Freezer Bag Cooking

     Something that I have been trying out for the past few trips that I have taken is freezer bag cooking.  For those of you who are unfimilar with this term, it is simply cooking your food in a ziploc freezer bag (freezer bags are used because they are a little thicker and thus more resistant to melting due to the hot water). 

     Foods that are used in freezer bag cooking are foods that have to be cooked in boiled water.  Things like noodles and dehydrated foods are great for this kind of cooking. 

     On this last trip I kept up with my trial of the freezer bag method, and continued to have great results.  I only had to cook one meal and I did it on one of my alcohol stoves (directions on how to make here).  The stove and meal worked out great even though I had less than optimal conditions.  The meal was the classic Ramen Noodles.  I added a vaccum sealed package of Tyson chicken, and cooked them together.  I put the flavor package, mashed up noodles (I think the noodles cook faster when you mash them up ahead of time in the bag you are going to cook them in), and the Tyson chicken all in the freezer bag while I was waiting for the water to boil.  Once it did, I poured the water (roughly 2 cups) in the freezer bag with the food.  Then after I stired the contents to make sure water was all over the entire meal and the flavor package contents were evenly distributed, I sealed the freezer bag and put it in a fleece beanie to help the water stay hotter longer. 

     After the food has had time to cook or rehydrate (depending on what you're cooking), open the bag up and enjoy your meal.  One tip however, make sure that your spoon is long enough to reach the bottom and corners of the bag that you are cooking in or the end of your meal will fill more like a circus than dinner time. 

      NOTE (2/14/08):   A very good point has been has been brought to my attention.  While I don't do this, putting the freezer bag into the beanie before you pour the water in would be a safer way to cook your food.  This way you don't have to handle the hot bag.  However, what I do is set the bag on the ground, hold the top of the bag and pour the water in.  After that, I seal the bag, grab the closed bag by the top and then set it in the beanie.  This, while not the safest way to cook, is the result of my thinking that if i spill the water when pouring, I would get my beanie wet.  So, take this for what it is worth, but putting the bag into the beanie pre-pour is definitely a safer way to cook in freezer bags.  Thanks for the comment samh!