Are the rice "boil-in-bags" safe?

[Second Summer]

Those boil-in-bags for rice look like plastic. Yet you're supposed to boil them! On the surface of it, boiled plastic doesn't sound all that healthy, but presumably they have been approved by the food & health authorities. So somehow it must be safe after all. I mean, if you can't trust the authorities, then who can you trust!?

 

[flyingsnail]

The microwave exposes plastics to higher heat than boiling and microwavable plastics have been common place for decades, I reckon these bags are the same sort of plastic. I would be more worried about what sort of compounds that are in the plastic in general.

 

[Second Summer]

The microwave exposes plastics to higher heat than boiling and microwavable plastics have been common place for decades, I reckon these bags are the same sort of plastic. I would be more worried about what sort of compounds that are in the plastic in general.

That is slightly different, as microwaves only heat up things that contain water, I believe, not the plastic containers themselves. They only get hot from being in contact with the food that gets heated up.

 

[flyingsnail]

That is slightly different, as microwaves only heat up things that contain water, I believe, not the plastic containers themselves. They only get hot from being in contact with the food that gets heated up.

Most foods, and especially frozen foods, have a good deal of water content and when microwaved any plastic packing will get exposed to steam which can get hotter than boiling water. So I would imagine these plastics can withstand pretty high heats.

Food cooked in bags always has a funny taste to me....but I don't think I've tried those rice bags. Putting rice in a rice cooker is easy enough.

 

[ledboots]

Those boil-in-bags for rice look like plastic. Yet you're supposed to boil them! On the surface of it, boiled plastic doesn't sound all that healthy, but presumably they have been approved by the food & health authorities. So somehow it must be safe after all. I mean, if you can't trust the authorities, then who can you trust!?

I don't like the idea of them, but mostly because of the higher cost and the removal of the drippy boiling hot bag from the pot. My mom used to use this kind of rice years ago, I remember.

 

[Amy SF]

Lately I've been dumping the rice from the plastic pouch into a glass Pyrex dish with a cover and using that to heat up the rice in the microwave. That reduces any risk of chemicals in the plastic leaching into the rice. I don't cook this particular rice on the stove.

 

[KLS52]

Just wondering, Amy...why not just buy a regular bag of rice, then? Or is it the texture of the rice in the boil-in-bags that you prefer?

 

[SpottedShoreBreather]

Just wondering, Amy...why not just buy a regular bag of rice, then? Or is it the texture of the rice in the boil-in-bags that you prefer?

Would that work with regular rice? I did this with the bag ones just yesterday. The whole plastic thing seemed sketchy to me. If it works with regular rice, I'll totally do that from now on.

 

[Amy SF]

If I made a lot of rice from scratch, I'd have to store it in the fridge or freezer, and I don't have a freezer or full sized fridge at the moment. Having pouches or containers of precooked shelf-stable rice is my best option right now.

 

[Calliegirl]

I think you guys are talking about two different types of rice. IS is talking about the parboiled minute rice type rice that you boil in the bag, and Amy is talking about the precooked pouches of rice you just heat up.

 

[Second Summer]

I think you guys are talking about two different types of rice. IS is talking about the parboiled minute rice type rice that you boil in the bag, and Amy is talking about the precooked pouches of rice you just heat up.

Ah, that explains it! I was so confused Yes, it takes a little more than a Pyrex container to prepare this rice, though I suppose it's possible to prepare rice in a stove? I think you'd still need water though.

 

[SuicideBlonde]

I use boil in the bag sometimes, it is just easy. This is the type that comes in the plastic bag with holes in it that you put it in a pot and boil. I have never thought about the implications of the plastic from the bag before, I should look into that.

 

[KLS52]

Oh duh, me. I totally missed that. I thought Amy meant that she took the parboiled rice out of the boil in bag and cooked that like regular rice, so it didn't make sense that she wouldn't just use regular rice. I love the precooked rice and buy it occasionally for when I'm in a pinch. But we eat a lot of rice so I always cook up a batch to have in the fridge.

 

[Amy SF]

I think you guys are talking about two different types of rice. IS is talking about the parboiled minute rice type rice that you boil in the bag, and Amy is talking about the precooked pouches of rice you just heat up.

I totally missed that, too.