Probably a stupid question, but I am new to this stuff. Taking my first BWCA trip this summer. How do you guys manage to take things like steaks, chicken breasts and lunch meats without them spoiling?

ChasenRahl- Most people take meats in for the first night only. Most will bring it in frozen and keep it well wrapped to last until the first dinner. Depending on the temperatures at the time of year you go, and how long it takes to get to your first site- most meat will stay nearly frozen. Getting meat to last longer- requires lots of ice and is not necessarily what you want to carry across lots of portages.

This is a link Backpacker has to describe how to keep meat for awhile. Backpacker- advice to keep meat frozen

We use one of these (the bigger one)- with 2 Bear Vaults in it- one to keep stuff cold and the other for the rest of our food.

Steaks the first or second night out (weather depending) is a tradition with my group and many other trippers. I don't hear much about chicken and lunch meats... think more along the lines of PB&J, jerky, pasta, summer sausage, fresh fish, etc.

Dry ice is always an option if you really need to keep something cold for a few days.

Thanks for the answers. I was mostly just curious cause I couldn't figure out how you would do it. I'm fine with the food that isn't perishable. I was just curious since I have seen a lot of posts about steaks and everything.

I dehydrate hamburger and chicken for use with spaghetti, etc.

I usually don't take stuff that needs to be kept cool but if you know Boundary Waters Journal, the editor Stu makes a big deal of taking lots of fresh food, with an insulated food pack and a couple of one gallon water filled milk jugs frozen. And then fresh milk. 24 pounds right there to start - uhg. To each there own. I've grown fond of dehydrated ground beef. And candidly, bacon is good on second morning.

I did take a small soft side cooler once - froze juice and there was still ice on day 3 or 4. Cold juice was nice but frankly not usually worth it for me. (My outfitter -CCO -put the whole soft sided cooler in there freezer the night before.)

I freeze steaks for the first night, and breakfast sausage, hotdogs and burgers for the second day. All are frozen, and even the soft sided cooler goes in the freezer the night before. I'm paranoid about pushing any meats past the second day.

I have taken pre-seasoned (raw) steaks, pre-seasoned and pre-cooked chicken breasts & ham steaks for meals. I vacuum seal everything except the ham steaks which stays in its own packaging. Everything gets frozen solid in the freezer until we leave for our trip, then it is packed in ice in a standard cooler for travel. At our destination (put-in), it all goes into a small soft sided cooler with a cold pack (Peas from CVS) inside our blue barrel.

I have taken these three items for our first three meals in the order listed. By day three the ham steak was defrosted, but still very cold...in July.

Other than having to cook some great steaks over the fire the first night, the other two meals are heat & eat. It's nice having a chicken breast dinner and I don't have to deal with raw chicken in camp. After day three we switch to dehydrated meals.

quote OBX2Kayak: "I dehydrate hamburger and chicken for use with spaghetti, etc."

Can you recommend a decent, inexpensive dehydrator?

Inexpensive and once a year and not very large groups - try thrift stores. I bought a Nesco - min 700 watts and a top fan - at Fleet Farm for around $65 and it will last me forever. The pros here all swear by Excaliber. Just once - use you oven.

EDIT I just bumped THE thread on dehydrating.

I routinely take fresh meat for up to 5 or 6 days without any issues. To start with I freeze everything that I can freeze. I also buy 1 or 2 1/2 gallon orange juice containers and feeze them as well.

For the actual packing, I use a CCS insulated food pack. I found a cooler that fits into the pack very well. I put the cooler in the bottom, place the frozen OJ in the cooler. Then pack the frozen food with the last stuff needed at the bottom and work my way up. I then put an other freshies on the top of the cooler (eggs, cheese, etc.). Put the lid on, and then pack the rest of my food around the sides of the cooler and on top of the cooler.

When in camp, I always make sure that my food pack is in a place that is not exposed to the sun. I limit access to the cooler! In the morning, we will have some OJ with breakfast. I pull out the eggs, bacon, and whatever we need for lunch as well as the meat for dinner. Surprisingly the meat for dinner is usually frozen solid and I need to start to thaw it so it is ready for dinner.

As the cooler starts to empty, I put other food items in the back so that there is not any empty air that needs to be cooled.

I have had frozen bacon on the morning of day 7 in temps that ranged from the 50's at night to the upper 80's during the day!

quote church: "

quote OBX2Kayak: "I dehydrate hamburger and chicken for use with spaghetti, etc."

Can you recommend a decent, inexpensive dehydrator?"

I know that it is quite a bit more expensive than the small round dehydrators- but when you use this a number of times in a year you truely recoup your costs in dehydrated food savings. The quality of dehydration is better and the thing will last a lifetime.

This is the 4 Tray version- much cheaper than the 9 tray- really all the trays most would ever need.

Excalibur 4 Tray Dehydrator

The Nesco has great reviews- but my experience is that it has significantly less space which means less food can be dehydrated. It is slightly awkward to me to get the trays in and out. Cleaning was a bit more awkward as well. The difference in prices to me is not that much better for what you lose in ease and space.

Nesco Snackmaster Dehydrator

If you wrap and pack things well in a cooler stuff will actually last for quite awhile. Plus using either dry ice or large gallon size milk jugs of ice works great. Yes it's heavy but worth it.

quote ripple: "

quote church: "

quote OBX2Kayak: "I dehydrate hamburger and chicken for use with spaghetti, etc."

Can you recommend a decent, inexpensive dehydrator?"

I know that it is quite a bit more expensive than the small round dehydrators- but when you use this a number of times in a year you truely recoup your costs in dehydrated food savings. The quality of dehydration is better and the thing will last a lifetime.

This is the 4 Tray version- much cheaper than the 9 tray- really all the trays most would ever need.

Excalibur 4 Tray Dehydrator

The Nesco has great reviews- but my experience is that it has significantly less space which means less food can be dehydrated. It is slightly awkward to me to get the trays in and out. Cleaning was a bit more awkward as well. The difference in prices to me is not that much better for what you lose in ease and space.

Nesco Snackmaster Dehydrator "

I ended up with the Nesco Garden master and while it wasn't exactly cheap cheap, I love it so far. As far as space, I can expand to 20 trays on this model but I doubt I would ever need that many. The trays are 10 bucks a piece and sold in sets of 2. I started with 4, bought 2, and that's probably going to be good for me. Maybe 2 more lol.

Cleaning is easy, just stack the trays up in the bottom rack of the dishwasher, they come out clean.

I almost went with the Excaliber though.

I don't use anything special in terms of packs. My method is as follows;

Freeze in a 0 degree freezer if possible.
Wrap in several layers of newspaper.
Keep on dry ice until put in. (We usually camp somewhere the night before we put in.)
Bury in the middle of food pack for more insulation.

Depending on weather, all but hottest, will stay frozen hard for a day and cold for two no problem. I usually have to thaw it when I unwrap it.