Pastry Bags: Disposable Or The Real Thing?
Decorating By AKA_cupcakeshoppe Updated 7 Mar 2014 , 11:04am by CamilleBianca
I found the decorator's bag really difficult to clean, and quite expensive. I somehow like the fact that with the disposable ones I can just throw them away afterwards.
Which do you use more often, the real ones or the plastic ones? and if you have the real ones, how many do you have and in what sizes?
Definatetly use dispossible. It does just the same job and saves the hastle of washing them up. So easy to use as you can use with a tube all i do is cut if off when I'm done. Or just cut the end off a piping bag and use straight so easy to adjust the size and don't have to worry about ruining a bag.
I would never go back to real ones.
oh wow. i hope you guys would post too about your answer 
kicky, i also like that too. when i'm done i just cut off the tip so i can get my tip out and throw the bag. for some reason i don't like sticking my hand into the bag and retrieving my tip that way. LOL
dispossible!!!!!
I love the fact that I don't have to wash them. I just used them and throw them away, put the tips in the dishwasher and go about my business.
In some locales, there are criteria for cleaning reusable pastry bags. which can include water temperature, type of soap, soaking, and drying. If you want to go into business, and keep things simple, go with disposables.
Theresa
I use both. Here's what I do to clean them. Get the hot water running. Take the bag. Hope I explain this right. The open end goes over the faucet. Hold it tight so the water won't back out. This forces the water through the tip. It squirts the icing that's left in the bag through the tip, or melts it. Then just turn the bag inside out. A sink of hot soapy water.
Mike
~~~Warning Warning Dinosaur Alert~~~
Hey I use parchment. There's no button for parchment.
i use both real and plastic disposable. real for the icer tip. id like to become a little more green and the plastic disposables are taunting me lol..but its such a time saver..so ill go green other ways 
I love the disposable!!!!!!!!! Although I do use both, the decorator bags are just too expensive. I do sometimes reuse the disposable; for different shades of the same color. Also, I love the disposable for the simple fact that they are so versitile! i use them for so many different things, like cooking and arts and crafts for my kids!
I never use the decorator's bags. (gag gag) 
I have some bags still unopened that will probably remain unopened! They are such a pain to clean and dry and remove all the nastiness from.
So I use plastic or parchment (generally plastic but I also feel really bad about polluting the environment with them so I'm trying to shift to parchment).
I must say, I'm starting to back away from disposables. I find them harder to refill and I feel like I make a bigger mess with them. I really like decorator bags for cupcakes, I use a 16" so I don't have to stop and refill
i use disposables for everything except the icer tip. no cleanup= bliss. 
I keep all three on hand: decorator, plastic and parchment. But I use my decorator's bags all the time now, as I am trying to be more conscious of what I throw away in the trash. I can't recall when I last used plastic or parchment, actually.
Regarding decorator bags, I have all different sizes and "weights". Some are heavier than others, depending on what you need it for, such as cakes, fillings, dough, etc. I feel the lighter weight ones are better suited for cake decorating.
If you go with decorator bags, be sure to get several of each size. This way, if you're working with different colors, you'll have a bag on hand if you need it.
I use them all, It all depends on what I'm using them for. If I'm just piping a little I use parch. If I'm icing I use a 16 inch w/ the icer tip. If I'm making a large border or decor. out of BC I use a 12 inch.
I use disposables and parchment for chocolate but try to use decorators bags for BC decorating. I feel the "green guilt" when I throw used bags in the bin. You can't beat proper decorators bags in terms of comfort though, if you have to decorate a lot they are the best ones to hold, plastic the worst.
I use a decorator bag for my icing tip but disposable for everything else. However...if my DH is helping me clean up (which he often times does) he will wash the disposable bags out for me so I can reuse them again. In general, he is the "saver" in the family and I am the "thrower". But hey, if he wants to go through all that work just to save a bag, I say "have at it!" 
Just don't make me do it!
I use disposable all the time! I used to use the reusable ones, but washing them all the time got to be a real PITA, so I switched.
I love using them for chocolate work as well...it makes it so much easier to just cut off the tip of the bag when I'm ready to do CT or the like!
Whoo hoo!!! DISPOSABLES, baby!
I prefer the decorators bags because of the grip you get on them. The disposables become messy and hard to hold on to. Even if I do use the disposables, I reuse them if possible. (thinking of the environment). The decorators are not hard to clean. I turn them inside out, remove leftover icing and soak (along with tips and utensils) in Dawn detergent while I clean up. Pretty much clean themselves. I do use the parchment sometimes for intricate piping.
DISPOSABLE and here is why: If you use the plastic wrap technique (I am never going back to filling bags! You just take a piece of plastic wrap about a foot... and thunk frosting on it and roll it up. you don't have to be very careful. Then just throw into your decorator bag) then you don't make a mess at all! AND I use ONE bag for my entire cake! I have a coupler so I can change tips. If I want to change colors, I just pull out the plastic wrap and put in another color... squeeze out what was in the first tip and good to go (or I replace the tip). When I go to set up a cake I bring one or a couple of "tubes" of wrapped of frosting... sooooo much easier to work on site. THen I can just throw away the bag (or you can even reuse them). Put the tips and couplers into a bowl with soapy water in the microwave.... clean! I just rinse. Life is soooo easy for me! Oh, and you can buy BIG disposable bags. I use 20 inch bags and cut them down to the size I want them. I sell them on my site.
I just can't stand the thought of throwing those little plastic bags away (and I'm not really a "greenie"), plus I really just hate them. They are messy to refill, a PITA to get the tip out of, using a coupler with them is difficult at best. I use the lightweight decorator bags, mostly the 10" & 12", but I do have the big 16" for the icer tip. I don't find them difficult to clean at all, run hottest water possible through them, then turn inside out and let soak in hot soapy water while I clean up everything else up. I will occassionally use the small parchment bags for writing messages.
~~~Warning Warning Dinosaur Alert~~~
Hey I use parchment. There's no button for parchment.
I use parchment too!! Does no one else use it? I like the plastic, but find I can cut the parchment down to little bags to decorate the small stuff.
I hated the Wilton disposables from day 1. Then I went to work at a bakery for a few months and really got to like the kee-seal brand disposable. Its all I use now. I love them and I have them in 12" 18" and 20". The company has a free sample and when you get it, you get a coupon off your first order. Plus when I placed my order, they sent me an entire roll of 100 of a newer "textured" bag. I actually didn't like the feel of it but for those of you who DO want the texture of real bags but the convience of disposable, these are them! I LOVE the Kee-Seal bags. They are also SUPER strong so I usually wash them 1 to 2 times in the dishwasher, so less green guilt.
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