Clothing
Often people pack too many clothes and not enough food.
If you have to carry water and will be making waterless camps carrying dehydrated foods doesn’t make much sense. The extra gas needed to rehysrate your food makes dried food not very practical at times. I turned to canned goods when a climbing guide pointed out the pros of using them. His favorite snack was canned peaches.
Try this. Go into a grocery store and wander up and down the isles looking for food that used while camping. Do this when you aren’t shopping for specific items. That way you can keep your mind on what you’re doing.
Sardines
I really like sardines right out of the can, and smoked oysters, either canned or now, in the pouch. I am going to go to Alaska this summer however, and I question whether I should take anything FISHY . . . or to brown bears, is food just food, no matter whether it’s fishy or not? I’m worried about those empty smashed cans and empty pouches smelling of their favorite food . . .
Wondering in Port Angeles
Cache Lake
Best dehydrated food I’ve tried so far. They have meats too. The breads are excellent. Even fix 'em at home once in a while.
http://www.cachelake.com/
JK
Wow, thanks for the info on
Mary Jane it seems like a great source for food. My wife and I are ovo-lacto vegetarians which leaves us with few options for prepared foods. Also, my wife really looks at the labels so that leaves us with even fewer choices. For example, looks at the back of Ramen noodles and you’d think you’re eating fried chicken. Thai Kitchen’s soups are OK though. We also do a lot of shopping at a health food store.
In the morning we find that if we do any cooking besides the basics we’d be lucky to get on the water before 9 AM. Lunch is just snacking. The evening meal depends on the weather, how far we paddled, how long it takes to find a camping spot and the time. The last trip up in BC on Takla lake we’d get up at four thirty to get some paddling in before the wind picked up. Most of the day we were beached so to make any distance we paddled late. Frequently, when we wanted to stop, we couldn’t find a camp spot and it was raining. Freeze dried food saved the day. We’re thinking of using it for breakfast since it would give us a better start in the morning. I don’t eat sweets so that eliminates a lot of breakfast foods. I admire anyone that has the energy to whip a better meal and still make any distance paddling.
Ovo-lacto vegetarians ???
Forgive my ignorance, but what does that mean? Sounds like it is very restrictive but don’t know for sure. Is this “by choice” or “medical necessity”?
Thanks,
Jeff
food
Bear Creek Soup - just add to hot water, the less water the thicker, add packaged chicken or ready cooked packaged bacon, depending on the flavor soup. Add a couple pieces of peta bread to the chicken noodle for a dumpling effect.
eggs, dairy?
just a guess
We discussed a couple weeks ago
Some great ideas, even if you are not a vegetarian you will find many of these very satisfying.
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=399752
My particular recipes:
Though I’m not a vegetarian, I find meat a pain to take along on trips. Having to have a cooler full of it and enough ice to keep it cold enough, no thanks, I like to travel light.
One thing I really love to take with me is risotto. You can get it in the 4-serving boxes with the seasoning packet, and it’s really good. Add extra parmesan cheese (assuming you’re ovo-lacto), and you’ve supplemented the protein.
Another thing I like to make is couscous. Again you can get the boxed version with the seasonings. I get one with minimal seasoning, and bring with me a little bottle of olive oil, some shallots, some golden raisins, some cut fresh french green beans, maybe some julienned sundried tomatoes, and either cashews or canned garbanzo beans for protein.
I gotta have meat…
I’m better off avoiding fatty meats, and cheese, (IBS)…and I’ll go to extremes to avoid any and all pastas (the wife does pasta to death) but I love chicken, fish, especially tuna.
Not very restrictive for a vegetarian.
It’s just the next step after giving up red meat and fowl. We’ll eat cheese, eggs and fish. It took us a long time to make the step but my wife had to watch her fatty foods so we decided to make the next step. I was brought up in Chicago and like “Saturday Night Live’s” Bears super fan, after every meal you beat your chest because of indigestion and then wait for the big one. Partly we got interested in becoming a psuedo vegetarian after reading Bill Pearl’s - a former world champion weight lifter who preceded the Terminator - book on fitness who did the same. I find giving up the meat an easier way to avoid the fast foods. I can resist anything but temptation, so if it’s not in front of me, I can resist it. I lived in India for several years and found it easy not to eat meat, not so in the USA. If the trend continues in the USA, stores like Wal-Mart will have to super size their doors so people can fit through them.
you have at least one day for cold food
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i often make a healthy batch of chili at home, freeze it in a nalgene bottle, use it as ice for milk and other goodies i'll consume within 48 hours. that way you can just warm up a good meal from home on the first night and have milk and even fruit and vegetables for a day or two. i just use a small cooler and store the items until they run out. also, guiness is my beer of choice for trips. i like it at room temp. so it's not necessary to carry ice or a cooler. i usually drink one or two pints a day, not enough to get drunk or a hangover.
other than that, i agree with the grocery store approach. you can always boil a rice dish and add some canned or packaged meat, such as tuna or chicken. i also take an all-spice that i make myself at home.
Lets eat…
All gotten at the grocery and much less expensive than deehighdrated food…tuna in a bag is real tastie…I don’t know what kinda products in yer part of the country…pizza is a snap w/Bobli pizza bread already to heat in a fry pan…comes in a vac pack bag…I cook everything w/olive oil…
cup o soup
cup o potatoes
bags or box o soup
bag o chili
can o salsa
cans o beef (comes ina small can like tuna, taste great)
can o bamboo shoots
tuna bags
squeeze butter
instant rice
pasta
bag o mixed veggies
tube o tomatoe paste
tube o pesto
pwd milk
dried veggies
dried fruit
Boboli pizza bread
tortillas
parmesan cheese/sharp cheddar
olive oil for cooking
pita bread
pam
macaroni/cheese
can o spam
eggs
pancake mix/suryp
apples
oranges
onions
garlic
curry mix
mayo, catsup, soy sauce, mustard packets
spices
Italian dry salami
nuts
falafil mix…w/pita bread is good
coconut schredded…for curry and rice
coffee/filter
I like dehydrated
And I do some of my own.
Water is for losers. Never carry more than I intend to drink. Granted I trip on fresh water, so a drink is never more than a dip of the bottle away.
TVP, textured vegetable protein can boost any meal.
There are all sorts of things, even just from the grocery store, that are just-add-water meals.
Get rid of the extra packaging. Get as close to one meal one bag as you can, or better.
so much to take on sucy
a short trip. Root vegetables. Take a raw egg, rub it with candle wax to seal the pores and get a coughlans egg carrier (Make sure to buy the right sized eggs for the carrier). Dried onion flakes, find a place that sells frontier on line, or fantastic foods products. angle hair pasta omlettes almond butter jam bread of any type. Precooked bacon!
Frozen shrimp for the first 24 hours sun dried tomatoes oh man on a three day trip you cna eat like a king.
A trip to the grocery store
is all you need these days to eat like a king on the river. Ground beef, tuna and chicken all come in foil pouches. Add powdered milk, dry soup mix and some pasta, maybe even a can of veggies and there are hundreds of recipes at your disposal. A good place to start if you need ideas are boy scout cook books. There are a bunch of them on the internet. They have already done the legwork, all you need to do is adapt them to smaller portions.
My camping spice rack
I like to pack VERY light, but still like food with flavor, so I carry:
A small can of grated parmesan cheese
Tabasco sauce
Lawry’s seasoned salt
Beef bouillion cubes
Packets of powdered chicken bouillion
When I backpacked through Africa I only took a small bottle of tabasco and a small can of Lawry’s seasoned salt. They made everything I cooked or bought taste better.
I backpacked across northern
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Africa in 73...used a plastic sheet for shelter and took a box grainola for food..stayed gone 3 months and slept in a bed only once..
I got over refrigeration as a
backpacker. Once you can cut that cord, your camping life is so much easier. Used to be that if you did not like tuna, you were screwed. Now, they make just about every kind of meat in foil pouches and they are all pretty good. You do not need to go to some exotic store; WalMart usually has a good supply and variety. Pita is my bread of choice -keeps well, stows easily, takes a beating. Eggs require no refrigeration for several days; smoked meats and hard cheeses keep well. Soups, stews, etc. Spend some time in the grocery being creative and thinking a little outside the box. I have never been the least bit hungry on a trip.