We also store dry parboiled rice, beans, flour in plastic bags, but I am afraid to cook in a plastic bag not specifically labeled for that use. I am not a chemist, but it is my understanding that plastic starts out hard, like bakelite, and a chemical softener is added to make it pliable. There are so many different formulas for plastic, and some are harmful when the chemicals that leach out are ingested. They have come out and warned against microwaving food in plastic, or drinking bottled water that got hot in a car. You might notice that plastic wares that are labled for microwave use are hard as a rock...no softeners. I remember hearing stories from WWII of wounded soldiers dying of 'shock lung', not directly from their injuries, but from tranfusions of blood that was stored in plastic bags. I know we're talking rice and dried foods and not blood and microwaves, but IMO it so easy to have a pot, bowl, or multi-purpose canteen cup along, that it's not worth the risk to me. I have washed out many a bowl in the sand and gravel of the lakes in the North woods and the Boundary Waters. I feel safer, and the little fish love me.
_________________________
The man got the powr but the byrd got the wyng