I just finished a wonderful 5 day solo kayak camping trip. It was great, but I did a terrible job packing my food. I just packed everything in dry bags, somewhat separated by day to be used. Tomatoes and veggies all got crushed, crackers were crumbles, tomato juice from the tomatoes got on everything, etc.
How do you guys pack your food? What containers or bags do you use?
Th answer is what I wrote on your “dehydrated food” post.
The next time you go stop at Wally World or go on line and order some “Mountain House”, or equal packaged dehydrated meals .
Lots and lots of ziplock baggies BEFORE the stuff goes in the dry bags. Anything crushable (like fruit and vegetables) in hard shell containers like tupperware or plastic screw top peanut butter or Talenti sorbet containers. Don’t take crackers – stick with pita bread (which is pre-flattened). Though the small Wheat Thins are pretty durable IF you put them in a jar, not a bag. You don’t have to spend a fortune on backpacking store freezedried food – there are plenty of selections of quick to fix meals in the standard grocery stores. The foil-packed salmon and albacore tuna are handy and easy to pack. Dried eggs reconstitute easily. Instant rice and ramen noodles are light and cook fast. Look in the grocery store condiments and spices aisles for dehydrated Butter Buds. These are little packets of dried butter solids that you can mix into any camping “goulash” or omelet to add a lot of flavor. Get a package of sprouts (I like pea sprouts and broccoli sprouts) and carry in a plastic jar for crunch in sandwiches and to make salads. They don’t need to be refrigerated – just rinse them if you are out for more than a couple of days. Kodiak Cakes pancake mix only needs water and is delicious and high protein (has several flavors).
I was a backpacking guide and trip leader for years and almost never used freez-edried foods, even when I worked for an outfitter and could get the stuff wholesale. Some of it was OK, even tasty, but it was costly (and for some reason it really makes you fart – a lot – after a few days of it.)
Gas resorbtion?
Dried eggs are almost impossible to find in Canada… I keep hearing wails from that side because we have Ova Easy and they don’t
What Willowleaf said. Also if timing is right you can bring something homemade that was in the freezer for the first night’s dinner. Something like a chunky stew that will take abuse and be filling.
JackL, poster here is the same one who asked about camping on salt water and using carried water to rehydrate food. Per other thread, carrying water to rehydrate food could be an issue in some areas.
@Celia said:
What Willowleaf said. Also if timing is right you can bring something homemade that was in the freezer for the first night’s dinner. Something like a chunky stew that will take abuse and be filling.JackL, poster here is the same one who asked about camping on salt water and using carried water to rehydrate food. Per other thread, carrying water to rehydrate food could be an issue in some areas.
I read and answered both posts
As a 40 year (or more) back country multi day camper I learned from experience that dehydrated foods take a lot less water than prepping/messing and cooking fresh veggies, etc.
My answer was for the OP He can descide what he wants after reading all the replies
FWIW, I have tried using salt water to boil some fresh foods. Since I am a bit of a salt fiend, it was OK as long as you made sure to not let the pots sit wo rinsing when you get in. That would literally depend on your taste.
so if it’s pretty much, a ‘wash’, go with your preference.
However, a couple of notes:
also, for ‘emergency’ food: carry dehy to lesson the load
if you’re going to be away from a town for a long period of time, carry a portable desalinator (very inefficient, but life saver in emergency)
(above, assuming paddling salt-water)
Thank you for the replies!
@JackL: Thank you for the ideas. I’m not really interested in prepackaged, processed meals. I have plenty of room in the kayak to bring fresh ingredients, and no problem prepping them with minimal mess or water usage. I just need some tips on the best way to pack these foods!
@willowleaf: Great ideas, thank you! It’s looking like tupperware is the way to go.
@Celia: Is using the salt water safe from a pathogen standpoint? Do you just make sure to boil it >10min? Filter it before hand to get out any grit? I like the idea. It’d work great for pasta, where you want well salted water anyway.
Re: Dried eggs. Ironically, the eggs I brought were totally fine in one of those plastic egg containers from REI.
@kayamedic said:
Dried eggs are almost impossible to find in Canada…
And not really necessary. Fresh eggs is one of the luxuries I allow myself on a trip. They can last for weeks without cooling, and if you pack the original packing inside a hard box, they can take a lot of abuse.
But they do take up space…
Edit: You shouldn’t trust what I wrote above about eggs not needing cooling. Read comments below.
I can’t help but think of eggs and ham in C rations. Never knew anyone to get sick but the green eggs were a bit off putting.
@Allan Olesen said:
@kayamedic said:
Dried eggs are almost impossible to find in Canada…And not really necessary. Fresh eggs is one of the luxuries I allow myself on a trip. They can last for weeks without cooling, and if you pack the original packing inside a hard box, they can take a lot of abuse.
But they do take up space…
I would make scrambled by accident… Portages can be long and tricky… And I am good at falling on corduroy.When you load and unload a canoe 12 times a day with the occasional falling with pack on, fresh is not your friend
At home I buy fresh eggs from an Amish farm and they are unwashed ( still have the bloom on)and sit on the counter in an egg basket. No need to refrigerate. Your supermarket egg is processed to require refrigeration and often is 2 months old before you buy it.
@Allan Olesen said:
Fresh eggs is one of the luxuries I allow myself on a trip. They can last for weeks without cooling
Where are you located? Many countries vaccinate the hens against salmonella (and don’t wash their eggs) which allows them to keep their eggs unrefrigerated. In the US, vaccination is not required and eggs are washed which apparently increases risk. As a consequence, eggs are always kept refrigerated.
https://livinghomegrown.com/day-13-must-fresh-eggs-be-refrigerated/
no. Not if you know the source and trust it. Does not apply to factory farmed eggs!!
@kayamedic said:
https://livinghomegrown.com/day-13-must-fresh-eggs-be-refrigerated/no. Not if you know the source and trust it. Does not apply to factory farmed eggs!!
Of course I wasn’t talking about your niche Amish eggs but standard US grocery store eggs.
Other foods that have occurred to me that I have used for camp meals in the past few years:
Aldi’s has small plastic pouches of pre-cooked real bacon bits or chunks (larger bits) that don’t need to be refrigerated – mix with your eggs or add to sandwiches. And, as others have noted, you can keep eggs for several days (if you get fresh ones from the farmer’s market.)
Hard cheeses like aged cheddar and asiago or wax coated semi-soft cheeses like gouda and Bon Bel keep for days w/o refrigeration. So will summer sausage and dry salami (be sure to pre-slice before the trip or bring a sharp knife with you.)
Both Trader Joe’s and Aldi sell small round pita-like whole grain breads called “sandwich thins” that pack really well. They are split (like English muffins but much flatter) and the right size to fit in most camping frying pans – dump sliced sausage or salami plus cheese shavings, sun dried tomatoes and chopped red onion on the bread, top with balsamic glaze (available in a handy plastic squeeze bottle at Aldi’s) and heat it up over your camp stove with lid or foil over it until the cheese melts. The balsamic glaze is great on any vegetable as well. It’s easier to carry than balsamic vinegar because it’s thicker and won’t leak out of the bottle.
You can get both tomato and pesto sauce in plastic tubes in many grocery stores.
@melenas said:
@Allan Olesen said:
Fresh eggs is one of the luxuries I allow myself on a trip. They can last for weeks without coolingWhere are you located? Many countries vaccinate the hens against salmonella (and don’t wash their eggs) which allows them to keep their eggs unrefrigerated.
Denmark. And I learned something new now. Here in northern Europe, the stores keep the eggs refrigerated. When I travel to southern Europe, they keep them unrefrigerated. Based on the latter I made a wrong assumption about the general need for refrigeration.
Anyway, the supermarket eggs here are (mostly) naturally salmonella free. No vaccination. The egg farms get regularly tested, and if salmonella is found, they are not allowed to sell their eggs. And I wouldn’t eat raw eggs on a kayaking trip either, so the salmonella is not really a concern to me. I am more concerned about the eggs going “old”, which hasn’t happened to me yet, even though I have violated all rules and taken washed, refrigerated eggs with me on a trip.
@edh87
On the pathogens and grit part. I have done this in midcoast Maine, once the red tide risk was cleared even a couple of miles away closer to land. That has only occasionally been a factor into July in the area I visit. I have no idea if the red tide nearer land would be an issue for me sitting a couple of miles out from a hot spot, but easier not to try. And yes, boil it tho’ I can’t tell you the time.
I may have an easier time on the grit part than most because of where I go. Grit is more of a problem where the water is coming in over sand. The islands in Maine beyond Casco Bay pretty much all have a seaward facing side where it is just rock at all or most tide phases. If you can reach a spot to pull water to start with, the bigger issue will be bits of seaweed which can be plucked out.
I also have a long tendency to try and eat what I find outside, at least to try it. Just not mushrooms because I have never learned them. But I can pretty much identify all the varieties of hickory nuts that are best left for the squirrels. This is maybe not normal. 
https://livinghomegrown.com/day-13-must-fresh-eggs-be-refrigerated/
no. Not if you know the source and trust it. Does not apply to factory farmed eggs!!> @melenas said:
@kayamedic said:
https://livinghomegrown.com/day-13-must-fresh-eggs-be-refrigerated/no. Not if you know the source and trust it. Does not apply to factory farmed eggs!!
Of course I wasn’t talking about your niche Amish eggs but standard US grocery store eggs.
niche eggs they are not… They are merely local… Old eggs are easy to spot… They float. Do not eat them… Does not matter who they came from.
Those awful mozzarella sticks keep for two weeks in the Everglades heat and humidity… Full of preservatives!
And flour tortillas never seem to mold… We ate some canoeing in FL in March and the rest stayed in the york box… Looking at them yesterday they never molded… Must be full of preservatives!