How to pack for camping food
Packing and Storing Food. Tips to Keep Food Fresh and Organised in Camp and on Backcountry Trips.
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morning folks and welcome back it's an
absolutely stunning day here in norfolk
promising to be the warmest day of the
summer so far so i'm quite glad to be
in this little bit of woodland uh
amongst the dappled shade
keeping out of the sun um this is a new
a new woodland for me a new permission
i'm very excited about it it's uh
mostly deciduous um oak trees old oak
trees
um ash various other species um yeah
it's going to be a really nice
spot for filming future videos that's
for sure
lovely um this video
is in direct response to several
questions and queries i had about uh
transporting and storing food um while
out camping
um i thought i'd put a video together
show you what what i use
and you know how i keep my my food
protected
and fresh
now what food i pack and how i carry it
depends hugely on how long i'm out for
and what it is i'm actually doing if i'm
out on a backpacking trip for example
i'm gonna pack very differently to how i
will if i'm on a canoe trip or
or car camping or whatever um you know
where space and uh
and weight is less of an issue i'm gonna
break this video down into two sections
carrying fresh food that needs to be
kept cool so that it doesn't spoil
and carrying long life or dehydrated
food
and that's where i'm going to start with
the shelf stable long life food you can
choose from a huge range of readily
available supermarket tins and packets
that'll last weeks or months without any
special storage requirements
tin food's an option but uh the empty
tin then becomes a bit of an awkward and
heavy item to carry about with you for
the rest of the trip
i do use tins sometimes you know corned
beef
tinned fish sometimes a can of beans or
whatever
but i generally prefer packet food
either dried like you know pasta meals
and dried potatoes smash
noodles things like that or um
wet pouch food i'm a big fan of those
military 24-hour
ration packs and mres especially on
extended trips
they contain balanced meals and they
have a high
calorie count which is important
obviously when you're burning calories
out on a trip
certain vegetables and fruit will last
well for a prolonged period if you
store it carefully in the shade potatoes
and other root vegetables for example
onions and garlic they all travel really
well
the other option is to go down the
dehydrated meal route i'll often choose
these if i'm out for
several days at a time backpacking where
i'm going to be carrying my food
there's a huge weight saving to be made
you know you take the water out food
it's much much lighter
and it's much more compact so packing it
is easier
you know you can find water on roots to
rehydrate your meals
and um you've got something tasty to
have that
doesn't weigh a lot you can buy a wide
range of dehydrated meals from outdoor
stores
some are very good really tasty and
filling others are less so
but what i have found is that they are
all very expensive
expect to pay five to six pounds for a
single meal and often the portion size
is a bit lacking with this in mind
another option is to make your own
the possibilities for dehydrating meals
are almost limitless
as long as you can remove the fat
content or reduce the fat content
then you can you can dehydrate almost
anything the bonus is that it's cheap
you have complete control of what goes
in it and you can decide on your own
portion size
if you're interested in dehydrating your
own meals i'm going to point you in the
direction of kevin ryan's new book
backcountry eats
kevin is the master of dehydrating food
and his book is full of loads of recipes
and great ideas
now whatever food i take with me to camp
i like to keep it organized
and i like to keep it all together and
contained it's just worth saying at this
point
you know i live in england um we don't
have any predators to worry about here
not like some of you in other parts of
the world and that's reflected in the
bags and the containers that i use
if you are in canada or somewhere like
that where bears are an issue obviously
you'll have to take those extra
precautions to make sure
that your food is you know safe from
those predators
i haven't got to worry about that sort
of thing that's not an issue for me if
i'm out backpacking i tend to carry my
food in a lightweight
dry bag just to keep it all together and
then i'll organize
that food then into into meals generally
each meal i can bag up and label
and i can just pull out that bag and i
know that everything is in there that i
need for that for that meal
sometimes i'll just use reusable ziplock
bags i can use them again and again they
can become rubbish bags to take my
rubbish out and all the rest of it
and sometimes i vacuum pack them which
has the advantage of drawing all that
air out and making them a bit smaller
to pack and saves a bit of space in my
bag if i haven't got so far to walk to
camp or i'm just out for the day or i'm
canoeing or something like that or just
you know just out doing a bit of cooking
then i tend to use heavier weight and
much more durable
bags like these ones from david fryers
i'm a big fan of these you'll have seen
them in videos before
this one here has a roll top and a
velcro closure
which keeps insects and things out of my
food which is really important in this
country
and some earwigs and things like that
can get into your food and it's a real
pain
here's a whole range of different bags
and couches ideal for carrying food his
box pouches in particular
which i use for carrying food and my
brew kit amongst other things and then
within these bigger food bags
i'll organize my food into ziploc bags
or containers
tiffin tins or even your billy can are
really useful for storing dried
ingredients like
rice and pulses and things like that and
i'm a huge fan of these small
nalgene bottles um they're great for
storing powders and liquids
like honey and oil and things they're
completely leak-proof and crush-proof
i use these in my brew kit as well for
storing sugar tea and coffee
they are really handy on canoe trips i
transport my food bags along with my
kitchen kit in waterproof plastic canoe
barrels
this keeps everything protected and it
keeps it all dry if the barrel ends up
in the water
an added bonus is that they make really
useful camp furniture
comfortable seat something to chop your
veg on a table whatever
very useful fresh food is another story
altogether
and causes a problem when you're away
from the comfort and convenience of home
again what i take with me and how i how
i transport it
varies hugely depending on what it is
i'm doing and how long i'm out for in
this country
food will generally last well for a day
without refrigerating
if you pack it well if i'm just out for
the day cooking
or if i'm out on a multi-day trip and
i'm taking fresh food just for the first
day
i'll often just wrap it up well and pack
it in the middle of my rucksack pack
loads of things around it
and those items act as insulation and
that food will stay fresh and won't
spoil for that first day
to extend the life of fresh food a bit
further you can pre-freeze certain items
i tend to do this with meat and i carry
it frozen i also sometimes use a small
insulated lunch box with a couple of
those reusable ice blocks in
this works really well especially if the
lunch box is again packed in the middle
of your pack
um where it's got that extra insulation
around it or in the middle of your canoe
barrel a length of that reflectix
bubble wrap insulation also works really
well to keep your food fresh
just wrap your food up with one of those
reusable ice blocks
and bury that in your rucksack and that
will help hugely to keep things fresh
for longer for longer trips by car
or by canoe where space isn't a factor
you could opt for
a cool box they're big they're heavy
they're awkward to carry
they're definitely not a lightweight
option but if you're able to take one
along with you
they change things completely filled
with ice cubes or better still those big
ice blocks and stored carefully in the
shade limiting the amount of time that
they're open while you get things out
they'll keep food and drinks cool for
days this first one
is my everyday lunch box it's an old
coleman cool box i've had for years and
years and it goes to work with me
every day i keep my lunch in it and it
keeps my lunch cool
and my drinks cool especially important
this time of year
i do occasionally use it on camps
it's useful for keeping food fresh and
beer cold
and it works well for two or three days
at most
this cool box is a serious bit of kit
it's a 50 liter cool box from petromax
they have two other sizes
one smaller and one bigger minus the 50
liter
and it's got some sort of high-tech
passive insulation in it
that will keep contents cool for up to
12 days
if used carefully it's big enough for
extended family trips
and group use and inside it has these
handy racks to keep items
food items out of the ice and easily
accessible obviously the downside
is the weight and bulk but again if
you're car camping or traveling by canoe
it's a game changer the other bonus
about having
cool boxes in camp is that just like
with the canoe barrels they double as
camp furniture
this big one makes a fantastic work
surface
and you can get a seat cover for it so
it turns into a really comfortable
seat in camp
so there you go these are the ways that
i like to carry and store food in camp
um hopefully that's answered some of
your questions everybody's got their own
methods
and systems for carrying food these are
just the ways that i found
work well for me thanks for watching
and i'll see you soon
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