I felt like this topic could have been appropriately placed in a few areas. But could be considered a general topic. Feel free to move as you see fit.

We all love food. We all need food. Some of us love to cook while others truly hate it. In my house I am the chef. Cast iron, crock pot, oven, grill. Whatever is desired on any given day. At home it is about ingredients and flavor profile.

But, in relation to a trip this is the least of my concerns while planning or implementing. And I never stress about not bringing enough or running out. It is not a priority for me to make sure certain dinners make it into the food pack. Nor do I have any meal traditions that go on every trip, or are consumed on, let's say the first night or the last morning. The meals I eat on a trip I never eat at home, and are only associated with canoe country (for me). My breakfasts are the same, my snacks and lunches are the same, and my dinners are pretty similar in format. In other words, food is simply fuel for my body.

How do you approach meals when planning a trip? How important are the ingredients and the "menu" and how it relates to the experience of your canoe trip?

Is food simply fuel to keep you going, or is it regarded as a fancy feast in the forest?

JW

I think some will find your question much different than your title. People often make stoves from Fancy Food® cans that use alcohol for fuel. I am also the chef at home, I prepare 100% of our family meals. When I'm car camping I may live it up and prepare gourmet meals (according to camping standards), but when I'm in the BWCA I go simple. Priorities are weight, cooking time and method, clean-up, and flavor. I use mostly freeze dried or dehydrated meals for weight reduction. The exceptions are snacks like sausage, cheese, bagels, M & M's, etc. I don't bring items that need to simmer over heat like most rice, dry soups, pasta, etc. because they use a lot of fuel which takes up room and adds weight. I also prefer not to have to wash pots, pans, plates, and bowls. Over the years I have been tracking the meals that I bring and I rate them on flavor and whether or not I would bring them again. I always try new products at home before I take them into the wilderness to make sure that they will not disappoint.

On most of my trips thus far, food is a means to an end. I love food, I really do, but I also love fishing and exploring/photograpy/videography, and cooking lots of courses with many dishes takes too much time. If I was doing a base camp trip with few portages and a lot of people (more hands to help), I'd consider bringing cast iron and fresh food and taking time to prepare large meals. Dehydrated meals take up less space and weigh a lot less as well.

As it is today, we usually do bars or oatmeal for breakfast if we eat anything at all. For lunch, we'll do wraps made with salami/cheese or tuna packets or dehydrated "sides" (like black bean salad or buffalo chicken or something), along with our typical snacks like peanut M&Ms, jerky, dehydrated fruit, etc. For dinner we do dehydrated/freeze-dried meals which are super easy and usually pretty tasty (albeit expensive). I want to start dehydrating my own meals to bring the cost down and potentially bring the nutrition up, though. The first night we'll usually bring steaks and onions or something, as a hearty meal after a hard first day.

So, yeah... the food is fuel for my adventure. If I had hours to sit around where I wasn't fishing or exploring, I'd hang out for a few hours and prep larger meals for a group, but generally we're always doing something that takes up that time. Maybe one day I'll do a trip focused on camp life with some newbies who would enjoy nicer meals.

Northwoodsman: "I think some will find your question much different than your title. People often make stoves from Fancy Food® cans that use alcohol for fuel."

I appreciate your reference to this. It did not cross my mind. Let's refer to the title as a play-on-words :)

JW

Great topic.
Putting the big paint brush to the topic, my food choices are based on the trip and time of year.

If were making miles its a lot of no cook, stuff in your pocket items for Breakfast and Lunch. Dinner is a hot drink and backpacking dried entrée or that style (one pot, one heat cooking) and snack sides. My favorite dinner for this type of outing is foil pouch chicken, stuffing, and dried cranberries. Having a "thanksgiving" dinner towards the end of a trip seems to really hit the spot.
I also add a bit more water to the dehydrated meals, they can be a bit soupy, which gets more fluids into us and makes clean up easier.

If were base camping, or a shoulder season trip more cooking is done (breakfast and dinner) and to reduce dishes most cooked meals are served in a tortilla (group), or out of the pot (my wife and I). Breakfast tortilla always seem to be a hit in late October. I bring egg beaters southwest version for this, as it has peppers, onions, and spices in the mix.

The more trips I take the lighter I get in my food and cooking kit. But, if we were base camping a portage in I might be talked into some heavier items... especially if someone else was carrying it.

JWilder: "Let's refer to the title as a play-on-words :)
JW"

No cat food for me.

The question is do you live to eat or eat to live? I'm more of an eat to live person. But my family is not. I make sure I have enough to feed everyone and that they like it. Nothing worse than someone who is hangry.

For my part I don't pay a lot of attention to breakfast and lunch but put more effort in dinner. Morning is for travel or exploring ( 6-6:30 to maybe noon) then the old boy needs his nap, leaving lots of time for dinner prep and clean up.

Just curious, am I the only one anal enough to wash their garbage? I wash things like used zip lock bags and any food packaging except plain paper which I burn if I can. My thought is why "smell proof" your camp and and food supply and then keep things that smell of food around to ripen for days in a trash bag. How the mind wanders.

JWilder: "

Northwoodsman: "I think some will find your question much different than your title. People often make stoves from Fancy Food® cans that use alcohol for fuel."

I appreciate your reference to this. It did not cross my mind. Let's refer to the title as a play-on-words :)


JW"

Fancy Feast Stove,

Anyway, enjoy cooking and meal prep, don't eat much. Trip food is simple for me but weird to many. I take ingredients dried/freeze dried mix/match/combine to what I want. Sometimes simple some complicated.
A photo may describe my method better, Solo pantry for 10 day trip. Can make simple chicken noodle soup to Beef Stroganoff to Jambalaya, and baked goods.

butthead

Canoearoo: ".... Nothing worse than someone who is hangry. "

A well fed crew is a happy crew. Feed 'em good food.

Every trip, my group mentions that "Martha Stewart wouldn't be able to cook like this out here!" They know how to keep the cook happy. And the cook can be bribed... an extra drink for the cook can result in getting the bigger steak!

This largely depends on who is going with me. If it is me and my son, more on the fuel side. We're putting lots of miles on each day and do not want the hassle. If basecamping with the family, which is most often, the goal is to keep everyone happy and well fed. It usually starts off fresh (frozen meats, cheese, veggies) and works its way towards one pot "just add hot water" meals towards the end of the trip after the cold ingredients run dry. So kind of a blend of each method.

A few years ago, I started adding freeze dried veggies to my "just add water" meals and that helps a lot. Freeze-dried fruits in oatmeal or for snacks. I noticed if I focus too much on fuel, I start to get gut-rot. But the one-pot meals can be really tasty, and after you've been out in the woods for a few days it all tastes amazing.

I had the same first thought as Northwoodsman ;).

My priorities and style are very much like his. I'm aiming for minimal weight, minimal work, minimal fuel usage, minimal clean up. I just eat cold cereal for breakfast, ProBars for lunch, mixed nuts for snacks, and a dehydrated/freeze-dried dinner. Coffee and water to drink. It just takes a couple minutes to boil water, pour it into the bag, and do something else for 15 minutes. Open the bag, eat, clean the spoon, put bag in garbage. Quick, simple, and I'm on to something else, which is why I'm up there.

I can cook and do a good bit at home, but it's likely to be something a little more complex - multiple ingredients, steps, and implements - and time-consuming than I'd want to do up there. Something like last week's Curry Roasted Cauliflower with Haas Sauce - an excellent recipe if you want to google it up. But I'm not going to do that in the BW.

I also keep a 1-5 rating on meals I've eaten and only take them if they're above average. Some of them are pretty good actually.

merlyn-

When you wash your garbage, where do you dispose of the garbage water?

Actually, there's really not much left in mine to ripen - I avoid left overs - and I've always just rolled and sealed the bag and put in a Ziploc bag and put that inside the OPsack with the food.

Depends on the trip, but I tend towards gourmet meals more than simple fuel. It is pretty easy to pack light though. Fried rice, pasta packets, instant potatoes, morning eggs, you can make many meals pretty easily with dried ingredients. One trick I learned was to use Mio containers to store small amounts of cooking fluids like soy sauce, oil, or even mustard. This allows you to expand the meal options without adding more than a couple ounces of weight.

I do cook over a wood fire though, so I don't mind a slightly longer cook time.

When the kids were growing up, we always made sure to have "fun" suppers. Big fun meals have become a tradition with us. It sometimes is the highlight of the trip.

I’m by far not mr fancy pants when I paddle. I tend to bring bigger portions when bringing people. But I try to have my meals down to some kind of science when soloing. I need to fuel up... very important. Breakfasts are important to me. So I trial and error in the winter so I have a good idea what works. I tend to make up everything measured out exact. And I stick pretty well to my plan. My forty day trip I came out with only my extreme backup food. Having a dog to help with any left overs is key too. But I don’t like animals eating outta my dishes. But I have a system down for clean up too. It usually just flows...

Heaven:

Really great feedback and ideas so far. I see a slight pattern...

Pics are a bonus!

Fuel.
Canoe trip food priorities: lightweight, minimal or no cooking. I am with Canoearoo - eat to live, not live to eat.

Two exceptions - a fish dinner or two and layover day pancakes (especially during blueberry season). A just add water mix with various grains, etc. added at home so it is no fuss at camp. Brown sugar and maple flavoring for syrup. Mmmm!

The question was where do I dispose of the garbage water--I fill my cooking pot with water and a little soap and put back on the heat. I do the dishes and then in the dirty water wash the food packages then dump the water in a cat hole or under moss as far from camp as practical. Pot back to camp fill with lake water and a drop or two of bleach wait a few and back into the woods it goes. Refill the pot put on the lid and back on the dying fire for morning coffee. I don't filter water I use for cooking only for drinking. The routine is not as much trouble as it sounds

We used to plan streak for the first night, but found we usually were too tired to really enjoy it that night. So now we just take dehydrated foods. I dehydrate my own meals, so they are foods we enjoy. Chicken gumbo, unstuffed peppers, etc.

Breakfasts are quick on moving days, cooked meals on base days (biscuits and gravy). Same with lunches (quesadillas on base days).

So I guess mostly food is fuel, but we try for great taste without getting fancy.

For us, it was a combination of fuel and feast (but never "fancy"). With just a few exceptions, there were just the two of us.

Traditional first night meal: steak and oranges.

Breakfast was the most important, and best, meal of the day, and we usually had eggs, precooked bacon, and either hash browns (dehydrated) or pancakes. Sometimes I would make bannock or biscuits, too. Pancakes always had REAL maple syrup. It was very rare for us to just do a quick breakfast. Hot chocolate, coffee, time to savor it while looking at the mist on the lake, or while warming up on a cold morning.

Lunch was very simple. Crackers and cheese, summer sausage, dried fruit. Always had snacks in the pockets if we were traveling.

Dinners usually were a freeze-dried meal, and if we were traveling much I would add rice or noodles to the dish to provide more carbs for type1 diabetic husband. Preferred method was to cook up quick rice (Success Brand) and then add the freeze-dried meal to the pot of rice and boiling water. (same system with noodles.) We did this rather than cooking double F/D meal, as we needed to keep the sodium level down.

Because we are accustomed to having veggies, we used the freeze-dried veggies, too (green beans, peas, corn. Sometimes added to the dinner pot, or else rehydrated separately. I did like to cook a dessert if I felt energetic--early years did a reflector oven, then later went to the Jello-mold oven. I could make a lovely cake or a fruit cobbler--dried tart cherries and a Jiffy cake mix or a sweet shortcake (Bisquick and sugar) topping.

So much depends upon your style of travel, and I suppose also how many in the party, their ages,etc.

We usually eat better up north than we do at home.

I don't think I could ever take a trip without the tortilla. Nope. Never.
The packing capabilities; really hard to wreck a tortilla. Put them on the bottom of your pack or stuff them in the voids.

Versatility; breakfast, lunch, dinner. Doesn't matter. They go with just about everything.

User friendliness; it is your plate/bowl. And when your done, there is nothing left :)

Great topic.

From reading the responses it looks like food on the trail has different meanings to different people. Meal time and what we eat aren't that big of a deal to us. My wife and I alternate breakfasts between hot farina-type cereal or freeze-dried eggs. To the eggs we had either dehydrated sausage, or shelf-stable bacon. We also add a dehydrated veggie mix of tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Wrap it up in a burrito. We let the veggie mix soak while we have our pop-tarts and coffee. We have breakfast hors d'oeuvres of coffee and a pop-tart every morning. We often make a bottle of Tang in the morning and use it for quick fuel throughout the day.

Lunch is more important to her than me. It's usually summer sausage and some dry cheese. Dinner the first night is usually a Johnsonville cooked brat or chedderwurst that only requires cooking in boiling water. The rest of the trip's dinners are either freeze-dried entrees or something like soup with bisquick dumplings or foil chicken in gravy over potatoes. I will sometimes make a fry-pan biscuit. We always have a dessert, too, freeze-dried also. That's as fancy as we get.

I completely understand the allure of steaks on the fire and other treats, and the cooperative fellowship that comes in making the meal and eating together. Our coffee and pop-tarts is closest we come, but we always have our coffee on the rocks in the most serene spot we can find.

Mike

I see great food as one of the great joys in life. And creating great food in the wilderness is one of the great challenges left for me on such trips. Most of paddling, portaging, and camp set up is very routine for me by now, even in shoulder or winter season. But I am constantly looking for and finding new ways to create every better, more interesting food in the BWCA. It's not just about bringing a lot of fresh foods - its about finding ways to recreate dishes I've made or seen but while conforming to my idea of wilderness travel meaning it has to last for 7-10 days and has to all fit in my blue barrel (with some dog food), and keeping to a double portage. Not that fried fresh fish is not wonderful, it is, but I love looking for new or different ways to prepare fresh fish up there.

I roughly look to have about 1/3rd of my meals be boil water, soak, and eat, 1/3 may require some minor cooking or assembly, and maybe up to 1/3 meals I try to do something really interesting. At the end of a long travel or wet/windy day i may just want to boil water, but even for those days I am increasing moving away from dehydrated packages in favor of my own dehydrated favorites like beef & chicken stew, chili or shepards pie - all of which I try to elevate to restaurant level before dehydrating. It takes some adjusting form my normal home recipes to minimize fat (which can be added back later via olive oil) and to ensure good drying - like slicing steak for for my chili into longer, thinner pieces - but they are surpassing any packaged meals I can find.

Even for my "fancy feasts" most of my items are dry (which is why fish is such a great addition), but just a few "wet" items that can travel can really ratchet things up. Kalamata olives for instance, can be pitted and sliced in half to save space and travel well with just a bit of brine, and they really pick up a pizza or lake trout pealla. A single brussel sprout is durable and last days, but adds a great fresh crunch to fish tacos (note; not everyone's digestive track tolerates raw spouts well - test at home!). I've even brought a small preserved lemon for making moroccan fish tajine (added to couscous, chick peas, almonds, apricots, etc).

For me exploring new options and planning the menus for trips is one of the funnest parts of heading out on canoe trips. When the ice formed and shut down paddling this fall, I started planning a detailed menu for an aspirational 17-21 day trip to WCPP which will include most of the items mentioned above and more.

Pizza on the grill, with freshly made dough, homemade dehydrated sauce, mushrooms, pepperoni, and 2 cheeses

Paella with fresh lake trout, bomba rice, saffron, dried peppers, onion, garlic, olives and spanish chorizo.


Tamago sushi made with OvaEasy, and lake trout sushi roll with avacado and cucumber, wasabi, and of course soy sauce, pickled ginger (note: lake trout was sauted before rolling - eating raw fresh water fish is dangerous)

merlyn: "The question was where do I dispose of the garbage water--I fill my cooking pot with water and a little soap and put back on the heat. I do the dishes and then in the dirty water wash the food packages then dump the water in a cat hole or under moss as far from camp as practical. Pot back to camp fill with lake water and a drop or two of bleach wait a few and back into the woods it goes. Refill the pot put on the lid and back on the dying fire for morning coffee. I don't filter water I use for cooking only for drinking. The routine is not as much trouble as it sounds"

Thanks, was trying to decide if I should change that and wondering how. So you're not one of those who drinks the "grey water", which never sounds very appetizing to me either. But I also wonder if dumping it in the woods would attract critters . . . ? Would it be more or less an attractant than what I do?

I don't know. What you are doing sounds like a lot more than what I do, but what I do probably sounds a lot worse to you than it is to me. My trips are in Sept. though and it's not as hot, which may make a difference.

Food for thought . . . and maybe experimentation.

boonie: "

merlyn: "The question was where do I dispose of the garbage water--I fill my cooking pot with water and a little soap and put back on the heat. I do the dishes and then in the dirty water wash the food packages then dump the water in a cat hole or under moss as far from camp as practical. Pot back to camp fill with lake water and a drop or two of bleach wait a few and back into the woods it goes. Refill the pot put on the lid and back on the dying fire for morning coffee. I don't filter water I use for cooking only for drinking. The routine is not as much trouble as it sounds"

Thanks, was trying to decide if I should change that and wondering how. So you're not one of those who drinks the "grey water", which never sounds very appetizing to me either. But I also wonder if dumping it in the woods would attract critters . . . ? Would it be more or less an attractant than what I do?


I don't know. What you are doing sounds like a lot more than what I do, but what I do probably sounds a lot worse to you than it is to me. My trips are in Sept. though and it's not as hot, which may make a difference. Food for thought . . . and maybe experimentation. "

I'm sure the gray water attracts some attention, but probably not that much. Pouring it in a small hole way back in the woods, then covering up the hole will likely mitigate any significant risk.

Mike

Geez, Jaywalker...I've never eaten this fancy at a restaurant! Very impressive.

Mike

MikeinMpls: "Geez, Jaywalker...I've never eaten this fancy at a restaurant! Very impressive.

Mike"

Yep, pretty impressive. Fancy restaurant food with a view. If you're ever in WV, Jaywalker, drop by and I'll let you practice in my kitchen! :)

Mike, I suspect you're right about the "gray water", especially in light of what others have already done. On the other hand, what I do now probably works just as well with less effort.

boonie: "

MikeinMpls: "Geez, Jaywalker...I've never eaten this fancy at a restaurant! Very impressive.


Mike"

Yep, pretty impressive. Fancy restaurant food with a view. If you're ever in WV, Jaywalker, drop by and I'll let you practice in my kitchen! :)


Mike, I suspect you're right about the "gray water", especially in light of what others have already done. On the other hand, what I do now probably works just as well with less effort."

Completely agree re gray water. I'm all for less effort. It probably doesn't produce much smell, relatively speaking.

Mike

I guess I made my trash washing routine sound too complicated. By garbage I mean the ziplock bag my dehydrated dinner came in or the foil package from single serve Spam or chicken pouch. Dishes need to be washed anyway, pot or plate or spoon etc. and that water needs to be disposed of, I just added another twist to the chore. The "clean" trash goes in an extra thick Ziplock and is stored with the food pack.

Both, I guess. Not intentionally, but Breakfast and Lunch are typically fuel-based and then dinners are typically a bit fancier. This has more to do with Time Management than anything else though. Dinner is usually made in the dark or close to dark where we are just hanging around camp anyways, and it is nice to have something to look forward to. Breakfast and Lunch are as quick and efficient as possible so we can be out and about as long as much as possible.

Spartan2:

So much depends upon your style of travel, and I suppose also how many in the party, their ages,etc.
"

Great summary, and corroborates with all of the posts here.

What is different is each one's priorities. What is the same is that food is a social thing. We tend to gather and commune around food and it becomes more of a focal point on group trips. I think we also eat more with others verses alone.

I have group tripped in the past but now go solo for varying reasons. And the food aspect has transitioned with it.

Coffee and oatmeal (with dried fruit) for breakfast. Cliff bar mid-morning. Tuna singles (hickory smoked) with triskets for lunch. Trail mix mid-afternoon. Packet Gourmet meals for dinner. For munchies I like Gardetto's or Frito's. For my evening contemplating I bring a little Rum and a few cigars.

That is it. Pretty regimented. But I am undisciplined back at home...

And oh yeah, if there was a "fancy feast" trophy, Jaywalker gets it;)

JW