good thread
Thanks to you and sapien and some others. Time to liven the menu up a bit.
Unless is is Stocked
trout, I would not eat wild freshwater fish, high in mercury.I also might prepare and freeze a stew or chili in a ziplock for the second dinner. it will keep plenty cold in a soft lunch size cooler. differnt cheeses and salumi and other cured meats are durable and don’t need ice if they are in with the stew, make a great lunch. Frozen veggies also do double duty by keeping other things cold and as a side dish that is simple to prepare
good gawd no no no
If you take fresh eggs leave them in the shell. Once you crack them open you invite salmonella with a big welcome mat.
I take fresh eggs that last a week without refrigeration. In their shells in an egg carrier. I buy direct from farmer and the eggs never see a refrigerator.
The shell protects from contamination by things than can make you very ill.
easy there
Mercury contamination ranges from place to place, and for some areas you can get a publication that shows an acceptable level of a given fish. If I was going to fish to eat I’d do some research but odds are it should be safe.
If eating one fish over a weekend paddle is going to kill you you probably ought not be paddling there in the first place.
You misunderstood
Do not crack them into the sandwich bags until ready to cook.
You are correct on all points.
eggs
love the egg idea!! I have plenty of farmers around also to buy like that as well.
OK
thanks for the clarification. I have seen people take shelled fresh eggs in Nalgenes, and that to me is playing Russian Roulette.
meals for short trip
I agree with the experienced posters. For a short trip, bring real food. Be aware of weight, buy everything from a good grocery store. A stove is handy for breakfast and lunch especially. Forget poptarts and kid food.
Yep
It not only varies from place to place, but from species to species and age to age. Even in areas where mercury is a recognized concern and certain long-lived species are likely to contain this ane various other nasty pollutants, the younger individuals can be quite safe to eat, and other fish species that grow quickly and have a rapid turn-around aren’t much cause for concern either. Further, mentioning trout in this context does not exactly conjure up images of the kind of water having large volumes of low-density bottom sediment that has been collecting pollutants for decades, but rather hard-bottomed waterways subject to constant flushing and having virtually no capturing/holding capacity for whatever pollutants might arrive in trace amounts via rain. If one is going to fret over such things, one can save a lot of anxiety if one doesn’t abandon his ability to think about which factors contribute to the problem and which ones do not.
Im guilty on poptarts.
I think I would be better with good jam, cream cheese and tortillas.
Out with the tarts!!
BTW dehydrated food IS real food. But not necessary for two days. If you have lots of portages in those two days dehydrating is something to consider. And it saves on a cooler… which is not your portage pal.
Ditto on Jack
Forget about the idea of eat what you catch.
If no catch / then no eat.
Peanut butter those PopTarts
They’re almost empty calories without something like peanut or almond butter on them. Plus, they taste much better with nut butter. Since there are 2 tarts in a packet, I used to thickly slather PB on one and top it with the second tart, to make a breakfast that would keep me going much longer than plain PopTarts would. Yes, this actually was a not-infrequent easy camping or road trip breakfast of mine.
Keep them from getting smooshed by putting them in plastic sandwich boxes, the kind that is like Tupperware shaped for a sandwich. These boxes also work great for crackers, chips, cookies, and other delicate items.
Instead of canned meat, you can buy foil-bagged cooked meat (or chicken or fish) in ordinary supermarkets. Slightly less weight than canned, and the washed packages can be more easily packed out than cans. Also, for an easy snack, pack some beef jerky.
Relax and just bring stuff you like to eat. Even if it’s not quite enough to satisfy ravenous appetites, you’re not going to starve in only a couple of days. It’s water you need to be careful about.
Cooking
So, this is about the cooking, not the food. I just got my $$ back from REI as well as a 20% coupon, and went in lookin’ to buy a Jetboil since I’ve heard so much about them. But, they told me that the stove would need to be dry to start and that constant water emersion would damage it. No thanks! I’ll stick with my trusty, immersible, trigger-start BenzOmatic TS400 propane torch. Fairly cheap at Lowe’s or Home Depot (40-50 bucks), just pull it out of your wet boat, screw on a small or large propane bottle and pull the trigger. Fire, Baby! No set up, no fuss. If you want, keep the bottle attached, it won’t leak and has a trigger lock, but it does pack easier without being attached. I’ve used this for everything from fire starter, water heater, soup-in-a-can heater to grilling meat on a shish kabob. Never failed to start on the first trigger pull after sloshing in the water and in pouring rain (Whittier, Alaska).