Update on this - in the first 18 hours since the video launched, over *1,500 people have donated a total of more than $60,000 (£46,000)* !!! You are all unbelievable, thanks so much for working with us to do this... It's amazing!!! If you'd like to donate too, click here and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag

As a South African from Durban who actually owns one of these, this video makes me very happy! Thanks for bringing attention to this project! 🇿🇦

I feel like everyone under reacted to Jamie saying he was also full of cast iron and beef.

"My produce grown from seed" ..... I want to introduce my future kid like this.

I've had a Wonderbag for years, long before those cool new handles were added. (Jealous!) I love it. There's a lot to know about this method of cooking. Here's some of it: The Wonderbag is a wonder, but it has very specific uses. For cooking, it's only good for wet cooking methods. Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than air, so it's best to surround the food completely with water if possible, or make an entirely wet dish (like that rice pudding). The most important thing that I've learned is that you have to heat the pot on the hob to the point where all the food is heated well, all the way through. The Wonderbag does a great job of retaining heat, but it doesn't add heat. If you have a pot with boiling broth and a large fridge-cold pork shoulder, the temperature will stabilize in the Wonderbag and the meat won't get hot enough to cook. For this reason I find that rice cooks perfectly in the Wonderbag if you use the absorption method. The rice stays at a temperature appropriate for cooking while it is surrounded by water, and when the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked, the temperature drops a little and the rice is held at serving temperature for a few hours. And the rice cannot possibly burn. Power failures happen occasionally where I am, and they might last for a second or two, or for a few hours. I've thrown away dinners in a Crock Pot because power failures temporarily stopped the cooking, and it was impossible to know how cold the food got and how long it stayed at that temperature. With the Wonderbag, I open the bag and the lid and immediately check the temperature, and I know that this is the coolest the food has been since I put it in the bag. The Wonderbag is also great for the post-hurricane power failures that can last for days or weeks here. Heat the pot of food outside on the grill long enough to get it hot, then turn off the grill and put it in the bag. A few hours later dinner is ready, and there's plenty of fuel remaining. But that's just unpowered cooking. I also use the Wonderbag for transporting hot foods, or at least I used to, when shared meals were possible. And it's great for sous vide. Here's how: I cook sous vide in a large pot, which I put in the Wonderbag with no lid. When the food and immersion circulator are in place, I cover the pot with plastic wrap or ping pong balls. The temperature stays quite constant, and there's very little evaporation thanks to the balls (now there's a phrase I've never written before. Thanks balls!) And when I'm not using it, I open it up to let it dry, then close it tightly and put it on the sofa as a cushion. No storage space required. If you don't do a lot of wet cooking or sous vide, and if you don't have power failures, it might not be an essential kitchen tool. But for over 7 years, this has been essential for me.

Actually wheezed when Ben started saying "Its not about the size, its about-" and the error screen just popped up. Also Ben bringing stuff he grew at home was such a great touch. Love it. Thats why he's my favorite. Sorry everyone else.

During WWII there was a way of cooking used in rural areas where you would cook your stew in the pot on the range/hob and once it was bubbling hot you got a box and filled it full of straw and then put the pot of stew in the box cover with more straw to insulate. You would leave it for a few hours and come back to a fully cooked meal. It helped save fuel during war time and helped women who were leaving the home to help the war effort.

I went to Madagascar a couple years ago and was shocked with how bad the deforestation was. Huge expanses of land were completely devastated. Trees had been burned down all across the entire country to make charcoal. Most people had no electricity, so they needed charcoal to cook. Projects like this are really important, don't just help people get by with less and save time but it also can help save plants from extinction and land becoming destroyed from soil erosion.

Something about seeing Sorted grow from college meals and passing sour dough starters to international advocacies and innovative gadget reviews. Just the sort of heart warming needed in these times. Thanks for this vid and everything, everyone!

I live in South Africa and we love our wonderbag. We use it often. The sorted team should try making some more South African dishes in a future video. It will be really cool to watch them try some of our traditional foods

I once rea a story by a woman who was visiting an elderly relative in another country (not sure where, but it was a northern country) who was cooking something that would ordinarily be simmered for hours. The elderly woman did the initial preparation and had it cooking away, then said something like "Now we put it to bed." She pulled the blankets back on her bed, then put the tightly-covered hot pot on the bed, turcked the blankets around it, and left it there for the rest of the day. Apparently this was a very traditional way of cooking from the elderly woman's childhood years. I have never heard any other story like this ever since then but have never forgotten it.

Ben was so proud of what he grew. Adorable.

The first time I saw this, I remember my Norwegian host dad telling me about dynegrøt (Duvet porridge) while he was teaching me how to make rice pudding. You get your rice pudding started, bring it to a boil, lid on, wrap it in newspaper, wrap it in your duvet, and go skiing. He mentioned string being involved to secure both paper and duvet. By the time you get back from skiing a few hours later, you have rice pudding. He wanted to try it out. My host mom, who loves the man she married but also washes all duvets in the house, did not. Also, there's a British version of this from WWII: hot pot of slow cooked food, wrapped in a cloth or newspaper, packed in a wooden box full of straw, saving you whatever rationed kind of fuel your stove runs on.

I half expected Ben to take out his own lamb that he raised himself...

We also have a similar item in Kenya only that ours come as an insulated basket rather than a bag but its the same concept and serves the exact same purpose and is mostly made by women for women Thankyou for highlighting it.

Fellow South African here, thank you for shedding light into such a wonderful cause. Once this pandemic is over it would be incredible for you guys to come to South Africa and experience our culture and our food!!! Maybe even organize a meet and greet so you can see how many South African fans you have

“all those flavours getting to know each other” for a split second this became a binging with babish video 😂

Y’all should do a vid where the normals cook something and the chefs guess who made it Or vice versa

I was lucky enough to spend time going around South Africa and Lesotho promoting and providing Wonderbags with the charity Africa's gift. It was amazing and we saw how much of an impact this has in the lives of everyday people. Not only does it help people's health and the environment massively, but it also provides women with more opportunities to work because they don't have to be sat around a fire all day cooking. I met some women in Lesotho who started a sewing group; sewing reusable sanitary pads for local school girls. They were only able to do this because they had more time, due to the wonderbag! Thanks so much for promoting this, you have no idea how much good this will do! P.s. Sarah Collins (the creator of the wonderbag) is such a rockstar and anyone interested should definitely look her up too. And I believe it's recycled foam inside them!

Ben: "I'm excited for this!!" James: "So am I, but I just show it in a different way Ben."

Things that never get old: - Sorted gadget reviews - bennuendos

Hey lovelies, if you want to help Wonderbag support families and communities who really need it, we’d love you to join us in making a donation. We’ve kicked things off with a £1,500 pledge and every little bit helps… £8/$10 will feed a family, £16/$20 provides them with a Wonderbag. Click here to donate and leave a comment saying “Love from Sorted”: bit.ly/sortedwonderbag Thank you so much!!

Can someone make a gif of Jamie saying "THAT, my friend, is called privelege" that's an incredibly useful clip

“It’s not about the size, it’s about the seed” lol

It’s basically a modern version of a hay box, where you put hay around the dish inside a box. The concept has been around for hundreds of years.

I just donated $27CAD to give a Wonderbag to a family.

James: "All those flavors getting to know each other a little bit." Babish: (STARES IN ANGRY NEWYORKER)

Not going to lie I look forward to the “ben it’s not worth it” in the intro 😂

There is a similar thing in Germany, that barely anybody uses these days. It's a cooking box, basically a box filled with isolating stuff like straw, newspaper, blankets, etc. Just leave barely enough space for the pot. All you have to do, is get whatever you want to cook (like ricepudding or a stew) boiling on a stove for just some minutes and then put it in the box to finish. It takes some hours, but no electricity, fire, etc. is needed. My grandma used to 'cook' ricepudding in the bed. They had those big, fluffy duvets filled with down. The bed was so warm afterwards, I loved cuddle in the warm bed afterwards. Wonderful memories.

This makes me really happy to see, and now im thinking it would be super cool if you guys started a series about food activism. Something for struggling families around London, or something like that. I would love to see one of my favorite channels continuing to acknowledge and actively work on acknowledging the privilege of food.

A viewer from Australia, donating to charity in Africa, all because of a youtube video made in the UK. The community you have created is incredible! Great work to the guys and the Wonder Bag team!

You might not need to use something like this, but saving energy while cooking cannot hurt. Besides which, with something like this you can make chili in the summer without heating up your kitchen so much. This technique works best with cookware that has some thermal mass, like cast iron or a cooper core bottom. You also don't need to go out and buy a wonder bag. I was inspired by the technique and used an ice cooler we had on hand to make vichyssoise this evening. For good measure, I lined the cooler with some reflective bubble wrap packaging I had from a food delivery.

This would be amazing to take on a car ride. Say you’re traveling to someone 3-4 hours away (or not even that long). Throw the lamb in there then throw the whole thing in the car. It’s ready when you get there! No reheating, no waiting.

James' biceps just keep getting bigger and bigger. Also, that blooper was such a chef moment

Me being a South African seeing them cook a Durban Lamb Currie just made me so happy

I grew up with my mum using these, she calls them toasty pumpkins. They’re so good

Jaime references made personal “5 or 6 years ago” Me: No. Nope. That was NOT that long ago. *contemplates how time works and then proceeds to try and figure out how long I’ve been a subscriber to sortedfood. Stops at 9 years because I have other things to do today. “It’s been a long, long time” Love you guys. It’s been a wonderful 8/9ish years! Thank you 🥰❤️😬

I love this video! My slow cooker is my ride or die as a shift worker. I can’t even imagine not having the electric to run it, which shows my privilege entirely. What an incredibly product! I’ll be sure to donate once payday rolls around.

Makes me so proud to see our South African ingenuity on such a grand stage! We truly do come from such a special country that is do vibrantly full of great people, great food and great culture. Also I got so happy to see Durban curry mentioned as a proud Durbanite! Sorted, please try making some of our other wonderful South African delicacies like Bunnychow, Koeksisters and Bobotie! You will truly not regret it. With love from SA 🇿🇦

I am from South Africa. Curry is a norm in my family. I have never needed to cook lamb curry in an oven or had it with banana. Come pay a visit when life is back to normal and experience SA!!! Also I have a few of the bags and love them. A huge part of SA culture is sharing. These bags really help when you need to move warm food from location to location.

Donated and put Sorted as the company as well as how I heard about it.

This is a modern take on haybox cooking.

You didnt boil the beef for long enough. I dont know if it didn’t come with instruction but you have to boil certain food items for sometimes up to an hour before putting into the insulated bag. So meat needs an hour of boiling where as rice just needs to come to the boil and then you can insulate it. When we teach the public to use a hay box we usually give them a time frame for common food items. Good of you guys to support this.

I have been watching Sorted for a few years....so glad to see my country being referenced 🇿🇦 can't wait to see more recipes from South Africa featured!

I have one of the Wonderbags. I live in Florida, US. I have it just in case of a hurricane and no power. Great company to support.

Dropped a 50 on em "love from sorted"

I can only hope the Wonderbag people ARE actually donating them and actually helping people in Africa. I paid for one donation and got another bag for myself. It works really well and we use it all the time for both cooking AND for keeping food warm/cool.

As someone who is currently living in South Africa, I really appreciate how you are bringing attention to this! There is a severe wealth gap in the country, and while some live with full houses in the cities, there are millions who live in destitute conditions. The Wonderbag is great for those who like to cook over fire for fun, sure, but how much work and resources it saves greatly helps those who need it most! Great video, guys!

This is amazing! I was fortunate enough to travel to South Africa earlier this year before CoVid started getting big and the culture there is outstanding, the food is out of this world. I'll happily donate to the "Love from Sorted" collective to support this wonderful cause!

This is a staple in every South African home ... how else do you take a biryani to the beach? #proudlysouthafrican

i was literally on the Wonderbag website about to donate whilst watching this video when you mentioned you've set up a 'collab' we have donated. Love from Sorted! Can't wait to see how much good you guys do! We love you and your work!

"that, my friend, is privilege" TOOK ME OUT LMAO he's right tho!

We need the ‘Wonderbag’ in India as well. It has an amazing backstory!

Aww man - so good to see some South African themed food! You guys should totally do some South African dishes, there's tons of South Africans in London :D

So cool to read all the comments about older cooking methods that save fuel! One of our biggest "first world problems" is thinking we new solutions because we forget what came before. So many of our problems come from our belief that old ways must have been forgotten because they didn't work well. Great video bringing attention to a great product and project! Thank you for sharing! BTW, why so many dislikes? What?

I had a teacher in elementary school who would do a similar thing -- in the morning she would do prep for stew and durnig her lunch break, she would run home, get the whole pot boiling, and then took it off the burner and covered it in old newspapers and several big heavy wool blankets. when she came back home in the evening, she would have stew ready for herself and her kiddies.

Classic dish here in Denmark is Risengrød - a rice porridge made with milk. Cooking time on the stove is about 45 minutes, but it's been well known for ages that just bringing it to a boil and leaving the pot in bed under a duvet all day will make a perfect result (older version was to put the pot in a box of hay).

Sorted: this is brand new concept! Grandmas in Poland: we were doing this with pillows for rice or potatoes (to finish them or keep warm) for ages! XD

Here in Germany during and after World War II people had "cooking boxes", boxes that were stuffed with foam, newspaper and which ever insulating materials were to hand. The principle was the same, you started cooking something on a stove and then put it in the box for a couple of hours and the residual heat would do its work, so you would not have to use so many coals. It is great to see this idea having a comeback.

Also a chef here and I feel this is a perfect cooking product for places less fortunate than most of us. Donated a Wonderbag and food for a month!

Thank you so much for supporting someone who is finding innovative ways to save resources in this world and help others👍

Barry's acting isn't fooling anyone - his face gives away his real feelings on bananas (I'm right there with ya)

Donated Wonderbag, face masks and food for a month to a family. Thank you for highlighting this cause!

Lol I love how Ben is so elated about his home-brought ingredients. I recently found you guys, love you all so much! I've learned a lot already and enjoy the banter as well.

Is there a way to like a video a million times? Fantastic video, amazing product, and Jamie’s “That’s called privilege” speech was everything 👌🏼

Before watching this video, I bet it works just like some old Danish recipes that call for the pot to be put under the duvet/the bedding for hours. That insulates the heat as well and can keep things hot for many hours. :-)

Ben is so chuffed about bringing in the things he has grown and I’m so happy for him. If I had grown ingredients I would be pretty pleased with myself as well. 😊❤️

The conversation that starts around 8:36 is my favorite bit. Thank you for highlighting this amazing work...

I use a thermal cooker. A bloke who styles himself “Mr. D.” sells them. I also cook soup in a thermos. Boil veg . and stock/flavourings 10 mins, put in a pre heated thermos and 2 or 3 hours later, soup!

I’ve donated! It’s not much but every little helps. “Love Sorted” yep - we do!

On the science of these, it likely helps to store the bag in a warm space. Therefore the insulation would have to do slightly less work. So the southen hemasphre communities this is made for might have a better exsperiance with it than us in the far north.

As a South African, from Durban - these are popular and they definitely work. Especially good for curry.

One bag donated! Thank you Sorted, from Iceland with love.

Donated a bag. :) Also trying that rice pudding recipe, it looks heavenly. *drools*

This is an ingenious test on a product that makes a real difference. Thanks Sorted Crew for bringing awareness to this! You're doing great work!

I’ve been doing retained heat cooking for decades. You have more problems than you acknowledged with your short rib experiment. You appeared to cook it with the lid off & only covered it just before putting in the bag & your pot wasn’t full enough. This method of cooking does best with a good liquid base to contribute to the thermal mass so it retains heat longer. Air isn’t good at retaining heat. It’s more important with the big chunks of beef & bone than it was with the thin lamb chops. The lid on is important during cooking. Adding the lid at the end doesn’t trap as much heat as I’d it had been on the whole time. It’s nice you’re bringing awareness to the cooking issues in South Africa. The Wonder Bag is a riff on what Solar Cookers International (SCI) has been doing for much longer & in more third world countries; but, obviously with solar cooking. Their Wonder Bag, so to speak, is the CooKit; however, they tend to focus more on local solutions with local materials available and disseminating information on the technology. It’s shocking how little you really need to cook with the sun. A bit of cardboard (or a car sun reflector), dark pot & turkey roasting bag (for insulation). I’ve cooked stuff outside with nothing more than an auto Sun windshield reflector, and a turkey roasting bag (for insulation). To bad the UK isn’t probably a great location for solar cooking. It’s big fun. If you want to take retained heat cooking up a level, have a look at the Thermos Shuttle Chef.

Aaaah this is so exciting! We had one of these growing up in KZN. I'm so glad a fellow South African's amazing invention is getting recognition.

I can always tell when Mike edits a video because of things like the Nope error screen. And because he doesn't get to eat the yummy food. Did you at least share with him after you finished?

I love how this video was film as an experiment at first, and then it turns to be bigger when it become a way to help others and give back to society. Well done, Sorted team! Who knew a channel that started to help others to learn to cook, is now giving more to the world. We are proud of you, boys!

This project is incredible, and the fact that you guys went the extra mile to promote, is just 💛 I would’ve never heard of this if you hadn’t shown it and now I can recommend it to so many people around me who will definitely benefit from it, so thanks

I have one of these and the Wonderbags are INCREDIBLE!! Perfect for starting off a dinner prep in the morning before heading off to work and delish perfectly cooked dinner when you get home.

Again i suggest „pass it on - Trifle“ sweet or savory, each three layers with minimum height in a big glass bowl... 🙏😉❤️

So happy to see a South African thing featured! The wonderbag can be life changing for so many people. So happy

this is great for everyone, really. saves energy and doesnt heat up your kitchen. anything that cooks for 3-4 hours can be a hassle, but with this, you just wrap it up and forget it. pretty cool.

Should have kept a digital thermometer in the bags for proper testing.

James calling Ben "Chef" made me giggle.

To see your country featured on your favourite KZfaq channel is quite exciting. My family have been using the food bag for ages, my grandmother and aunt have been using them for decades. My mom uses it to cook meats that need a long time. Because there's no direct heat, you need to cook things for longer, so maybe the beef shortrib just needs more time. As someone who is from Durban, I must strongly object to that "Durban curry".

Just gave $50 USD on behalf of Sorted. Thanks for all you do. *chef's kiss*

What a cool invention! And so needed. Let's go and donate, everybody 💪

This was really cool guys, well done!

and that's why we not only like but LOVE you! Thank you Sorted for not only showing the world what amazing friendship looks like but what each of us can do to change the world for the better.

I lived in western Kenya for a year with an amazing local family, and our kitchen was three stones and a fire. Mama Joyce always laughed that I couldn't handle the smoke - my eyes would water so bad. But as a die-hard baker and birthday celebrator, I couldn't not brave the fire to make the two little girls in the family birthday cakes. For the oven I would have a big pot with sand in the bottom, and then put the smaller pot with the cake batter in it, cover the big pot with a lid and then heap it with coals. Kinda like I was taught as a kid to make Damper. Oh how I would have loved to have a wonderbag! It would have saved so many tears!

It's like the opposite of an ad, where you give them money! Love it!

Guys I just wanted to say: I love how you always bring light to things I didn't even know existed! Thank you for that, I really enjoy it! Greetings from the Netherlands

Insulated slow cookers have been around forever- they're very popular with caravanners in Australia. They work really well. The idea of creating these to aid low income communities is brilliant. Never heard of it until now. Well done for bringing it to a new audience and soliciting (not in THAT way, Jamie!) the support you have. Recall seeing women in India hauling huge loads of wood on their heads in the morning, only to repeat the effort in the evening. Not to mention the fug of smoke hanging over the slums. Incidentally, if you are interested, look up how the residents of Dharavi Slum in Delhi are handling the Covid situation. A brilliant community, if you've seen the place you'd be amazed they could have any system of control there at all.

I have had my Wonderbag for several years and love it. I also use it as a freezer to transport frozen food when I go on a self catering holiday - it's brilliant!

this also good for people who only have a gas burner and want to make something like ramen broth which is normally simmered overnight.

"that my friend is called privilege" Jamie really put things into perspective

I saw someone comment that they couldn’t purchase a Wonderbag from the web page and have it sent to the USA in 2020. As of April 2021, I was able to purchase one from their web page and mail it to myself in the US, as well as donate a bag and face masks and food for a month. It appears that fabric options vary based on if you’re purchasing from the USA or South Africa. Thanks so much for sharing the donation link, and I was able to comment “Love from Sorted in the USA.” 😄

What a fantastic invention! One of my microbiology professors would spend half a year teaching at university and half in Africa and the Philippines educating rural communities and helping to provide resources for water testing and solar cooking. They developed a solar panel cooker made out of cardboard lined with foil. It folded very compact and was super lightweight. Of course reliant on sunlight, and would need replacing over time, but easy to re-make as well. He would get groups of students to volunteer assembling water testing kits, and we received a solar cooker for our help. I still have mine, and have used it to cook with my students.