Tips for freezer bag cooking

Cooking with freezer bags on the trail is a smart choice for outdoor people. The principle is simple: prepare meals in freezer bags and once on the trail, cook them directly in boiling water, or just pour boiling water in the bags, like you would do for dehydrated food. 

-Typically freezer bag meals are eaten directly from the bag, but for a better eating experience we recommend pouring your meal in a cup, pot or bowl. Eating from a bag is just not as convenient or easy. It requires a longer spoon or spork, and you have more chances to drop some of that precious camping food! 

-Make sure you remove all the air from the bag before cooking, otherwise the bag won’t be fully immersed in boiling water.

-Make sure there is enough water in the pot, so the bag does not melt by touching too much the side of the pot. 

-Meal planning is incredibly easy with a freezer bag: just write a few notes with a sharpie pen on it. Go with as many details as you want: what is in it? Is it for breakfast, dinner, supper? Is it a kid portion or for adults? Should it have a person’s name on it? How many calories for each bag? How many carbs, proteins, fats? How much water should be poured to rehydrate? We don’t recommend going too crazy about the details, but eh, wilderness tripping can be an extreme activity and we completely understand the precision freaks!

-Freezer bags are quite resistant, but they are just plastic bags in the end, and thus could develop tears and holes, so make sure they are not in contact with pointy objects in your backpack. 

-You probably already have at home ingredients you could use to prepare a DIY dehydrated freezer bag: minute rice, chinese noodles, powdered eggs, dried potatoes, bacon bits, hot cereals, dehydrated fruits and vegetables, couscous, oatmeals etc… Save money and use what you have on hand. 

-Use a titanium pot to heat water; it boils so much faster! Furthermore it is so much lighter than other pots in different metals. The perfect ultralight choice on the trail! 

-Add dried potatoes to your meal if you made the mistake to put excess water in your freezer bag. Potatoes are a tasty addition to almost any meal. And it is trail food anyway, so don’t be too picky. 

-Choose quality freezer bags, like Ziploc bags. They have to be thick and strong enough to resist the heat of boiling water. In any case, choose bags that are BPA free. You don’t want dangerous chemicals leaked into your meals. 

-Did you know you can even use dedicated bags for freezer bag cooking, like the Ziploc zip’n steam cooking bag?

-A food dehydrator works in tandem with freezer bag cooking: dehydrate pretty much anything you want and rehydrate in a freezer bag. The variations are infinite!

-A freezer bag omelet is one of the most simple and delicious meals to cook in a freezer bag. 

Freezer bag cooking will never replace regular cooking methods, but it is so convenient that, on the trail, you could decide it is the perfect cooking strategy for you!

See more on the advantages of freezer bag cooking in this article: The perfect DIY backpacking food