ZipLoc® bag leaking, defective from the dispenser.

Ugg.

Preparing tonight’s dinner, brining a salmon fillet, I noticed a little hole in the Ziploc® bag that I pulled from the dispenser box. As I was expressing the air from the bag it squirted salty water in my eye!

Based on our previous discussions here, I had been considering testing re-used re-purposed bags. Instead I decided to gain some experience using new bags rather than washing used ones. Here’s my experience. Now I test new ones.

I noticed an acorn squash on the counter so I split it. I don’t know yet the third dish might be.

At the grocery today we bought a little 12 ounce steak, but have three days’ of leftovers to eat first. LOs are better!

Best to use “Freezer” quality bags for cooking than the regular Ziploc storage bags. They have better seals and heavier gauge film.

And call the Ziploc folks to advise them of your experience. I’d be surprised if they didn’t send you coupons for a few free boxes.

In this cook’s kitchen the rule for LOs is 72 hours and out. Domestic refrigerators usually aren’t cold enough for safe extended holding times.

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Thanks for the response.

I may yet learn the benefits of Freezer bags over storage bags. I think these storage bags may be 5¢ each.

Dr. Baldwin addresses food storage safety at some length in his Sous vide for the Home Cook, Part 1: Technique, 1 Food Safety, Technical Background late.

I admit that I have not thought of, let alone measured the temperature of my 20 year old refrigerator, ol’ reliable. I’ll go do that right now… 39ºF and -10ºF freezer compartment. 39ºF will keep spores of non-proteolytic C. botulinum

If you don’t verify sous vide capability then it likely will burst before attaining medium ground sous vide temperature. waste of food & clean up, never mind the brand if you don’t check the spec it is down to yourself, then there is mass production “faults” likely that squirt saved you trouble down the line in terms of food spoilage & waste.

Even with the sous vide capable bags gassing starts quite low around 70c but they hold their integrity, I still endeavour to use them at lower temps to minimise trouble.

Fiscally it makes sense, & they handle a hot water hand wash better by dint of construction.

Ikea have been flogging (in europe) cheap, robust clip seal bags for many years, none I deem sous vide capable, & non marked as such. #designlimitations, thus we undertake a 95 mile round trip to costco to top up on proven bags.

You don’t need to know how many microns thickness, more freezer capability as chat noir states, that “generally” denotes extra thickness that takes the strain.

You should know that frugality can be the ruin of successful cooking if it becomes an overarching decision factor in product selection. Be careful of allowing a good-enough attitude to set your standards. Aim for high quality outcomes.

This seasoned cook recommends deciding against compromised cooking and spending the extra few cents to protect your food costing orders of magnitude more.

@chatnoir: I understand.

I learned in pre-med to not allow ‘better’ to become the enemy of good enough. I am cooking and making decisions for myself and Milady Wife only.

@MrGus, please leave me “to my own means.”.

I dropped out of college to enlist in the Viet Nam War, and begin a career in nuclear power from which I retired, a senior testing engineer, in 1995.

Wow, I’m so glad i’m no neighbour of yours, this is / was a happy personable place, maybe you fit better elsewhere.
There my be an ignore button, suggest you use it, or change your attitude. (after all you piled in with the abuse, which I chose to highlight but ignore)

In several years here, registered & reading before that i’ve not met an equine backside here till you trotted up.

it’s not me, it is you, so “please” grow up.
fin.

I SV’d the salmon in an intact bag to medium, then pan seared it, and finally got a nod of approval from Milady Wife.

Mr. Gus, - huh?

No offence intended.

Chatnoir one thing I have been doing lately is insisting on the best products and not worrying about the cost. What I have found is that I slow down, enjoy each bite and actually eat less. In the long run the cost is about the same and I am healthier. I still enjoy the tough cuts done sous vide. I also resumed baking a few years ago much to my families delight. The granddaughters enjoy their visits as they get knife skills and food preparation classes (and they eat the lesson’s products).

About baking and eating the lesson’s products. Some years ago we hosted a (Roger Gravel’s) Warm Showers touring bicyclist that had an interesting employ. She traveled the US for King Arthur Flour teaching bread making to primary school students.

After the formal class, the students were sent home with ingredients for two loaves, one to share at home and the other to show and tell in class.

She and her traveling companion arrived at our home, an extreme northeast Wisconsin Island by bicycle, riding from Vermont and New Hampshire. A few years later we reciprocated and were introduced to Lake Willoughby, and toured the King Arthur ‘factory’. And Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. And bicycled up into Canada. And toured Dartmouth College.

https://www.warmshowers.org/

Off topic: Retired from an electric utility myself, 40years in the PR department. Bicycle tourist, too, but I only ventured out with fully-supported operators like Cycle Oregon and Ride Idaho. Warm Showers was a highly respected, convenient, and legendary organization.