Cooking in a bag?

“I've seen several people on trips boil water and pour it into a bag of food. Just wondering, Will any ziplock baggie work or does it need to be kinda tick so it won't melt?”

“A freezer bag will!

Try that!

8)”

“So there was this old bag and she was busy cooking up some,...oh,.. errrrr, cooking bag,..lol,.. never mind,.. my bad!”

“I just did a test with a cheap no name ziplock sandwich baggie and I thought it fail misserably but it actually held up.
I'm going to try some stuff this weekend on the trail. The reason I started that thread a while back about going stoveless was cause I hate cleaning my food encrusted cook gear. If I can sucessfully cook food and eat out of a baggie than I will pack the Esbit again!”

“Walkindude, any of the zip-top freezer or microwave safe bags work for this. Anything else melts and makes your food taste like plastic or the seams split open.”

“Also, you can drop them in boiling water to cook in them if you need to.”

“Thanks Skully!”

“If I'm forced to use the thinner ones I double bag it.”

“What did skully say? You can also drop the baggie in boiling water to cook? What does also mean? You can cook with a baggie without boiling water?

Hmmmm... Maybe I can learn something here.”

“Well, you can put unheated water in it with dehydrated meals, rehydrate them and then drop it in boiling water to heat it when you're ready to eat. Or, you put a pre-packaged meal in it and pour boiling water in it and let it steep. This will cook it. If it's cold out and it won't stay hot long enough to cook you can also drop it in boiling water to complete the cooking.”

“And the light in his head goes off!!!!

8)”

“A dim bulb for sure.”

“What brand was it you were using skully? They had the gussetted bottoms so they would sit flat...”

“Glad.”

“I bought a box of them (quart size). I wish they came in a smaller size.”

“Definately a busted filament”

“Yeah I know walkindude, me too. Although I the quart size is handy sometimes, a smaller size would be nice too.”

“get the pint sized sandwich size...they do not have the gussetted (nice use of big fancy word) bottom, but they are smaller. I use Ziploc freezer pint size bags.”

“I buy them in pint size and snack size, too. The snack size are thinner plastic, hold 2 packs of instant oatmeal, and work just fine with boiling water poured in on the oatmeal. I try to "leak check" the bags by seeing if they hold air before filling & packing them but sometimes one will end up with a pinhole leak.

On the putting the ziploc in a pot of boiling water: if the bag touches the pot bottom, it may melt through; happened to me....once.

To keep the rehydrating food hot, I use an old insulated stove bag. Works great in the winter especially. Ah, the "oven." Seems several types of commercially available insulation material could be fashioned into an "oven."

Have fun with the ziploc ideas, Walkindude!”

“Lighten up!”

“I haven't had such good luck with Zip-locs and boiling water. Reynolds Oven Bags... as recommended for use with the BakePacker gizmo... That'll put up with the heat Fo' Sho'.”

“Hey Dude, I have been using the Ziploc (r) pleated bottoms..the official name is (goes off to look) the "E-Z-Fill" in the quart size. If that is too much bag for you, I just fold the bag down on the sides from the inside out and it works great.

Also, when it's cold out, I use the medium sized Reynolds (r)(tinfoil) oven bag to slip the Ziploc bag in. It then retains the heat and helps the contents cook faster. In a pinch the Reynolds foil bag can be a wind screen or pot lid also.

I used this combination on the BNR trip in Feb as Stikmon and Stalker may remember..”

“where do you find the pint size freezer bags? I've been using the quart because that's all I can find.

I tried putting baggies in boiling water, but the sides get too hot and the bags melt. I tried cold water with powdered hummus in the snack size bags and they leak. So far the only ones that work are Glad or Ziploc Freezer baggies. You can get the pleated ones that sit flat and are shorter, but they weigh a little more. For a long trip the oz add up to lbs.”

“Freezer bags you can add scolding hot water to, but NEVER put them with contents into boiling hot water cause when the baggie touches the hot sides of the pot the plastic will melt...trust me.”

“Walmart has the pint size Ziploc freezer bags, at least in my part of the country. The snack size bags have worked fine for me for hot or cold foods; I rehydrate hummus in them, too. I do slip those filled smaller bags inside a larger bag rather than have them loose in the food bag as I tend to group breakfast food together, lunches together, etc. Prolly keeps them from getting punctured.

After trying the stand-up pleated bags, I found them harder to eat from than the 'regular' kind as food gets trapped in the pleated area, and it was harder to make sure the dry food was mixed well with the water.”

“What is your problem?”

“The only time I actually cooked in my pot was the first time I went backpacking - never again. Since then the only thing that goes in my pot is water or boil-in-bag rice meals.

Jerbear rehydrated his stuff in snack size baggies, not sure what brand. He did not put them in the pot of boiling water though.”

“Only the microwavable bags work in boiling water. Usually the only time I do this is when I'm making something that has to come to a boiling temp to thicken properly. Of course you have to put enough water in the pan so it floats and watch it so it doesn't end up against the side of the pan. That's just good cooking technique.

Snow Nymph, I have thought the same about the extra weight also. If you trim the extra plastic off they still stand up like a bowl but weigh a bit less. I like them mostly because they are easier to eat out of and it's easier to pour the boiling water into them. Before I started using them I just used a quart or pint sized bag and put it in my empty pan to make it easier to eat out of. I think I would go back to that on a trip longer than a weekend.”

“I think I saw a Walmart somewhere on the way to Mammoth. I'll check it out. Thanks, cow patty!”

“Damn! This is the most informative and worthwhile thread on this site in a long time!! I'd been hesitant about the ziplock freezer bag thing for rehydration with boiling water but this thread has quelled my fears. Thanks for all the information, guys!!”

“Just toss the baggie in the fire and burn it half way and leave it.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Not sure if you are just joking around, Chief, but I pack out all the used plastic bags.

And maybe this hasn't worked for other folks, but I find that the plastic bags don't have to be the freezer ones. I've used the storage bags, sandwich bags, snack bags, whatever and they held up fine with boiling water. I can see where a limiting factor might be the weight of whatever reconstituted food is in the bag using the non-freezer types if they're not in a pan or on something.”

“I like "hot cups." They nest nicely, don't weigh much, don't tip over too easily, are easy to eat from. They do crush if you don't pack them carefully, however. I'm experimenting with a tall, slender can to cart all this misc stuff in. Don't forget the tongue depressors.”

“who in their right mind would burn their plastic bags...nope, I want mine in a landfill where they can rest easy for thousands of years.

As for oz turning into pounds...no offense snow nymph...but I have drilled holes in my tooth brush to compensate. and I wear socks with holes in them, this way they weigh less and airate better. torn t-shirts are great and holy underwear...less to dry when you sweat.

Come on...if you get out the old triple beam (I still have mine and have used it to do this) and weigh out a freezer pint size baggy vs a regular pint size baggy, you will find grams of difference, not ounces. Silly concept. Actually, I eat my bags...good for the digestion and they are self wiping as they come out. LOL.”

“who in their right mind would burn their plastic bags...nope, I want mine in a landfill where they can rest easy for thousands of years.

As for oz turning into pounds...no offense snow nymph...but I have drilled holes in my tooth brush to compensate. and I wear socks with holes in them, this way they weigh less and airate better. torn t-shirts are great and holy underwear...less to dry when you sweat.

Come on...if you get out the old triple beam (I still have mine and have used it to do this) and weigh out a freezer pint size baggy vs a regular pint size baggy, you will find grams of difference, not ounces. Silly concept. Actually, I eat my bags...good for the digestion and they are self wiping as they come out. LOL.”

“I liked my response soooooo much, I wanted to post it twice...


I liked my response sooooo much, I wanted to post it twice...”

“I want the pint size baggies because they're shorter. With the quart size I have to roll it down to get the spoon in without making a mess.

As for the oz/lbs, I'm looking at the weight of the trash I would have carried out. By repackaging the Mountainhouse dinners for 10 days, along with breakfast, lunches, etc. I threw away 2 lbs of trash.”

“Oh God, Here we go again with the trash burning feud again.
LMAO!!”

“Walkindude made sure that no one tossed trash into the campfire. I gotta say, he was adamant about that. "no trash in the fire".

As for the holy socks...I always darn my socks...no holes here.

I can see your point on a really long trip. Where everything is purchased with its own package...I would repackage the same way. I hate trash and wasted space, that's why I eat my trash...oh sorry...sometimes my evil twin makes me type such things...stop...type, you miserable turd...no, I won't say anything nasty...TURD!!! noooooooooooo”

“No trash in the fire.... pack it in, pack it out.”

“Well, there was that old tire we burned but that didn't count cause it wasn't our tire.”

“Tooooooo funny!!!”

“We didn't burn the the other trash though. I new the old tractor wouldn't burn cause it was metal. Why bother.”

“Hey! That old tire made a nice warm fire, now.”

“Just wanted to report that I ate from a Ziplock bag with the pleated bottom over the weekend. Worked great! I had Ramen Noodles with powered Chicken soup and a bit of cheese mixed in.
Also made Chocolate Pudding. 2 cups of water, powered milk and the pudding mix. Put it in the quart sized ziplock and shook it up. Set it in the creek for a about 20 mins. Crushed up some cookies and tossed in too. VERY GOOD. I stold that idea from Mozark.”

“man im glad that you tested it before I did! know that it works(ginny pig)LOL it would be much easier to keep the dishes clean.”

“I enjoyed not having to wash dishes. It wasn't really cold though (38 @ night) but still nice to not have to fool with it. My brother (packrat) still had to wash his. LOL!
Eating out of the bag was pretty easy too. I did like what was suggested and just rolled the sides down.
All I carried to boil water in was a 2 cup sized nesting pot that fits on the bottom of a lexan Nalgene bottle and an Esbit stove.”

“thats packing it lite!”

“That's all I need too.”

“10 ozs for stove, fuel, & nesting pot.”