside my front door so I can salt on my way to the car. It works well for food because the lids seal tight and you can decorate the outside of the tin to look nice!

Tip #3: When storing grains such as rice, tuck a bay leaf (or two) in the container. It will keep bugs away.

Tip #4: I buy 20 lb. bags of rice and divide them up into gal. size ziploc bags. I then store them in the pantry. I don't get bugs because I always make sure the bags are closed.

Tip #5: To keep rice (and in fact any grain product) "bug-free", find a metal tin with a tight lid (or even a preserving jar). I use Nestle cans. Fill with grain or flour, leaving about 2" at top. Cover with a piece of aluminium foil. Place a tea candle on foil...light it...let burn for a couple of seconds..jam on the lid quickly. The flame will burn off the oxygen...and form an airtight seal, thus starving any bugs of oxygen...Michael

Tip #6: I have started, after many problems of opening new bags of grains, flours, even dog and cat foods, etc. and finding an infestation of bugs or other creepy crawlies, to put the bags directly into the freezer for several days to kill anything that might be an unwelcome guest in my pantry. My problems have decreased tremendously since I have started this practice...Claudia

Tip #7: Go to a deli or a bakery and get a used 5 gallon bucket. Usually a lot cheaper and you know it is food grade...Ray

Tip #8: Tip #1 said get the 'huge buckets' in the paint department at Lowes. PLEASE watch out, folks! Most of these "paint department" buckets ARE NOT FOOD SAFE, and should NOT be used to store anything that will be consumed by humans! Or animals either, for that matter, just in case you think "well if I can't store my rice I can store my dog food." No you can't. A better source for buckets would be your local restaurant supply house. Check the yellow pages in the nearest large town. Or if you don't mind "used" buckets, ask the manager of your local bakery/deli what they do with the emptied buckets that things like their cake frosting come in. Some places will sell them to you for next to nothing, and some will even just give them to you to get them out of their way. :-) But please, please, however you acquire them PLEASE make sure the buckets you use are approved FOOD GRADE containers!...Mary

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