Cooking in vacuum sealed bags.

[AB]

Im new to vacuum sealing food and I’m going to make up a heap of precooked meals for the Simpson.

I’ll then put them in my freezer and label them for myself and kids.

Have been reading a lot about people simply putting the bag in boiling water to reheat at camp.

Does anyone here do this?

Safe?

Tips or tricks?

I’ll be bringing a lot of homemade spaghetti sauces, butter chickens and curry’s etc and boil pack rices and boil pastas etc.

I’ve just never reheated food in water with sealed bags before.


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[Plasnart]

I’ve cooked for 3 guys for 2 weeks a couple of times times mate. I cook a casserole, curry, pasta dish, etc at home. Cut your vacuum bag as long as the floor of the Engel or whatever freezer you have and vacuum the meal so that it is very flat (just think instead of a short fat bag, it’s a long flat thin bag with the same amount of food in it). Chuck it in the freezer. Cook the next meal, vacuum seal in same size bag, let cool then put it on top of the previous bag in the freezer. Now this one will mould exactly onto the contours of the first one. Repeat and repeat. When you’re done, all bags fit exactly together so you’ve got no wasted space in the Engel. Stack them vertically so you can pull whichever one you want out without having to unload the lot. Being pretty thin, take one out at lunchtime and it defrosts pretty quick and is ready to go by tea time. Put it in a pot, add a little water and heat up. No cooking in plastic. Bobs your uncle.

Oh PS: My Engel was set as a freezer. The other Engel in the second vehicle was the fridge for the trip. Need two Engels.

[AB]

I’ve cooked for 3 guys for 2 weeks a couple of times times mate. I cook a casserole, curry, pasta dish, etc at home. Cut your vacuum bag as long as the floor of the Engel or whatever freezer you have and vacuum the meal so that it is very flat (just think instead of a short fat bag, it’s a long flat thin bag with the same amount of food in it). Chuck it in the freezer. Cook the next meal, vacuum seal in same size bag, let cool then put it on top of the previous bag in the freezer. Now this one will mould exactly onto the contours of the first one. Repeat and repeat. When you’re done, all bags fit exactly together so you’ve got no wasted space in the Engel. Stack them vertically so you can pull whichever one you want out without having to unload the lot. Being pretty thin, take one out at lunchtime and it defrosts pretty quick and is ready to go by tea time. Put it in a pot, add a little water and heat up. No cooking in plastic. Bobs your uncle.

Oh PS: My Engel was set as a freezer. The other Engel in the second vehicle was the fridge for the trip. Need two Engels.

I like the moulding idea mate!

So my mind set is like yours in a pot for reheating too.

Have you ever tried reheating in its packet in boiling water?


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[Winnie]

I've just heated the pack in hot water loads of times. Just saves washing an extra pot, plus you have some hot water for cleaning other dishes then.
You don't need to boil the water and I'd be careful about getting the plastic bags too hot but have accidentally boiled them a few times and they haven't deformed or looked like melting at all.

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[MB]

My only experience of Lamb separate vaccum sealed delicious shanks x3 in a pot of say 10L of water was that @Rossco & @matfew had a great feed at the top of Barkley River JP one freezing night and I had a somewhat delicious but severely watered down 10L soup
Mine was on the bottom compressed against steel versus super hot dry/dense Snowgum melting plastic touching the pot base below


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[Stropp]

Yes I’m just heading away for a week down south and all meals are pre cooked frozen except breakfast and will be reheated in the bag in hot water, also use heavy disposable paper plates so minimal washing of dishes

[Cuppa]

A significant part of our strategy for staying out bush for extended periods is frozen meat in cryovac’d bags. Have never had any go off, & has kept well for more than 3 months in a 12v freezer where temps varied between minus 10 & minus 18, in tropical heat. As for heating in water - not something we’ve done as we’ve found that whilst we have plenty of food, we rarely know where we’ll next get good water, so conserving water is default behaviour. For shorter trips we have pre-prepared meals in vacuum sealed portion sizes, but not really practical for more than a few weeks at most, but a great idea for your simmo crossing.

We have found that when buying meat from butchers it’s worth paying a little extra to get them to cryovac our order in meal portion sizes as there cryovac machines are inevitably better & stronger than home vacuum sealers. Cost has generally been 50c to $1 per bag. If buying sausages ask them to freeze the snags BEFORE cryovacing them unless you like squished snags. Frozen stuff from the butchers is usually more deep frozen (colder) than from a home freezer too. An order bought in Broome saw our ARB freezer reading minus 22, had never seen it that cold before, didn’t know it could read that low.

Am enjoying reading about all of the simmo prep. We are at a very early stage of planning a slow CSR/Western deserts trip for the latter half of 2025 with friends from Kununurra so some similarities - It’ll be the first time we travelled with others - 3 vehicles.