I just posted...Trail Dinners on the Cheap.....check it out...I use freezer bags! They work great!
Freezer bags are actually tested - or at least the material they're made from is - for chemical leaching with boiling water. It's a pretty common and forseeable scenario to take boiling-hot food from off the kitchen stove and dump it into a bag for storage, and plastics approved for food contact have to meet FDA standards for that.
If you don't think the FDA is strict enough, well, I don't know beyond that. Polyethylene is pretty inert, chemically. I don't know a lot about the plasticizers. Plastic bags don't have very many additives - the herbs and spices are expensive.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
To remove the wondering about safety factor, I've moved to the oven/crock pot bags. They're rated for up to 400 degrees I believe it is. I bought some on Amazon, 10 pack was around $4, IIRC.
Ziploc brand baggies are BPA free, which would by my primary concern since the chemical components of BPA are released above a certain temperature.
BPA *IS* in products labeled with the number 3, 6 and 7 recycling code.
Research seems to vary widely on this... One site I saw said the plastic must be subjected to 212+ degrees for 6+ hours. So it's probably all a moot point when using a freezer baggie, exposed to the boiling point for a short period of time.
Just to reinforce this point. Water boils at 212d at sea level. How many points, say on the AT, are at sea level. Additionally, as soon as you remove pot from flame the temperature begins to decline. So from a realistic standpoint your bag is never subjugated to water at 212d.Originally Posted by shaggymatt
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
boiling water will melt ziplock bags. I switched to food saver bags and have had zero leaks
The water hits the food first when poured into the bag, which in turn quickly reduces the water temp. below 212. And as noted above, is it likely to boil at 212.
Not so many years ago I had a plastic spoon melt while I was stirring hot coffee. Since then I've hesitated to use plastic with hot dishes unless the food manufacturer guarantees the safety (boil-in-bag foods, etc.) How within the past 10 years could plastic still be melting in a hot beverage? Anyway, I'm nervous about it. (As always for any trip where I'm not eating in restaurants for every meal, will be packing my own cutlery, but except for HawkVittles and boil-in-bags, I hesitate. Any sweet, comforting thoughts about this would be much appreciated.)
They [Ziploc] do not recommend using any ZIPLOC® brand Bag in boiling water, or to “boil” in the microwave. ZIPLOC® brand Bags are made from polyethylene plastic with a softening point of approximately 195 degrees Fahrenheit.Dec 16, 2011
Dumping boiling water into dehydrated food to reconstitute it is going to drop the temp below 195 pretty much instantly. Boiling in the bag isn't good, but I'm not too afraid of pouring the hot water into it. I haven't noticed the shrink lines that would come with significant softening.
Remember, pouring hot food off the stovetop into a freezer bag is a scenario that they consider in designing the things.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
Im with you on that, that's why I switch to just boiling the water AND cooking in my IMUSA 12cm mug. Better eating experience. Have to admit though, for messy things, the bag is the way to go.
A quart size ziploc bag fits perfectly into the 3" diameter screw together plastic cylinder that protects my caldera cone. I found this to be a great solution to handling the flimsy bag.
Theyve also heavier plastic three-seals bags made for using boiling water in to cook, keep from leaking really well, and they're also stiff enough to put in my front pouch and eat from as I walk without spilling so far. So those are an option.
Been doing it for years...no signs of ....what was I saying???? :-)
I lucked into a pretty sweet FBC setup. I have an 850ml pot which is the perfect size for a quart freezer bag. Heat water, pour in bag, bag in pot with cozy. When done wrap top of bag around the rim of the pot, cozy holds the bag and keeps food warm while eating.
Jetboil pots are also the perfect size cozy for freezer bags. Top of bags neatly folder over lip of Jetboil making an instant cozy. Note, the tall Jetboil Flash pots, not the new short fat MiniMo.
I cut a small plastic container that held deli meat down to about 2" tall. Holds my FBC bag while I eat and weighs practically zip. I suppose I could use it as a very small sink if needed.
silly question maybe for those that are cooking with the freezer bag method - my son and I are planning a thru-hike next March and we had hoped to cook our meals with this method - yesterday we tried some experimenting and not sure if we were just botching everything but only one out of a few things were actually edible....the mashed potato mix with bacon bits was great but when we tried to use any of the things with noodles like Mac and cheese or the lipton sides, we got our water really hot, put the noodles/or side dish in the plastic bag, poured the water over them and put them in a cozy - we tried various times and each time, the noodles or mac/cheese came out super gummy or still hard or gluey....any words of advice?
For the pasta items I add a bit more water and stir a couple of times during so that the pasta doesn't glomp together. Experiment with cook/hydration time. I personally have never had any luck with Mac and cheese. I prefer the knorr/Lipton sides that have both rice and pasta as they seem to cook better than the pasta only sides.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
Make sure and stir really well when you initially add water to the pasta.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
I would think cooking hard pasta in this method would be problematic. Ramen works because those noodles are pretty small. Think of how long it takes to cook macaroni in a boiling pot. With FBC you're basically just reconstituting.
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