A Time to Freeze Rice

I feel like all I've been focusing on the past few weeks is how to simplify things, how to make things easier and how to do things as efficiently as I can. I need more time saving tips and tricks....freezing sandwiches for school lunches....AMAZING! I'm still in awe that I never did this before!

A year or so ago, when I had just had Tess and found out I was pregnant for Emma I was a bit overwhelmed....just a bit. A friend of mine was so thoughtful and brought me a meal to put in my freezer to help me! In that meal was a bag of pre-cooked rice that had been frozen in a freezer bag. All I had to do was thaw it in the microwave. It tasted amazing and what a great time saving tip to freeze rice! I always meant to do this myself and just never got around to it. Till now!

I don't know about you but we eat rice a lot here. At least twice a week. It goes with everything...stir fry, stroganoff, fish, and this crock pot dish I'm making for dinner tonight: Crockpot Shrimp Creole. Rice is not at all hard to make but on a busy night, when you don't have a minute to spare, it can seem like it's a torturous task. I'm thinking that I am going to love being able to go to the freezer and just grab a bag of already cooked rice and pop it in the microwave!

Here is how my friend did it...its so simple you'll be wondering why you didn't think to do this yourself!

Step 1: Cook your favorite rice as you normally would. I use Basmati and I made 20 cups of rice, which will give me about 5 meals worth of rice, not counting leftovers.

Step 2: Let it cool.

Step 3: Place in freezer bags in the portion size you need. I did 4 cup portions.

Step 4: Put the bags in the freezer.

When you are ready to use the rice all you have to do is take it out of the freezer, vent the bag a little and put it in the microwave for 3 or so minutes.

That's it! So easy and it tastes great too. I am savoring every tip and trick to save time these days and this one is by far one of my favorites! From the reading I have done, it seems rice will keep in the freezer for up to a month. Making rice once a month compared to twice a week sounds much better to me!