Omelet in a Bag

This subject has been going around the RV chat circles for years, so I thought it was about time I gave it a test. The idea: mix omelet ingredients in a plastic zip-top bag and boil it in water to produce your breakfast - one bag per person.

Breakfast from a zip-top bag

I read everything I could find (trust me, there are a lot of opinions on this subject) and did a little experimenting and learned it is best to use the freezer-version of zip-top bags. I used quart-sized Glad brand, because they were the smallest I could find. The bags also have a convenient white strip on the front where each chef/diner can write his/her name with a Sharpie permanent marker to claim their masterpiece after boiling. Crack two or three eggs in the baggie and squish to mix. Add your favorite omelet ingredients, and salt & pepper to taste. Mix well, again by smashing the bag with your fingers. Zip the seal, making sure to remove all the air from the bag. (Bags with too much air will just float on the surface and will not cook evenly.)

Place the baggie (you can cook several omelets at once, you are only limited by the size of your pot) in boiling water, gently turning the bag a few times during cooking. Keep the water at a slowly-rolling boil, and cook for 13 minutes. Carefully remove the bags from the water with tongs or a long-handled slotted spoon. The omelets will slip easily from the bags onto a plate, so there is no need to use oil.

I made omelets with fresh tomato and crumbled turkey bacon. The omelets were good, cooked-through, and were all were basically tubular, or burrito-shaped, looking just like a rolled omelet. To aid in even cooking, it is best to add the cheese AFTER cooking, sprinkled over the top.

This would not be a great idea for two people, because you certainly can whip-up two omelets in the time it takes to boil a large pot of water - but for a group camp-out, or a hungry bunch of kids or scouts, boiling breakfast would be a blast! Boiling omelets would be a hands-on-fun and kid-friendly breakfast "activity". Different ingredients could be set-out (ala salad bar) and every diner could make a custom omelet. Other posters said they had their scouts eat the omelets right out of the bag, which really saved on dishes - but if you do have dishes to wash, you have a pot of hot water ready!

The next time you need to feed a group, take a box of zip-top freezer bags, a Sharpie and a pair of tongs along!