Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 15, 2024

Just dump it all into a zip-lock bag; those are a lot easier to work with.

I’m the same way, but I’ve got an easy solution. I just hand it to my wife and she seals it the first try!

I feel your pain Rat.

I use binder clips from an office supply store.

So glad I’m not alone with this problem!

Hey Rat, if you find out, I’ll help you bury the body.

When I pull it open, one side of the ridges sometimes stick to the other side.

Probably got bits of cheese in the teeth.

Pig does. He eats the entire bag in one sitting and so never has to reseal at all.

Two words: Chip clip.

Rat, this is why you eat all the cheese so you dont have to deal with this.

Start at one end, not the middle.

I am surprised Andy Rooney never did a rant about this one. I think resealable bags were in the supermarket before he punched his ticket.

Gently squeeze the air out first, then hold it between your knees and scream to the heavens. Works every time. Or, conversely, eat all that is in the bag and recycle it.

Who even has any left over to seal?

Who indeed.

What use of sealing it after it get contaminated by a rat?

Grate your own cheese. Use whatever container you like.

I cut off the “resealable” top and fold down the bags, sealing with a clothespin or rubber band or put the food in a container with a lid, depending on what it is. Much easier.

We don’t know who is holding the secret, but we know that Rat is left holding the bag.

It’s not so hard. Thought admittedly, I have some problems keeping it sealed.

The Count does believe you just found it.

Not at all suitable for Luddites…

I also have trouble with some of those resealable bags.

Pig would just say, “Why would I want to reseal it?”

People don’t finish the bag?

or a clean empty jar you were going to throw away

It’s the little things that push people over the edge

I usually wind up folding the top over and putting a clothes pin on it.

Arrrrrghhhhh! Yet another vexatious first world problem.

Aliens…

place bag on counter with the cheese all the way down into the bag.. leaving 1" clear at base of sealing edge. Take a spoon, place bowl of spoon on edge of zip, press and “roll” bowl along edge of zip, “walking” it towards the other end. continue till you pass the last of the zip. this is how a man without a thumb can do it… now I hope the cats don’t learn to work a can opener…

Yoda holds the secret.

I push out excess air, double it over, and put on a bag clip.

Lining up those little ridge thingies is an art, Rat. I can give you a course that’s bound to help.

I’d say the chinese maker of those bags design them that way ON PURPOSE

It happens on sandwich bags too!

Easy open isn’t, especially for arthritic hands. Cut here ok, then they’re sealed shut, can’t get a grip to open, let alone close. Much easier to cut, fold and clip.

The shredded cheese bags aren’t as difficult to reseal as the chicken nugget bags.

I use binder clips

No, keep extra plastic out of the environment by using a rubber band to seal the original bag.

My wife can’t seem to operate any zip lock bag. Every single one in the refrigerator or freezer is partly open.

or, ya could just eat the whole bag in one sitting…(works for me sometimes! Lol!)

or you can fold it over and use a chip clip

I don’t find resealable bags that hard to reseal, to be honest. Rat’s just really wound up.

There is a special hell for package designers

Zipper bags, but not after the 50th use, so much.

My problem with these is, you have to open the bag so close to where the seal is that, about half the time, you end up opening the bag below the seal

Had this problem.

I know that bag was closed! (2 days later)

The solution is simple – eat it all in one sitting.

I hold the bag at the top, and let the ingredients go down, put it on a counter or table and fold over the top part so I can get the closure aligned & get it closed.

I think that the zipper seal is often not aligned properly, the machines that make them need to be calibrated more frequently.

Chip clips.

There is no better solution!

Start at the edge where it’s slightly sealed then slide your fingers until that part is firmly sealed then move forward to seal the rest. If that doesn’t work, use a clothes pin or a clip to close it.

Aldi and Walmart make this whole exercise pointless by arranging for the bag to separate when you first open it behind one of the strips of plastic holding the male and female parts of the seal, so the seal is never opened in the first place.

How de-grating…

Position the two halves to cross one another, lightly pinch the cross-point and twist the two to straighten out the crossover. When you feel the snap, slide each way. Of course that’s just theory. Takes practice.

It’s also frustrating when you think you’ve finally resealed it, but guess what …

I’ve never had that problem.

It helps somewhat if you make a feint of folding the top of the bag backwards; the little ridge thingies line up better if the one on the front of the bag is starting to roll just a smidgen over the one in back. But I usually end up using GripStics.

I buy a brand of artificial brown sugar blended with real brown sugar. It has a “resealable” strip that NEVER works. The reason, and I have NO idea why their packaging geniuses did not figure this out, is that, as soon as you pour some of it out, the channel gets clogged by particles of the product. A simple change in the size of the zip-channel would fix that problem. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

The real secret: buy an impulse sealer. Inexpensive, easy, and very quick to seal a bag.

WOW, a comic strip about a real life event that I encounter every day!!

Yow about when they did that with bags of french fries? That one was a disaster, didn’t last long.

Fortunately, the bread makers give away a free twist tie with every loaf of bread…

I have never in all my life have a had a problem with resealable bags. It’s not rocket science.

I find opening them harder.

The second I have trouble with a “resealable” bag, I empty its contents into a Ziploc bag. It’s like most food companies go for the cheapest seal available. And very often, the seal separates from the bag so that even if you get the groove lined up and closed, the bag is still open. I don’t violently rip bags open, but I shouldn’t have to treat it like some delicate, time-consuming practice either. It’s supposed to be convenient!

""Cheese happens to be especially addictive because of an ingredient called casein, a protein found in all milk products. During digestion, casein releases opiates called casomorphins.“[Casomorphins] really play with the dopamine receptors and trigger that addictive element,” registered dietitian Cameron Wells told Mic.>> So there you have it. Your cheese addiction has been validated by science. This may be better than that time science said your addiction to Oreos is real. Just maybe." Jenn Harris ,Columnist , Oct. 22, 2015 9:32 AM PT-Reason why babies get so quiet after getting milk. -

Got to be smarter than the bag! Love you Rat!

It’s true, it’s true, Rat! I have the same frustration!

If anyone makes it this far in comments, here’s a greenish tip.

AFAIK, these bags are NOT recyclable and I use them (after empty of cheese) to keep things that might attract ants and do not go into compost- like meat scraps. It also keeps them from smelling up the garbage can (larger bits destined for curbside can be frozen).

Really big resealable bags are for used kitty litter, but be VERY careful not to get any litter on those tracks or it won’t re-seal.

Rubber bands. I hate resealable.

Just close your eyes and slide your fingers. Simple.

How about plastic wrap rolls that never make it to the end without getting tangled up?

I do

Or the ones that have the back and forth cube to seal

Lay the edge down on a table. Much easier to press into the table and roll back and forth until it starts to click.

Not al resealable bags are properly manufactured. I’ve encountered Rat’s problem many times. My solution? Fold the top and clasp it shut with a plastic clasp. There has to be a better solution, though; we can send a stupid billionaire to orbit but we can’t improve on zip-lock closures.