Prepper Rice Storage

If you’ve ever watched the TV show Survivor, you’ll notice that one staple that producers always give contestants is rice.

Rice keeps you filled up and provides easy meals when other supplies are hard to come by. You can make a wide variety of recipes using rice and it helps acts as a filler food with a meal that otherwise might seem kind of skimpy.  In case supplies are dwindling for you and your family or you’re playing it safe, rice would be a great thing to have on hand.

Should you buy white rice or brown rice?

The choice is up to you. There are reasons to look into both.

• Brown rice is more nutritional, of course – so if health is your #1 concern, then it might be a better option for you.
• But even though white rice isn’t as hearty in the nutritional world, it does offer a better storage shelf life. So you can rotate out the food stores less often than you would need to if you only had brown rice on hand.

Storing rice can be done in one of two ways – in large containers or small ones.

Some preppers advise you to store it in smaller containers for a variety of reasons.

• First, if pests got into a container, it would only ruin that one small batch and not an entire large container of food stores.
• Second, if you need to carry it in a bug out bag, then a small container would provide for better portability. You can buy cans of grains already packaged for emergency use for this purpose if you want to.

For homesteading preppers, you want to store larger supplies. Rice typically has a two year storage shelf life. But some preppers extend this by vacuum packing the rice into Mylar bags that have oxygen absorbers inside.

You can also buy or create buckets of rice that are sealed tight and built to keep out pests. Some companies allow you to buy large quantities, like a 6-month supply, but then you have to have enough room to store it.

Some survivalist advise you to put the bags of white rice that you buy into a deep freezer for a few weeks temporarily to kill any pest’s eggs that might be hiding inside the unopened container – because that often happens with store-bought rice and grains.

Storage should take place in a dry, cool area. You don’t want it stored anywhere that heat will ruin it. You also don’t want humidity to get the best of it. Keep it stored properly and it could last you up to 10 years or more.