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Expect water shortage/outage during a disaster
You may have experienced water shut-off usually due to pipe maintenances. It is pretty inconvenient but when disasters hit, water supply will most likely be disrupted for days or possibly weeks. How do you prepare meals in such conditions with limited amount of water?
Benefits of boil-in-bag cooking
Master Owl, what is “Boil-in-Bag” Cooking?
It’s a simple and easy cooking method which commonly use “High Density Polyethylene (or HDPE) heat resistant bags. This method is making use of vacuum packed pouch cooking so you can also shorten cooking time. You put ingredients in a bag and cook or heat in boiling water. This method has benefits which help us especially during an emergency.
Easy & Quick
You can prepare either cold or hot meals using a bag. You basically put all ingredients into a bag and mix. For hot meals, you simply cook the bag in boiling water.
Multiple meals in one cooking pan
Because all ingredients are in separate bags, multiple meals can be cooked at the same time in the same cooking pan, saving time and water!
Less items to wash
Since this cooking method does not require as many cookware and utensils as usual, there will be less items that need to be washed. Not wasting valuable water!
Safetyip will share easy recipes so you can still prepare meals even when you have limited amount of water.
Wow, so nice! I have some plastic bags from a supermarket so I can try this right away!
Wait Tippi! You must use the right type of bags for this cooking method. You MUST keep in mind with the following points for your safety before you start.
IMPORTANT: Follow safety instructions and cook safe!
Make sure you ONLY use High Density Polyethylene (or HDPE) bags with heat resisting temperature of 90℃ – 110℃.
Bags with low heat resisting temperature gets melted when heated and are not suitable for Boil-in-Bag cooking.
- ◎ High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) : Heat resisting temperature 90℃ to 110℃
- × Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) : Heat resisting temperature 70℃ to 90℃
- × Plastic bags made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) : Heat resisting temperature 60℃ to 80℃
If you ever wonder which bags to buy, please ask for assistance at the store.
Temperature of the bottom surface of cooking pan is very high and even HDPE bags could get melt. First, place a heat resistant plate in the pan as a buffer, then put the bag in the boiling water so you can avoid the bag to touch the bottom surface.
Also do NOT put the bag directly on fire or electric stove.
If air is not removed enough from the bag, it expands and may explode when heated. Make sure to remove the air as much as possible before you tie the bag.
Please be careful when you add following seasonings.
- Highly-volatile liquid such as alcohol and mirin, could cause expansion of the bag when heated.
- If oil is added, it could get very hot and may melt the bag.
