Hey Everyone! I will be going to the BWCA this summer for the first time on a 5 day route. We plan on bringing brats for the first night and steaks for the second and hopefully eating some fish after that for the last 2 nights. However I have never been to the BWCA and do not know if we can rely on catching fish to eat? What other low volume, filling foods could we bring for lunch and breakfast on our trip? Thank you!

I forgot to add that I do have a foodsaver, so I could keep just about anything fresh in my backpack throughout the trip. Let me know what to bring, Thanks!

Some of the things on our menu this year are velveeta shells and cheese, Zataran's jambalaya mix, and we usually bring pop tarts or breakfast bars for breakfast. Summer sausage and cheese is also good for a lunch. We do not count on catching fish, any fish that we catch are just gravy.

I agree with firftr, don't count on fish. But what you might want to do is bring some "sides" for a fish meal like rice dishes, or noodles dishes, etc. Those are the kind found in your supermarket, brands like Knorr, Lipton, etc. Then bring a couple packages of chicken that is packaged in foil pouches. Tyson and Sue Bee are brands I've seen. If you don't catch fish, add the chicken to your sides. If you do catch fish, bring the chicken home.

For an easy breakfast, I like instant oatmeal and coffee.

For lunch you can bring peanut butter and jelly with bagels or tortillas, but I like snacky things -- trail mix, granola bars, beef jerky, slim jims, maybe cheese, M&Ms, candy, all kinds of nuts, etc.

You might wanna eat steak the first nite............what about your other meals?

Bagels and cream cheese are good for lunch as is pocket bread or some like pb&j. Gotta have lots of trail mix. We plan on 1 or 2 fish meals but always have a back up.

The last thing you want to do is run out of food. Not fun to portage and puddle when your running on empty! I agree with Bannack. If you want to try for fish, bring some sides that can double as a meal if need be.

Go to the grocery store and look at the 'just add water' stuff. You can find soup, rice, pasta, beans and a few other cool items. Smoked meat lasts longer than normal summer sausage. Cheese is OK as long as it is a harder cheese. It may get 'oily' if it gets too warm, but I've been told its still OK to eat that way.

And just search this forum. There are lots of non-conventional foods people bring to the BW. Since you have a foodsaver, maybe you want to experiment with dehydrating your own stuff? Oh, and don't forget the rule: no aluminum or tin cans. Everything must either be in plastic or re-package it yourself :)

Plan your fish meals but have a back-up protein in case you don't catch enough for a meal. Other food/snack options

BW Pizza
Hudson bay Bread
Bear Creek Soups (add foil pack chicken)
Meals from Linda Frederick Yaffe's book (dehydrated)

You can always count on fish if you bring in some foil packed tuna. There are many different flavors. Couscous with foil pack chicken is also very good. I get the box with pine nuts in. For breakfast the instant flavored oatmeal is good and fast. You can also make tortillas with butter and sugar and cinnamon. Just warm them quick in a fry pan. For lunch pita's with cheese and sausage or salami works well. Also page back through this section there are lots of great ideas. Good luck!

tony

lots of good answers here,but this might be a good time to ask all those campers who have the food question,what do you eat at home AND can you cook? it's alot better than years ago when you had to cook over a fire the same things you made over the stove at home.now you can boil water,add to a bag and get a decent meal.but can you mix batter and make a pancake without burning it,if not instant oatmeal will be your breakfast.maybe you can do brats on the backyard grill but can you and are you willing to really cook and do you and your trip mates really care or do you just want any kind of filler to keep you going?..

We plan two nights of fish every trip, so look at your tackle closley. If we dont catch fish, we eat romin noodles. I think the romin noodles are atleast 20 years old now.
Jim

Tortillas? Tortillas?? That sounds like lefse, my friend! Instead of tortillas, a good Swede or Norske would pick up some pre-packaged potato lefse from the market. Spread that with some butter, cinnamon, and sugar and you've got yourself a mighty fine Scandinavian treat. Uf-daa!

Something I don't hear mentioned often if ever is dried beef that comes in a jar. Being you have a vac just repack and your set for a good backup or add to gravy etc.

I also agree with FirFtr do not count of fish for meals or you may go hungry I plan for every meal I do not plan for fish but if I have a fish meal I save and bring home my meal I had planed that is why I take in food I can eat at home no freeze dried stuff for me. Also if there is a fire ban on my meal may change like no steaks but hotdogs and mac and cheese.

my East Coast canoe buddy STILL "reminds" me about the SOS i made for us from that dry beef in a jar and mushroom soup way back in 1969. i guess it's a meal you can't forget--make sure you toast the bread--

We usually have something with hamburger the first night, but this year assuming there is no fire ban will bring up steaks. Then we will have hot dogs the first day for lunch. Packaged food from the camping stores after that. Eggs one morning then pancakes the next. Oatmeal is my son's favorite. We also make home made jerky and gorp to snack on.

We always bring one or two of the freeze dried meals as a backup. The taste of these has really improved over the last 30 years and some are actually very good. They keep a long time, so if you catch fish and don't need them, you can bring them with next year. Mountain House, Backpacker's Pantry and Alpine Aire are a couple of brands to check out.

Wheather or not you can count on fish depends on where your going. Our group always plans on fish for a few meals. Where are you going?

We always bring in steaks for the first night. Go in with them frozen and they will help keep things cold going in, but will be thawed by dinner time. Our first night menu is always - steak, hash browns and green beans. The rest of the dinner menus always has fish on them. Never had trouble catching our dinner. Usually catch 80-100 fish per day in a party of 4-6 guys. Only need to keep 3 of them. Other items we bring for breakfast - oatmeal (mix in dried fruit nuts and dried milk to jazz it up), canadian bacon, pancake mix and syrup. For lunch and daytime snacks - jerky, nuts, gorp, cheese, carrots and shore lunch fish. Dinner - fish, starch (pasta, rice, tortillas), veggies (carrots, green beans, peppers) and we bring in onion, garlic, herbs, olive oil, etc. for cooking.

Look at the Knoors / Lipton noodle sides. Add some dehydrated burger and you have a tasty meal. Much easier than messing with fresh food and depending on fish.

How long will Dehydrated burger last before it goes bad?

I had some dehydrated hamburger left over from a trip last June and used it in a meal when I got back home. So that was at least 10 days without any refrigeration. That's been the extent of my testing. Prior to dehydrating, I had rinsed it with hot water which removes most of the fat. The fat is what will go rancid on you.

1) I wouldn't put eggs in glass to freeze.(we try to ban glass)
2) I've kept eggs from the hen for 2 weeks on the shelf in the basement before incubating them and they hatched fine. (eggs that are truly farm fresh keep well)
3) Store-bought eggs are washed in a special detergent/sanitizer so I can believe they may need to be refrigerated more so than those done on the farm.
4) We are going in late June so I plan on freezing eggs in ziploc and then vacuum packing so they don't leak. I'll pack the frozen stuff wrapped in newspapers with the cool storage items on top and in a plastic keg (about 15 gal). It's handy and has carry handles. It should be rodent/bear proof as long as it gets hung on a tree rope. (I don't trust groceries to the bear/coons/skunks etc)
5) I'm going to try steaks this year if there is no fire ban on.
6) Flapjacks will be on our menu w/frozen strawberry sauce & syrup.

"we try to ban glass"

it is illegal to take glass food or drink containers.

Good point! I should have been more precise. I guess my philosophy of tread lighty extends into my responses.