I recived an email about ziplock omlets.  I tried it and it works very well.  However I found that SC Johnson does not recommend boiling anything in their bags/


http://www.the-ultimate-camping-experience.com/ziploc-omelets.html

http://camping.about.com/od/campingrecipes/a/ziplocbaggies.htm

I am not at all surprised they don't recommend boiling in them. It is doubtful they have done any testing that would indicate it is safe to so so.

I found one really odd statement about fat getting hotter than 212F which was not credible though. The water is boiling at 212F, nothing in the bag can get hotter than that. It may apply to microwaved foods but not boiling.

My personal opinion is that it is probably safe to do so, but without testing there is no way to know and it is doubtful anyone is going to test these bags for boil-ability since the material softens at the boiling point and it might become moderately dangerous if a bag softened to the point that it burst when handled causing a burn.

There are several youtube videos about ziplock omelettes. I first saw this about 8-9 months ago. I forget who it was, but when they were finished with the omelette, they use the hot water to make instant coffee or hot chocolate.

I usually mix up some ham, egg and cheese in a plastic bottle and freeze it, then just pour it in the pan the next morning for breakfast after it thaws.

My bil made some last year when we went to go visit. They tasted like shit.
I think he probably tried to cook too many at once in the boiling water, bringing the temp down. They were barely cooked enough.

Been making these with the Scouts for years.

Same, although we used to make them in regular plastic bags and tie the bags off (this was back in the 70's and 80's).

Actually, a lot of research is done on safety of what goes into plastic.  And, that research shows that at elevated temperatures, a lot of the stuff (espeically plasticizers) DO come out into the food.  In fact, I recall seeing testing of plasticizers leaching out of plastic wrap when heated going back 20+ years.

Sure, the plasticizers aren't going to make you drop dead.  But at the same time, there's no good reason to put them in your body, and there are very GOOD reasons (like not cooking them until they are tasteless) to just throw your eggs in a pan and do it the right way...

Oh, and BTW:  Boiling point has to do with solute content in the water.  While my water boils at 200F (altitude..), when I'm making soft caramel, I'm still boiling out some water when the mix hits 250 degrees.

That would work good unless it never got warm enough to unthaw on your hike

I don't often hike very far when it's not warm enough to melt ice  I'm a wuss.  Hunting's one thing, hiking and camping are another...

As long as you keep it out of the sun, your fine. As long as it's in the low 50's or below, i don't freeze it. I never add milk.

We make these pretty much every time we camp and love them. Super fast and easy. Load that baby up with everything you want like onions, salt/pepper, bacon or whatever!! Saves a hell of a mess when camp cooking

if the plastic is a concern, you can also cook eggs in a paper bag, held over an open fire. :)

This isn't exactly true.  Depending on how the system is setup, the temperature can reach quite a bit more than 212Fb without issue.  Real life and theory don't always jive.

Also, this cooking style has been around for half of a century.  Check out Sous-vide for some more info.

There are bags and vacuum sealing rolls made specially for this purpose.  I would highly suggest using these types of plastics when boiling.  Plastics have temperature sensitive compounds that can and will leech in to the food under high temps.  Some of these compounds have shown some correlations with cancer.  The science isn't entirely in, but I would err on the side of caution.  I'm not anti-plastic by any stretch, but I do believe in not taking unnecessary risks.

Plastic bags and boiling water are actually how I reheat all of my leftovers in this little shithole of an apartment. Eggs go in the pan :)

It is impossible for water to boil above 212 degrees F at sea level. It is also impossible for any part of the stuff in the bag that is being heated by being placed in boiling water to ever get hotter than the water, short of some exothermic reaction.

It is possible if you use a microwave to do the heating, but not if you use boiling water.

Well, you got half of it .  Don't forget that when you place a plastic bag full of material that is more dense than water, it has a tendency to sink to the bottom.  It therefore is in direct (or near direct) contact with the bottom of the boiling vessel.  This contact allows a heat transfer through the (presumably metal) container through the plastic in to the food where the water temperature has no real effect.  Zip lock bags may melt at temps lower than boiling.  Direct contact will place the bag at a temp higher than boiling.  This means the bag can melt.

Again, real life and what High School physics teaches don't always match up.  I just don't want people thinking that they are only heating their plastic up to 212F when in actuality, they could very well be heating it up much higher if they aren't understanding the underlying real physics.

And as a side note, it is not impossible for water to heat above 212 at sea level.  For an enjoyable evening, go wikipedia Superheating.  A lot of what we learn in school is vastly different than what happens in the real world.  It's just much easier to teach an 18 y/o that water can't get 'hotter' than 212F than to go in to the oddities of nucleation sites and the like.

YEP

These are alright.

But they aint got shit on a decent spread.

Wouldn't "unthawing" be = freezing?

Better use 100% pure water then because any impurities will increase boiling temps.

this, learned to make them loooooooong time ago when i was in scouts, if you screwed it up and melted the bag you had watery eggs for breakfast