boil in the bag

[shaggystu]

looking for a little advice folks. i've been playing around with the idea of home made ready meals for camping. basically what i've got in mind is a zip-lock plastic bag filled with something home cooked from the freezer. the idea is that i can take a nice frozen meal out with me and then just warm it in a pan of hot water. i've tried this once so far with a chilli and some boil-in-the-bag rice, i just put the zip-lock bag of chilli straight into a pan water along with the rice and heated fairly gently for a while. it worked really well but as anyone who watched me cooking would confirm i was a little nervous about the possibility of the bag melting. i was just wondering what people's thoughts are on this. do you think the plastic is likely to get to the melting stage or not? should i try and avoid letting the water boil? is there a specific kind of zip-lock baggie that i should use or avoid?

the bag i used was a "fresh shield ziploc double zipper heavy duty freezer bag" it states quite clearly on the box "do not overheat contents as bag may melt"

any thoughts?

cheers

stuart

 

[kennyboy]

I like to experiment at home, in the garden, before I take it out into the field.
That way if I screw-up it's no biggy, grab a sandwich lol.
Doubt seems to put alot of people off trying stuff. I say GO FOR IT!
Try something new. You never know you might discover something.

 

[rommy]

Hi, I've done a bit of experimenting along those lines myself in the kitchen. Only problems with melting is when I had rolled the bag and contents to exclude air before fastening the ziplock, the frozen cylinder then would't all go into the pan and on reheating the end above the pan melted. I now fold the bag into a smaller size before freezing.

I also wanted to defrost one partially to simulate one that had been in a rucksack for a day to see if it could then be positioned well in the pan. I placed in microwave on the lowest defrost possible and all was well but any higher and the bag melted. So don't use that as a method for reheating a quick lunch at home!

The ziplock ones work fine but I find the self seal ones better as they are easier to fold into shape before they go into the freezer. Geoff.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Have you tried just standard roll out freezer bags..?

They are designed by nature to handle extreme temps, and would be considerably less cost per bag than zip locks, which i would imagine would stain very quickly if re-used, and take on the flavour of the contents (chilli/curry ect) despite washing unless you use them repeatedly for the exact same contents.

Your chances of a quick defrost (by air) this time of year are getting harder, but an ambient meal (of say 5-10 deg's) will heat up much more quickly/require less boiling to get the job done so defrosting in advance once on site rather than boiling frozen will be so much easier on the bag, and even with judging cooking times!

Whats your heat source? fire (wood) and gas/ethanol heat the pots differently.

TBL.

 

[Marttiini Girl]

hiya try this site for some tips, some of looks quite tasty

http://www.trailcooking.com/taxonomy/term/7+8

 

[lannyman8]

try asking (i think) showie. he uses special bags designed for the job. also be aware that the wrong plastic could also be poisening your food when heated, all those chemicals will leach into your food when heated.

there is also another thread here some where talking about this very issue. there are also other options like vacume packers and feez dryers.

hope this helps and keep us all informed of how you get on.

thanks

chris...............

 

[treefrog]

I've been using pour and store bags for a while now http://www.polylina.co.uk/pour&store.html
They can stand being boiled and have re-used them a few times. They are durable and the plastic looks similar to Platypus bags. The website says you can't cook in a microwave with them, but re-heating stuff is ok.
Available from most main supermarkets.

 

[Stuart69]

try these mate, it's what I use and they work great - Link -

 

[lannyman8]

i thinks thats what i was talking about.... thanks Stuart69............

 

[shaggystu]

..... Only problems with melting is when I had rolled the bag and contents to exclude air before fastening the ziplock, the frozen cylinder then would't all go into the pan and on reheating the end above the pan melted. I now fold the bag into a smaller size before freezing.....QUOTE]

i didn't find this to be a problem, my food's frozen in a take away container and then transferred to a zip-lock for use, the bag can still move about a bit that way

........Whats your heat source? fire (wood) and gas/ethanol heat the pots differently.

TBL.

wood, sometimes charcoal, this is more of a luxury than a lightweight solution so i doubt very much that i'll trying this kind of cooking on my meths stove. it is a possible for my coleman petrol stove, i hadn't thought of that.

hiya try this site for some tips, some of looks quite tasty

http://www.trailcooking.com/taxonomy/term/7+8

thanks for that marttini girl, interesting website.

......also be aware that the wrong plastic could also be poisening your food when heated, all those chemicals will leach into your food when heated......

.....there are also other options like vacume packers and feez dryers................

i think that the freezer bags i've got are ok on that front, they do state on them that they can be used to re-heat food, TBH it was one of my main concerns in the first place.

it was looking at vacuum packers that started me down the zip-lock route originally, my first idea was to ask in the local butchers shop if they'd pack me load of meals up using their machine, zip-locks were just an attempt at an easy alternative.

thanks for the advice guys, i'll keep you informed about how it goes

cheers

stuart

 

[shaggystu]

I've been using pour and store bags for a while now http://www.polylina.co.uk/pour&store.html
......

try these mate, it's what I use and they work great - Link -

thanks for that treefrog and stuart69, i think the lakeland plastics one looks ideal.

thanks for the help

stuart

 

[torc]

Heating just any old plastic bag can leach chemicals into the food.
These Lakeland freezer bags are cooking safe. In a pot with plenty of water and taking care to not touch the bottom they are pretty good. Lots of hot water left over for tea too.
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/boil-a-bags/F/C/cooking-baking/C/cooking-baking-cooking-bags/product/1405
Happy trails...torc.

 

[rik_uk3]

You could just empty a standard zip lock bag of food, heat the food, wash the pot, take the bag home, wash it, and use it again; plus heating the food in a pan will make sure the food is heated through thus cutting down the risk of food poisoning so often caused by re heated home cooked food.

 

[Frogo]

As Rik mentioned is a logical approach, but if you really want to cook your food in a bag then try the roasting bags you can use them in the oven, freezer and microwave.

 

[jimcam]

I'd say keep it on a low heat or on the stones (In a Billy-Can of course) or in a Dutch cooker Pretty high up,but still getting the heat.Jim.(Night Owl).

 

[jimcam]

Heating just any old plastic bag can leach chemicals into the food.
These Lakeland freezer bags are cooking safe. In a pot with plenty of water and taking care to not touch the bottom they are pretty good. Lots of hot water left over for tea too.
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/boil-a-bags/F/C/cooking-baking/C/cooking-baking-cooking-bags/product/1405
Happy trails...torc.

I do really agree with what is said here.I wish I read the whole post first,sorry.Jim.(Night Owl).

 

[shaggystu]

You could just empty a standard zip lock bag of food, heat the food, wash the pot, take the bag home, wash it, and use it again; plus heating the food in a pan will make sure the food is heated through thus cutting down the risk of food poisoning so often caused by re heated home cooked food.

i could, you're right. but this whole idea for me is an ultra lazy approach, for me ultra lazy includes no washing up, the idea in the first place was to make something that i could eat from the same container that i cooked it in.

it is always on option though, there's nothing at all stopping me from throwing the contents into a billy and cooking them that way.

I'd say keep it on a low heat or on the stones (In a Billy-Can of course) .......(Night Owl).

i've been playing around with this a little bit now and it's worked out fine, i do just as jimcan says, keep it on a low heat and make sure the bag doesn't flop out of the pan into the flames (this is important). i've not had a zip-lock bag melt through yet but i have been avoiding letting them come to the boil, and i've had a couple that have looked a little stretchy.

cheers

stuart