 |
JML Toasta Bags
by katyj10
This is a review of JML Toasta Bags which we were given as a gift by my mum a few years ago. She knew I liked the odd toasted sandwich so thought I'd like to try the bags out.
The claim
In addition to toasted sandwich, the bags can also be used to cook fish fingers, chicken nuggets, burgers, oven chips and even salmon ... fillets
In theory...
The concept of the bags is great: no mess, no fuss and no extra gadgets taking up kitchen surface or cupboard space.
In use
The reality of the bags is far from great. I really struggled to get my toaster to accept two slices of bread plus filling (cheese) in one toast slot. I think you needed to use really thin bread or a rolling pin on normal bread to reduce the width of the toasta bag.
My experience
I never really got any further with the toasta bags as I couldn't fit them in my (standard) toaster. I can't even begin to get my head around why anyone would want to cook salmon fillets in a toasta bag. They are so expensive, they need to be cooked properly in my opinion!
Cleaning
In between uses the bags can be washed in the dishwasher if you wish. Once I tried and failed with ours they sat in a drawer for ages before getting chucked away.
Price
You can pick these up on Amazon for £2.25. I don't know how many you get in a pack for this. Ours came in a pack of two but as it was a gift I do not know how much they were.
My thoughts
My mum asked a while after giving us the bags how we had got on. "Not very well" I told her. Had she tried them? "Well no. We don't really like toasted sandwiches," she replied. I didn't want to sound ungrateful, but a few years later we purchased an electric Tesco Value Toasted Sandwich Maker for less than a fiver and I am pleased to say the odd toasted sandwich is now enjoyed in our house thanks to this machine, not thanks to the JML toasta bags!
Read the complete review |
|
|
JML Toasta Bags
by Elaineee
I love a gadget and have a houseful of fantastic labour saving devices that don't really work and are relegated to the back of the cupboard after a couple of goes. ToasaBags from JML sounded great so I had to have them. They cost me £5 at the time from the supermarket for two.
The Product:
ToastaBags are designed ... to make a toasted sandwich with no fuss and no mess in the toaster. My bags came in a box of two, that's all I can say about the box as I chucked it ages ago. The bags themselves are like brown grease proof paper, they're obviously not paper but that's what they look like and are non stick. They are just big enough to fit one sandwich. There are finger holes at the top to remove it from the toaster. The ToastaBags are reusable upto 100 times are washable and dishwasher safe.
You make a butty as normal (butter on the inside and not the outside like with a toastie machine toastie) put it in the bag, put the bag in the toaster and toast it for a few minutes- simple. Out comes a toastie but not really a toastie more two pieces of toast with a filling, it's not like a 'real' toastie. Once cooked there is no bag after taste left on the toastie. A made up sandwich can be thick so you have to have a toaster wide enough to fit one.
I always use cheese and I think this is a good thing as it's like a glue for the toast, beans were a disaster and fell out- umm might try cheese with a few beans hadn't thought of that!!. The toastie comes out evenly toasted after only a few minutes, but I find the middle can be cold and the cheese not fully melted, although the tomatoes are cooked(ish). The cheese filling doesn't leak out but loose fillings can do. My son cracked a raw egg and squashed it between two slices of bread it and it didn't cook through.
After use they are easily washed, I just wash them with the dishes and rinse them out then dry with a tea towel. I can't vouch for the 100 uses as I haven't used them that much, but the use they have had hasn't spoilt them.
There are suggestions for what you can cook in these things such as fish fingers and chicken nuggets. I haven't ever tried anything other than sandwiches, I wouldn't trust them to cook them properly- cheese is often cold in the middle.
Would I recommend them- yes but only for cheese toasties. They are easier and less messy than a toastie machine but not as nice.
3 stars from me because the filling isn't always cooked through.
Read the complete review |
 |
JML Toasta Bags
by Thebaker50
The toasta bag is another one of these off-hat inventions by JML (a company I think are a waste of time, but anyway). Here is the review:
Ok, for your money, you get these things that are almost like paper bags, but they are some sort of greaseprrof paper. I imagine they are meant to be waterproof and not flammable. They also ... cost around 25p a bag or so, and are meant to be single use.
The way that they are meant to work, is that you make your sandwich (although they sell it as being able to do other things like pizza's, thin bits of fish, etc), and place it inside the bag. Then (and here comes the bit that doesn't work, more on this later), you place the bag avec contents into your toaster, hit the toast button, and the idea is that the paper bag thing will allow the heat to pass through it, and heat the sandwich, but will also stop cheese etc coming out of the bag, and protect your toaster.
A few problems with this: Firstly the bremville toaster. This is essentially trying to make a toaster do the same job as a breville toaster, and I saw some toasters for sale for 10 pounds the other day, and I own one of these. Not only are they about the aame price as about a years worth of those paper bags, but they are better, and can toast more things (like baguettes etc).
Secondly, I do not know about your toasters, but my toaster has very small gaps for the bread. Sometimes it can be a bit of a finger burning experiencee just getting 1 loaf slice out. I could barely get the bag with sandwich into the toaster, let alone trying to take the thing back out again. The result is that your sandwich is all squished at the bottom, and half of it spills out over the toaster.
In summary then, just get a toastie maker, its cheaper and easier in the long run.
Read the complete review |
