Someone gave us a box of food today. It's mostly healthy stuff like raisins and salmon. However, there was also 2 small bags of white rice. We do not eat white rice. What should I do with them?
We don't eat white rice because it is hard for my son to digest since it has no fiber. He needs a very high fiber diet.
Alice
Why don't you eat white rice? It's good stuff and you can do so much with it! I like to cook 2 cups of it at a time(you rinse it and drain off the water in a strainer, several times until the water is no longer cloudy, then add 3 cups of cold water to the drained rice in the pot, plus a small amount of salt, and cook it on very low heat with a lid until the water is all absorbed and the rice is fluffy, about 45 minutes).
Cooked white rice is good with any sort of meat and vegetable stew over the top. It's good with broccoli and cheese in a casserole, with or without some sort of poultry or ham. It's good used to make baked rice pudding and it is also good as Spanish rice with tomato sauce. An easy way to make Spanish rice is just to mix in jarred salsa. This is good with refried beans on flour tortillas, or with chicken, shrimp or fish.
Anonymous
The no-brainer is to donate it to your local food pantry. If you got it from the food pantry and you feel that makes you look ungrateful, many stores have barrels for nonperishable donations. Better someone eat it if you're not going to. Food banks run low in the summer. Wasting food, or taking more than we need is immoral.
Another suggestion. It lasts forever so keep it in your emergency pantry. I keep a weeks' food and water since I live in earthquake country. In the event of an emergency it's better to eat.
If for some reason you'd rather use it, add it to high fiber meals. If you were to serve it with beans, it would be higher in fiber than plain brown rice. Beans are extremely high fiber. Put it in minestrone soup with vegetables and beans to stretch it. It'll still be high fiber. Black beans and white rice have 16g of fiber. A cup of brown rice has 3.5g.
Anonymous
Throw it in the garbage! It was good for pointing out what an expert on health and fitness you are to the YA world. Now that you've done that, there is no use for it. Seriously? GIVE IT AWAY. Please tell me why in the world anyone would thumbsdown the idea of giving it to a food pantry or a friend. You're a Christian. You should not intentionally waste food.
Leviticus 19:9-10
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. "
John 6:12-14
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
Kelly
Keep them around. Rice is good for arts and crafts or reviving a water-soaked cell phone. It's surprising what it can do, and it has a very long shelf life, so it can't really go bad. Trust me, if you ever accidentally drop your phone in the sink, you'll be thankful!
Anonymous
Do you honestly not know what to do with food you aren't going to eat? It's hard to believe that someone wouldn't know they could give it to a friend or neighbor. Of course no one is going to tell you to toss it. Certainly you know someone who will eat it. It amazes me that someone gave a thumbsdown to the suggestion you donate it. I guess the obvious hurts.
Did you ask this so that the YA community knows that you know the difference between healthy and not-so-healthy? Ok. But then you'd know that you could use it sparingly with high fiber dishes like beans or stir fried vegetables. It's how most of the world stretches its food. It's not nutritionally healthy, but it isn't served alone.