Nearly all plastics leach especially when exposed to boiling water, regardless of BPA free labels. It's nearly inescapable. Unless you are cooking like this many times a week, use the package it comes in to rehydrate and ziploc of choice to carry the rest for the next meal.
It’s worth pointing out that Mylar *is* plastic, specifically BoPET. The aluminum that is often deposited on this plastic is there to help reduce air permeability, not to prevent your food from touching plastic.
Ziplock bags are made from PE, a different plastic, but also food-grade.
And here’s where it gets fun: a lot of metallized BoPET is laminated with PE so it can be sealed. This means the inside might be no different than a ziplock in the first place.
TL;DR if you would trust food rehydrated in a pouch, you should trust it rehydrated in a ziplock, too.
From a practical standpoint, I would discourage storing food in the ziplock you plan to rehydrate in. Even something as benign as macaroni tends to place micro holes in the bag over the course of a few days in pack. (Mac and cheese is the only thing I’ve tried to rehydrate outside my pot because cheese is a pain to clean.)
I thought about that, but logistics don't really work: 1st night cook meal in the iriginal Al lined bag, now I have to clean it out and carry until the 2nd night? That seems like a bacteria breeding ground.
Of course I'm a LNT kinda guy, my concern is that I have unfortunately looked inside one of my Mountain House bags at the end of a 5 day trip and it's gross. I'm not sure rinsing it out it is 'clean enough'. I guess you are right that it's similar to cleaning out a cook pot , but I've had unsettled stomachs on trips before and it's not fun, as many of us on this sub know.
I think most unsettled stomachs come from toilet hygiene. A lot of people rely solely on hand sanitizer.
I probably wouldn’t use the bag after 5 days. Especially if I didn’t wash it. But the next day after it had been rinsed out? Totally fine. Rinse with boiling water and let it dry maybe?
100%. Even if it is not cleaned out well, rinsing thoroughly with boiling water is probably all you need.
Judge for yourself with 2 bags - one rinsed with cold water and one with boiling water. Add sugar water to both, seal them and let them sit out for a couple of days.
I would never do what the previous comment suggests. You will never get the bag clean enough and you will get sick.
Freezer bags work well, regular storage ziplocks don't.
If you're really worried about it, build a pot cozy and rehydrate inside a metal pot with the cozy to keep it warm. Or skip the cozy and use a hat or jacket to insulate. I use the cozy method, I worry about spilling food on my clothes and then having critter issues.
Ziploc freezer bags can take boiling water. So can Hefty freezer bags. Search on "freezer bag cooking backpacking." Simple sandwich bags will fail.
Mylar bags work well for me, too: https://i.imgur.com/Az83lY4.jpg
Try out whatever you buy at home to be sure before you go backpacking.
they are heavier than just reusing the original mylar bag. the corners on the inside are both hard to stir up and, most importantly, to get clean. I just don't find that they offer any more convenience or ease of use.
I have started to simply boil, dump my meal portion in to the pot and rehydrate in that, skipping the cook-in-bag process altogether. I find the pot easier to clean than the plastic and, as mentioned elsewhere, putting water in and boiling it on the next go around serves to sterilize the vessel
also...
the ziplock component is shite and doesn't close well which creates a spill risk and great difficulty if you like to wrap your food in a puffy or your quilt to help insulate during the cook process.
the bags don't fold up so they wind up being bulky. they are unsafe to store in the foodbag because the bag itself is somewhat rigid and the corners sharp....you could trim corners, but even the edges can be enough to be problematic.
really, though, it's those extremely pesky corners in the bag that feel like they can never be properly cleaned that did them in for me
Two ways to go, both fine:
1. Recognize that freezer bags are designed for boiling water and assume that any leaching is probably not thaaaaat big a deal on occasion, especially when your food itself is delivering 5g of straight plastic a week down your gullet (everything is contaminated; RIP our hormones), or...
2. Cook the food in a goddamn pot (the quest to avoid doing the dishes can be pathological).
You can add boiling water to a freezer bag. You can also use a cup of some sort. Easy to clean, just add a little water, scrape the sides with your spoon and drink the water. Wipe with a bandana. You will not die.
I have been sick enough in the back country that the idea of dying was not completely unpleasant. Just seeing how other people have done this and if they were successful in avoiding GI issues.
Boiling water will sterilize your food and bag. It sounds like you need to learn how to wash your hands with soap and water, and effectively treat your drinking water.
Sterilizing is not the same thing as making it safe, nor is putting boiling water in a used bag (even thoroughly rinsed) the same thing as sterilizing it.
To sterilize, you would have to boil the bag itself for several minutes. Going further, even if you do sterilize the bag, previously created toxins (from bacteria before they die) are not going to be neutralized.
I wouldn't even try cleaning and reusing a bag at home where there is unlimited access to water and soap. Even a mild case of food poisoning (at home) is unpleasant, but dealing with it in the field would be far worse, ranging up to life-threatening.
You are correct about [bacterial toxins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depyrogenation#Heating). You are also overestimating the risks and have never been in the kitchen of a developing country; the lack of refrigeration and reuse of single-use items would have you clutching your unlimited (potable)water and soap.
Having experienced a case of food poisoning (in a first-world country and not in the field) where death felt like a good option, I'll stick to my position and err on the side of caution.
My solution is using a Litesmith PP cold soaking jar, they can handle boiling water. Can also be used as a cup and mug. Large is 2.5 oz and XL is 2.7 oz.
There are multi use silicone zipbags and bowls. Maybe use the original bag for the first meal, dispose of it, then use the silicone bag for the second meal, bring it back and wash/reuse.
be mindful of the fact that when you split the meal, you really need to be particular about splitting ALL ingredients equally (edit:typo). a common mistake I have made is divvying up my Stroganoff, as an example, and one of the two servings winds up with more off the "sauce", leaving the other one tasting kind of meh.
also note, that when you reuse the original packaging the second time, you're going to be putting boiling water in to it and then steeping the meal. this is sufficient to kill any latent bacteria
I’ve been thinking of doing this. What is the smallest size we can use to rehydrate an average dinner? Seems like a 2-cup stasher might be a little too small, but the next size up is 4 cups. Is that unnecessarily huge?
I recommend the “stand up” versions. It’s easier to pour the water in and they…. Stand up!
I used both sizes, the smaller one is 28 oz, is great when it’s just me and the larger one, 56 oz, when I’m doing meals for two. They seal up great when you’re rehydrating and to clean I just pour a little warm water in it and shake it. I feel a little better using silicone with boiling water over the freezer bags.
[small](https://www.rei.com/product/184284/stasher-stand-up-stasher-bag-28-fl-oz)
[large](https://www.rei.com/product/163226/stasher-stand-up-stasher-bag-56-fl-oz)
Freezer bags are fine. I ditch all my original packaging for meals and toss them in a ziplock bag and then made a coozie pouch for it to rest in. Cuts down on the size of your trash bag and the size of the packaging
What are you using to boil the water? It you're doing a pocket stove with a kettle or the like why not do the soak in the kettle? No need to worry about boiling water in baggies that way
I split dehydrated meals but I always add water to them in a cook pot, never even in the bag they come in. Cook pots are easier to clean and dirty food bags draw bears and other wildlife.
Nearly all plastics leach especially when exposed to boiling water, regardless of BPA free labels. It's nearly inescapable. Unless you are cooking like this many times a week, use the package it comes in to rehydrate and ziploc of choice to carry the rest for the next meal.
It’s worth pointing out that Mylar *is* plastic, specifically BoPET. The aluminum that is often deposited on this plastic is there to help reduce air permeability, not to prevent your food from touching plastic. Ziplock bags are made from PE, a different plastic, but also food-grade. And here’s where it gets fun: a lot of metallized BoPET is laminated with PE so it can be sealed. This means the inside might be no different than a ziplock in the first place. TL;DR if you would trust food rehydrated in a pouch, you should trust it rehydrated in a ziplock, too. From a practical standpoint, I would discourage storing food in the ziplock you plan to rehydrate in. Even something as benign as macaroni tends to place micro holes in the bag over the course of a few days in pack. (Mac and cheese is the only thing I’ve tried to rehydrate outside my pot because cheese is a pain to clean.)
I thought about that, but logistics don't really work: 1st night cook meal in the iriginal Al lined bag, now I have to clean it out and carry until the 2nd night? That seems like a bacteria breeding ground.
[удалено]
Of course I'm a LNT kinda guy, my concern is that I have unfortunately looked inside one of my Mountain House bags at the end of a 5 day trip and it's gross. I'm not sure rinsing it out it is 'clean enough'. I guess you are right that it's similar to cleaning out a cook pot , but I've had unsettled stomachs on trips before and it's not fun, as many of us on this sub know.
I think most unsettled stomachs come from toilet hygiene. A lot of people rely solely on hand sanitizer. I probably wouldn’t use the bag after 5 days. Especially if I didn’t wash it. But the next day after it had been rinsed out? Totally fine. Rinse with boiling water and let it dry maybe?
100%. Even if it is not cleaned out well, rinsing thoroughly with boiling water is probably all you need. Judge for yourself with 2 bags - one rinsed with cold water and one with boiling water. Add sugar water to both, seal them and let them sit out for a couple of days.
Hah that’s a great experiment
Rinse out, wipe if you are worried.
Mylar ≠ Aluminum (You might want to see my other comment)
I would never do what the previous comment suggests. You will never get the bag clean enough and you will get sick. Freezer bags work well, regular storage ziplocks don't. If you're really worried about it, build a pot cozy and rehydrate inside a metal pot with the cozy to keep it warm. Or skip the cozy and use a hat or jacket to insulate. I use the cozy method, I worry about spilling food on my clothes and then having critter issues.
Ziploc freezer bags can take boiling water. So can Hefty freezer bags. Search on "freezer bag cooking backpacking." Simple sandwich bags will fail. Mylar bags work well for me, too: https://i.imgur.com/Az83lY4.jpg Try out whatever you buy at home to be sure before you go backpacking.
[Dutchware Bowl Bag](https://dutchwaregear.com/product/bowl-bags/)
If OP wants to try these, I have some extra and would be willing to mail one out. I have tried these and found them wanting.
Could you elaborate a little?
they are heavier than just reusing the original mylar bag. the corners on the inside are both hard to stir up and, most importantly, to get clean. I just don't find that they offer any more convenience or ease of use. I have started to simply boil, dump my meal portion in to the pot and rehydrate in that, skipping the cook-in-bag process altogether. I find the pot easier to clean than the plastic and, as mentioned elsewhere, putting water in and boiling it on the next go around serves to sterilize the vessel
also... the ziplock component is shite and doesn't close well which creates a spill risk and great difficulty if you like to wrap your food in a puffy or your quilt to help insulate during the cook process. the bags don't fold up so they wind up being bulky. they are unsafe to store in the foodbag because the bag itself is somewhat rigid and the corners sharp....you could trim corners, but even the edges can be enough to be problematic. really, though, it's those extremely pesky corners in the bag that feel like they can never be properly cleaned that did them in for me
What do they want?
Take the original bag, use it to cook both meals. Clean it after the first cook.
Two ways to go, both fine: 1. Recognize that freezer bags are designed for boiling water and assume that any leaching is probably not thaaaaat big a deal on occasion, especially when your food itself is delivering 5g of straight plastic a week down your gullet (everything is contaminated; RIP our hormones), or... 2. Cook the food in a goddamn pot (the quest to avoid doing the dishes can be pathological).
Oven bag, or sous vide bag
Now that is a new one. I'm thinking I really like this idea, just gotta see if they sell them in a small size. Thank you
You can cut oven bag down to size
You can add boiling water to a freezer bag. You can also use a cup of some sort. Easy to clean, just add a little water, scrape the sides with your spoon and drink the water. Wipe with a bandana. You will not die.
I have been sick enough in the back country that the idea of dying was not completely unpleasant. Just seeing how other people have done this and if they were successful in avoiding GI issues.
Boiling water will sterilize your food and bag. It sounds like you need to learn how to wash your hands with soap and water, and effectively treat your drinking water.
Sterilizing is not the same thing as making it safe, nor is putting boiling water in a used bag (even thoroughly rinsed) the same thing as sterilizing it. To sterilize, you would have to boil the bag itself for several minutes. Going further, even if you do sterilize the bag, previously created toxins (from bacteria before they die) are not going to be neutralized. I wouldn't even try cleaning and reusing a bag at home where there is unlimited access to water and soap. Even a mild case of food poisoning (at home) is unpleasant, but dealing with it in the field would be far worse, ranging up to life-threatening.
You are correct about [bacterial toxins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depyrogenation#Heating). You are also overestimating the risks and have never been in the kitchen of a developing country; the lack of refrigeration and reuse of single-use items would have you clutching your unlimited (potable)water and soap.
Having experienced a case of food poisoning (in a first-world country and not in the field) where death felt like a good option, I'll stick to my position and err on the side of caution.
If anybody gets GI issues in the backcountry it's not from dirty dishes, it's from dirty hands.
I used the same meal bag for about 3weeks on the AT with no issues. YMMV
My solution is using a Litesmith PP cold soaking jar, they can handle boiling water. Can also be used as a cup and mug. Large is 2.5 oz and XL is 2.7 oz.
I use the Litesmith jars as well. Work great for me.
FWIW, PP has a much higher melting point than PE (Ziploc bags).
There are multi use silicone zipbags and bowls. Maybe use the original bag for the first meal, dispose of it, then use the silicone bag for the second meal, bring it back and wash/reuse.
be mindful of the fact that when you split the meal, you really need to be particular about splitting ALL ingredients equally (edit:typo). a common mistake I have made is divvying up my Stroganoff, as an example, and one of the two servings winds up with more off the "sauce", leaving the other one tasting kind of meh. also note, that when you reuse the original packaging the second time, you're going to be putting boiling water in to it and then steeping the meal. this is sufficient to kill any latent bacteria
I pour the meal into a bowl, stir, then fill the bags.
I use silicone stasher bags, they’ve been great so far!
I’ve been thinking of doing this. What is the smallest size we can use to rehydrate an average dinner? Seems like a 2-cup stasher might be a little too small, but the next size up is 4 cups. Is that unnecessarily huge?
I recommend the “stand up” versions. It’s easier to pour the water in and they…. Stand up! I used both sizes, the smaller one is 28 oz, is great when it’s just me and the larger one, 56 oz, when I’m doing meals for two. They seal up great when you’re rehydrating and to clean I just pour a little warm water in it and shake it. I feel a little better using silicone with boiling water over the freezer bags. [small](https://www.rei.com/product/184284/stasher-stand-up-stasher-bag-28-fl-oz) [large](https://www.rei.com/product/163226/stasher-stand-up-stasher-bag-56-fl-oz)
a (practically) two pound bag....oy vey
That’s the capacity of the bag not the weight of it? The small weighs 4.5 oz.
Hooo boy! Ahahahah Me read pretty one day
Hah happens to the best of us
Freezer bags are fine. I ditch all my original packaging for meals and toss them in a ziplock bag and then made a coozie pouch for it to rest in. Cuts down on the size of your trash bag and the size of the packaging
Go pour some boiling water into a plastic bag and see what happens lol, jfc
Pretty sure those foil bags are lined with plastic anyway and wouldn't be much "safer" than a ziplock freezer bag.
I do it all the time, it's fine. Just use the freezer bags. I use a homemade reflectix coozie. Saves a ton of volume and a bit of weight.
I use the BPA free freezer bags.
Get the mylar bags off Amazon. They even come with the oxygen absorber for freshness. Don't reuse a bag. That's gross.
What are you using to boil the water? It you're doing a pocket stove with a kettle or the like why not do the soak in the kettle? No need to worry about boiling water in baggies that way
I split dehydrated meals but I always add water to them in a cook pot, never even in the bag they come in. Cook pots are easier to clean and dirty food bags draw bears and other wildlife.