Reusable Sous Vide Bags: Anyone Tried These?

[Mjx]

The use of sous vide interests me as a technique, but I do have reservations about the bags; I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of generating more non-biodegradable waste. I've heard and read a bit about resuable bags, however, and would really like to hear what any of you who have experience with them have to say about them.

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing the use of single-use sous vide bags, and am definitely not trying to kick off a debate on this point (since my feelings about this are just that: subjective feelings): I'm just curious about the disposable sous vide bag as a product, and how using it works out.

Thanks in advance!

[rotuts]

Ive never heard of reusable SV bags. you can 'reuse' the ones most people use by cleaning and drying, but I look at your valid issues this way:

SV bags are almost the only plastic I use. there is a carbon savings by:

1) using and insulated container for the water. I use various sized 'beer coolers' and insulate the top

2) the amount of energy for a small portion vs a larger portion is minimal so I try to always 'make more' chill and freeze. then re heat

in terms of energy use for cooking, SV properly done has to save some energy, more that is used for making the bags I bet.

[Kerry Beal]

Anna and I held out great hope for these Leuke Silicone Cooking Bags but the closures can't take the heat and warp. And some bags leak from the closures even before you ruin them. Wish I could find a safe way to close them.

[Keith_W]

I have some Airlock Vacuum Bags (note - no affiliation to the company). These have double zip-locks so they will not fail, and a port for a handheld vacuum pump. To use them, simply squeeze the air out and lock both zip-locks. Then apply the hand pump and remove as much air as possible.

The bags themselves are quite expensive - about AUD$1.20 - $2.00 per bag, but can be reused many times. In practice, I find that the bags absorb oil and oil-based flavour molecules, such that repeated washing will not remove stains or aromas. I tend to get 4-5 uses out of each bag before I have to discard it. I have had them up to 90C with no problems. Another bonus - you can seal liquids in the bags. As long as you are careful about when to stop pumping, there will be no leakage.

[Baselerd]

All I've used is the Ziploc re-usable sous-vide bags. They're convenient enough, and really inexpensive. I wouldn't say theyre 100% re-usable, as the valve is prone to clog after several re-uses.I generally don't re-use for more than one meal, but it's nice to be able to re-seal the bag instead of having to take all of your meat out just for one portion.

[Chris Hennes]

In the new Modernist Cuisine at Home book they often suggest using standard ziploc bags instead of vacuum sealing: I have heard of people cleaning those out and re-using them (though of course there are lots of questions about the relative merits of doing so).

[Mjx]

Thanks, guys! This gives me something useful to work with, particularly with regard to the question of leakage.

[chris_s]

Has there been any progress on this subject? The constant single-use of ziploc bags is annoying my conscience. I don't feel comfortable enough with ziploc bags to subject them to heat more than once, both out of concern for the seal letting go and also plastic degradation and leaching into my food. 

 

Perhaps the lekue bags with an external clamp? I generally put a chip clip as below onto my ziploc bags just to be extra certain that there won't be any leakage. not sure if this type of clamp would be able to clamp down on a silicone bag, I've never handled one so I don't know how thick the material is

 

[Kerry Beal]

Tried the Lekue bags with the clamps that come with them - didn't work, clamps warped and leaked.  But perhaps if you could come up with a different method of closing them that could handle the thickness I think they'd be great.  

[gfweb]

A binder clip across the top of the bag will allow it to be suspended from a rod in the tank. Water pressure keeps air out of the bag.

[Shalmanese]

I personally don't reuse ziplocks but I don't see what the concern would be. I don't see how sous videing 10x for 1 hour could possibly be much worse for the bag than 1x for 10 hours. When you look at the unavoidable plastic waste that each of us generates (most of it in the intermediary stages of production which we can't control), I can't imagine sous vide bags being any more than a microscopic blip.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I reuse ziplock type bags for pasteurizing eggs.

[babymarnz]

I initially have found an article (http://www.thesousvidekitchen.com/ziploc-and-sous-vide/) talking about ziploc bags in SV cooking. I tried it on my omelette and chicken. They were cooked nice and good. :-)