Hello everyone,

I’m thinking about taking a short trip this June with my husband. We already have a cabin for a week but it’s right by the entrance to the BWCA on the north end of Gunflint Lake so I’m thinking about doing an overnight canoe or kayak trip (we’ll have both for our use). My husband is not from Minnesota and did not grow up with hiking, kayaking, etc but he has come to love Northern MN over the seven years we’ve been married. He is not too keen on camping but he loves to canoe and kayak now. He’s a little wary of camping in the BWCA (I have never done it either, just day trips) but I think we could do it. We do have most gear already.

If we were to do a 2-day, 1-night short trip, I’d want to bring only fresh food. I’ve seen a lot of threads about dehydrated foods, but what about bringing fresh food, such as steaks, eggs, bacon, veggies, and fruit? I’m not that worried that the food would go bad, since we’d eat the steaks on the first night. But does anyone else bring fresh food, and if so, do you freeze it first and let it thaw as you paddle? And how do you bring eggs - in their shells or already scrambled in a Tupperware? Any other tips for bringing fresh food? Other than the food spoiling, which I’m really not that worried about, I’d be concerned about animals (bears) smelling the fresh food. Any thoughts or tips? Thanks!

PS We don’t have a special bear barrel for food. What about hanging it from a tree in a backpack or small cooler away from the tent?

If you are only out for 2 days, 1 night, you will have no problem bringing fresh food. Eggs in their shell will keep just fine for that time frame without refrigeration as will your fruits and veggies. Most people freeze their meat and it is thawed by dinner time. We just carry shelf stable bacon, but if you don't want to do that, freeze it and wrap it in layers of newspaper. I'm too lazy to carry the weight of fresh food, even for short trips, but plenty of people love it.

It is best to hang your food to discourage critters. It is such a short trip, you would be fine paddling out the next day without any food. However, it is very bad for the animals to have a successful food foray into people food. Read up on different methods for how to hang your food high enough and out far enough from the tree trunks.

Have a wonderful time and I hope your husband enjoys it.

A lot of coolers are considered bear proof if they have a hasp and lock or bolt and nut. Just another thought.

You would find that a lot of people who rely on dehydrated food will also bring in fresh food for the first day or two. For an overnight trip, you can bring just about anything. You mention kayaking - if you have a dry bag that would work great for hanging food - helps keep rain out and smells in. Just remember 3-6-12 - 3 feet down from the branch, 6 feet out from the tree, and 12 feet up off the ground. Bears can climb trees as easily as squirrels.

You certainly can freeze steaks of other protein, but check on it an hour or two before cooking to make sure it has thawed. I had a steak stay frozen until the second day once because I over insulated it. Cardboard egg cartons can be cut down to the size you want and closed up with a bit of masking tape. If you are bacon fans, try cooking it before you leave and wrap it up in tin foil. You can reheat it on a stove or fire and avoid the splatter ( unless that sizzling sound is desirable ). Bring something like a zip lock freezer bag to pack out any remains of your fresh food. Things like banana or orange peals, avadoco pits, etc, do not break down quickly at all and need to be packed out. Good luck and have fun!

Thank you all for these tips!

I posted this document a while ago from paddling.com, but it deserves repeating as it's got some good information about fresh food & how it may last for you on a trip. Good luck!

Fresh food for the long haul

Anything I can freeze I put together in a small, folding soft cooler with any other items that need to stay cool. When the items dwindle or need to be kept cold after a few days, I use a "swamp cooler". I made it myself from the leg of an old pair of jeans which I have sewn into a bag with a hanging strap. Dunk the bag in the lake, place your items in & hang in a breeze away from the sun. Evaporation will keep the bag & what's in it cool. The whole thing goes into a ziplock bag on moving days (at nighttime, during travel or when away from our site it goes in a barrel to hang).

Fresh eggs I have carried many ways. In the cartons wrapped in newspaper, cracked into a small Nalgene, in special egg carriers. It all works, egg carriers being my least favorite. When I buy cheese, it's usually smoked which has less moisture & seems to stay good longer than unsmoked cheese.

Swampturtle: "I posted this document a while ago from paddling.com, but it deserves repeating as it's got some good information about fresh food & how it may last for you on a trip. Good luck!

Fresh food for the long haul

Anything I can freeze I put together in a small, folding soft cooler with any other items that need to stay cool. When the items dwindle or need to be kept cold after a few days, I use a "swamp cooler". I made it myself from the leg of an old pair of jeans which I have sewn into a bag with a hanging strap. Dunk the bag in the lake, place your items in & hang in a breeze away from the sun. Evaporation will keep the bag & what's in it cool. The whole thing goes into a ziplock bag on moving days (at nighttime, during travel or when away from our site it goes in a barrel to hang).

Fresh eggs I have carried many ways. In the cartons wrapped in newspaper, cracked into a small Nalgene, in special egg carriers. It all works, egg carriers being my least favorite. When I buy cheese, it's usually smoked which has less moisture & seems to stay good longer than unsmoked cheese. "

Excellent article, SwampTurtle, and thanks for sharing! I'll be switching up my menu with some of these ideas.

Hannah...have an awesome overnighter and great all-around trip!

To the OP: don't forget, if you are going in overnight within the BWCAW boundaries, you will need a permit. Permits are hard to come by and many/most have already been taken. Please don't go in overnight, even if camping for one night, without a permit.

Mike

MikeinMpls: "To the OP: don't forget, if you are going in overnight within the BWCAW boundaries, you will need a permit. Permits are hard to come by and many/most have already been taken. Please don't go in overnight, even if camping for one night, without a permit.


Mike"

Both 57-Magnetic Lake and 58-South Lake (each starting at Gunflint Lake) have plenty of permits still available.

schweady: "

MikeinMpls: "To the OP: don't forget, if you are going in overnight within the BWCAW boundaries, you will need a permit. Permits are hard to come by and many/most have already been taken. Please don't go in overnight, even if camping for one night, without a permit.



Mike"

Both 57-Magnetic Lake and 58-South Lake (each starting at Gunflint Lake) have plenty of permits still available.
"

Good point. Magnetic Lake/Granite River would be a great plan. Exit at Larch Creek maybe.

Mike

Bag salads, fresh fruit and veggies, any uncooked bacon, eggs, summer sausage, cheese, etc. will all be fine for the first 48+ hours if stored with frozen steaks and/or plastic bottle of frozen milk or juice. In my experience, the steaks usually have to still be thawed out if eaten on the first night. Milk, just set the bottle in the lake or a pot of water, it should thaw completely within a couple hours.

For the bag/soft sided cooler you use for your food consider lining it with a couple sheets of newspaper and bunch up a few more sheets of newspaper to fill any open voids-this really helps.

You can eat like royalty the first 48-72 hrs if you don't mind carrying the weight.

Swampturtle: "I posted this document a while ago from paddling.com, but it deserves repeating as it's got some good information about fresh food & how it may last for you on a trip. Good luck!

Fresh food for the long haul

Anything I can freeze I put together in a small, folding soft cooler with any other items that need to stay cool. When the items dwindle or need to be kept cold after a few days, I use a "swamp cooler". I made it myself from the leg of an old pair of jeans which I have sewn into a bag with a hanging strap. Dunk the bag in the lake, place your items in & hang in a breeze away from the sun. Evaporation will keep the bag & what's in it cool. The whole thing goes into a ziplock bag on moving days (at nighttime, during travel or when away from our site it goes in a barrel to hang).

Fresh eggs I have carried many ways. In the cartons wrapped in newspaper, cracked into a small Nalgene, in special egg carriers. It all works, egg carriers being my least favorite. When I buy cheese, it's usually smoked which has less moisture & seems to stay good longer than unsmoked cheese. "

The "swamp cooler" is an old trick used by many and works really well. Some call these a creel or a creel bag, at least as it relates to keeping fish fresh. Its great if you catch fish on a lake your not camping on and want to take the fish back to camp (yes, its illegal to move fish from one lake to another in Minnesota, see fish transportation regulations). Simply fillet the fish, put it in a ziplock bag, and place that bag in a burlap or canvass sack, dunk it in the lake, and keep it out of the sun but with some ventilation, like under your seat in the canoe. Hanging in a tree in the shade works well. When it dries out, get it wet again. You can buy a fancy creel (canvass bag or wicker basket) made for this purpose, or just get a cheap burlap or canvass sack. The use of old jeans is a great recycling approach - I dig it.

I may direct the OP to Stu Osthoff and "The Boundary Waters Journal". Stu believes that the freeze-dried, pre-packaged camp meals have no business calling themselves "food" and have no place on a canoe trip. He brings fresh food on all trips he guides and may be a good source of advice for how to best do that.

bottomtothetap: "I may direct the OP to Stu Osthoff and "The Boundary Waters Journal". Stu believes that the freeze-dried, pre-packaged camp meals have no business calling themselves "food" and have no place on a canoe trip. He brings fresh food on all trips he guides and may be a good source of advice for how to best do that."

Agree that he may be a good resource on the topic, but it reminds me of another area in which an extreme opinion will limit your options. Maybe Stu hasn't purchased any freeze-dried, pre-packaged camp meals since the 1970s...

schweady: "

bottomtothetap: "I may direct the OP to Stu Osthoff and "The Boundary Waters Journal". Stu believes that the freeze-dried, pre-packaged camp meals have no business calling themselves "food" and have no place on a canoe trip. He brings fresh food on all trips he guides and may be a good source of advice for how to best do that."

Agree that he may be a good resource on the topic, but it reminds me of another area in which an extreme opinion will limit your options. Maybe Stu hasn't purchased any freeze-dried, pre-packaged camp meals since the 1970s...
"

I agree. I do bring some fresh food and some of my own dehydrated, but always have some commercially packed freeze dried meals with me. I still find some I like and some I don’t, but overall they are much better than when I first ate them at Philmont in 1976.

Don't forget that if you bring fresh food you have to carry the cookware and utensils to prepare it. Then there is the clean up afterwards. You have to pack out all your trash, and you cannot burn your garbage. Based on your time line you would need two lunches, a breakfast, dinner, and snacks. Don't forget a water filter. You could get by with sausage, cheese, bagels, and apples or oranges for lunch. A good hearty freeze dried meal to share for dinner (there are some really goods ones on the market today) and a freeze dried or prepared dessert (brownies), and instant oatmeal, bagels and peanut butter, or protein bars for breakfast. You could get by very minimally and still have a great experience. There are also some cold prep lunches from Pack-It Gourmet for lunches that are really good. Maybe a small box of wine.

Northwoodsman: "Don't forget that if you bring fresh food you have to carry the cookware and utensils to prepare it. Then there is the clean up afterwards. You have to pack out all your trash, and you cannot burn your garbage. Based on your time line you would need two lunches, a breakfast, dinner, and snacks. Don't forget a water filter. You could get by with sausage, cheese, bagels, and apples or oranges for lunch. A good hearty freeze dried meal to share for dinner (there are some really goods ones on the market today) and a freeze dried or prepared dessert (brownies), and instant oatmeal, bagels and peanut butter, or protein bars for breakfast. You could get by very minimally and still have a great experience. There are also some cold prep lunches from Pack-It Gourmet for lunches that are really good. Maybe a small box of wine."

This is why we don't bring fresh food anymore. With dehydrated foods we don't bring coolers or cooler packs, and don't have to bring all the cook ware and stoves to prepare it. Then, as mentioned, is the garbage that has to be packed out. Lastly, the cleanup.

Dehydrated foods have become so good (if you prepare them in a pot on a stove, not hot water in the bag) that there is no need to do car camping style cooking for us in the BWCA

ockycamper: "

Northwoodsman: "Don't forget that if you bring fresh food you have to carry the cookware and utensils to prepare it. Then there is the clean up afterwards. You have to pack out all your trash, and you cannot burn your garbage. Based on your time line you would need two lunches, a breakfast, dinner, and snacks. Don't forget a water filter. You could get by with sausage, cheese, bagels, and apples or oranges for lunch. A good hearty freeze dried meal to share for dinner (there are some really goods ones on the market today) and a freeze dried or prepared dessert (brownies), and instant oatmeal, bagels and peanut butter, or protein bars for breakfast. You could get by very minimally and still have a great experience. There are also some cold prep lunches from Pack-It Gourmet for lunches that are really good. Maybe a small box of wine."

This is why we don't bring fresh food anymore. With dehydrated foods we don't bring coolers or cooler packs, and don't have to bring all the cook ware and stoves to prepare it. Then, as mentioned, is the garbage that has to be packed out. Lastly, the cleanup.


Dehydrated foods have become so good (if you prepare them in a pot on a stove, not hot water in the bag) that there is no need to do car camping style cooking for us in the BWCA"

Freeze-dried foods have come a long way since I first tried them in the late 70s or early 80s, when the only choices were chili mac, turkey tetrazinni, and stroganoff. Some are better than others, but the variety and spicy-ness and flavor are very satisfying to me. The whole "fresh food" thing is a personal choice, with advantages and drawbacks, many mentioned above. For me, I cannot imagine TRIPLE portaging on trip I paid for led by a certain Ely-based guide just so we can have milk on Wheaties.

Mike

for 1 overnight , bring what ever your heart wants , depending on the size of the cooler of course , might be able to get by with a little 6-pack cooler or not much bigger than that. have your steaks frozen which will keep everything nice and cold and as far as the eggs go , 1 day in a cooler just crack them and put in tupperware type container the morning your heading out & they'll be fine with a BIG chunk of Jimmy Dean sausage and some simply hashbrowns 1 pan breakfast :) , OH YA :)