How to store boiled buckwheat and rice: can they be frozen?
Many housewives are familiar with the situation when cooked buckwheat or rice is left over after dinner. Porridge can be eaten in a week or even a month if you store it in the refrigerator correctly. But how to store cooked buckwheat and rice? Read about ways to safely store boiled cereals in our article.
How long does ready-made buckwheat last?
Usually cooked cereals are eaten immediately. It’s delicious, and moreover, vitamins, minerals, macro- and microelements are contained in greater quantities in fresh rather than in cooled and heated products.
Boiled buckwheat is stored:
- 1-2 hours at room temperature no more than +25°C;
- from three to seven days in the refrigerator at a temperature of +4°C;
- up to three days at a temperature of 0°C, up to seven days at a negative temperature on the balcony;
- 4 weeks at –18°C in the freezer.
Sometimes all storage conditions were met, but it was impossible to eat the cereal. If the porridge has spoiled, it is better to throw it away.
How to understand that you can’t eat buckwheat:
- unpleasant, sour or rancid, musty odor;
- liquid mucus at the bottom of the porridge container;
- mold: grains become whitish;
- bitter taste;
- presence of insects.
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How to properly store boiled buckwheat and rice
If cooked buckwheat or rice needs to be saved, then the porridge is put in the refrigerator.The temperature in it should be +4°C.
The rules for storing the cooked product are presented in the table.
| On water with salt | With milk | With added meat, butter, vegetables | |
| Buckwheat | 3-7 days | 24 hours | 3 days |
| Rice | 4 days | — | — |
The container where the product will be stored is important in proper storage.. A glass jar or container with an airtight screw-on lid is the best option. They protect against foreign odors and do not absorb them themselves. After washing the glass, no pathogenic microorganisms remain on it.
Boiled cereals are also stored in plastic containers, but the shelf life will be shorter. Plastic containers are more often deformed and do not provide the necessary protection of products from foreign odors. As it is used, microcracks appear on the plastic, in which pathogenic microorganisms multiply. This causes the containers to smell unpleasant, and washing does not correct the situation.
Metal containers are the most unsuitable option for storage, since it quickly rusts and cannot be hermetically sealed. Do not put the pan in which rice/buckwheat was cooked in the refrigerator. After a day, the product will develop a characteristic unpleasant aftertaste.
Attention! Plastic bags are not suitable for storing boiled cereal in the refrigerator. Condensation will form in them, which will spoil the product.
Before use, remove the correct amount of product from the container., which is eaten, the portion is heated, the remainder is thrown away from the plate. It is not stored, since pathogenic microbes form in the remnants of heated food, even in the refrigerator, causing poisoning.
Rice and buckwheat absorb odors well in the refrigerator. They are placed in a tightly closed container away from foods with a rich aroma.
Advice. Rice and buckwheat are completely compatible porridges.They are even boiled and eaten together - with chicken, meat gravy or vegetables.
Is it possible to store boiled buckwheat or rice on the balcony?
You can store buckwheat and rice on the balcony in winter and even autumn. It is not recommended to place a container of porridge on the balcony if the temperature there is above zero - for example, like in a refrigerator, +4°C. The humidity on the balcony is higher, and because of it, yellow/white spots appear on the cereal - a sign of spoilage.
The porridge is taken out onto the balcony and stored at a temperature of 0°C - up to three days, at negative temperatures (down to –5°C) – up to seven days.
Important! The difficulty of storing rice/buckwheat on the balcony is that the temperature there can change dramatically. With such differences, the product will deteriorate.
In what
The porridge cannot be stored in the container in which the porridge was cooked.. It is transferred to a glass container with a tight-fitting lid so that the porridge does not get airy.
If it is not possible to store the product in glass containers, they take it out to the balcony in what is at hand. But the shelf life is 24 hours.
How to do it right
If you follow the rules, the product will be stored for the specified period.:
- sealed packaging;
- absence of direct sunlight that can heat the container with the product;
- absence of insects.
If frost hits and the porridge on the balcony freezes, but at the same time it was fresh, it is heated in a convenient way and eaten.
Is it possible to freeze cooked buckwheat and rice?
Freezing boiled porridge is one way to prepare food for future use. To store in the freezer, cook rice/buckwheat in water with added salt. The remaining ingredients are added after defrosting.
Is it possible to freeze boiled buckwheat and rice with meat, vegetables, mushrooms cooked in milk? This is possible, but this reduces the shelf life by half.
Porridges with meat, mushroom, and vegetable additives are frozen into portioned briquettesthat they take with them on hikes, fishing or hunting. They are heated over a fire.
Important! Thawed milk porridge is not given to children to prevent flatulence and poisoning.
In what container?
Boiled cereal is transferred in any volume into a plastic container with an airtight lid and glue a piece of paper with the date of freezing.
Important! The lid of the container must fit tightly to the container, otherwise condensation will appear on the surface of the porridge, which will turn into ice and spoil the taste of the dish.
Porridge is also stored in the freezer in plastic bags.. Place boiled buckwheat or rice in two bags at once. This way there will be no condensation and odors will not get inside. The taste and quality do not suffer.
For how long
Rice can be stored in the freezer for up to four months.. At the same time, on the first day of freezing, take it out 2-3 times and shake it thoroughly. This will help you get a crumbly porridge when defrosting, rather than a sticky mass.
Buckwheat is placed in the freezer for a month. It is not recommended to store it any longer - the porridge will be tasteless after defrosting.
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At what degrees
Porridges are placed in any compartment of the freezer compartment with a temperature of –18°C. Rice and buckwheat freeze completely after 24 hours. After complete freezing, the container with porridge is not moved through the freezer to places with lower or higher temperatures.
How to defrost rice and buckwheat correctly
An equally important question is how to defrost the product so that the porridge is not watery and tasty. Do not place porridge on the kitchen table to defrost, so as not to spoil the product. Here are some correct ways:
- The container with the contents is taken out of the freezer and placed on a shelf in the refrigerator overnight, and in the morning the melted porridge is heated in a frying pan, in the microwave, and added to soups, cutlets, and pancakes.
- The container with frozen cereal is placed in the microwave and set to defrost the product. The defrosting time depends on the set power.
- Place the frozen product in a frying pan and add a small amount of water to prevent the cereal from burning. Once thawed, add butter and other ingredients.
Thawed porridges have a peculiarity. After thawing, they always turn out crumbly, but somewhat dry.
Conclusion
Boiled cereals can be stored on the kitchen counter, in the refrigerator, on the balcony and in the freezer. Only the shelf life will be different. It also depends on what container is used for storage. When placing, the proximity to other products is also taken into account.