Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Keeping the food cold
|
Author | Message Text | ||
IceColdGold |
For protein: - Precooked bacon - Summer sausage - 1 lb stick shrink wrapped which is safe for up to six or so days (ask your local butcher), or dehydrated - Eggs - farm fresh and unwashed are best because they have a natural sealer, but even store bought are safe for several days. I also just heard you can buy a sealer to seal them like the natural unwashed eggs - as mentioned, foil wrapped tuna, ... Cheese: It will get soft and oily, but will not spoil. I bring individual shrink wrapped string cheese, shrink wrapped small block (open it and eat the whole block for one meal), or wrap the block in cheese cloth. Cheese cloth is how they used to store cheese in the old days. It will absorb any oil, and keep the cheese dry Condiments: Mayo, ketchup, mustard, tater sauce do not need to be refrigerated. They all have enough acid in them. Otherwise just go to the local fast food restaurant and they will give you some packets if you ask. |
||
mirth |
quote Greeny10: "Last time we went we just had pasta sides and snacks. This time we'd like to plan meals and eat a little better. We'd things like cheese, meats and eggs. For those of you who eat well in the wilderness, how do you do it? Bring a cooler with dry ice? What equipment or planning needs to go in? You can go to the effort of an insulated pack with frozen gallons of water or dry ice to provide a lasting cool. Lots of threads here on that... One important factor is to limit the volume of space that requires cooling..... make a lid or cozie or whatever out of reflectix or pink/blue core foam insulation to put above your cold stuff. Minimize opening it as the air exchange is what's going to drastically shorten your usable life. I've only brought a cooler once, this summer, when I took the wife & kids base camping. Previous trips with friends or the Boy Scouts involved frozen first night's steaks that were thawed but still cold by the time we hit camp. We also had summer sausage for later in the week, dehydrated precooked taco meat, pepperoni, individually wrapped string cheese sticks, shredded cheese, lettuce and eggs. All of these items do not require refrigeration for a week in August, even the cheese. Keep your food pack or container out of direct sunlight as much as possible. A cardboard carton of eggs can be duct taped to the bottom of your seat for traveling. They'll stay perfectly safe there. The lettuce was a romaine variety which I prewashed the leaves & packed them dampened in a ziploc w/paper towels to help regulate the moisture. Even the shredded cheese held up ok until the 5th night when we made pizzas. Cheeses tend to get oily, the shredded kinda clumped together but we managed to separate it. String cheese will get a little 'moist' and maybe taste a little sharp after its been out of the fridge close to a week, but still edible. |
||
Jaywalker |
quote DeanL: " I cut some rings out of pink Styrofoam insulation and glued them in my 30l barrel. I get a chunk of dry ice just before we leave and have had great results. I usually use about 1 lb a day when we go in June. I don't typically bring any type of foods that need to keep cold beyond a night 1 steak, but I have to say I am very impressed by this clever display of craftsmanship! |
||
boonie |
|
||
OldFingers57 |
quote boonie: "I don't take food that needs refrigerated, but some people do. The food itself will be heavy and the ice to keep it cool. You certainly do not want to try carrying a cooler over long difficult portages. I believe you can buy (don't know about renting) insulated food packs." Piragis has the insulated food packs for rent. In fact I have thought about buying one of their used ones as they are in great shape. They use CCS ones. |
||
SouthernExposure |
Good luck. |
||
DeanL |
Spaghetti and tacos are 2 of our favorite meals. It works great to brown and season the burger at home. We then put it in a vacuum bag and freeze it. We've never had a problem with the burger thawing out until the 5th or 6th day. |
||
Good food |
|
||
pswith5 |
|
||
schweady |
this thread from a few years back |
||
ockycamper |
WE also go in mid to late September. That helps a lot. |
||
Greeny10 |
|
||
WHendrix |
|
||
HoosierPaddler |
|
||
ozarkpaddler |
The pre-fried bacon is great stuff. MUCH better than the old Danish canned bacon in the '70's and '80's. It may be better now but back then..... |
||
A1t2o |
Bacon for sure, its cured and intended to last a long time, and that was before there was electricity to refrigerate it. Freeze it and it will be good for near a week. If you want to bring a cooler, then make it a soft sided cooler for space and weight. Keep the cooler in the food bag and the food bag in a cool spot. Overall, I've learned that we just need to be practical about how long food will last. Most things will be fine for a day or two, especially if we are cooking them before we eat it. Most of the guidelines about tossing food revolves around the concept of putting it back in the fridge for a couple days and/or not fully cooking it before eating. Like leftovers being left out for 4+ hours then put in the fridge for 2 days and not getting heated enough to kill bacteria before being consumed. In most cases it doesn't matter if you cook it. |
||
Thwarted |
|
||
Bannock |
Eggs last for me over a week (store bought). Foil pack chicken. Hamburger is easily dehydrated in a household oven. Use and/or foil pack chicken for countless recipes. Bacon lasts a few days without refrigeration. Longer if you par cook it. Either way, start off with it frozen. I personally don't care for the precooked/microwave stuff. Cheese lasts along time unrefrigerated. Buy it vacuum sealed. If mold dose form, cut the mold off. Steaks, frozen solid before you start, lasts a day or two. In fact, if I have it the first night, it is usually still frozen. Packaged salad mix will be good for you first dinner. |
||
mapsguy1955 |
|
||
shock |
|
||
PointMe2Polaris |
One more off the topic tip: bring pancake batter to cook fish with. Worst case scenario is if you don't catch fish, you can still have pancakes. Darin |
||
OldFingers57 |
quote Jaywalker: "quote DeanL: " I cut some rings out of pink Styrofoam insulation and glued them in my 30l barrel. I get a chunk of dry ice just before we leave and have had great results. I usually use about 1 lb a day when we go in June. Someone on here had plans on how to cut a sheet of reflectex to insulate the sides of the barrel |
||
OldFingers57 |
quote Jaywalker: "quote DeanL: " I cut some rings out of pink Styrofoam insulation and glued them in my 30l barrel. I get a chunk of dry ice just before we leave and have had great results. I usually use about 1 lb a day when we go in June. Someone on here had plans on how to cut a sheet of reflectex to insulate the sides of the barrel |
||
TominMpls |
quote IceColdGold: " I want to second this point. In the US we have to refrigerate eggs because the natural protective oils are intentionally washed off. This removes any salmonella that may be on the outside of the egg, but it also removes the natural protective coating from the egg, which is then the reason we have to refrigerate eggs. If you get fresh unwashed eggs from a farm (or anybody who has them) then you absolutely do not need to refrigerate them - in Europe they leave eggs unwashed, and they can sit out unrefrigerated for weeks. Just remember that there may be salmonella on the outside of the shell, and behave accordingly. Grocery store eggs are a risk as soon as they're unrefrigerated, but as long as you keep them separate and clean they should be okay for a few days. I used to take grocery store eggs in and figured I had about three days to use them without worrying much, but if I still had any after that I'd just be sure to cook them thoroughly (which isn't my preference). Once I discovered Ova Easy I decided I'd stop wasting space and effort on fresh eggs - while I prefer my eggs over easy, I'm perfectly fine living with scrambled eggs in the woods for the massive space savings. |