cooking in freezer bags

[Bear Cables]

A question about freezer bag cooking. If I want to cook pasta by soaking in the boiling water in a bag what kind of bag do I need to use? Are the 1 quart freezer bags strong enough to handle the heat of the water. I love cook in bag meals as it eliminates the washing up.

[toegem]

1 qt. freezer bags work for me as long as it's just for me.

[Fiddleback]

...and the bags won't have to stand up to boiling temps. Generally, FBC cooking involves pouring 'hot' water into a baggie containing the food. But even boiling water poured into a baggie quickly loses a large amount of heat. And to reconstitute most dried foods, boiling temps aren't necessary. I pour just enough alky into my soda can stove so that flame-out occurs just at the pre-boil point...in kitchen testing, I rarely got an temperature above 185° as the water was poured. Still, with the baggie then placed in a cozzy, that's plenty heat to reconstitute the meal and serve piping hot. Freezer bags hold up quite well with this technique.

FB

[LaurieAnn]

If you are at all concerned about leaching - check out the products at www.LOKSAK.com (http://www.LOKSAK.com). We use these all the time and they are wonderful.

The bags are certified waterproof and will handle temperatures as low as -40°F and as high as 170°F. Note that the bags are not rated for being placed into boiling water but the manufacturer indicates that you can safely add boiling water to the bag (something that Glad and Ziploc have not approved their bags for). This is great for rehydrating foods and they are more durable than ziplocking freezer bags which often warp with the addition of boiling liquids (potentially leaching chemicals into the food). The OPSAKs are FDA approved.

[Allen1901]

If You do buy freezer bags, avoid cheap store brand knock offs. Get real Ziplicks.

Cheers!

[humunuku]

If you are at all concerned about leaching - check out the products at www.LOKSAK.com (http://www.LOKSAK.com). We use these all the time and they are wonderful.

The bags are certified waterproof and will handle temperatures as low as -40°F and as high as 170°F. Note that the bags are not rated for being placed into boiling water but the manufacturer indicates that you can safely add boiling water to the bag (something that Glad and Ziploc have not approved their bags for). This is great for rehydrating foods and they are more durable than ziplocking freezer bags which often warp with the addition of boiling liquids (potentially leaching chemicals into the food). The OPSAKs are FDA approved.

so i take it use wash the bags and re use them?

[LaurieAnn]

I do... and they are a very durable alternative. Plus with them lasting much longer it's less to end up being recycled... I'm all about reducing and reusing if possible before recycling.

[kolokolo]

On a weeklong hiking trip two summers ago, we used oven bags (like the kind you could bake chicken wings in). Boiling water was no problem with them. Might not be practical for 1 or 2 people, but we had 10 to cook for. It worked very well.

[LaurieAnn]

On a weeklong hiking trip two summers ago, we used oven bags (like the kind you could bake chicken wings in). Boiling water was no problem with them. Might not be practical for 1 or 2 people, but we had 10 to cook for. It worked very well.

That's a great idea for a group that large and something I had never though of. :)

[atraildreamer]

Glad 1 quart freezer bags...color blue. 26 for $2 at Family Dollar.

Check out:

www.trailcooking.com (http://www.trailcooking.com)

This is Sarbar's website who authored the book "Freezer Bag Cooking".

[envirodiver]

A question about freezer bag cooking. If I want to cook pasta by soaking in the boiling water in a bag what kind of bag do I need to use? Are the 1 quart freezer bags strong enough to handle the heat of the water. I love cook in bag meals as it eliminates the washing up.

I FBC a lot and have found that in order to cook pasta so that it is tender using FBC that you need to cook the pasta and dehydrate it, then package the meal. It rehydrates perfect then. I have heard some people say that you can use the Lipton sides with the small noddles and they do OK, but haven't tried them yet.

I just use ziplocs and a cozy that I made out of a windshield sunscreen (from Dollar general for $1). Can keep food in it for 20 min. and it's still too hot to hold in your hand when you take it out.

[bugnout]

Turkey bags work very well, and come in sizes suitable for groups.

I recently had one (bought from a dollar store) blow out when I was adding water. Our dinner ended up on the ground. As usual we packed more food than was necessary so it wasn't a disaster. We did spend a lot of time trying to remove the bear bait we just created.

I've used these bags at least a hundred times, this was the first time I ever had one blow out.

[Blue Jay]

This is great for rehydrating foods and they are more durable than ziplocking freezer bags which often warp with the addition of boiling liquids (potentially leaching chemicals into the food). The OPSAKs are FDA approved.

I've found that most people do not mind blind experimenting on themselves with unknown chemicals for the vital reason of avoiding washing a pot that many people don't wash anyway.:welcome

[Fiddleback]

Admittedly I haven't spent hours searching the web, but...

You'd think all the dedicated posters on this and other forums, all the safety, health, and consumer agencies, the myriad government agencies, and maybe the manufacturers themselves, would provide something about what if any chemicals show up in the still undocumented leaching. Even food and cooking related sites fail to find leaching.

On the other hand, we do know that polyethylene baggies (Zip-Loc, Glad) contain no BPA nor DEHA or other plasticizers. And some say polyethylene leach no toxins.

Not to say it can't or won't change but so far, the issue of toxic leaching from freezer baggies remains in the 'urban myths' category.

Stay tuned.

FB

[LaurieAnn]

I don't know whether or not they leach Fiddleback or if one can safely label it an urban myth.

A few years back I was going to pay for an independent study by a local lab that does that sort of thing... until I realized the costs would be more than most of us could easily afford to spend.

Until there is solid evidence either way I'd rather use a bag that I know has been tested for pouring boiling water into - aLOKSAKs fit that bill for me. If I didn't have an 8 year old who travels with us then I might think differently.

I did speak to the higher ups at one of the store-bought bag manufacturers and they said that there isn't a big enough market for this use to warrant testing. I also travel with a fellow who works for one of these manufacturers and he uses his pot.

Still it is always interesting to see how people feel about this topic and also to see some of the alternative methods people have come up with.

[Fiddleback]

It is a perplexing issue.

Lots of 'Yes they do...' and 'No they don't...' comments with little to no testing and reporting. To further complicate matters, some (most? all?) info regarding the safety of plastic bags relative to hot/boiling water refer to the safety issue of the bag's integrity, i.e., does the bag hold together under high temps and is the user at risk for burns? I don't remember any of the manufacturers saying the bags are chemically safe/not leaching...or unsafe. But then, I've only looked at the biggies like Zip-Loc and Glad. Additionally, there's the issue of 'boiling' water. Virtually all my trail cooking is FBC and the baggies never see boiling water. In fact, I doubt the water is as hot as 185° when it's poured...it's just the technique I use to speed things up and conserve the alcohol fuel I use with the soda can stove. Ya' just don't need to take water to a roiling boil if you're willing to put the baggie-contained rehydrating food in a cozzy for six minutes. So for me and similar others then, the issue becomes, 'are the baggies chemically safe at 185°? Or 165°? Or some other sub-boiling temp?

The good thing is that those plastics/plastic-related chemicals that have been identified as possibly harmful are not part of the baggies' make up. The bad thing is that, with this 'unintended use' of baggies, it's unlikely we'll see much study, testing and reporting on the issue.

So we're left with at least two camps, 'not proven to be safe' and, 'not proven to be harmful.' Yet.

FB

[Plodderman]

I do not use them but the guy I hike with does. He uses the 1 quart bags and does not have any problems.

[Allen1901]

I FBC a lot and have found that in order to cook pasta so that it is tender using FBC that you need to cook the pasta and dehydrate it, then package the meal. It rehydrates perfect then.

With the exception of Couscous, that has been my experience as well.
Smaller pasta shapes work the best.

Cheers!

[GeneralLee10]

I have used the 2qt bags from this site http://www.pansaver.com/ . In my pan on a home made alcohol stove and a Snow Peak along with the featherfire XL. I just rolled the edges up away from the flame and had no problems. Made some muffins as you can see on my profile here. Now you mite not want to use them if you have one of those crazy flame alkey stoves. Like I have seen most do have, the one where the flame covers half the side of your pot when burning. Which I'm sure is a waste of fuel any how so why keep using the darn thing.

[Tinker]

I tried freezer bag cooking, got tired of spending extra money, and went back to cooking in my pot or cup. I suppose something deadly will leach out of my titanium stuff ;), but cleanup is really no big deal. I just heat some water for coffee or hot chocolate after supper, scrape down what I couldn't scrape off beforehand into the water, pour it into a cup, mix in the drink, and hang the relatively clean pot until I clean it again with the morning's oatmeal water (which I again pour into the cup, mix and eat). Cleanup won't kill you!
Geez........

[Fiddleback]

I tried freezer bag cooking, got tired of spending extra money, and went back to cooking in my pot or cup. I suppose something deadly will leach out of my titanium stuff ;), but cleanup is really no big deal. I just heat some water for coffee or hot chocolate after supper, scrape down what I couldn't scrape off beforehand into the water, pour it into a cup, mix in the drink, and hang the relatively clean pot until I clean it again with the morning's oatmeal water (which I again pour into the cup, mix and eat). Cleanup won't kill you!
Geez........

Spend it now, or spend it later. 'Titanium stuff' vs. baggies. Weight vs. less weight, time vs. less time, convenience vs. another's perception of convenience, etc., etc.

Personally, I find I eat more varied, 'complex' meals since I changed to FBC'ing. Stuff I now eat for the main evening meal I wouldn't bother to try to cook from scratch on the trail. There was also a time when my meal choice and its preparation was influenced by the clean-up it required. No longer. The memories of Boy Scout overnights concluded with Sunday evening srubbing and scrubbing of mess kits are ever dimmer and I like it that way.:-?

HYOH but TANSTAAFL.

FB