Tips for Tipless Bags

If you are a cookie decorator, you might have heard of "tipless bags". These bags are different than the "disposable" clear plastic Wilton or other branded decorating bags. FYI- I wash and re-use these disposable times dozens of times before I pitch them. So don't be misled by the word "disposable" in that case.

Although they're labeled "disposable", I reuse these dozens of times!

The tipless bags I'm referring to today are ones that are truly disposable. They are thinner, less expensive, and come in larger quantities. The tip is completely intact, allowing you to cut the end in a variety of ways or diameters for different purposes. 

You can order them from a bazillion places like Grunderfully Delicious, Bees Baked Art Supplies, and Truly Mad Plastics, and even Ebay. Not only are they great for royal icing on cookies, they're perfect for buttercream too! I even use them to fill my deviled eggs. ​

Some people use a drinking glass or jar of some sort to fill their decorator bag of choice. I use a pint canning jar, and turn down the open end for easy filling.

There are lots of ways of closing these bags to keep the contents from spilling out the wrong end. Some methods include rubber bands, tying them shut, or even using clips like these from IKEA. 

Some of the tipless bag sellers are carrying their own clips- So smart! I got the idea from using the clips from LilaLoa. Because she's brilliant. But what LilaLoa couldn't help me with was ORGANIZATION...

I have a catch-all drawer in my cookie kitchen (some may call it a junk drawer but that would make one think that the items are "junk", which they are most certainly not). My bag clips were just dropped into this drawer once they were washed.

My apologies. I should have warned those Type-A personalities, as they have probably fainted from the mess of this picture. Can you imagine my small bag clips being dropped in here? They quickly fell to the bottom of the drawer, and I had to dig around to find them, usually once the icing bag was filled. But one day, it dawned on me: Store my clips IN my fill jar!

There's still enough room to fill my icing bag ON TOP of the clips! Once the bag is full, I just pull out the bag, twist, clip, and cut the tip to size. 

On some occasions, I will actually re-fill these bags. Like if I were using them to flood my cookies. If you're re-filling the bag, the tip has already been cut. So the icing could just flow out through the open cut end. Blah! Use a clip to close the cut end while you re-fill the bag! So easy!

If you haven't tried out tipless bags, I encourage you to do so! They're perfect for those small icing tasks, where you just have a tiny amount of icing to use. They're also great for decorating parties or decorating kits- no expensive icing bags and tips to wash and return! And now you have a handy-dandy idea of where to store those bag clips too!