FOOD

[Moosie]

Been looking and Making a list for a long time... Jsut wondering what you have brought or Would bring on a drop camp scinario ?

I think I'm sticking with the Mountain House Dried food stuff... Way afordable, Way good, and WAY light....

Any other suggestions ?

 

[Ovis]

Some of the things I have taken in the past. I've trimmed down on this since I last updated it as well...

FOOD
MOUNTAIN HOUSE- 10EA (2 SERVING SIZE)
VARIOUS POWER BARS- 10EA
SNICKERS- 10EA
GRANOLA BARS- 10EA
OATMEAL- 20EA (2 PER MEAL)
TRAIL MIX- 1GL ZIPLOCK
POP TARTS- 10EA
PARMASIAN CHEESE- ZIPLOCK SNACK SIZE
TANG- ZIPLOCK
GUM- 3 PACKS
COUSCOUS- ZIPLOCK
TERIYAKI MARINADE- 1PK W/ VILE OF PREMIXED OIL & VINEGAR
COCOA- 10E

I don't take pop tarts, parmasian cheese, couscous or cocoa anymore. I found I really don't eat/drink it, it is too heavy, or just not worth the effort anymore.

I used to pack this for a ten day hunt, figuring if I was stuck out in the bush I would have enough to compensate. I don't take near as much anymore. I keep spares in my dry bag which is left at the drop off point.

I take top ramein now in place of the couscous. I also take either homemade or store bought jerky. Nuts are a good staple too, as well as bagels and some fruit, which can be dehydrated.

Come to think of it, I don't take oatmeal or grits anymore either. Really don't care for either, and I don't like having to cook in the morning. The granola bars or cereal bars do me good.

Check out the foil packaged tuna and chicken. I normally don't carry these items around, but will typically leave them in the dry bag.

Oh, how could I forget...dessert! Powdered milk mixed with the instant cheese cake pudding. I prepackage the powdered mixture and then add water in the field. I like to have something sweet before I doze off. Wild berries are a bonus with this appreciated treat.

 

[Moosie]

Thanx OVIS...

I like Snickers and PAYDAYS the best for snacks, those will be in my daily pack for lunch and Energy. Along with a string Cheese, jerky dried fruit and some Trail mix.

For Beakfast (Which Normally I don't eat) I'm lookinginto the Egg/bacon Dehydrated food, I don't touch the Oatmeal or Grit stuff, Not even when I'm REALLY REALLY hungry. I will bring some Tarts as well.

Lunch is the snacks I talked about before, I don't really stop to Eat a LUNCH per say.. but every hour or two shove some sort of YUmmy's into my mouth.

Dinners will be the Dehydrated Meals. I see there is over 100 to Choose from

And I sure love them !!!

Whats your take on these ?

I know Greenhorn has a bag full of stuff like that and is like the Fuggin Energiser bunny *WINK*

I'm with you on the Desert's !! Last year I made the

for dinner once and Never ate anything else and Slept like a BABY !!! I've also had the Cheesecake.. YUMMY !!!

 

[JoseCuervo]

Moosie,

Make sure you bring plenty of meals that do not require water/re-hydration. Our first trip had a pond for drinking water. It was hell on the filters, and tookd more than 1 hour of filtering each day. And some of the Ramen type meals have so much sodium in them, I kind of wonder whether they dehydrate you worse.

I wish we had more meals that did not require the stove or water to prepare. If you are packing 1/4s all day, there are times when you make a return, unload the meat, grab a power bar, and start hiking back to get the next load. With your dad, you might find yourself doing more than 50% of the packing, and it is amazing how many calories you burn, packing quarters. Think of it as Elk Hunting x 4 (assuming you buy 4 tags for you and Dad).

My experience was my belt needed new holes punched every day or so, you just couldn't eat enough to stay even.

I now take a jar of Peanut Butter, Jar of Honey, and some Pita Bread and some Tortillas. It is so nice to have a sandwich, without cooking.

YOu also need some meals for the days you can't get out of the tent, due to the 60mph wind, horizontal rain, and fast moving fog. You won't be able to light the stove, so hot meals are out, and you get tired of eating Power Bars all day long.

Buy some peaches in August, and dry them, vacuum seal them, and you will have a pretty good snack, with no weight. Also, the Deer/Elk jerkey is light, and is high protein.

Hope it helps.

(Elkgrinner)

 

[Ovis]

Moosie

Can't really speak for the Power Gel. I do know (and your a smart guy so you probably already figured this out) try whatever you take before you go afield. I have tried several of the newer nutrient bars out and have found the Myoplex bars to be my favorite. With the exception of the Strawberry and Blueberry Cheesecake, they taste pretty darn good. Check it out Myoplex I personally have never ate the MH eggs or breakfast meals. I will tell you I have heard some pretty yucky things about em. Have you ate them before?

Some of my favorite MH meals...
Beef Stroken'off

Clam Chowder
Any of the Terryaki meals

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 03-15-2003 13:54: Message edited by: Ovis ]</font>

 

[Oak]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> (and your a smart guy so you probably already figured this out) try whatever you take before you go afield <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hmm, don't I remember some story about year-old trail mix??

Oak

 

[Moosie]

OAK.... YA got me , But everything I'm taking to A will be fresh of fthe shelf.. Or at least right of fthe shelf hoping it's fresh

Little over night trips food is a Luxury, not a nessesity

I haven't tried the Dehydrated food yet, But, I'm heading to REI today and am going to get some. I know that if I can Eat it at home I'll love it in the Field Becasue In the field everything taste better times 5 at least (Besides Oatmeat which SUX.)

 

[ELKCHSR]

Moosie..
I don't think it would hurt you to eat pine branch tips, Kinnick Kinnick berries, and grass roots...
Then you wouln't have to worry about any of the wasted weight of food!!!

 

[Moosie]

Elkchsr, Remember that some of us Don't mind dumping an Extra $.50 for a pack of bouyon' soup mix to warm up and Won't have to choke it down

 

[ELKCHSR]

Now that wouldn't be a bad idea, pine needle soup with beef boulion!!!
Novel indeed!!!!

I wouldn't mix it with the berries though, you might get a bile type taste as happens when mixing beef and fruit!!!HAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[muskeg]

I eat alot of freeze dried meals every season. I go just about 100% freese dried any more. MH and Backpackers Pantry are the best product. My favorite MH is the Sweet & Sour Pork. But most taste very good. For breakfast I suggest the 'western style eggs w/ham'. For lunch we many times just eat a 'gronala milk and bluberries' on the run.

No cooking, no pots and pans, 1 spoon (lexan), no smells (bears), and the package burns up to nothing.

I just ordered over $1000 (wholesale) of both brands fot this season. MH said the war jitters is cleaning them out !!!!

 

[muskeg]

PS ....

Don't go with the single serve packet. I use one double serve (20 oz) packet per person.

 

[brokfut]

Mossie,
I have one of the American Harvester dehydrators and a Vac-N-Seal machine. I dry sliced potatoe, carrots, onion, jerky. Add some dry seasoning in a vac bag and seal it and it weighs nothing and makes excellent soup or stew. You can put dried fruit, jerky, fruit leather snacks veggies, etc... I like to make my own stuff for the main meals and then add the commercial stuff to round out the package. Labor intensive, but I know exactly what I'm getting cuz I did it myself. (This is a great way to carry food for the float trip down the river. Just beach on an island fix a good full meal before you have to face the arduous task of fishing your way down stream.

 

[ELKCHSR]

That is exactly the way I like to travel brokfut, cept, since I haven't got a vacpak, I just try and eat it before it goe's bad...But yes, soups with a few dried vegies and meats work extremely well....
I usually go to the step that I only take one stainless steal cup to cook with, you can roast it on a fire, get it dented and the thing still works well...
That way I don't need any other cooking utinsils, for coffee, I will use those coffee tea bags from Folgers, this even eliminates the need for coffee pots and what not. I don't even take plates or any thing else for that matter...

 

[brokfut]

I have one of those light aluminium mess kits like the boy scouts use cept I just take the skillet bottom, small pot top and the cup. I can pack some sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder inside the kit. I like to pack a back pack ultalite fishing rod and the seasoning is good on fish or grouse when I want to cook one.
Moosie, if your flinging sticks at those critters you should take a blunt tip for the tarmagin (sp?). I hear tell they are tastie camp fare.

 

[Moosie]

Brokfut, Not sure if I'm bringing the Bow. BUT, I will have the Shotgun, And regardless how I shoot at geese with ya

, I am envisioning some Parmigan (SP?) over the Flame too

Thanxs for the Ideas on the Grub, I figure it's still a bit early, but I'm making a list, checking it twice... then going to start Putting it together !!!

 

[KC]

Moosie:

I agree that Mountain House makes the least disgusting freeze dried food. So I always start with that as the foundation for my food, on a backpack trip. Remember that a two-person entre will only feed one adult and don't forget that they offer a few breakfasts too.

Take one MRE meal pack. Anything that you forgot to bring in your mess kit will be in the accessory pack. MREs are too heavy to carry more than one or two in a backpack.

Then there are the old standards;
Instant Otmeal (fruit & cream)
Instant Cocoa
Cup-O-Noodles
Cup-O-Soup
Instant gravy (Country Time, with sausage)Hard Bread Rolls (works good with the gravy)
Tortillas (already squashed)
Granola Bars, Snacks & GORP

If your water filter gets plugged, you can kill anything growing in the water with 15 minutes of boiling.

Don't eat Kinnickinnick berries by themselves. They will stop you up like a cork. Match them with an equal amount of juniper berries that will loosen you up real good if taken alone.

Ptarmigan are better taken with a .22 than with a shotgun because the flock will fly after a shotgun blast but they will just sit there after a .22 has killed there buddy. You take several of them at once.

KC

 

[Moosie]

Thanx for the Info. I'd rather chew on a stick then eat Oatmeal. I actually like the taste of the Freeze dried food. Alot of times I eat the Healthy Choice Frozen dinners for lunch at the office. And I think that the Mountain House food taste just as good or better

 

[JoseCuervo]

Moosie,

You got any sort of weight limit on this trip to Alaska? What are you chartering, a DC-3 on floats????

You realize, on the way out, the plane is going to be full of 1/4's of meat, don't you. The whole idea is you take very little weight in, and you haul much weight out. Think of it as kind of like hunting.....

And how much Salt are you taking in?

There is nothing like the sound of a Radial engine on a Beaver, mixed with the smell of a stack of meat on the floor of the plane.... Life doesn't get any better than that....

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 03-26-2003 07:31: Message edited by: Elkgunner ]</font>

 

[JoseCuervo]

Moosie,

What is your weight limit?