I love silicone storage bags.
In some other context, this might seem odd to proclaim in public, but The Spoon is all about kitchen innovation, and the invention of silicone bags to replace plastic Ziploc-style bags is unequivocally great. Along those lines, this month, W&P Design, which makes a variety of food-related goods, released its new line of silicone bags. After using them for a couple of weeks, I can say they are worth picking up (if you don’t mind the higher price).
If you aren’t familiar, silicone storage bags use food-grade silicone instead of disposable plastic. They are reuseable, so after you polish off that leftover chicken breast, a silicone bag can be re-used to store cheese or salad or whatever. They can also be used for sous vide-ing food if the thought of submerging your steak in a plastic bag in a hot bath for hours skeeves you out.
W&P sent me a variety of its Porter line of silicone bags to try out. In addition to being reuseable, the bags are microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe as well as BPA free. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including stand-up bags that can remain upright on their own.
I don’t microwave or freeze a ton of food, so I mostly used the bags for leftover storage. For that, the Porter bags are great. I was able to fill and re-fill the bags, which still worked after multiple dishwasher cycles. The bags didn’t warp or stain and my food stayed fresh.
My only gripe is that the locking mechanism doesn’t stay closed as much as I’d like. (The seal on the Stasher brand of silicone bags seems to work better.) There were a few times where the seal popped back open, though that might have been my trying to stuff an extra leftover pizza slice into an already full bag. Even so, I would stick with using the stand up bags if you are going to store something with a lot of liquid in it, just in case.
The other sticking point for people will probably be price. Like the Stasher brand of reusable silicone bags, W&P’s Porter bags ain’t cheap. A single 10 oz. bag costs $8.00, one 34 oz. bag costs $9.60 and a 50 oz stand-up bag will set you back $16.00. These prices can be a little bit cheaper than Stasher bags, but it really depends on the size/shape/color you get.
While the initial cost is high, you can re-use them for a long time, so the cost per use will turn out to be quite low. Plus, you have the added benefit of not using a storage bag once and then tossing it in a landfill and adding to our already huge plastic waste problem. And that, too, is something I love.
