Commercially available freeze dried foods

[Guest]

or any similar length trip, how much space did your provisions require? I 60? More?

Where do you typically keep your water filter and stove? I have usually kept these items - minus fuel - in my barrel just for protection.

On longer trips do you typically carry a back-up stove?

Off the food topic - I have my canoes in my garage on a rack. Should I leave my CCS cover in place on the canoe or take it off? I know it can shrink so I thought about leaving it on.

I’ll try a few answers.

I fit 28 days worth of food in a 45L barrel, although I started out with some freeze dried meals, stove and water filter in a stuff sack in a dry bag. After the barrel had some room everything went in there. The fuel is canister iso-butane.

I don’t carry a back up stove. On longer trips I carry a billy pot (in which my Jet Boil nestles). That is my only “cooking” pot, used mostly to heat water over the campfire for evening hot toddies or warm clean up water.

https://www.canoetripping.net/forums...jet-boil-stove

My “cooking” needs are no more than boiling water, and in the case of a stove failure the billy pot over a campfire world suffice.

Nylon covers shrink in low humidity. When it is really dry out I just dunk the stuff bagged covers in the river and set it aside while I pack the canoe. By the time the gear is in the boat the nylon covers snap on easily.

If your garage is anything like mine I wouldn’t leave the spray covers on. For starters I wouldn’t want to have to put the cover on when I got home, and then take it back off before I put the canoe on the truck next trip. And I wouldn’t want the canoe gunwales down with the covers against the rack.

And, mostly, my garage (shop) accumulates dust and dead bugs, and has mice, and I use solvents and paints and chemicals in there; I’d rather not have the pricey spray covers dust and dead bug covered, mouse nibbled or exposed to chemicals.

 

[Odyssey]

Keeled Over, I pity the poor starving bear desperate enough to savour the fine delicacies of freeze dried Turkey Tetrazzini, but ya never know. It may be one of those attitude adjusted bears who are on to a good thing, like lightweight odourless calories. (I know some days I am. Particularly if I have to portage it.) No more pantry raided bacon & eggs, nor forest foraged nuts and berries. No. Gimme some of that Mexican Adobe Rice With Chicken. We all know bears will try anything especially if it comes special delivery to a campsite near it. Personally I have not encountered such a bear. I'd like to think it's because I protect my food pretty much the same way you do yours. Or maybe I'm bringing the wrong food. They're probably all in a higher foodie bracket.
We trip with a well sealed/cleaned food barrel left secured overnight an easy amble away from camp, not too far not too close. Never on a trail. Yes we use Ziplock bags, quite a number of them. They're reusable and always cleaned in camp and between trips. A large one makes an excellent garbage collector. I plan on acquiring very little of that. I've become obsessive just like you, greatly reducing food odour and mess with the only goal in mind to reduce potential critter encounters. If your wife has decided you are wrong and she is right, then of course she is right. No sense arguing. And if you have the standard issue marriage as most of have then you and her both will listen attentively to each other, and then go merrily along doing what you intended from the get go. If you tackle all the food related duties from prep to cook from cleanup to carry, then you'll go a long way to eliminating tripping tension. Take away the foodie worries and chores from your boss and do it all yourself. Just a thought. Best of luck to you both in your future tandem tripping futures.

 

[dramey]

I never buy or eat freeze dried food. It is too expensive and I don’t care for the taste. I also have a heart problem and have to watch the sodium and fat content. I dehydrate my own food. For bears, I just keep the food bag away from camp. A brown bear can reach up to 14 feet into a tree, so hanging food is a waste of time and in South Central Alaska, brown bear country is everywhere, including the cities. i triple pack all of my food to keep it dry and as odor free as I can make it. This works for me here in Alaska.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

I never buy or eat freeze dried food. It is too expensive and I don’t care for the taste. I also have a heart problem and have to watch the sodium and fat content. I dehydrate my own food. For bears, I just keep the food bag away from camp. A brown bear can reach up to 14 feet into a tree, so hanging food is a waste of time and in South Central Alaska, brown bear country is everywhere, including the cities. i triple pack all of my food to keep it dry and as odor free as I can make it. This works for me here in Alaska.

I have the same experience as you, dramey. I think it was about 45 years ago, when I was still a backpacker, that I tried a commercial freeze dried product. It was expensive, and didn’t really taste like food. Never had any again. Kathleen and I dehydrate all our suppers on canoe trips. It is easy to do, comparatively inexpensive, and tastes like home cooking. Moreover, because it has already been cooked, we only need to add water and heat it up.

Steven Herrero’s Book “Bear Attacks,” reports that the highest up a tree that he has determined a brown bear can climb/reach is 33 feet. IIRC, the bear was chasing someone at the time. As you suggest, hanging food might be fun, but a waste of time. Kathleen and I haven’t hung food since about 1977. It’s working out ok so far.

 

[Keeled Over]

Tied in to the blue barrel topic - I have a Bear Vault that I had to purchase to camp at Marcy Dam. What are your thoughts on these? For some reason I don't like it but unsure as to why.

I keep showing Chick the posts on dehydrating - I think we have moved a step closer. Having more food selections with better flavor didn't do it - money savings did. Since college that girl knows how to find a deal and save money. It literally is a sport for her. And she doesn't like jewelry. Had to marry her.

Thank you

 

[yellowcanoe]

Bears can climb very high. The one we saw at the dump in Moosonee was up some 70 feet in a tree.

Go ahead and use the BV.. They used to be the one kind of bear canister that DEC never recommended as Yellow Yellow and her children and their children could open it.

Most of us I venture never use canisters as we don't go in a heavily traveled area like the ADKS where the bears are habituated to humans and Snickers and Dunkin Donuts( prime ingredients for bear bait in hunting areas)

BV is very limiting in size and its hard to fill every air space.

The bear fear is real until you have your first trip under your belt. Then you realize the real horror is when you look for a bear find it leaving and get excited to take a picture and get a picture of its a$$ as you step in bear poop.

 

[scoutergriz]

like you Paddling Pitt, my last FD meal was probably 30-40 years ago (I do have one in my ditch bag, but it's probably fossilized by now) My food, even while teaching kids, has been almost entirely home dehydrated or grocery store goodies. It all goes in my blue barrel which is washed with bleach between trips, and tied to a tree in a low spot about 100' from camp. although it does have a few claw marks (I suspect a raccoon), it's never been opened yet, and is rarely bothered at all. I think the combination of bleach residue and not being a pinata in plain sight is the reason it's left alone.

 

[dramey]

I have never used a barrel. I wouldn’t even know where to buy one. Even if I knew where to buy one, the shipping to Alaska would probably be too expensive. I just pack my food in a portage pack.