Canned meals?

On many of the rivers of the Colorado Plateau and beyond, it is common practice, in fact necessary, to carry all the water you will need on the trip.
This includes water for meal preparation.
So, theoretically, eating canned food shouldn't be much of a weight or volume penalty, if you reduce the water you bring to account for not needing it for cooking.
Things like Dinty Moore stew, Hormell Chili and Campbell's Chunky Soup would be on the menus.
My big concern would be dealing with the empty cans.
I'd probably open both ends and flatten the can.
Obviously, this wouldn't be an option for the Boundary Waters, which doesn't allow cans and wouldn't make much sense on clear streams unpolluted by old mining operations, because you'd use water from the stream, for cooking.

When tripping I like to keep things as clean as possible and low mess. Cans would not fit the bill for me in that regard. With water in short supply the empty cans probably won't be washed clean so there will be mess and odor associated with the trash (plus the bulk of the cans, even when crushed).

I'd still stick with my regular dried foods (bannock, quinoa, lentils, dehydrated veggies).

Alan

Maybe burn/scorch the can to eliminate the food residue and odor before flattening it.

Agree with clemency. I occasionally take small cans of tuna / ham / chicken. I rinse - if you're canoeing there is water even if it is not potable - burn, crush, and put in the trash bag. No odour issues, no burnt plastic.

-wjmc

I’m a packaged food fan for trips with no portages and no treatable fresh water. That includes canned foods.

Many modern cans have integral bottoms that can not easily be opened with a can opener. You can use a hammer, hatchet, or rock to pound them flat. Store the flattened cans in a zip lock bag.

Alan makes a good point about mess and odor of cans. In my experience, I haven’t had any problems, but I wasn’t paddling in grisly bear territory. Even though you wouldn’t drink the local water, you could still wash the cans with it, but it might not make much difference. Animals with a highly developed sense of smell are probably going to be able to smell any food you have, except possibly the food in unopened cans.

Cans also keep your food from being spoiled when stored in a dry bag turns out to be not so dry, and most animals can’t break into them.

Washing would certainly help. When I first read the post and saw "Colorado plateau" my mind immediate jumped to backpacking rather than canoeing so I was thinking there would be no extra water for rinsing. I still wouldn't like dealing with smashed cans for garbage. That and I really like my dried foods. I don't think there is anything in a can I'd rather eat and with dry ingredients I can adjust portion sizes.

Alan

I use a few canned goods, especially toward the end of longer trips like a week or more.
I do not mind hauling some fresh water, but not a whole trips worth because it is too much weight. You can always find side streams to pump water through a filter. Even on the Green River in Utah full of silt, we just settled the water overnight before pumping.

ppine said:

I use a few canned goods, especially toward the end of longer trips like a week or more.
I do not mind hauling some fresh water, but not a whole trips worth because it is too much weight. You can always find side streams to pump water through a filter. Even on the Green River in Utah full of silt, we just settled the water overnight before pumping.

Click to expand...

Ther Green is one of the rivers I'm talking about. I've done many trips down Labyrinth, Stillwater and Meander (Colorado River) canyons. Everyone I know carries all their water. Tex's Riverways, recommends you carry all your water. Very few springs in side canyons and often dry. Settling water doesn't work very well, unless you use alum or P&G purification packets. A lot easier to just carry all your water.

I've eaten more than my share of freeze dried meals. I don't know if they've gotten worse or my taste has changed, but I can barely stomach them now. But I am a big fan of meal systems that don't dirty a pot. I think washing dishes without a sink is a pain.
I'm thinking that, since you are only heating up the canned food and not having to cook it, clean up should be easier.
Bears aren't a problem on most of the rivers I paddle, though I did find bear tracks at Horseshoe Canyon, along the Green. Racoons can be a problem anywhere. Ringtails on some rivers. Something got into our trash on the Upper Missouri. Still don't know what it was, but probably a racoon. Most of the time, on the rivers I paddle, keeping animals out of the trash isn't very hard.
In my opinion, a can of Dinty Moore stew beats any freeze dried meal hands down.

I have never paid much attention to what other people do on rivers.

For many years on longer trips I would throw a can of Dinty Moore in the barrel as a back-up. Never had to rely on it. I had originally planned on a can of Spam - this to remind me of my EARLY camping days with my buddy. Crack that can open and put by the fire till warm. Seemed so perfect then. Now, not so much.

So many many years ago, my dad took me into the woods on a with him on a favored loop hike where he likes to hunt. i was way too young and small to hunt and could barely follow him, but it was the beginning of my love of traveling in the Adirondack back country. At the edge of a freely flowing spring, he grabbed drinking glass that had been placed over a tree branch and we shared a drink of fresh cool water. Next, he went over to a nearby tree with a hole in it and pulled out from it a can of Dinty Moore stew. He had with him a very early version of a Svea gas stove. and we after a few minutes had a lunch of hot DM stew. My wife does not understand why to this day I sometimes still enjoy it, which I especially do when I go to our cabin alone. I also may sometimes take a can when canoe tripping, when a littele extra weight does not matter, often when I am on a lakeside lean2rescue work effort with the crew.

My dad frequently took the family camping for his vacation. With four kids, it was an inexpensive option. For dinner we often had Dinty Moore stew and he'd stretch it with a can of baked beans. I have nostalgic feelings about Dinty Moore Stew. I have Dinty Moore stew at home once in a while. I live alone and it's a good bachelor meal. Some of the Campbell's Chunky Soups are both filling and nutritious.
Another problem I see with using canned food on trips is they smash the crap out of other things in the food bag. They really need to be kept separate.

Keeled Over said:

For many years on longer trips I would throw a can of Dinty Moore in the barrel as a back-up. Never had to rely on it. I had originally planned on a can of Spam - this to remind me of my EARLY camping days with my buddy. Crack that can open and put by the fire till warm. Seemed so perfect then. Now, not so much.

Click to expand...

funny story about spam- one time we were snowshoeing into an area looking for a lost lake that even the locals didn't know existed, it had been freezing rain and fog for the three previous days so everything was covered in about 1/4" of ice. On day 2 after snowshoeing for about 8-9 hours we were all cold, wet, and exhausted, and decided to stop for the night. Several people tried and failed to get more than a candle flame sized fire going because as soon as you tried to add any kindling the fire would go out. I remembered a story my WWII vet uncle told me about burning spam (basically "c- rats") to boil water for coffee, then eating the warm spam. I too always carried a can for emergencies and tore the lid off and stuck it on a stick over the fire, there was just enough heat to melt the excess fat which dripped onto the fire- within minutes we had a hot, cheery fire and chunks of warm spam to add to our FD meal...