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Except for the fact that it usually won't work, this is a great idea. |
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If I read that link right, you *can* re-create a vacuum seal on any bag, provided that you are willing to start by putting it inside another bag. |
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Um, if you don't have a vacuum sealer then you just need to pre-seal most of a filled zip-lock back and then submerge it in water until it reaches that point in your zip and then finish zipping it. Atmospheric pressure will do all of the work for you. |
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Good for the environment, less global warming, all that jazz. |
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//a plastic bag containing apples// Apples do not need to be in a plastic bag. They have an exterior surface called "skin" this protects them in a number of ways. Putting them into plastic bags only encourages more polution. |
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@ xenzag: Okay, forget apples - suppose it was lettuce instead? Anyway, regardless, there's always some useful candidate food. |
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@ a1, normzone: This isn't meant for long-term storage, it's meant to simply prolong the life of your perishable food. You'd still continue to refrigerate it or keep it on shelf as normal, etc. But it would last longer than it otherwise would have. |
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If I suck or squeeze the air out of a bag and tie it with a twist-tie, it's not going to magically inflate with outside air because of some permeability of the plastic, as alleged by you. |
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Also, what if you're doing some kind of sous-vide or marination or rehydration of some ingredients, and just want to do it in an ordinary plastic bag instead of an expensive vacuum-seal bag? Not every process requires such an expensive bag, which is really meant for longer-term evacuated storage. |
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This is meant more for shorter-term convenience. |
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//lettuce instead// Lettuce also requires no plastic containment. No fruit or vegetables require the use of plastic bags. I buy all my fruit and vegetables "loose" and unpackaged. Methods and solutions to discourage the use of plastic are what's needed. |
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Okay, forget the damn lettuce, Think of some goddamn food. Think of a bag of chips, if you need to. |
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@a1: using a bag of chips as an example, that packaging material is often foil-backed, precisely to prevent air permeability, and so would not be susceptible to air permeation. |
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But even for regular plastic bags, the air permeation isn't high enough to make a huge different in the near-term. |
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Food that is sealed within a plastic bag is often not in a vacuum but in a nitrogen atmosphere, because that keeps the food fresh longer without squashing or otherwise vacuuming it. So unless you also carry around a nitrogen canister with you this idea won't work for an additional reason. |
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Also why would you want to re-seal the packaging of plastic food? |
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[sanman] I need a short-term solution like this. Say your friend gives you 3 tomatoes. You put 2 in a Ziplok, and before you zip it closed completely, you suck out the air orally. Good for a Ziplok but what about lettuce, lemons, loose garlic, etc? We buy them and use a flimsy store bag from a roll. A vacuum device that sucks out the air and could seal the thin store bag would be great. |
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If it could not be melted closed more than once, perhaps a disposable zip closure could be applied by the device, making the flimsy store bag "reusable" and more convenient, as well as more efficient in preserving freshness. It could be built into a countertop and be virtually invisible until you needed to use it. |
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We waste a lot of plastic transferring goods into our home storage bags, and then throwing them away when empty. We would save by only throwing away the applied zip strip and its store bag, and not using our own bag. |
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It really depends on where you live. I can't keep butter, fruit, or bread out of the fridge; it molds, over-ripens, and stinks within a day. If you live in temperate zones this idea may not apply, but if your average temp is 83°, humidity 80% year-round, you really need something like this. |
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