DIY boil in bag meals

[A100man]

..more thinking of foot-slogging trips than bikes but has anyone tried to use one of those vacuum sealing bag gizmos to make ready-meals for on the go..
Think spag/bol, curry/rice etc..

How long would they last at ambient? a few days??

The army issue rations like these are obviously viable years but I'm guessing they're also stuffed with preservatives, not just cook-chill-vacuum.
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[ThunderGuts]

I'd see a few issues; the plastic would both have to be food safe at boiling water temperature (as opposed to just a room temperatures) and food spoilage will be an issue unless you can pasteurise the contents (which is probably what whoever produces the army rations does). Tinned fruit is a perfect environment for mould but because it's pasteurised inside the sealed tin, there's nothing in there to grow.

If you're on about carrying it on your back, it does get trickier I think as a lot of the obviously heat-proof containers you could attempt to do the same thing with (e.g. glass jars) are also heavy. Then again, hydrated food is already heavy to lug about (I remember "Wayfarer" meals many years ago and they were expensive and looked like posh dog food).

If you're boiling in the bag type thing, you're going to have a stove, pan and water . . . why not instead focus on efficient to carry foods which are easy to prepare? E.g. there's a quick cook pasta we use for the toddler because it takes 5 mins to cook. There are jarred pesto which will probably last a good few days once opened at least and are concentrated so pack size and weight relatively low. Boil the pasta, strain off the water and throw in a few teaspoons of pesto. Not quite Heston, but it'll fill a hole. There are various instant (or near instant) pasta mixes about in sachets which contain both the pasta and some powdered sauce, but they generally strike me as being a bit repulsive, but if you can stomach them they're probably quite effective too.
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[A100man]

[The Artist]

Sous vide bags are of course safe to use for this application.

Spoilage would be your biggest issue and I am sure there are guides online as to what foods work best for 2+ days storage at ambient.

[to v or not to v]

just live on super noodles
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[stinkwheel]

Wrong gadget. Dehydration is the way to go for trekking food. Super light, super small pack size, add boiling water, allow to soak and you're good to go. I rehydrate things in one of those insulated coffee mugs but others use a wide neck thermos.

High fat things don't dehydrate very well and don't keep well and if you're making stews, curries etc, it's best to cook and dehydrate the meat seperately to the base. Baked beans and stagg veggie chilli are like black magic and those microwave pouch curry sauces go down to nothing. Keeps for weeks/months at ambient depending on what it is.

There are many blogs and youtubes on the subject.

Dehydrate then vacuum seal and you're ready for WW3.

Cous-cous and powdered mash potato are ready to rock anyway. Microwave pouches of rice are effectively boil in the bag.
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[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[A100man]

[grr666]

My niece is a very fussy eater. She likes spag bol, but only the way my sister cooks it for her. Sis makes a huge pot
and portions up the sauce into lots of those vacuum bag thingies for the freezer. When my niece is attending a meal at
a family gathering where she simply won't eat whats on offer sis takes a bag of her sauce along and lobs in into the
same water as the pasta is cooking in so it's all done in one pan. Works for her.
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[stinkwheel]

[A100man]

[MCN]

[that_impulse_guy]

mug shots/cup shots..theyre a naked pot noodle thing... I can recommend the macaroni types...good enough to eat type of meal which weighs nothing in little sachets. Just put contents in a mug with boiling water and wait a bit..

If youre camping...well...depends on the situation...you can do sous vide stuff inside a cooler box...some hot water from the fire, some cold water...get it to 60deg or whatever, stick your food into the bag and stick in cooler box with lid on and wait. I realise this is a bit posh for camping...but think of it like a slow cooker.

Also, find a university student..theyre world famous for answering questions like this about food thats quick to make with little hassle and cheap
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[Fat Angry Scotsman]

Surely I can't be the only one here who thinks just buying MREs is the way to go? they don't taste half bag either.

If you have the space I actually really like the self-heating meals you get, when I was much fitter (and younger) and did trekking and camping I would take the self heating meals and a bottles of water (or just a bottle with filter if I knew there was burns, streams or a loch at the stop locations ahead of time and used the water from there).
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[stinkwheel]

Expensive though. You can do your own for much cheapness.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[MCN]

[A100man]

[beatts]

I do this.

I bought a load of zip lock Mylar bags about the same size as the Wayfarer ones and also a heatsealer (£20),

I make Curries, Lentil dhals, chilli, beef casserole etc and once cooled put it into the mylar bag. Squeeze as much air out as possible then ziploc it and heat seal it. fill the bag to 2/3 full.

I then whack them in the freezer and because they are quite flat, you can get loads in.

When I go camping or out for a day trip I take em out of the freezer in tbe morning and they don't take more than a few hours to defrost before heating them up in my Jetboil.