1,534 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

Don't throw away disposable piping bags

Nowadays, it's fairly easy to find what professionals use as piping bags, i.e. disposable or "single-use" plastic ones.

They're practical, functional and inexpensive, but disposable? That's debatable...

8,888 5/5 (21 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Equipment Cleaning Savings Pockets Sustainable development Baking

Last modified on: May 28^th 2024

For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend

Don't throw away disposable piping bags

Their use

These pouches are bought in boxes of 100, and for each use, you're supposed to fill them up, poach the contents, then throw them away, and the next time, take a new one, and so on. You'll tell me that this is a disposable principle, of course, but the real shame is that these pouches are of excellent quality and can, in practice, be reused many times.

poches neuves et usagées

In this photo, you can see a new pouch coming out of the box (red arrow) at the bottom and a second-hand pouch (green arrow) at the top.
Not much difference, you'll agree.
Of course, the used one is a bit crumpled, but it still works very well - so well, in fact, that I think it's got at least 10 years' use left in it, without exaggerating.

So don't hesitate: you can reuse a disposable piping bag many times over, simply by washing and drying it, which is both more ecological and more economical.

Let's wash them

Washing a piping bag is something that professionals don't do, or don't do much of, because their time is limited, and throwing it away is much quicker than washing it.
On the other hand, for amateurs in the kitchen, a little extra washing-up isn't a big deal: all we have to do is wash it after use, and we'll be able to reuse our piping bag the next time.
To wash it, we can proceed in the traditional way: turn the bag inside out, like a glove or a sock, then wash it in the dishwasher.

But there's a quicker way:
lavage poche étape 1

Pour a drop of washing-up liquid into the bag after use, fill it halfway with hot water and pinch the pointed side so that the water stays inside.

lavage poche étape 2

Also close the other side of the bag to lock the hot soapy water inside.

lavage poche étape 3

Shake the closed bag from right to left for a few seconds.

lavage poche étape 4

Release the pointed side to let the water out completely.

lavage poche étape 5

Rinse the pouch, then let it dry, or wipe it with a cloth if you're in a hurry.

Your (disposable) pouch is ready for use again.

In short: Don't throw your disposable pouches away, just wash them, and you'll be able to use them again and again.

Lasts posts

Who's making the croissants?

When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...
November 23^th 2025586

Oven height

When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.
October 8^th 20252,1195

The importance of sieving

In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?
September 3^rd 20257,1683

The grease spray

As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...
August 26^th 20256,6835

Cake moulds

When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25^th 20256,7225

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

The first breads of humanity?

I have already told you in a previous article the beautiful story of the croissants, but do you know what it is about the bread, who "invented" it, where and when? Well, you can imagine that recent discoveries, in 2018, have profoundly changed the history of bread.
February 16^th 201914 K5

A memo of utensil weights

You will no doubt have come across this problem while cooking: after starting a recipe, when you already have some ingredients in a pan and have maybe cooked them, you need to know the weight of the pan's contents so that you can take half out, or add the same weight of sugar, for example.
May 9^th 201128 K4.6

The 3 kinds of meringue

Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...
June 14^th 201364 K4.5

The window-pane test in bread-making

The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16^th 202196 K 23.9

Candied fruits: don't get ripped off

Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.
June 21^th 201766 K 24.2