OT fun with ziploc bags

[darryl]

Pulled a bag of soup out of the freezer last night and put it in the fridge. Just got home a short while ago and pulled it out to heat for dinner. The bag was dripping a bit, and I just figured some moisture on the outside had collected on it. Then I take the bag to the sink so I can transfer the contents into a bowl- and it's dripping pretty good. So I give it a bit of a squeeze- the bloody thing is a sieve! It leaked from at least ten spots, I didn't count. Not from the zipper part, from the material itself.

This happened to the previous bag I pulled out a few days ago as well. So- these cheap bags are leaky. Now I'm wondering how much recycled sewer pipe went into making these bags-

[sasquatch]

I just hate that too when my bag drips!!

[oldtiffie]

My wife has some small glass/pyrex bowls that she uses with cling tape to freeze soup etc. in the frig or freezer. After that its just a trip to the micro-wave and voilla - hot soup to go. She only uses zip-lock etc. bags for solids.

[macona]

Check the kind of zip locks you have. Some are a permeable plastic for certain foods.

[Mike Burdick]

Some plastics don't survive freezing very well and will crack. Were the ones you used specifically for freezing?

[darryl]

I don't think these are permeable- at least there's nothing on the box saying so. It does say freezer bags though.

I've just been playing with one- it's half full of water and is not leaking at all. I've worked it over a bit, and now it's in the freezer. I'll take it out after a couple of days and see if it leaks after being thawed out.

Funny thing with the ones that leaked- it feels like only water coming out, but the stuff inside is gumbo- just about everything I had in the fridge went into it. What is leaking out doesn't look like, or smell like any of the contents. It's almost like the holes are so small that only the thinnest of liquid will seep out.

Maybe they don't like freezing, and micro pores are opening up because of it. I should wash out the last bag and check it out under the electron microscope. Oh, wait- I don't have one

As long as the contents aren't exposed to freezer air, I suppose there shouldn't be a health concern. I think I would like to know at what point the pinholes begin to exist- if it's only once the thawing begins it's easy to handle. If it's during the freeze, then it would seem that the contents could become contaminated by the environment in the freezer.

I suppose I should think of the other possibility, that the gunk I made is affecting the plastic. I thought it was all edible stuff I cooked up though- there shouldn't be anything in there that would eat plastic.

[flylo]

At bear camp we all bring soup,pasta,chili,almost anything frozen in 1 gallon freezer bags. We always keep a big water pot on the woodstove & toss in a meal. About an hour it's ready to open & dip out of & eat.We use paper plates & bowls, No muss no pots to clean & so far no leakers.

[Hal]

This summer we were using Ziploc to put fish fillets in and added water to freeze.
Some of those bags had a pin hole in them, five or six out of about twenty bags.

Hal

[duckman]

Another thing to consider is if there frozen and get knocked around in the frezer they will get scuff marks on them that will leak.

[darryl]

On one of our 'medium strenuous' hikes, we ended up in an area where there was no water. It was the end of the line for many of us, as far as running out of steam. That was going to be our camp, period, so we thought about how to get enough water to supply our group for the rest of the day and night. There was nothing to carry water in except our bottles, and that wasn't going to be enough. We had passed clear running water about a kilometer back, so all we needed was some containers.

I always carry ziploc bags with me, figuring that I might need a way to keep things dry. I also carry garbage bags- same reason, plus they are good to put garbage in , and are good to put dirty clothes in to keep them from smelling up the rest of the pack. Anyway, after convincing a few people that a ziploc bag would carry water, a couple of us set out to stock up.

It's pretty hard to carry a bag of water by itself, but if you put them in a garbage bag, you can carry two large freezer bags full in one garbage bag. I should have gone by myself, as then I'd have one in each hand and be somewhat balanced walking the trail. As it was, we each carried one bag of bags of water back to camp and had lots of water for everything.

(non-leaking) ziploc bags to the rescue.

We were just talking about this today- when I go hiking, I like to be prepared (yes I was a boy scout ) I bring a ziploc bag full of cedar shavings, one with matches, one with a block of wax, one with gloves- all of my dry food is packed in ziplocs, so are my spare batteries, hand warmers, socks, string and cord, etc. You can get several garbage bags into one ziploc too- helps keep the pack compacted.

I initially put the matches and the block of wax into one bag- mistake. It doesn't take long and the striker is no good. The wax is great for helping to start a fire.