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Experimenting..

saxonaxe

saxonaxe

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Some time ago, after a discussion on the forum, I bought some self seal bags. Someone came up with the bright idea of bagging meals for DIY boil in the bag. Big Red? Sharpfinger? My apologies, I can't remember who, but anyway I bought some from Ebay and I've started experimenting with them and learned at least one lesson.
This is a full can of Princes Chicken Casserole decanted into a bag. I sealed it by running a hot Iron over a Tea Towel along the bottom, although I know it's possible to use Ladies hair Curling Tongs.

DSC00836.JPG


Not being 100% certain that the Iron trick would work, I also folded the bottom of the bag up and ran a strip of masking tape along just to make sure it was properly sealed. Bag then went into the freezer part of the fridge overnight.

Next day, 09.00 hrs I took the rock solid bag out and just left it lying on the sink draining board in the unheated kitchen, mild days though so maybe 12-14 C ?
Lesson 1...Dim wit, don't use washable marker pen on an item that gets wet when it freezes and then defrosts....:rolleyes:

DSC00847.JPG


I found a permanent marker didn't work on the silver foil bag, so had to use a paper sticker. The contents had totally defrosted at 14.00 hrs, so 5 hours from frozen hard. Because I'd used tape and a label I didn't do boil in the bag, I just cut the bag and dumped the contents into a mess tin for cooking. Yum..:D
I'll try again, without the tape seal and from hard frozen I'll put a bag in a small 'Cool Bag', just to see how long it will take to defrost. I'm guessing that if I took frozen grub in sealed bags kept in a cool bag, even if they slowly thawed over say 2 days, decanted tinned meals would still be viable boil in the bag meals after a couple of days.
 
saxonaxe said:
Some time ago, after a discussion on the forum, I bought some self seal bags. Someone came up with the bright idea of bagging meals for DIY boil in the bag. Big Red? Sharpfinger? My apologies, I can't remember who, but anyway I bought some from Ebay and I've started experimenting with them and learned at least one lesson.
This is a full can of Princes Chicken Casserole decanted into a bag. I sealed it by running a hot Iron over a Tea Towel along the bottom, although I know it's possible to use Ladies hair Curling Tongs.

View attachment 40409

Not being 100% certain that the Iron trick would work, I also folded the bottom of the bag up and ran a strip of masking tape along just to make sure it was properly sealed. Bag then went into the freezer part of the fridge overnight.

Next day, 09.00 hrs I took the rock solid bag out and just left it lying on the sink draining board in the unheated kitchen, mild days though so maybe 12-14 C ?
Lesson 1...Dim wit, don't use washable marker pen on an item that gets wet when it freezes and then defrosts....:rolleyes:

View attachment 40410

I found a permanent marker didn't work on the silver foil bag, so had to use a paper sticker. The contents had totally defrosted at 14.00 hrs, so 5 hours from frozen hard. Because I'd used tape and a label I didn't do boil in the bag, I just cut the bag and dumped the contents into a mess tin for cooking. Yum..:D
I'll try again, without the tape seal and from hard frozen I'll put a bag in a small 'Cool Bag', just to see how long it will take to defrost. I'm guessing that if I took frozen grub in sealed bags kept in a cool bag, even if they slowly thawed over say 2 days, decanted tinned meals would still be viable boil in the bag meals after a couple of days.
Click to expand...
Nice idea re the iron and cloth.

Sharpie Permanent markers work if the bag is dry.
I write the content details on the (factory) closed end of the bag so that it gets ripped off when I boil up the bag and it doesn’t contaminate the boil/brew water.

You could even seal H20 in a BIB, freeze it and use it as cool pack.

Ive got these (empty) bags all over’t shop now, in kits; in cars; in me field kitchen set, as options for storing/heating up food.
I also find them useful for heating up two different types of meal in the same pot; or mash and a casserole in the same pot. And there’s no messy pan afterwards!😀 win, win!
 
There's no info on my packet and I can't remember the supplier on Ebay, but I used the same supplier as Sharpfinger. He will have an answer for you later, Rob.
 
Madriverrob said:
Anyone got a link to a decent seller ?
Click to expand...
Aye Up Rob,

Here is the link to the company I use:


There is quite a selection of sizes. I use the 16cm x 23cm which holds up to 1kg - but I don’t fill them that much - usually up to 500g/ml so that they fit well in the freezer and my pack.

I paid about £14 for my first pack of 50! and got 3 quid discount on the second pack.
I‘m on my third pack now. 🙂

Not sure how you do a link within this site to a previous post but it was titled something like ‘DIY Boil-in-bag Meals’ so it should come up in a search under my handle.
 
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Just to report on my second attempt..
I made a much better job of sealing the bag this time, using a hot Iron to seal in an 'All Day Breakfast'. Following up on the suggestion about freezing a bottle of water, I froze an ex 1 litre fruit drink bottle with about 90 ml in it. All in the freezer over night and solid when I placed them in a cheap10 litre Cool Bag, zip top type, at 09.00 hrs. and left the bag in the kitchen.

On returning from the woods at 16.00 hrs I found the water had virtually thawed leaving a lump of ice about 3x2 inches floating inside the bottle. The bagged food had defrosted but was still very cold to the touch.

I don't know, but, if the food is transferred straight from a tin into a sealed bag and then frozen, I would assume that the food does not deteriorate so as to be unsafe to eat for at least 24 hours, bearing in mind it takes possibly 6 hours or so just to defrost completely in the sealed bag. One way to find out I suppose, I'll give it a try next over night trip and if I end up doing the Chinese quickstep to the bog every 10 minutes, you'll know my theory was duff. :lol:
 
Good luck with that one Sax, somehow I think you'll be ok as long as you don't push your luck...maybe avoid repackaging chicken or prawn dishes.
 
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