8 weeks pregnant, can I eat left over rice?

Yes, of course, eat it.

NO. Eat some fresh fruit or steamed veggies.

That sounds like you handled it safely. Plus you boiled it again, so it should be okay. The general rule is food is safe for two hours, but I wouldn’t push that being pregnant. Good luck with the baby.

@Adriondackwannabe, what do you mean food is safe for two hours?
Is that after you’ve cooked it?
Or you should only store it for 2 hours?

oh and thanks!
yes very exciting, just wanting to be extra cautious with everything.

@Adirondackwannabe It has been stored in the fridge.

Isn’t the 15 hours from the time it was first cooked, but it has been in the fridge all this time, basically the last 14.5 hours.

yeah, I actually havn’t eaten the rice, just in case, wasn’t the same without it, however If i wasn’t pregnant I was have deemed it totally safe…. it’s always a fine line I guess

The rule is cold foods are safe if they stay at room temperature for 2 hours and warm foods if they stay at room temp for 2 hours. So if it went in the frig immediately it should be okay. The other thing I do is if I have any question about something being safe I throw it out. No sense in taking chances.

yeah totally, I put it in fridge straight away.
So should be ok, however as I said I didn’t eat the rice.
Just in case.
I guess you can be over paranoid sometimes and I just need to find a nice balance.
Thanks for your responses.

@tan235 I’m the most paranoid person when it comes to food and I still got E coli. Wow, what a miserable thing that was. You can’t be too careful if you’re pregnant.

yeah wow… horrible, I definitely want to avoid that. I have had no morning sickness so I feel pretty lucky so I guess I’ll know if I get food poisoning… rather than morning sickness – touch wood I get neither!

I would eat it.

I had never heard of this before (and never experienced a problem that I know of from eating leftover rice, which I do a lot, because when I cook enough for a meal I usually cook enough for three or four meals, and save the rest). But apparently there is some truth to what you heard, and it might be best to avoid the leftover rice.

Good luck to you and the baby.

It’s fine. I ate 3 day old leftover chinese food while I was pregnant, and my kids are normal okay.

I wouldn’t eat it pregnant or not. While it is rare to get food poisoning from reheated rice the type of food poisoning you get from it can be pretty nasty.

Eat it. This is ridiculous. I am phobic about throwing up, the biggest fear in my life is food poisoning. Of course it is safe. Whatever thing you read about rice probably is killed when you boil it? Even so, it has been in the fridge, it is fine. Good God, are you going to stop eating at all restaurants and never eat leftovers while you are pregnant. This is crazy extreme.

The thing you need to know is once the bouncing baby is born don’t give the infant honey until it is over a year old. That bacteria is a real threat.

It should be fine.

Honestly, your keyboard probably has more bacteria than that rice.
[/probablyshouldn’thavesaidthat]

Of course it is safe to eat. As for @JLeslie ‘s advice about honey: just a suggestion: don’t give honey at all at any age except as a (very occasional) treat. Children don’t need the added sugar.

@JLeslie Bacillus Cereus (the bacteria found in rice) forms spores that can happily withstand pasteurisation. Boiling will kill the active bacteria but one slip up storing the stuff before you reheat it and you’ll have more B. Cereus than when you started. Just because it’s not a well known cause of food poisoning doesn’t mean it can’t make you sick.

Rice is the staple of millions, @Lightlyseared . Over the years, we rice eaters have learned how to keep the grain safe to eat, cooked or uncooked. My mother had no refrigeration when she was growing up, and rice was the staple.

But you know what, @tan235 ? Your caution is most commendable. For the whole of my pregnancy I ate no curry. Not because curry is harmful (it isn’t), but because of my habit of buying, and eating, curried delights from roadside vendors. I was warned that an attack of E coli could be dangerous To avoid temptation, I did not eat it at all.

@bea2345 I know it’s a staple in a lot of places and in those countries where it is a set of traditions have evolved that prevent people from killing themselves with it. And then the same thing happens every where you have a long oral tradition of doing stuff in a certain way – you forget why you do and then you assume it’s not important that you do it like that etc…
That don’t change the fact that if its cooked or stored poorly rice (and most cereals for that matter) will make you incredibly ill. The biggest offender (from direct experience of people being admitted to hospital so I can watch them have several days worth of very nasty diarrhea) is people reheating left over take away.

Since my comment to the “spammer” above was deleted, I’ll repeat part of it:

If the rice has been in the fridge, it’s perfectly fine. And I have NEVER been sick from eating leftover takeout. I’ve gotten food poisoning twice, and both times were from dining in at normal restaurants whose food was “fresh”.

If people are getting sick from eating leftovers, then they waited too long to refrigerate the food after it was cooked. You can’t leave food on a countertop for 4 or 5 hours, then refrigerate it and think it’s safe. If it goes into the fridge quickly, there should be no problems.

Really? I eat very old rice. I’m not pregnant, but is this a bad idea?

hey all, I actually do agree with @WillWorkForChocolate, I guess you just have an added caution whilst pregnant as for some reason (i posted a question about this) pregnant woman are more at risk of food poisoning…and obviously like everyone would like to avoid it.

But totally appreciate everyones answers and it probably is fine – I’m probably being over paranoid… but mental I“m a bit paranoid/crazy so better to be safe than sorry otherwise i“ll be making myself sick worrying that the rice had bacteria in it!

@Lightlyseared Other grains and legumes can have that bacteria also. Rice used to be left out for hours and hours because people assumed there was no danger, like you can leave out bread and basic cereal. Now that everyone refrigerates everything it probably almost never makes anyone sick I would bet. I am guessing that is an old fear.

When I was in Tokyo they did not let us take leftovers from the restaurant because it was summertime. I guess they worried it would not get refrigerated fast enough, and be out in the heat too long. Smart actually.

@tan235 Good idea to be cautious. That was just over the top, sorry if I was rude. Pregnant women want to be extra careful because the food you eat, the calories and nutrition, keep you strong and health and feeds the baby. If you get very ill, especially if you cannot keep anything down because of food poisoning, your baby could suffer. Severe food poisoning mean not even to keep down water, or vitamins and minerals even in a pill would not stay down long enough to absorb. Some food poisoning can lead to death, God forbid. If you are very paranoid, when you reheat food reheat to a very hot temp again, so if some bacteria has started to grow, you kill off a significant amount again through cooking, however, it is not good to reheat food multiple time. Cook once and eat. Or, later reheat once when eating leftovers.

Pregnant women are more susceptible to certain illnesses, especially common colds, flu, your bodies immune system is surpressed during pregnancy.

As far as food, I would just do exactly what is recommended for everyone, not just pregnant women, in the strictest sense. Very careful about cross contamination, and don’t leave anything at room temperature for very long. When in doubt, throw it out.

@JLeslie Not only do people still get it (it acounts for around 2% of all food poisoning cases)but as well as causing food poisoning I’ve heard of immunocompromised patients end up with it in their blood and menegitis caused by it.

@Lightlyseared Do you have links? Are we talking worldwide, or in America? And is their usually a situation where simple precautions were not taken?

In your situation you will be fine, and so will your baby. Rice is a staple food for millions of pregnant women who live without benefit of refrigeration. Fried rice was a way of ‘recycling’ leftover rice and tidbits into a meal. My brother lived in Burma for several years and leftover rice wasn’t refrigerated and was consumed on a daily basis. So enjoy….you’re gonna be a good Mom, I can tell!