I came across this amazing tip for kepeing your decorating bags clean. You take a piece of saran wrap and place your icing on the lower left portion, not too close to the edge and start rolling it diagonally. Tie the upper portion in a knot and twist the lower portion into a tip then place in your decorating bag. Put your coupler in first and then the icing and pull the tip of the saran wrap through and cut off the tip close to the coupler. Place your tip on and dcorate away. When you are done you just pull out the saran wrap and your bag is clean. Even if the icing is not finished you can change your icing and always place the other one back into the bag at any time to use it again. It makes decorating so much faster and clean up super fast, it is really just your tips and couplers that you have to clean and you don't need to fill up so many decorating bags with different colors, just little pouches of saran wrap!!!!!

Great Idea! It will definitely save on small images that require many different colors!

Happy Decorating!
Debbie

Hi! Someone was just telling me the other day that they use ziplock bags for disposable decorating bags. They can be used with or without a coupler, just cut one corner and place your tip or coupler and tip like you would in a regular disposable bag. I haven't tried this yet, but I'd like to.

Every time I've ever used a ziplock bag it has broken on me, almost immediately. I see people on TV do it all the time. But not me. I've even tried the freezer quality ZipLocks. I have no clue what I'm doing wrong, but it just doesn't work for me.

As for the saran inside the piping bag. I know a woman that used to do this a lot. But when we were in class together it looked to me like she was having a hassle with it. So, I never tried it.

i haven't had any luck with plastic decorator bags either. whenever i try to use them they split at the seams and i end up with a mess - both with icing and with chocolate.

Debbie

I haven't had any trouble with the saran wrap except for not using a big enough peice to wrap around a couple of times and then when I tied the knot on the top, there was a whole to one side and icing came all out, but I hav ehad great success with this method and keeping things clean.

That was a great tip...however, in response to those who have had their ziplock type bags split - maybe here is another tip...

I use the ziplock bags inside of my decorator bags. I agree, using the ziplock bags alone will cause your decorating medium to soften or melt. My main medium is whipped cream so I am never able to use just the ziplock bag alone. However, I put my decorating medium in the ziplock bag and snip a corner (being sure to make not zip closed the entire bag, leave a gap for air to escape) and slip the ziplock bag in the regular decorator bag...I find that it makes for easy clean up and then I can use different colors and not have 10 bags to clean up at the end. Hope that makes sense...
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Using the disposable bags also is like the saran wrap method.I buy my bags at Michael's craftstore with the 40% coupon.They are more affordable then!! Using parchment triangles for small jobs or colors is also an easy cleanup option!!

I use parchment more than anything else. I also cut them in half when I have small amounts if icing needed. I needed 1 yellow rose. I took the smallest one I had (I think it was 12 inches) and cut it in half. It might have held only 3 T. But that's all I needed to make my rose and I didn't have a wasted huge bag.

Well if you are in Canada, a lot of folks take the empty milk bags and wash them well, using a weak bleach solution after dishsoap and rinsing throughly, open up the snipped end, and snip a corner off the opposite end and you are good to go - if you like disposables. Yes in Canada we have milk in bags, haha!
I used to buy the disposable bags and then I hit two batches of bursting bags and that was the end of them for me. Sometimes you get defective batches!
I, like Cali4Dawn, too use the parchments for smaller amounts of things, definitely for any candy melt or chocolate work as you don't waste a lot that sticks to the plastic. But for little bits of icing, they are terrific too.
I have to say though, if you are an old brawd like me or you have any hand issues - well the Wilton Featherweights can't be beat. I have bought cheaper versions, but they don't hold up as well and the seams tend to open up. But the Featherweights, preferrably in 8-10 inch size, half full, will alleviate a lot of hand issues. Took me a few years to figure that one out. You can grip them better and they aren't near as hard on your hands as the disposables.
But like Kiddiekakes, I found the big advantage of disposables was you could make up 12 colours of icing and not have to wash all of the dang bags, so that was a plus! Some folks wash and re-use the disposables, but I find the plastic gets hard and makes it hard on the hands too. So avoid getting old or developing hand problems Kidster!
I have tried lining the bags with freezer or sandwich bags but for me it causes some hand issues, guess it is that extra thickness of plastic sliding around in there. But it sure would make cleanup easier!
I do use freezer bags to bag my bagged icing - how is that for a mouthful! When I have a lot of different colours to use, I bag the icing and insert the bags in sealed freezer bags so there is no hardening and I don't have to stop to fill up my bags. I have those caps that fit over the tips, but find them hard to handle, so this works better for me.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Hey, whatever works, I am with you, haha!
I know that a lot of people do like this method, though, lining the bags with the Saran Wrap inner lining, because I have seen a lot of people passing on this tip. So I guess it is like anything else, what works for one won't work for another. But it is most definitely worth a try for those that haven't tried it and don't like dealing with the mess!
Now if they only made the Featherweights at disposable prices, I would be happy! Well, that and a "Clean-up Cake Fairy", 24 hours a day!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

...I have seen this topic come up many times before and all I can say is.....by the time I do all that with the saran or plastic bags, I could have washed by featherweight bag and be on my way! Remember the KISS approach....Keep It Simple Silly! Whatever works, works...right?! Happy baking, Missey

Haha, well that is true but the one thing, I have to admit that makes the method sound like a plus, is you don't end up with your good bags discoloured from certain food colours, so that is a definite plus, the bags look better!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes