Silicone Bag For FBC?

[Nick Smolinske]

So I am once again pondering Freezer Bag Cooking. Mostly because I highly value having a compact pack, and packing a big pot gets annoying. It would be nice to be able to pack a smaller pot plus an FBC cozy.

That said, I found myself lost deep in an internet rabbithole of silicone bags, and it made me think – does anyone make a silicone reusable bag? Turns out they do, and it weighs 0.6oz according to their amazon listing:

It’s probably not worth using (saves at most half an ounce versus getting a larger Ti pot) but I thought it was an interesting idea.

[Bob Moulder]

That thing weighs 0.6oz?? Perhaps the decimal point is misplaced?

Even if you use that solution you still need packaging for the food and are still generating trash.

The lightest and most convenient method I’ve found is to use a food vac machine and these bags which have a zip lock. For a cozy I use a thick bubble wrap mailer that works better than anything I have tried… food is piping hot even after rehydrating for 20 minutes.

I buy MH food in the #10 cans and repackage into the vac seal bags. Measure out portions with a good scale. With the vac seal system you control portion size and the bags themselves take up far less space than the pre-packaged MH meals.

[JCH]

re: bags and cozys…What Bob said!

The storage bag is the cooking bag is the trash bag.  Use the “Russian doll” method of containing/consolodating subsequent meal bags.  Pot is sized for efficiency (wide and shallow) just large enough to boil the required amount of water.  The pot is also your coffee cup with the addition of a Hot Lips. This is the most efficient method I have found.

re: the linked silicone bag…I can believe the 0.6 oz weight.   That thing holds over 2 liters and the plastic clip looks beefy.  I bet the wall thickness is “robust” as well.

[Nick Gatel]

Here’s a thought…

You can wash freezer bags and re-use them. We do this at home since we freeze a lot of food (buy bulk, separate, and freeze). We can re-use a bag many times.

On long backpacking trips I do this. Bulk bag for all my instant oat meal, Bulk bag for Mtn House meals (package two or more of the same meals in one large bag). One bulk bag for trash. After each meal I wash the “boil” bag. Normally I don’t do this in deserts because water is scarce, unless I am hiking close to a river or large lake such as Lake Mead. On short trips I use individual bags for each meal and these bags are usually the already re-cycled bags from home. This method is good for the planet, however my motivation is the fact I am a cheap b***tard.

[Nick Smolinske]

I am curious about the weight. Usually if Amazon weights are off it’s because they over-estimate and give a shipping weight. So the very precise 0.6oz figure seems like it should be accurate.

That said, while the silicone bag is intriguing I think what I’m actually going to do is just buy at least one Good-to-Go meal for each trip. I like their bags and meals and they’re a good two-person size. Then I can just re-use the bag for multiple meals on a trip. Washing the boil bag in the desert isn’t a big issue if you drink the washing water. :)

One of my biggest issues with FBC is sizing bags for two people. A quart sized ziplock is too small and a gallon ziplock is big and unwieldy. The GtG bags are a good compromise, and you don’t need a cozy.

[Nick Smolinske]

Bob, those vac bags with zippers look pretty cool! I have a vacuum sealer but never thought to look for bags with zips.

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