I buy 10# bags of Basmati rice at the Middle Eastern market that go to on Venice Blvd, and I do save the burlap bags with zippers. I generally buy both brown and white Basmati rice in 10# bags, but smaller amounts of wild rice.

I gave one of the burlap bags to my friend who had invited us to go to Rio with him to collect his rent (in cash), and he put $30,000.00 worth of cash in it and walked down the streets in Rio with it, very casually. I have to say that I think no one would have suspected that the rice bag had so much cash in it. The reason he had to go to Rio was that he could not make bank transfers without having a bank account in Brazil, and he could not open an account there without living there. It was a nice trip, but he is considering selling his property there, which he is currently renting to a bikini wax salon (very popular in Rio) and so his last trip might be in 2020. I'll go with him again, if he invites me.

I completely understand. And I'm not much into rice. For me, personally, I can take it or leave it, so not much gets made here. Still, I have both white and brown basmati, some forbidden (black) rice, some red rice, brown and white jasmine, Carolina gold, and some plain ol' white rice that doesn't have a label (in a canister) that's just rice. This is all small quantities. I don't need a 20 lb. bag of rice. But I sure do understand it.

I have white and brown basmati rice (I never know what to do with the little burlap purses), and some regular converted rice.

I always freeze rice when I first bring it home, which is why I like buying it in the winter.......it sits out on my balcony for a couple of days :)

We don't eat very much rice since Elery wants to avoid carbs, but I still have white rice, brown rice, arborio rice, sushi rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice and some black/forbidden rice. Oh, and some frozen Trader Joe's prepared brown rice in the freezer. Most are small bags, but the arborio was on sale in a 3 pound container. None came in burlap.

But yes, I understand the necessity for several types of rice, as well as several types of salt and probably too many flavors of vinegar.

Annie

Yes, we have lots of different kinds of rice, there are lots of things that just aren’t right without the correct rice. Once I catered a dinner and served my normal “10lb bag of Basmati” rice (the bags are great for storing knitting projects, patterns and tools) and one of the diners asked what I had put into the rice to make it so tasty. “Um, nothing.” Then I realised he was only used to eating plain white rice.

Since I live alone and don't cook much rice, I can't imagine going through any size bag before it goes rancid. How quickly will you eat that much rice??!! I love the TJ's frozen, cooked organic rice - they have several kinds. Quick and easy, plus it doesn't turn rancid. :-)

Hm... I've never had rice go rancid. I suppose it must depend on climate. I have some that's been around awhile...

Annie reminds me--I also have arborio and sushi rice. :)

we can get a 20 lb bag at the local store, and 50 lb bags are available at the mid-East markets in the metro

Rancid? I've never had any kind of plain rice do that and everything goes rancid very quickly here that can. What kind of rice is this that is doing that?

Way too much rice for me. We cook plain white rice maybe once a month, and risotto with arborio rice maybe every 3 months.

Rice is a moisture absorber. Moisture on stored foods can develop molds. Brown rice has oils in the germ/bran that can/will go rancid slowly or quickly depending on climate. White rice has the bran and germ removed.

I freeze it to kill any potential bugs/eggs. My brown basmati is in jars in the freezer, the white is in my pantry.

We prefer basically 2 kinds of rice: short grain brown rice (sushi rice) and Jasmine white rice. That's it, and I only buy the organic kind. We don't eat it very often either. I might have, at the most, a pound or 3 in my pantry. I have none that is precooked or otherwise processed for quick prep. I just steam it on the stove.

I freeze grains when I bring them home too.

I don't count wild rice since it's not really a rice.

Hey, everybody has their preferences, right?

Oh.... I get it now. Can you buy. Depends on the store. 1-, 3- and 5-pound are the most common, but 20lb. is easy to find. You have to go to the right place to get the 50lb. bags, and I don't think they sell the 100lb. bags anymore. I'm pretty sure workers aren't supposed to lift more than 75lb.

Thanks for the clarification on the rancid. It makes sense about depending on climate. I've never had whole grains go bad in any way.

I'm glad other folks get my stocking up :)

Vacuum packed and into storage with a lot of the rice. Happy to say the recent surprise of sales and clearance stocked us up for the next 18 months or so.

Oh, I only use brown rice, thus my concerns about rancidity.

I do also have black rice and sushi rice, but most often I buy sushi rice already cooked at the Japanese market where I buy sashimi, and then I make my own sushi using the cooked rice. It's a bit of a pain to make sushi rice because I have to fan it to cook it off while stirring it at the end, but I generally use a standing fan for this, if it is not in the attic.

Rice is more filling than potatoes, and so as starches go, it is not as bad some some others.

I've always loved rice. Loved it (plain white) hot w/ milk & sugar for breakfast when I was a kid but never eat it that way now. I make rice far more often than potatoes so buying multiple pounds at a time is something I do, too. Was always just plain white, brown or wild rice until the last few years...until I tasted Basamati rice. Wow, this is rice? Great stuff. Since then, I've added Jasmine rice which I now prefer to Basamati. Have a container of Arborio rice that I haven't tried yet and one or two other varieties. Have not tried black, red or brown Jasmine rice because I don't recall ever seeing them in the grocery stores here. Not a lot of selection smallish Upper Midwest. Need to put them on a list for the next trip to Woodman's.