Rice is an iconic food for long-term storage, and studies have shown that it remains good for a long time. In the BYU study, samples had 88%+ acceptability for emergency use at 30 years, but the acceptability for everyday use was lower: regular white rice held around 70% over the time frame studied, but parboiled rice was about 10% lower (the poster is viewable here). Thirty years is certainly very good for stored food.
Storing bulk foods for more than a short time is best done in an oxygen-free environment. That can be accomplished with buckets, oxygen absorbers and mylar, or half-gallon mason jars (with oxygen absorbers and/or a Food Saver vacuum sealer). Mason jars are exposed to light (although Ball has offered amber mason jars recently that block almost all of the light). Mason jars can be re-vacuum-sealed, but this isn't very doable with mylar.
A long time ago--about 2009--I put up some jasmine rice in mason jars. I decided to open one up to see how it was faring.
The results were very decent*. I didn't perceive any staleness or rancidity (brown rice does this almost immediately, and even white rice can taste a little off after a few months when not well-stored). I'll finish the jar. In the picture above, the jar looks a little cloudy; that's just starch. When the jar is finished, it'll clean up easily.
*I like jasmine rice for everyday use, but this 13+ year-old rice had lost its floral essence and tasted like normal white rice. So while the rice lived on, the flavor that makes jasmine different was gone.
With food inflation, it makes sense to front-load food purchases even if there's no interest in building an inventory. Packaging has to be considered, but it can still represent a savings over buying food as it is needed.
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