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  1. #21

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    I use a mix of both. Just depends on the trip. I have switched to Ziploc steamer bags instead of freezer bags. No idea if they are any healthier/safer but at least they are designed to get hot. They do have a vent that will let water leak out if you don't keep them standing up.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by devoidapop View Post
    One thing I like about FBC is that my coffee the next morning taste like coffee, not my previous night's meal.

    Also, before today, I've never referred to it as FBC but acronyms are awesome and for that reason alone I will continue to FBC.
    FBC is not a acronym.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by devoidapop View Post
    One thing I like about FBC is that my coffee the next morning taste like coffee, not my previous night's meal. ....
    With POT cooking I would often chose my meal and level of cleaning of the pot based on my expected next meal. Especially when coffee is next.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by FreeGoldRush View Post
    Do some research on the problem with heating plastics as it relates to human health. I am fully aware this response won’t be popular, so I won’t say more.
    Excellent point and I think too many people ignore this as it doesn't have "an instant effect" on them that they notice. This is why I use a sous vide bag that is designed to not "spill" nasties into your food when boiled. I don't boil them but I do pour boiling water into them. Are they safe? I don't really know for sure. But I do believe they are safer than a ziploc type bag, especially when hot water is added.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crossup View Post
    Pot cooking all the way because I can simmer freeze dried stuff to get more thourough hydration, I hate crunchy/partially hydrated food when I'm looking for a hearty, warm meal. Also I would rather deal with cleaning my pots than packing out freezer bags with remains in them- and cleaning the bags is about the same effort as cleaning pots.
    I have been considering this as well. But as someone pointed out, you would need a larger pot. What size pot do you use?

    I haven't had a problem with freeze dried foods getting rehydrated unless I try to rush it. Dehydrated foods are the hardest to rehydrate.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Feral Bill View Post
    FBC is not a acronym.
    Feral Bill FTW!

  7. #27
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    I find the argument about pouring boiling water into Ziploc bags interesting. In my past three years of doing AT LASH's, I prepared oatmeal breakfasts by putting the oatmeal in a Ziploc freezer bag along with boiling water. I, too, do not like to mess up a pot since that means it will take water and time to clean it. My dinners have been prepackaged Mountain House freeze dried. This year I intend to buy the cans of Mountain House and repackage in Ziploc freezer bags for use on the trail. The intent is to reconstitute the meals using boiling water like I do for the oatmeal.

    I have done research on this subject before and found a couple of sources (including from the Ziploc site) that others might find relevant. Essentially Ziploc freezer bags don't have BPA or dioxins. However, there is opinion that other chemicals are released, but the amount has not been researched in Ziploc bags or other sous vide bags. Take a look at the two articles for more information.

    Ziploc Freezer Bags

    Cooking in Sous Vide Bags
    Trail Name - Slapshot
    "One step at a time."
    Blog - www.tonysadventure.com

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by ldsailor View Post
    I find the argument about pouring boiling water into Ziploc bags interesting. In my past three years of doing AT LASH's, I prepared oatmeal breakfasts by putting the oatmeal in a Ziploc freezer bag along with boiling water. I, too, do not like to mess up a pot since that means it will take water and time to clean it. My dinners have been prepackaged Mountain House freeze dried. This year I intend to buy the cans of Mountain House and repackage in Ziploc freezer bags for use on the trail. The intent is to reconstitute the meals using boiling water like I do for the oatmeal.

    I have done research on this subject before and found a couple of sources (including from the Ziploc site) that others might find relevant. Essentially Ziploc freezer bags don't have BPA or dioxins. However, there is opinion that other chemicals are released, but the amount has not been researched in Ziploc bags or other sous vide bags. Take a look at the two articles for more information.

    Ziploc Freezer Bags

    Cooking in Sous Vide Bags
    very interesting articles.

    I will add that when I was researching, since Ziploc is NOT intended to be cooked in, they need do NO research for that use. I "think" there is a standard of safety for "all containers intended for food storage" but I have no idea how "safe" those standards actually make anything.
    I also believe I was informed that since sous vide bags ARE intended for cooking, they have to undergo some amount of testing to be sold as such. Again, whether or not the safety standards they must meet actually mean they will not harm you in the long term is anyone's guess.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by PennyPincher View Post
    I will add that when I was researching, since Ziploc is NOT intended to be cooked in, they need do NO research for that use. I "think" there is a standard of safety for "all containers intended for food storage" but I have no idea how "safe" those standards actually make anything.
    .
    But it is intended to be cooked in or at least microwaved in. I doubt Ziploc would anticipate what we hikers would be doing with their bags (pouring hot water in them), so they don't mention that. However, they clearly state on the box of freezer bags that you can microwave food in the bags. I doubt the FDA would let them say that if they believed it wasn't safe. The below image is from the box of quart freezer bags.

    Ziploc.jpg
    Trail Name - Slapshot
    "One step at a time."
    Blog - www.tonysadventure.com

  10. #30
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    I prefer freezer bags, but on a long section of more than 2 nights, the trash issue just bugs me too much.

    However, just to address a couple of points that have been expressed with FBC:

    Harmful effects of heating plastic: the highest temperature these bags will reach is 212*F (by definition because water can’t get any hotter and you’re not applying the bag directly to a heat source). No plastics are going to degrade to a substantial degree at this temperature.

    As for simmering: you can certainly simmer with FBC, if you need to cook longer simply place the bag into a pot with simmering water (providing your pot is big enough that is).

    Another advantage to FBC besides not cleaning the pot is if you like hot drinks, you can have a hot drink from your pot while your food cooks in the bag, reducing the need for a second hot drink cup.

  11. #31
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    I can see both sides! I usually FBC it as I am lazy and don't want to clean; however, I think I will try cooking in my pot this next time to see how it goes!

  12. #32
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    No problem eating from the bag and hate the idea of cleaning my pot. Easy enough to add some water to the used FB, zip it closed, shake and drink the swill. If its a flat bottom bag I want to reuse, I'll roll the empty bag up and stuff it in my food bag.
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    When it comes to things that are a threat to your health,
    Eating out of a plastic bag dont even make the top 500.

    Dont waste your time worrying about it. Your a fool if do. Worry about being overweight, not exercising, not drink alcohol, smoking, taking drugs, medicines, eating chemical additives instead of foods, pesticides, poor diet, trans fats, chemicals in your house, air pollution, etc.

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by ldsailor View Post
    But it is intended to be cooked in or at least microwaved in. I doubt Ziploc would anticipate what we hikers would be doing with their bags (pouring hot water in them), so they don't mention that. However, they clearly state on the box of freezer bags that you can microwave food in the bags. I doubt the FDA would let them say that if they believed it wasn't safe. The below image is from the box of quart freezer bags.

    Ziploc.jpg
    how safe can it be if the bag melts onto your food though? as you probably noted, I am skeptical of the FDA's claims that use of any plastics for cooking foods is "safe." But thanks for pointing that out. My bags are actually thicker and less expensive than ziplocks and I can vacuum seal them. Being thicker means they are less permeable to air and will keep my freeze dried foods better, for longer, than an ordinary ziploc.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    When it comes to things that are a threat to your health,
    Eating out of a plastic bag dont even make the top 500.

    ...
    Yes remember that many large sea mammals are routinely found with pounds of plastic inside it. It's all perfectly safe for us and them.

  16. #36
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    "I use a 750 ml pot currently. How much bigger a pot would you need to cook in the pot? Seems like I'd need one about twice the size, and wider, rather than tall? Then how about my beloved little alcohol stove? Am I going to char everything at the single heat? I'm not a big fan of the gas canister deal." Puddlefish

    "
    I have been considering this as well. But as someone pointed out, you would need a larger pot. What size pot do you use? I haven't had a problem with freeze dried foods getting re-hydrated unless I try to rush it. Dehydrated foods are the hardest to re-hydrate." Penny Pincher

    I use an aluminum one quart/one liter K-Mart grease pot. It's cheap, wide, durable, very light, conducts heat very well, and is sufficiently large to hold anything I might want to cook on the trail. Some others make do cooking dinners in slightly smaller pots, but the grease pot's size works for me. The heat from my primitive alcohol stove gets the water boiling and keeps it doing so without any food becoming charred or burned. Clean up later consists of few quick swipes within the pot using a damp piece of cloth, specifically 1/2 of a bandana, dedicated for just kitchen use. That piece of cloth also serves as my pot holder. I like my dinners to be a bit soupy, so cleaning up is always very easy to accomplish.
    Last edited by Siestita; 04-07-2019 at 21:45.

  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Siestita View Post
    I like my dinners to be a bit soupy, so cleaning up is always very easy to accomplish.
    This! One more way to fluid into my dehydrated body — and a win for cleaning!

    I use an Evernew 900 mL pot with an approximately 250mL lid. The soup/stew gets heated in the pot with the lid over it. The tea water goes into the lid to heat up while I’m eating.


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  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by TX Aggie View Post
    I prefer freezer bags, but on a long section of more than 2 nights, the trash issue just bugs me too much.
    I don't understand this issue. When I come into a town all of my trash is compacted to fit within 1 quart zip-lock bag (usually one used for cooking). This holds true for probably a 5-6 day section. Any longer and I would be using a second bag. To those cooking with a pot, how do you store your food? It is packaged in something. So how is using FBC creating that much more trash? One caveat to my post is that I don't generally use zip-lock bags but rather bread and storage bags which are much flimsier and more compactable if you will.
    Lonehiker (MRT '22)

  19. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by lonehiker View Post
    I don't understand this issue. When I come into a town all of my trash is compacted to fit within 1 quart zip-lock bag (usually one used for cooking). This holds true for probably a 5-6 day section. Any longer and I would be using a second bag. To those cooking with a pot, how do you store your food? It is packaged in something. So how is using FBC creating that much more trash? One caveat to my post is that I don't generally use zip-lock bags but rather bread and storage bags which are much flimsier and more compactable if you will.
    I'm thinking the issue is that if you use the FBC method to avoid cleaning your pot, that implies you don't want to clean your bags either and therefore there's going to be some wet leftovers in the bag. That wet leftover is going to make you trash bag heavier, and potentially messier is you're not careful.

    By comparison, if you use a pot rather than FBC, you can...
    1. Use lighter weight bags (you can use thinner bags).
    2. If you have a sealer, you can make the bags even lighter by sizing them to just the size you need (and even seal off and remove the zip-loc itself).
    3. You're trash is dry (less potential for an accidental mess) and is lighter than wet trash.

  20. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    I'm thinking the issue is that if you use the FBC method to avoid cleaning your pot, that implies you don't want to clean your bags either and therefore there's going to be some wet leftovers in the bag. That wet leftover is going to make you trash bag heavier, and potentially messier is you're not careful.
    That’s part of it. The other part that used food bags SHOULD go in your bear bag/canister. Wet food is arguably more aerobatic than dry food, and packing that much more wet dead weight plus the additional scent footprint you’re leaving can add up over days and miles.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love the simplicity of FBC. But the OP was referring specifically to long/thru hikes and I just don’t see it as an advantage in those situations.

    My $0.02.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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