How bad are those rice pouches?

[Anonymous]

The Uncle Ben's kind that you throw in the microwave for 90 seconds? Should we be cutting them from our family's diet (I hope not because they are soooo easy).

[Anonymous]

Not bad if you don't mind a little arsenic and empty white carb calories.

Try frozen brown rice - easy to heat up and safer.

[Anonymous]

^ but I don't think it's going to kill you if you keep eat them. Just not the best option.

[Anonymous]

we use them all the time. the brown/jasmine/basmati are lower calorie and less sodium than the flavored ones.

[Anonymous]

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

[Anonymous]

Try Trader Joe's. They have a nice rice blend and also have brown rice in pouches. They take 3 minutes to heat up in the microwave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not bad if you don't mind a little arsenic and empty white carb calories.

Try frozen brown rice - easy to heat up and safer.

They come in plain brown or long grain rice as well

[Anonymous]

We use them once per week on Fridays when we are racing to get Shabbat dinner started. They are fine. Moderation.

[Anonymous]

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

Wrong. Microwaving anything in plastic is harmful. The chemicals from the plastic leach into the food--whether it be bags, containers, bottles, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

Wrong. Microwaving anything in plastic is harmful. The chemicals from the plastic leach into the food--whether it be bags, containers, bottles, etc.

+1. The ingredients themselves don't look too bad, but I'm wary of cooking anything while it's in a plastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

Wrong. Microwaving anything in plastic is harmful. The chemicals from the plastic leach into the food--whether it be bags, containers, bottles, etc.

You can open the package and reheat the grains in a skillet with a little water. Takes about as long as it would in the microwave. You can also dump the pouch in a microwave safe bowl, add a little water, cover with cling wrap with a few holes poked in and zap it if you don't want to cook in the bag it comes in.

The brown rice has more fiber than the white, just don't use any of the ones with "flavors" b/c they are full of sodium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

Wrong. Microwaving anything in plastic is harmful. The chemicals from the plastic leach into the food--whether it be bags, containers, bottles, etc.

+1. The ingredients themselves don't look too bad, but I'm wary of cooking anything while it's in a plastic.

+2
If I am going to microwave something like that, I transfer it to a glass covered-casserole dish and follow the time from there. No (additional) waste, no plastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They are not great taste-wise, but definitely not harmful.

Wrong. Microwaving anything in plastic is harmful. The chemicals from the plastic leach into the food--whether it be bags, containers, bottles, etc.

+1. The ingredients themselves don't look too bad, but I'm wary of cooking anything while it's in a plastic.

+2
If I am going to microwave something like that, I transfer it to a glass covered-casserole dish and follow the time from there. No (additional) waste, no plastic.

Interesting. Never thought to do this..

[Anonymous]

Get a rice cooker with a timer and you can have it cook the rice to be done whenever you know you will need it. It just means putting the rice and water in the night before, and soaking it before cooking will also give you better rice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a rice cooker with a timer and you can have it cook the rice to be done whenever you know you will need it. It just means putting the rice and water in the night before, and soaking it before cooking will also give you better rice.

If making normal rice is more work than OP wants to do, why would she want to buy a rice cooker, soak the rice, and prep it the night before?