How long can I keep rice or quinoa once it's cooked?

Posted by:Lindsay S. Nixon

I've read that cooked grains, stored in an air-tight container in the fridge, can last up to two weeks... but I'm far too scared to eat anything that is that old (especially considering my recent bout with food poisoning). I'd say ditch it after a week. I do like to cook in bulk, but I'm careful to estimate what I need to prevent spoilage and waste. After a week or two, you'll be aware of how much you eat, or how much you don't. One of the great things about quinoa is that it cooks in 15 minutes -- so I find I rarely need to make it in advance. I usually just let it do it's thing on the stove while I work on the other parts of dinner. Put it on the stove first, as soon as you get home, and it'll be ready for serving! As for brown rice, a great (but not required) tool is the mighty rice cooker. I spent a little extra money to get one that has a special brown rice setting and a timer. Often I’ll put rice in after dinner, or before bed, and set the timer so it’s ready when I wake up (I love rice at breakfast) -- or I set it in the morning before work so its ready for dinner. It’s like a crockpot for rice. Speaking of rice cookers -- you can cook quinoa in them using the “white rice” setting!

Subscribe to the blog!

Or go grab our RSS feed!