Onions, carrots, cabbage, potatoes
YOu can also picle a lot of veggies and carry them with you but its a heavy way to go. Dried tomatoes are good too.
Most of my trips are less than 5 days so I rely on dried fruit, nuts, carrots and oatmeal for my fiber. I take along a daily vitamin and extra vitamin C. If there are eatable greens along the trip I eat them and I drink a lot of tea. Other than that I don’t worry a lot about nutrition, because as long as I get enough easily digestible calories, I’ll be able to paddle hard until I get back home.
I’d worry more about bringing along enough chocolate and Honey. In the warmer months Chocolate travels better inside a good cookie.
root vegetables
Root vegetables generally do well. Onions, carrots, yams, potatos, etc. These are often the ones that are not refrigerated in the stores, so kind of matches that thought.
On carrots - get whole carrots (not those peeled baby carrots). They last much longer.
If the water of cooler than the air, the thought mentioned about keeping these items closer to the bottom of the boat does also work.
You can also freeze meat and use this as your ice for the first few days. Put it all inside a soft sided cooler, or even just inside a dry bag (which provides some thermal protection benefits).
cooler
Why not just bring a little soft-sided cooler?
If you really don’t want to, here’s how long they last (if kept in the shade):
one week+: whole cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, winter squash, turnips, rutabagas, jicama
3 days: green beans, green pepper, zuchinni, corn on the cob (in its husk), tomatoes (Never put them in the fridge! Cold ruins their flavor)
Once you slice any of these, they’ll go bad much more quickly.
Partly, I’m lazy
Time and availability prompted my question. I’m way into dehydrating my own meals, but on this trip I start off on an airplane and was looking to lighten up the baggage. If I bring all my food on the plane with me, that’s more to pack and carry. Whereas, if I hit a grocery store before I put on, I can load up at that point, and good as the dehydrated stuff is, fresh is, well, fresh. The problem in loading up at the grocery store is I’m picky about what I eat, so most prepared stuff is out, don’t plan on taking a cooler, and even if I ate meat wouldn’t have time or capability to use some of the innovative freezer techniques described by the posters above.
In my meat-eating past I made some trips where we’d make up a froozen cooler ahead of time, keep it under a space blanket, only open it once a day, and eat gourmet meals for ten days at a time. That can work, but takes prep time I won’t have prior to put-in.
I guess I’ll just figure on fresh stuff for two days. I know broccoli and green beans can make two days.
Trip is down Utah’s Green River. Apparently they take their leave no trace seriously out there. Arid, cryptobiotic soil, etc. So, no cat holes. What’s a groover?
~~Chip
Good one!
Corn on the cob! Hadn’t thought of that–comes in its own wrapper. Beauty.
Thanks, I wondered about green pepper. I’m having some on day two! Great info.
~~Chip
groover
"Groover" is a throwback to the older days when folks used military surplus rocket boxes as portable toilets.
When you sat on them they left grooves.
Groover
I hate to answer this in a thread about what food to eat, but since you asked, “What’s a Groover?” Quick answer is it’s a portable toilet that leaves a groove in your butt if you sit on it. I’m told some folks in the past have used old ammo cans as … uh … the “can” on leave-no-trace trips.
Green /Colorado
Wife & I have done the Green R inc paddling upstream on Colorado to Potash. You’re gonna love it. An awesome float & worthy of be called “Best flatwater trip in Lower 48”
Can e you a TR if interested ?
How about canned vegetables?
Groover
Best bet is to rent one from an outfitter. When we went last year our outfitter, who was not fond of a certain Utah Senator, called their groover the Orin Hatch
Chia Pet
just kidding but people have taken along bean sprouts in little planter things that you can buy at grocery stores - just tear some of the sprouts off and more growns, I think. Should last a few days.
green pepper
I just got back from the Ozarks and had green peppers that were unrefrigerated the entire time, approximately 1 week. Temperatures were similar to what you mentioned, maybe the highs were low-to-mid 70’s. I used the last pepper last night at home. For home use, I usually refrigerate peppers until I’m ready to use them, and always refrigerate them after I cut them, but when camping, I just take them in my camp box.
Jill
Veggie life
I think life expectancy of produce would depend on freshness (duh). Meaning, you don’t know how long it has sat in the grocery store before you eventually bought it. I would think that a life of 2 days unrefrigerated would be reasonable though. Fresh picked would last the longest.
Tom
veggies and fruit
For a trip less than 5 days - you can bring loads of stuff. As someone else mentioned, it is best to get the freshest produce so that it lasts the longest. For longer trips, have to add in some dehydrated and dried fruits/veggies.
Store most things in some sort of light colored bag in your open boat. Definitely wetting the exterior of the bag will keep things cooler than a dry. The soft side insulated bags work well and you would pack them collapsed and fill at the grocery store upon your arrival.
Many times I will even bring broccoli for day 1 and 2, even though that will start to yellow quickly when warm although still edible.
Bring zip locks to store your veggies in within the soft side insulated bag. Before putting the veggies in the bag, place a dry paper towel - this will keep the veggies dry and they are less likely to get slimey that way.
Veggies I like to bring:
onions, garlic, leeks, celery
potatoes, sweet potatoes
cabbage, broccoli, green beans and hard squash
carrots, jicama, grape tomatoes
red and green peppers, hot peppers if they look good
pickling cucumbers not european in plastic
olives
Fruits:
avocados, apples, grapes for day 1/2, cantaloupe, baby watermelon,oranges, mangoes, pineapple
Grow your own sprouts
It’s true - I’ve seen where people grow sprouts in a Nalgene on their trips. Cool idea.
as an added benefit
you could lose some weight
booztalkin
We have a lot of the same interests in kayaking and camping. You owe it to yourself to get Linda Daniel’s Kayak Cookery (http://www.amazon.com/Kayak-Cookery-2nd-Linda-Daniel/dp/0897322363). She has a chapter on just which foods will last 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, etc.; a chapter on how to shop (with great tips/things I had never thought of); how to keep a running supply of sour dough, how to grow sprouts, etc. It’s a classic and still the best IMHO. Check it out!
Veges and fruits
Onions, cabbage, avocados, carrots, apples, from longest lasting to shorter. Anything else needs to be eaten first day. Compared to produce that is in bad shape, non-fresh food that does keep looks better and better to me as my trips wear on. Going without produce sure beats getting sick from stuff that has gone bad.
Source makes a big difference.
– Last Updated: May-07-09 10:28 PM EST –
WHERE you buy your vege makes a HUGE difference. People who say green pepper only last 2 days got the experience from green pepper they bought from supermarket. They've been on the truck for days being driven to the supermarket and then sat on shelf for another couple days before you buy them. Fresh green peper last a week easy!
So, if possible, probably the best is to buy them from a farm stand that's next to a farm (not a city "farmer market" who bought their produce from a whole saler!).
If you have to buy from a city supermarket, they're not created equal either. Whole food has fresher produce than King Kollen (a east coat chain that's known for really poor quality).
Contrary to intuition, don't get the vege from the refrigerated section. Once they've been refigerated, they go bad quite quickly back in room temperature.
If you know how to pick fresh vegetables, pick the fresh ones from the pile. It makes a huge difference too. I grew up buying vege in open air markets. So I've learn to identify fresh vege automatically. Not everybody knows how to do that these days.
Keep your vege covered from direct sunlight but well ventilated. Minimum handling but turn them once every 2-3 days or so. Most non-leave vegetables easily last a week, with root vegetables lasting 2-3 weeks easily.
Wrap your veggies tightly in aluminum…
…foil and don’t cut them at all until eating them. The freshness difference between putting cabbage in saran wrap or a plastic bag vs. wrapping it tightly in Al foil was pronounced. Might try it. Cheddar cheese also stays just fine for quite a while without refrigeration. Have fun!