I was four years old and not yet packing my own lunch when the Ziploc bag reached the test marketing stage. We started packing our own lunches in 3rd or 4th grade, I think, and used the somewhat flimsy sandwich bag, the kind with the flap you tuck in and then the pocket that seals the whole thing shut. I think we used wax paper for a while, it being my father's sandwich wrap of choice, but we rebelled against it and went back to the sandwich baggie. Wax paper was just to difficult for our young hands.
I've always brought my lunch to school, even through college, and I do so today, schlepping my Badz Maru lunchbox back and forth to the carpool every day, though sometimes all the things I want to bring along don't fit in the lunch box and I bring a canvas bag instead. I've been avoiding using Ziploc bags, I don't know why, preferring to pack my leftovers in Tupperware. Perhaps it's the generally non-cohesive nature of what I end up bringing for lunch - curries, stir fries, the occasional sausage and mashed potato extravaganza.
I like to cook and my leftovers have always inspired awe in my coworkers. I'll be chowing down on a luxurious salmon carbonara while they're halfheartedly dissecting a flaccid burrito purchased at the company cafeteria. A neighbor commented on my brazen approach to freezing just about anything. Somewhere I learned that double cooking your rice made it possible to freeze it, and this opened a whole new world of leftovers. Spaghetti? Jambalaya? Bok choy with tofu? You name it, it's in my freezer, packed and ready to go for lunch.
For a while, I had a coworker who also packed a formidable lunch. We'd face off in the lunchroom and flamboyantly unpack a beautifully glazed grilled chicken breast with a side of guacamole and mango salsa (him) or Korean glass noodles with shitake mushrooms and sesame seaweed dressing (me). If we weren't at the table together, we'd lament the other's absence later in the day. "Where WERE you?" he'd demand, when we met at the coffee pot. "I had the most spectacular enchiladas glazed with pomegranate sauce!" "Oh, I was out in the park, picnicking on goat cheese and roasted eggplant panini. Where were YOU?!" Yes, we were tiresome. But we ate well and we had a good natured competition. His meals were stylishly delivered in an insulated lunch kit with a shoulder strap. Mine came out of plastic grocery bags and bicycle panniers - whatever I'd used to transport all the little containers from my house to the office that day.
It was this summer's camping trip that caused me to embrace the wonder that is the Ziploc bag. Last year, whenever we drained the ice chest, we'd find that something had been floating about in there, usually the cheddar, and had gone all white and gummy from the ice melt. Perfectly disgusting. We experimented in the kitchen sink and decided that Tupperware was just not quite waterproof enough. The light bulb went on over my head. Ziploc bags! Of course! I realize that to many people this is a ridiculous epiphany. After all, at last season's soup swap (a brilliant event hosted by a friend who is a fine cook), many of the participants delivered their soup - already frozen - in Ziploc bags.
I checked on the Ziploc website to assuage my green sensibilities and learned that yes, indeed, the bag is recyclable. A Ziploc full of frozen lunch sits nicely on the bladder of my Camel Back bag and transports my lunch to work while keeping the water cool. The Ziploc is sturdier than you expect and doesn't leak. A meal stored in a Ziploc defrosts more quickly than one stored in a Tupperware container, which may not be an issue for you, but who wants to be staring at an icy block of Napa cabbage with tofu and peanut sauce when lunchtime arrives? The heavy duty bags are microwave safe, though I prefer to heat my leftovers on real dishware. The Ziploc site doesn't recommend reusing the bags, but I do know of folks who wash them for reuse.
I went fishing on the Web to see if I could learn about the master responsible for bringing us the Ziploc bag. I found many a cooking site with praise for the invention, but no mention of the inventor. I dropped a line to SJC, the parent company that owns Ziploc, and am standing by for their response. While I wait for their reply, I'm filling my freezer with Ziploc bagged leftovers. I just finished bagging several days' worth of 3 bean chili with garden vegetables and brown rice.
See you at lunch?
