Is rice the best thing around?
 

I've been reading SOOOOOO much about rice! I hear about the folks in Myrmar getting certain amounts of rice that are supposed to last them a certain amount of time. People here seem to want to store so much of it. But is it really such a nutritious food that you could live solely on it? I'm just so surprised to hear about it so much. What is it about rice that makes everyone want it?

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I think the fuss is that there are 3 billion people in this world who live on $2 a day and rice is their main staple food. The price increase is going to hurt a lot of people who fall into this category. As for North America- I'm not so sure what the fuss is about m'self... though I have a few pails of rice stored.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

...also, it is said that RICE is the one food for which no human has developed a food allergy. If that is accurate (compared to wheat/gluten sensitivities) it is indispensable as a carbohydrate source.

Also, when combined with beans, the proteins (incomplete) in rice are complemented by those difference proteins in beans and one gets a "complete" protein source for the human body.

While meat proteins can be stored a long while is done correctly, rice and beans do as well if not better long-term and are way cheaper. Hence their popularity.

Stock up now.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I have some rice too. Some protein, a few vitamins, carbs, and pretty cheap. Very tasty with soy sauce or just with salt. Also a very good "filler" to mix in with sauces or stews.

What's the best way to store rice? I have a 20lb bag or two and am wondering if it will do alright without any special buckets or sealers. How long will it keep? White variety that is.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'm using 6-gallon Mylar storage bags and oxygen absorbers from sorbentsystems.com. Not sure what the shelf life of white rice is, but it's longer than brown rice.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

We use some rice but also millet, corn, triticale, and oats and planning to add barley and chia.

I think people are just used to rice in our culture, though corn was the indigenous grain to complement beans. It tended to be served as flatbread (tortillas) or cornbread, but we like plain grits under beans just like rice under beans. The protein component match is good.

We like oats for breakfast, rice triticale mix under stir fries, millet as a side dish, and are thinking barley in soups and stews.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

AMforPM, where are you getting triticale? I'm having a difficult time finding any.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'd say potatoes are superior to rice in terms of sustainability. Every spring since I can remember we've planted leftovers from the previous year when they start to get soft & sprout. By fall they're ready to dig and store for the winter. Don't think you'd be able to regenerate with rice. Plus, if someone sees a bag of rice they're much more likely to try and take it from your possession than if they see a potato plant - - I doubt many would even be able to recognize one if they did see it.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I think you hear so much about it because it is arguably the world's most important food crop- the staple of so many people in the world. After the recent price rises and rioting I think I remember hearing on Bloomberg that rice makes up just under 3% of the the typical American's total caloric intake, yet in some countries (I think they mentioned Bangladesh, but not positive) the number can be closer to 75%.
I don't eat much of it like most Americans I guess, but it is cheap and good for storage.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Only unhulled wheat or barley would perhaps last longer. I'm not sure about the germ in wheat, in the wrong storage conditions it may go rancid I guess. In the right conditions it may last hundreds of years, rice probably doesn't have quite that sort of shelf life unless you can keep it very dry.

Rice is easily milled into flour, you can make rice noodles etc. with it. It is also easy to prepare and make edible in minutes, unlike wheat.

It is the world's most important food crop next to wheat, and provides carbohydrates (and some protein) to many of the poorest of the poor.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Just an FYI on triticale, not that it may matter one way or another, and some of you might already know this, but triticale is a hybrid of wheat and rye, which has been worked on since the 1800's. They were really trying to make a go of it as a world grain crop (has good traits of both parents) in the 50's and 60's, hence its inclusion in the Star Trek episode "Trouble with Tribbles" (as quadro-triticale). Currently, about 90% of commercially-grown triticale is grown in Europe. A couple good links are:

http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity...eds/triticale/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triticale

For those who would rather stick with "heirloom" varieties in food, maybe triticale should be left alone.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'm looking at it simply from a variety standpoint. Wheat and rice may be the mainstays, but other grains and seeds have nutrients and flavors that you can't get from the those two. Tastebud fatigue is a very real risk. And while triticale unfortunately cannot be planted to grow more, there are other grains that can; spelt, buckwheat, and kamut come to mind. With a major new wheat rust emerging I will want to have a grain that will step in if modern wheats can't be grown.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Tell that to the third world. Believe me, if you need to break into your emergency rations you'll get unspoiled quick.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I have a good stash of various beans, grains and rice.....I'm surprised no one has mentioned buckwheat yet ,a very nutritious grain (actually a fruit) and when blended 50/50 with wheat it is the closest of all plant protein to meat protien......I'm just not sure how long it will store in mylar with absorbers....I'm thinking probably more like brown rice.
Any info on storage life in mylar and 02 absorber would be appreciated

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

No. Orgasms are better than rice.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

From what I have read, people actually become pickier when TSHTF and won't eat until they are near starved to death if they don't like the food. By that time, you are basically already dead.

Seeing as I have never been close to starving to death I can't say for certain.

Rice is great, just make sure you stock up on seasonings.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

First, I really like its nutty taste when cooked with rice. It is something like wild and white rice mixes, but I like it better.

Here it Walton's page on it

http://waltonfeed.com/self/triticale.html

It is not a frankenfood, but a regular cross, the old way of crossing plants and animals humans have used for thousands of years.

And here is the page where Walton sells it.

http://waltonfeed.com/cart/all.html#22

I can sometimes get it locally. It cooks slow like brown rice. If used with white rice you would likely need to cook the triticale 15 minutes or so before adding the rice and giving a stir before putting the lid back on tight. The same water per dry grain ratio seems to work fine. I like 1/4 triticale in rice.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Just curious, any sites that have good anecdotal evidence on tastebud fatigue WTSHTF?

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

And almost as good as watermelon.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Hence the rice shortage... http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ies/0000-4.gif

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

This is very true, but I think this is making some assumptions too. When most people hit TSHTF scenario they won't have many preps. Most are not ready to eat cockroaches and grubs from the ground. However we were taught in basic survival in the good ol' USAF to start eating this stuff as soon as your normal food rations were gone. Better to try and adjust while your body is healthy, than to wait until you are sick from the malnutrition. Also the farther you get into malnurishment, the poorer your descision making will be. Leading you into eating things you shouldn't.

s

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'll second that,good stuff in soups.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

You know,I really doubt that.Every time Ive seen starving people (on TV) they are grateful for a crumb of anything.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Starving people will eat bugs, northern explorers used to boil shoe leather and drink the broth. Somehow I don't think "not liking" the food will be an issue when REAL hunger is a factor.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I have heard that grubs are mostly fat, which would be a good food source at 9 calories per gram, but how nutritious is a cockroach? Also, what is the best way to prepare grubs and cockroaches? Do you just eat the raw and alive, or is it preferred to cook them?

Those are serious questions. But I can't help adding, what wine do you think goes best with cockroaches?

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Food fatigue is a documented mental condition in times of stress. Although it is illogical, it does happen.

People that have only eaten mainly rice and bugs all their life are far different than US citizens who are used to eating the same thing maybe once every two weeks.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Then I'll laugh my bag off when these people shrivel and die 'cuz they're tired of their food.

Something tells me that being a "US citizen" will make no diff. LMAO.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Look, if the only thing to eat is rice, I'm going to be eating rice. Actually, I've stocked up on different varieties, so it won't be too bad. But think about the importance of food in your life, beyond mere sustenance. Food, and the quality and variety of it, can be a major psychological booster. That little bit of morale might give you the edge in a survival situation. You're storing herbs and spices and seasonings, right?

We all talk about "Rice & Beans". There are over 2,000 varieties of rice. How many varieties of beans exist? Why would you only stock one kind of each? I'm storing wheat; mainly it's Hard Red, but I also have Soft White, and Kamut, and Spelt. I have barley, rye, oats, quinoa, white and yellow corn, millet, and amaranth. As I mentioned before, I want triticale. Any of those can be substituted for rice, pilaf style. Try using rye berries instead of rice, you'll love it. But I have brown rice that I've been using for over 2 years, with no special storage, and it hasn't gone rancid yet. Long grain, short grain, jasmine rice, sticky (so-called "glutinous") rice, red, black, green rice. And many pounds of enriched white rice too.

It's your choice what you eat, because you can stock up on it now, while it is still plentiful.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I read starving Afghanis fed some of the strange food dropped to them to their animals because they were not even able to feel sure it was food they had never seen before. I think I'd have trouble with butter tea or mares milk fermented with horse piss as great as the locals might find it.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Brown rice is good stuff, but if I had to choose one staple, I'd pick beans. Black or red beans have a lot of good stuff in them. They aren't the whole story -- hence the need for rice or something else to complete the protein list -- but they really are an impressive single staple.

morale booster
 

"That little bit of morale might give you the edge in a survival situation"
when I feel down, I go count my metals. That always cheers me up.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

OK,I just did a 10 page google search on 'food fatigue' and found ZERO studies and exactly 3 references.One was a dingbat who was going to starve if she had to eat at A RESTAURANT BUFFET for a week (try eating in the Mess Hall sugar pie!),another was a question on a survival board and a women on a chicken and egg DIET she didnt like,and finally a mention on a board to stock food variety (duh).

I say the Princess and the BUFFET is going to die,the dieter sure chose an extreme,and the third was common sense.Not one of them was facing starvation,just spoiled.So they can choose to die,whatever.

What about soldiers and MRE's,they dont starve and are HIGHLY stressed.With the exception of the Buffet Princess they all do just fine.

Been a 'starving student'? They are real and in my case Ive lived literally for months on end on Ramen and another time on 19 cent bun,patty,mustard, and ketchup burgers.Not only did I not starve I was darn hungry and that same meal,endlessly, was most appreciated every time I opened my mouth.

I still call BS on food fatigue and starvation and could find no studies to back it up.Urban legend IMO.

And I also agree with the poster who points out you only going to store one kind of rice and one kind of beans???? Thats just poor planning period. Rule number 1,store what you eat and eat what you store.If that fatigues you TO DEATH then no loss to the gene pool.I'll find a person starving who will gladly eat your rice and beans,geeze,people are making and eating DIRT cookies Ive read!

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Right, mightyspuds, you can certainly eat dirt as a filler, preferably clay. People have done it as long as people have existed, it is believed. I eat bentonite clay several times a week.

I'm inclined to agree with you also about food fatigue. I doubt anyone would starve because no matter how much they disliked the repetition, they are going to get hungry enough to eat anything.

I subsisted on Ramen noodles for about two months once. I was too engaged by other problems and issues to notice whether or not I got tired of them. I honestly don't think it bothered me to eat them twice a day, as it was fast, easy, cheap, and didn't require much engagement on my part. I had my mind on other things. Eating was simply a necessity that I gave little thought to. I also lived for a couple of weeks once by eating only pizza bones.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Though our household is not in starvation conditions, I do notice food fatigue gets to my wife enough to skip a meal of something she is tired of while I can eat same old, same old no problem. Hungry enough I think she would change, but she has gone hungry many evenings when dinner bored her (too big a pot of something and leftovers several days).

In a SHTF situation I would not want her skipping many meals, so I have really tried for variety in our stored foods. So I call not bs, since I have seen my wife go hungry rather than eat something she was tired of. I don't know whether she would carry that to dangerous levels, but I don't intend to find out.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

You folks make very good points.Im going to put up a thread about bean flour.How to use that same backbone of prep food in many ways that you wouldnt even know its there.My friend Bonnie is making a science of bean flour.

Nothing says we have to be repetitious in our meals if we think outside the box a bit.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I tried cooked rye berries for breakfast this morning with milk and sweetner. It was actually quite tasty, although still on the chewy side even after cooking for an hour. I think the next time I'll crack the berries with the grain mill first. But you've definitely opened my eyes. Cooked cereal doesn't have to mean just oats after all.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

For the last hour or so, Bloomberg TV has been running discussions on global commodities in general and rice in particular. Great info. Check it out.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Calling BS on me is fine, if that is what you wish to do. If I find where I read it I will post it. If you want to stock only rice, that is your prerogative to do so.

Just curious, how may days do you think a kid or the elderly would eat the same thing every meal before refusing?

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Go check out the discover Chanel Alaska Experiment.
http://video.discovery.com/?dcitc=w01-102-ae-0002#

you have to install the player.

Appetite fatigue in practice.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I think appetite fatigue has to do with depression. For people who have always eaten certain foods and subsisted on very bland diets it might be easier because it is normal. But for someone who has never had to eat rice, or beans or wheat for weeks on end, especially if it begins to look like there is no hope in sight depression can set in and lead to appetite fatigue. The key here is to keep active and moving.

This is a different subject than what I posted about earlier, which was simply a food aversion because you are not eating your normal diet. I can personally push on through it but some cannot. When many people get real hungry they also tend to have a sick stomach so when they do eat they get sick and throw up, thus incresing the aversion to that food.

s

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

NOT calling BS on YOU,Im calling it on the theory.Big difference.But you are welcome to your opinion too,I just dont agree.Please dont take it personal against you,it isnt.

Its like the garbage bags have pesticides in them,I read that endlessly yet Ive never seen a link to a manufacturer of any,or ever bought any with a pesticide listed on the package and somehow I expect that to be there if it is.Nor could I find any in an internet search.Im calling BS on that too until someone can show me otherwise.

If its so well known,and studies have proved it,I couldnt find even one,let alone many.I just plain think its not real but yet another fairly unfounded myth.IMO.FWIW.No more,no less.

I say they'll eat it.Have you ever truly been hungry?I have.Food tastes AWESOME when you are hungry.Anyhow,not my problem,for one Im diversified in food as I am in life.For two's,somehow,just somehow I can manage to eat nutritious food when HUNGRY,as well as my wife can.

Hey,I worked at a Sizzler once.Got 2 free steak meals a day.It got boring but inedible,not even close.I must have done that close to a year.No problemo!Bring on that meat and bread.Oh,and there was that time when my Dad was sick for a year and we ate Mackerel with every meal FOR A YEAR.We survived.It was eat it or starve.We didnt have the LUXURY of refusing it.Must be 50 ways to make mackerel.

I will stick with the truly hungry,the starving folks in this world arent turning down food,any recognizable food,at any age.No,Im not eating sheep eyeballs,but Im not storing them either.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I know not what you speak of when speaking of garbage bags treated with pesticides.
However, I can state with confidence that a great deal of the bags available for public consumption are treated with one or more fungicides.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'd like to hear more,esp. if your talking plastic garbage bags.Even if your not,I'd still like to hear more.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Scented bags

http://www.glad.com/trashbags/odorshield.php?WT.srch=1

patent for bags with insecticide and fungicide (doesnt mean they really exist, but the idea is there)
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5997178.html

Plastics companies add many different additives for scent, uv resistance, punture resistance etc. to plastic. Unless it is specifically food grade, I would stay away from it.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Respectfully; I believe the question is how many days of refusing before the same old same old looks good?

I believe in variety and have such in storage- but if the supplies dwindle and all that's left is rice- my kids will like it and be happy. Whether they like it or not if you knowwhaddimean... ;)

JMO.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

Oh I agree, it would be time to force feed your kids. But it is really a potential problem that is pretty easily avoided.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I sure hope no one would use a scented bag for food!Blech!!But I guess someone might,never know.

Agreed.Lots of chemicals.Ive been reading something about leaching lately,was it hormone interference or something like that...yep here it is.
Dont like that idea at all.
----------------------------------
But if you consume canned soups, beans and soft drinks, organic or not, you also may be swallowing residues of a controversial chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) that can leak out of the can linings into your food. Nearly all can liners contain BPA, says Geoff Cullen, director of government relations at the Can Manufacturers Institute. BPA has also been found to migrate, under some conditions, from polycarbonate plastic water bottles. Depending on whom you talk to, BPA is either perfectly safe or a dangerous health risk. The plastics industry says it is harmless, but a growing number of scientists are concluding, from some animal tests, that exposure to BPA in the womb raises the risk of certain cancers, hampers fertility and could contribute to childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.
According to its critics, BPA mimics naturally occurring estrogen,
-----------------------------------

Not good sounding,eh?
More on it....

Baby bottles, plastic toys and other children's products made with potentially toxic chemicals would be banned from shelves in New Jersey stores under proposed legislation.
The measure would put New Jersey in the company of California and many European countries that have already banned phthalates, chemicals that can leach out of plastic products. But the New Jersey law would take a step further by also outlawing the chemical bisphenol A.
----------------------------------
Sounds good to me.I think personally plastics have dangers we should be concerned about.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

If we are lucky,lets hope we dont have to find out.I know I sure have limitations in supplies.Just try our best,its all we can do.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

In this house we eat rice darn near every day so my kids are used to it. We try to use the same basic staples and adjust recipes.

As has been pointed out, this food fatigue is probably more of a problem for the U.S. as we have been spoiled by our abundance. Think of all the countries where people live day after day on the same basic staples and they have no problem with food fatigue.

I think the problem is not just with food either. When I was a child we had three tv stations and that was great. Nowadays most people would be Jonesing without their 300+ channels. In 2003 we were hit by three hurricanes in quick succession and had a little taste of a SHTF scenario. No electric, work, school, stores for weeks. Curfews enforced with armed National Guard, lines for gov't ice and water. People really pulled together at first but toward the end tempers were flaring and people were melting down. I witnessed various "fatigues" so I for one can see validity in food fatigue in those people who are not able to adjust. I think people who are just too fragile will not survive a sustained SHTF event.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

I'm not claiming that starving people would refuse to eat something just because that is all they've had to eat for 3 months. What I'm saying is that food fatigue can occur. Squirrel Bait mentioned depression; this is a very real possibility in a SHTF scenario, especially if confinement or inactivity is mixed in.

Merlin said: I like the rye even more than I do the wheat, but that brings up texture too. Spelt is interesting in that even raw it is soft enough to chew; I'll sometimes grab a handful of spelt on my way out the door, as it suppresses hunger.

And one more reason to have different grains on hand is that they can be sprouted, and each seed is going to produce a different-tasting sprout.

Look, while food is plentiful why wouldn't you get as much variety as possible? I'm sure I could season everything with salt and pepper, but if I can store away 20 or 30 other herbs and spices why wouldn't I?

You want one more reason? If you go to WinCo they have bulk bins. One of them has black peppercorns, very inexpensive. A year after TEOTWAKI that stuff will be worth more than it's weight in platinum. An ounce of black pepper goes a long way, and it will make a mighty fine barter item, if you're even willing to part with it. In five years someone will be making passable whisky, but pepper will be gone, or a sign of great wealth. What will the other neo-feudal lords say about you if there is no black pepper at the table? :wink:

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

If people don't eat for an average of 3 days loss of appetite sets in. We took care of an elderly aunt, blind and bedbound with diabetes and associated problems. Keeping her eating was quite a challenge since sweets were what she liked. Thank heaven her preference, once blind and wuth a hospice plan, was a short but comfy life, so we got her artificially sweetened but thus somewhat toxic foods.

And as others have stated, depression is an appetite supressant.

Mt House is one of our junk food substitutes, plus we stocked many kinds of beans and peas that we already like. Now she is diabetic I need to stock up on the sugar alcohol and stevia sweetners so she can have sweets to tempt her appetite. The jams and pie fillings I had previously stocked would harm her.

Re: Is rice the best thing around?
 

It CAN be, especially situational depression. But one of the underlying causes of depression can be, to keep it simple, a lack of serotonin in the brain. Depressives can get intense cravings for certain foods, simple carbohydrates and sugars being foremost. Chocolate cravings are especially strong; one of the alkaloids in cocoa, Theobromine, is thought to stimulate serotonin production. But while the desire to eat may not be diminished, the metabolism certainly is, so depressives who give in to the junk food cravings gain weight faster.

Not to get off subject or anything...