Like duct tape, zip top bags are among one of mankind’s greatest multipurpose inventions. We’re sure you use them in the kitchen, in your travel bags, or for storing crafting supplies. But you should know there are some really resourceful hacks out there that will leave you asking, “Why didn’t I think of that a long time ago?”
Listed below are six cool ways to turn these storage bags into healers, protectors, and machines. It may sound unlikely, but stick with us here. Crazy Russian Hacker gives us tips on how to make zip tops work for us in ways you may not have thought of.
1- Ice Pack
Make a cold pack for any part of your body that needs to be iced down. Using water, rubbing alcohol, and your handy sealable bag, you can have a therapeutic compress ready in no time!
Instructions: Take 1 ½ cups of water and mix with ½ cup of rubbing alcohol inside the Ziploc bag. Lay the bag down gently to release any air pockets and then seal it completely. Give the bag a quick shake or two to mix it again and place it in the freezer. After a few hours, the contents of the bag should be slushy but able to conform to your body. If you want, you can add food coloring to mark it as a non-edible.
2- Vacuum-Sealed Pouch
You can vacuum seal your food without using a sealing machine with just a bowl of water. The Crazy Russian Hacker also shows a method with a straw, but it’s up to you if you want to suck raw bacon air out of a small plastic bag.
Instructions (Bowl Method): Get a bowl of water wide enough to hold your zip bag of food. Dip the bag into the water with the opening of the bag above the water line. Be careful not to immerse the open end. Zip it shut. There should be no air trapped in the bag.
3- DIY Zip Bag
You can make your own version of a storage bag using an empty water bottle and a pair of scissors. When you open a package of sugar, rice, or beans, sometimes you might close it with a clip or twist tie. There’s another way you can seal it.
Instructions: Cut the top off a water bottle, preserving about 2 inches of plastic below the cap. On your food package, you can clip off the entire top seam of the bag and then twist it into a stick shape. Thread the twisted portion through the bottle’s opening, with the curved part of the water bottle facing downwards. Open the twisted portion of the bag and screw the cap of the bottle onto its top.
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