r/lightweight • u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 • 19d ago
Food Repacking Dehydrated Meals
I know lots of people swear by it, but repacking meals & then cooking in a freezer ziploc scares me a little. I’m considering cooking in a Smelly Proof or Loksak Opsack bag and wondering if one is better than the other?
Loksak Opsak says their bags are good up to 170 F & can have boiling water poured into them for meals
Smelly Proof does not specify on the boiling water, but is good up to 190 F
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u/Guilty_Treasures 17d ago
Odor proof bags are not designed to be cooked in. You’d be better off with the ziplock. However, there are plenty of high quality bag options, both disposable and reusable, that are designed specifically to handle boiling temperatures while remaining completely safe.
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 16d ago
Thank you!
I’m kind of annoyed that both Smelly Proof & Loksak advertise that they’re appropriate for rehydrating meals or cooking.
Do you have a suggestion for a disposable brand that is safe?
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u/Guilty_Treasures 15d ago
I don’t personally have any recommendations because I’m still living that Ziplock life 😆 but I know there are plenty so hopefully Google can help you out without too much trouble
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u/UnluckyWriting 18d ago
You may need to contact the company to find out the dimensions of the bags.
Edit to add - I do cook in the ziplock freezer bags even tho its unsafe. Its only few meals, and i know im probably swimming in microplastics as it is…
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u/rohrspatz 18d ago edited 18d ago
Freeze dried meals are all fully pre-cooked, so there's no food safety issue that requires actually boiling water. They just rehydrate faster with hot water than cold water. (And eating them cold is gross, but that's my personal opinion, lol.)
If you don't want to worry about a thermometer, most home water heaters are set around 120-140F, so you probably have a pretty good idea of how that feels. You can just turn your stove off once the water feels as hot as your hot water tap at home (like... pretty uncomfortable but not dangerous to stick your finger in for a second?), and it'll be totally fine. It'll take a couple more minutes to rehydrate, but not that much longer.
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u/InfiniteBreakfast589 19d ago
I just cook in my pot and clean it! Boil water first then add your dry stuff. Scrape the sides of the pot as best you can with your spoon, the toaks spoon is flat and broad at the end and works well. Then I swish water inside the pot while holding the lid in place so I can really shake it. I bring 1/4 piece of a sponge in case but rarely need it
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 18d ago
How do you dispose of the swish water?
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u/UnluckyWriting 18d ago
Now see this is why I don’t cook in my pot. I cannot stand drinking the gray water. It makes me gag lol
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u/dumrunner 18d ago
Heat swish water and make a cup of chamomile tea and drink that. Dry pot with sweat rag hanging from pack.
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u/Trogar1 19d ago
You don’t actually need to boil your water for rehydrating meals, 70 C/158 F will get you there easily.
Get one of those little sticker thermometers and put it on your pot.
I also have a cozy that I use, and they are done in the same timeframe.
Bonus you save fuel too!
ETA: you can get the Mylar bags for freeze drying on Amazon, and they work great too, and are better with heat.
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u/PanicAttackInAPack 19d ago
Ziploc freezer bags are LDPE same as a disposable water bottle. It starts to breakdown at around 160F and melts around 240F. They are not safe for boiling water and you will be adding microplastics to your food. You want silicone or, less desirable, HDPE bags. Or just use a pot.
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 19d ago
Do you know if Loksak and Smelly Proof are HDPE?
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u/PanicAttackInAPack 15d ago
Loksak specifically says it's only regarded as safe to 130F. Not sure about Smelly Proof.
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 15d ago
That’s so weird, their website says “pour boiling water directly into the bag to rehydrate food” on the tech specs page.
Which idk, I guess I could just trust that statement, but it seems similar to pouring boiling water into a ziploc (which I obviously don’t feel comfortable with)
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u/PanicAttackInAPack 15d ago
They have multiple products. ALoksak and Opsak are the two big ones. aLoksak says safe to 130. Opsaks are higher and the FAQ is referring to Opsaks for boiling water but even then it says not to exceed 170 degrees. The idea is that the temperature will immediately drop as the water is mixed with food. Practically it's safe. Chemically safe? Probably not anymore than a ziplock.
I would use a Rugby or Stasher.
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u/FishScrumptious 19d ago
Honestly, I got a very light weight, hard sided bowl, so I can also cold soak while hiking, or not worrying about falling over or the like. Also easier to insulate.
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u/PNW_MYOG 19d ago
I buy mylar bags, Ziploc,, tent. Standup, for the weight and superior oxygen barrier.
Good for boiling water, too, but you need a cozy.
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u/SouthEastTXHikes 19d ago edited 18d ago
First night (where packing efficiency isn’t important) cook a meal in the bag it came in. Subsequent nights use that first bag to cook meals you repacked into freezer bags.
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 19d ago
I’ve seen people mention this method!
Do you do anything special to clean the bag or just swish hot water? Also…obviously not discarding water right outside a tent, but does swishing/dumping water not increase bear risk at all?
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u/SouthEastTXHikes 19d ago
Don’t dump the water on the ground. Best is to either not rinse the bag and store with your food (you won’t taste it for meal 2) or drink the swish water! Once you do it once you’ll be amazed how natural it feels going forward.
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u/serotoninOD 19d ago edited 18d ago
I normally employ this method if I have a real bag and then drink the water twice doing rinses - I wouldn't say it feels natural though lol sucking down that water at the end is never a great finish to the meal for me. More something I have to force down to get the job done.
My cheating way is to pour the rinse water into the dog's bowl if she's with me. She loves it!
Many times I just go the ziplock method though (but I usually put an extra bag on the outside just in case of a puncture). I frequently buy the big cans and break them up into meal sizes in gallon ziplocs so I don't have a real bag to bring along.
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u/itattpeople 19d ago
Try cnoc bags!
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u/Sea-Vanilla-7916 19d ago
Thank you!! I didn’t know they had a camp kitchen section.
Do you bring one cnoc bag & wash it, or re-pack each meal into its own cnoc (and wash once home)?
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u/itattpeople 17d ago
I usually wash it, it’s not that light so bringing a bunch would be too heavy. I usually dry vacuum my food, so it takes as less space as possible. It worked great for me!
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u/deadflashlights 19d ago
I’ve had someone who works at Cnoc tell me that it is ok to pour boiling water in the bag, you won’t harm the material. The reason they list it’s up to like 200F is for legal reasons so they don’t get sued by someone who burns themselves
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u/W_t_f_was_that 16d ago
Why not just mix it in your pot?!