Ziploc Vacuum Bags for Sous Vide at Home

Food & Beverage
Ziploc Vacuum Bags for Sous Vide at Home

Seattle Food Geek Scott Heimendinger (author of the DIY Sous Vide article from MAKE 25) wrote up a nice comparison of the very inexpensive $4.20 Ziploc Vacuum System vs. the $150 FoodSaver for cooking sous vide. Spoiler alert: They compare favorably, Scott recommends Ziploc highly, and I’m going to be buying the Ziploc pump and bags for my upcoming DIY sous vide rig.

Even if you managed to find an inexpensive solution for cooking sous vide at home, it used to be the case that you were still on the hook for a vacuum sealer, and the $150 FoodSaver was the de facto appliance for the job. Sure, for short cooking times, you can immerse a zip-top bag in water and force out most of the air, but that strategy doesn’t let you safely cook-then-chill foods for reheating later. Furthermore, as the small amount of remaining air expands in non-vacuumed bags, they tend to float to the surface and cook unevenly. However, Ziploc recently introduced a line of vacuum seal bags that use an inexpensive hand pump and achieve nearly the same results as that pricey FoodSaver.

Ziploc Vacuum Bags vs. FoodSaver for Sous Vide at Home

6 thoughts on “Ziploc Vacuum Bags for Sous Vide at Home

  1. Gary Hayman says:

    Re: using Ziploc bags with Sous Vide cooking

    An SC Johnson (Makers of Ziploc bags) representative wrote me in response to an inquiry about using Ziploc bags in conjunction with Sous Vide cooking:

    Thanks for getting in touch with us.

    While we appreciate hearing new and innovative ways to use our Ziploc® Bags, we must be cautious that these new ideas follow label directions.

    Ziploc® Bags are not designed or approved to withstand extreme heat, and therefore should not be used to make any recipe that requires the bag to be boiled or cooked in hot water.

    Like all our products, Ziploc® Brand Bags can continue to be used with confidence when label directions are followed.

    Kind regards,Sara
    Consumer Relationship CenterSC Johnson, A Family Company

  2. Gary Hayman says:

    Re: using Ziploc bags with Sous Vide cooking

    An SC Johnson (Makers of Ziploc bags) representative wrote me in response to an inquiry about using Ziploc bags in conjunction with Sous Vide cooking:

    Thanks for getting in touch with us.

    While we appreciate hearing new and innovative ways to use our Ziploc® Bags, we must be cautious that these new ideas follow label directions.

    Ziploc® Bags are not designed or approved to withstand extreme heat, and therefore should not be used to make any recipe that requires the bag to be boiled or cooked in hot water.

    Like all our products, Ziploc® Brand Bags can continue to be used with confidence when label directions are followed.

    Kind regards,Sara
    Consumer Relationship CenterSC Johnson, A Family Company

  3. post production editing says:

    The first sous vide consumer appliances and cookbooks are hitting the
    market as manufacturers try to entice home cooks to buy another piece of
    expensive cookware.

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John Edgar Park likes to make things and tell people about it. He builds project for Adafruit Industries. You can find him at jpixl.net and twitter/IG @johnedgarpark

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