Rice and other long-term rations storage

[Symphony]

does anyone have experience growing your own, like bean sprouts or tomatoes, on board?

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Symphony

does anyone have experience growing your own, like bean sprouts or tomatoes, on board?

We've just eaten the beansprouts grown using the method in the link below for dinner. We regularly grow sprouts to add variety to salads.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ide-75642.html

[Don C L]

Here in California we have a restaurant supply and grocery chain called "Smart and Final." They sell square hard clear plastic containers with large screw caps in 3 sizes. I have been using them for everything from rice and cereal to spare parts and tools (not in the same tub) that I want to be able to see and keep dry.

[Bulawayo]

WEEVILS - foolproof way of avoiding:
Get a 35mm film cannister and loosley stuff in a piece of cotton wool. Jab several small holes into the film cannister lid.
Apply half a dozen drops of chloroform to the cotton wool and put the film cannister into the container with your biscuits, rice, pasta, whatever. You'll not suffer from weevils from that particular container. One film cannister shall serve up to around a ten litre container. Once the storage container has been opened redose the film cannister as a precaution.
Incidently, we bought many plastic containers with screw lids in the Middle East and several are now well over ten years old and still seal perfectly, are still crystal clear and are tougher than then proverbial boots.
You see these containers all over the supermarkets in the Middle East including Carrefour and LuLu and they ae so, so cheap.

[reed1v]

We stored rice and beans in 5 gallon paint buckets with sealing lids(Lowes, etc). Used When we tried plastic soda bottles we discovered the plastic imparted tastes to whatever they held and disintegrated overtime, even in dark storage. Beware of polycarb bottles. Lots of issues on that one.

Our friends swear by silicone bags as the cats' meow. No odors, etc. We never tried them but would if we sail again. Rice and beans need dry storage. Medium grains are the most versatile. We always preferred either Thai or Japanese rice since it lasted longest and tasted best(yes, we use hashi).

[Symphony]

where do you get chloroform?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by dptconst

I have heard that micro waving grains prior to sealing in storage containers will prevent the weevil and other worm problems? Does anyone have experience with this?

Yes, I have heard that works. It blows the little eggs up

Haven't tried it.

[goat]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

WEEVILS - foolproof way of avoiding:
Get a 35mm film cannister and loosley stuff in a piece of cotton wool. Jab several small holes into the film cannister lid.
Apply half a dozen drops of chloroform to the cotton wool and put the film cannister into the container with your biscuits, rice, pasta, whatever. You'll not suffer from weevils from that particular container. One film cannister shall serve up to around a ten litre container. Once the storage container has been opened redose the film cannister as a precaution.
Incidently, we bought many plastic containers with screw lids in the Middle East and several are now well over ten years old and still seal perfectly, are still crystal clear and are tougher than then proverbial boots.
You see these containers all over the supermarkets in the Middle East including Carrefour and LuLu and they ae so, so cheap.

Chloroform; not just for date night any more....

goat

[wrwakefield]

Hospitals and clinics typically have large volumes of discarded sterile saline bottles in many sizes [1/2 and 1 liter are my favorites] which you can often obtain if you ask the right person. [I'm told sterile saline is used in quantity in emergency rooms and surgery wards...]

These 'hospital bottles' are BPA free small neck flexible bottles with two flat o-rings in the lids. [double seal...] I have some that are over 30 years old and are still in use...

FWIW

Cheers!

Bill

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by Symphony

does anyone have experience growing your own, like bean sprouts or tomatoes, on board?

We tried on our ws43 but it was too messy when at sea. Worked well enough in port. At sea, maybe a hydroponic setup would work better. Otherwise, dirt, mildew, and bugs were what we harvested.

[Cathie]

Used Costco plastic nut etc. containers meet the criteria for size, square and cheap. Great for cereal, flour, rice etc.

[Bulawayo]

Symphony - at the local pharmacy - sold in 750ml bottles at around $2.50 per bottle.
Have to admit that I have not bought in other area's - it also evaporates once the sealed bottle is opened. However, it works exceptionally well.

Originally Posted by Symphony

where do you get chloroform?

[Jdege]

About five years ago, I bought a 20 pound bag of rice. I poured it into a half-gallon mason jar, and then into 1-gallon mylar bags, tossed in an oxygen absorber, and then vacuum sealed it. (I used a snorkel-type vacuum sealer, a Sinbo Dz-280. The commercial sealers rely on special bagging material that has microchannels in the plastic. They won't work with mylar bags, or with the cheap commercial vacuum seal bags).

When I was done, I had five mylar bags and a 1/2 gallon jar. My intent was to keep the 1/2 gallon jar in the kitchen for daily use, and refill it from a mylar bag, as needed.

The filled bags are 9x12, and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Flat and easy to stack and store. They weight 3.6 pounds/each.

Then I went low-carb, and stopped eating rice. Still have four of the bags in the basement. Last I checked, they looked fine. (Still brick-hard, which indicates that they've not leaked.)

I've not tried this, ship-board, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I'd think it'd be easier to find places to stow these flat pack mylar bags than round plastic bottles.

[JPA Cate]

It is so hard to keep a balanced perspective! To me, weevils are icky! However, I really don't think eating them would do you any harm, sailors used to eat weevily biscuit, and I purely cannot imagine them picking out the bugs!

I have used (though prefer to discard) weevily flour, by putting the flour through the sieve, and discarding the weevils left behind overboard. My thinking was that bread bakes about 50 min at 350 deg. F (175 C), and that should adequately sterilize the product. We bought flour out of a barrel in the Solomon Is., and were glad to get it. However, it did have a bug problem, and we still wanted bread.

When I lived in the US and had a freezer, I used to freeze my flour for a week or so before storing it in the pantry, and i did not have weevils in it when I used it. For long term storage while cruising, I bought large plastic sealing tubs that will accept 6 2 kilo bags of flour (for Americans, that's a little smaller than a 5 lb. sack.)

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by reed1v

We stored rice and beans in 5 gallon paint buckets with sealing lids(Lowes, etc). Used When we tried plastic soda bottles we discovered the plastic imparted tastes to whatever they held and disintegrated overtime, even in dark storage. Beware of polycarb bottles. Lots of issues on that one.

It's best to use food grade buckets for this type of storage, as there are definitely differences between types. Also, there are liners specifically made for food storage buckets as well. Mylar, & some other materials.

I don't recall the exact differences between the bucket types. But it most likely has to do with the chemical makeup of the plastic used in them. And how much they outgas into what's stored in them. As well as what's present in this outgassing (the chemical makeup there of).
Because some of those kinds of chemicals can be toxic, when consumed over time.

Places which sell these types of things to folks who buy food in bulk, are typically up to speed on such things. And even have some/most of the info on their websites.