The Unscientific Testing:

Basically the testing involved putting two cups of just boiled water into the bags. Sealing them up and then turning them upside down to see if they leaked.

The results:

Aloksak:

Having already tested the OP Sak, I didn’t want to knacker this bag as I only had the one. So I used cold water in it instead. It passed the leak test with flying colours. But my faith in the ability of these US bags has been shaken after seeing how the OP Sak handled hot water.

Soup ‘n’ Sauce:

This bag kept it’s shape and stood ok with the hot water in. But during the leak test it did have a very small slow leak.

small resealable sandwich bag:

I didn’t test this, as I would be using this with a container if I was to go with this.

OP Saks:

Well I guess that the US Navy never tested these bags with hot water. This was the one I had most hope for and would of put as my first place before the testing.

However the bag was unable to handle the hot water, and nearly melted! See the picture titled "bottom_op_sak_test1" for how it looked after the testing.

Plus this leaked the most out of all of them. But I wanted to see if this was a result of the bags inability to handle hot water. So I used my remaining bag with cold water. Naturally it handled this ok, and passed the leak test as well.

So if I was to use this bag out on a trip I’d use it to rehydrate with cold water only.

Pour & Store:

Well what can I say the late entry into the collection, and it did the best IMHO. Handled the hot water, and kept it’s shape and stood by itself. And it passed the leak test with flying colours as well. Nice thing about this bag is that it also has markings on it to measure quantity. What a good idea, shame some of the others don’t use it.

What strikes me with the Aldi and Lakeland bags is that they use a tougher plastic more suited to hot liquids/food than the fancy military approved US bags. Whether they are as tough over a long period of use I don’t know.  But value for money and usefulness I’d go for the Aldi bags first and the Lakeland ones closely behind.

Email me your thoughts,comments or put downs at whitespider1066@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll post them on here as part of discussion on this if you don’t want to have an MSN/Hotmail/Live account to add comments.

15 Responses to “The Great Plastic Bag Test”

1. Dawn
   September 9th, 2007 @ 12:47 pm

   So far I have not discovered a plastic bag that withstands boiling water. Another downside of the Aloksak is that certain powders, ie, milk powder, does actually leak through a bit and can lead to a messy food bag. This has happened on a couple of trips and I have had to revert back to a plastic container.

2. Linda Kennedy
   November 6th, 2007 @ 9:28 pm

   Hello. I am the owner of Watchful Eye Designs and I make the ALOKSAK and OPSAK. I have read your comments about the OPSAK and so…even after extensive testing for several months, today my sales team and I added rapidly boiling water from a whistling kettle into 12 OPSAK bags and none of them were damaged in any way. I am sorry that you had that experience but I am not sure why you did. If I can help in any way, please feel free to email me. It is true the aLOKSAK film does not take to boiling water as well as the OPSAK but we even added boiling water to 5 aLOKSAK and didn’t have any damage with the exception that the film on one of the bags stuck together in a corner, but was easily pulled apart before it cooled. Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

3. Darren
   November 6th, 2007 @ 11:35 pm

   Linda,
   wow thank you for posting the comment and the offer of help.
   I have heard from others (my fellow hikers in the UK) that my experience with your bags is not unique.
   The aim of the test was to try and test the bags in a way that they would be used by a hiker (ie for rehydrating meals through the day). Often we stop mid day, brew up, pour hot water on the meal planned for that evening. Seal bag and leave the food to soak during the afternoon in our packs. So being able to handle the hot water and not leak with the hot water inside I see as an important test.
   Maybe sometime early next year I will revisit the tests (once I have done the food cozie group test), and redo the group test for the bags.
   It would be nice to go back and retest, but I think one of the deciding factors will be if I can be bothered to try and source all the bags again, and if I want to spend hard cash importing specific bags in for the test (there are a couple of US bags I would like to include in the next group test).

   Once again thanks for you feedback.

4. Linda Kennedy
   November 7th, 2007 @ 11:00 pm

   Darren,

   Feel free to write to me through my personal email linda@wedbags.com. I will be happy to send you some samples for your testing purposes. Send me a mailing address and what you would like to receive. Again, we have done extensive testing on the OPSAK with boiling water and have left the water in the bags until it cooled with no problems.

5. Duncan/AktoMan
   November 7th, 2007 @ 11:51 pm

   Darren’s just after enough so that he can make balloon animals out of them…he gets lonely on treks (baaaaaaaa)
   

6. Darren
   November 8th, 2007 @ 8:08 am

   Linda, thanks for the offer, nearer the time I’ll email you. Did you do as I did in my tests, which is add the boiling water and then turn the bag upside down?

   Duncan

7. Darren
   November 8th, 2007 @ 8:09 am

   Duncan (once again) Dam why isn’t my smiley sticking it’s tongue out at you?

8. TTG
   June 10th, 2009 @ 4:58 pm

   A manufacturer that replies to comments on their products on the web! Always impressive. Due to the difficulties getting Aloksak and Opsak bags over here I reckon more backpackers will end up using Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s or other supermarket bags. I have heard the ASDA ones are good too.

   And Duncan… get back in your red tent. ;-P

9. Darren
   June 10th, 2009 @ 5:48 pm

   TTG, thanks for the comment, I agree it is impressive when the manufacturer does that.

10. Peewiglet
    September 19th, 2009 @ 9:21 pm

    I realise I’m a little late to the party here, but I’m wondering whether I could use your cunning plastic bag method to make porridge in the morning. Such is my hatred of cleaning the pot that I don’t bother cooking breakfast. If I could use a plastic bag, though, I’d be v. happy indeed! What d’you think, oh Plastic Bag Guru?

11. Darren
    September 20th, 2009 @ 8:34 am

    Peewiglet, this is a blast from my past. I really should update this test, and do the long promised and forgotten cozy test as well.
    Yes it will work, give me a couple of days and I’ll do a video.

12. Peewiglet
    September 20th, 2009 @ 8:42 am

    Brilliant, thanks! ♥

13. Peewiglet
    September 20th, 2009 @ 8:42 am

    Oh, and p.s…. would it be possible to re-use the bag, d’you think? To save carrying more than necessary?

14. Darren
    September 20th, 2009 @ 10:15 am

    Peewiglet, I’ve been planning the video, and don’t think you will be disappointed.

15. Darren
    September 20th, 2009 @ 10:16 am

    but if you want to call me to discuss anything else you want covering, my number is on the contact page

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