Camping with no cooler food.. help

[Redlantern]

I'm with you Irvingdog on the dried ground beef. Pretty easy to do. Get the leanest ground beef you can, brown it, rinse the grease off with HOT water, then put in the dehydrater or oven with a low temp setting and the door open a crack. Works great with the hamburger helper.

I also like the foil pouches of chicken, salmon, shrimp, etc. Not great for weight but I'm willing to portage it. Dehydrating some vegetables works pretty good. Hot peppers dry well and add a good flavor to omelets. I agree a person can bring fresh eggs but I prefer to use powdered egg whites. Not as good as fresh but less worrying about busting the eggs in the pack. Precooked bacon is nice too. No messing around with the leftover grease from cooking it and it's a bit lighter than the uncooked.

I typically bring a few blocks of cheese, some hard salami and peanut butter. None are light but I like to eat and so does my group. I also don't go without some fresh fruit, apples, pears, oranges.

A few onions, carrots and potatoes. I also have the typical steak dinner on the first night.

Soup mixes work well. Got some good clam chowder from Fleet Farm. Instead of clams, we add fish to it.

Some of the freeze dried meals aren't too bad to eat but do get a bit pricey.

[LightningBG]

not trying to get into some sort of prove each other wrong argument, but where did you hear this from? It doesn't make sense unless temperature changes effect the integrity of the egg's natural barriers making it easier for bacteria and whatnot to get in there.

also, how exactly are you guys bring eggs into the BWCA with out having them break during portages, etc.

After rereading the article I'm apprehensive about listing the source, (there is all sorts or copyright stuff, which I didn't see earlier. Anyways, it was the online version of a magazine.

The temp changes do affect it. Similar to beer, if you buy it cold, keep it cold (ideally). If you buy it warm, cool it at your pleasure.

For the eggs it has to do with inorganic phosphorus transferred through the pores in the shell. I'm no food scientist, so that's as far as I'm going.

Think of it this way: If a grocery store didn't have to refrigerate them, would they spend all that money on coolers and electricity?

We crack them before we go in and put them in Nalgene bottles and freeze. Super easy, always works, no mess, no chance of breakage, dont see any way we could make it better.

[herefish101]

Dude I go to the boundry waters two to three times a year, do yourself a favor, Bring a cooler. It does'nt have to be a big one, but it's best to have a good one withe a tight fitting lid. Freeze everything, steaks, juice(in one gallon freezer bags), some pre made chilli, a half gallon jug of frozen water. I'v had things still frozen in my cooler five days into a seven day trip. All that freeze dried stuff sucks, although the strogonoff was'nt too bad. But on a short trip don't skimp on the food, usually a short trip means going in, setting up camp and staying there, if thats the case, bring good food. And if theres a little room left in the cooler, throw in one of them plastic bottles of beer or maybe two. You'll thank yourself when you get there and set up, ahh a cold beer, in the middle of the boundry waters, it's hard to find anything better. Have fun, and I hope you good travels.

[KG243]

I have always brought a cooler, if you are worried about the weight then you better start getting your butt in shape!