View Full Version : anyone ever resupply with meat and cold bag it?
toblazeornottoblaze
12-31-2013, 16:56
Just curious, im looking at my mylar cold bag.
Slo-go'en
12-31-2013, 17:54
Not likely. If you carry freash meat out of town, eat it for dinner that night. It's not going to go bad that quick, even in summer heat. Or you could freeze it, wrap it in your sleeping bag or fleece jacket and it will be ready to eat the next night.
FarmerChef
12-31-2013, 18:04
Not me. If it's the same day as resupply and it's warm out I might try it but it's pushing it. However, in the shoulders (early spring/late fall) when it's good and cold out I'll do things differently. Much more fresh food on the trail since it will keep for more than a few hours. For instance, I learned that mozzarella cheese sticks actually do NOT freeze at 25 degrees. Go figure. And fresh cheese on the trail is sooooo good. So is a ham sandwich with fresh (or prepackaged) deli meat.
pipsissewa
12-31-2013, 18:10
Never tried to carry uncooked meat. But just today, I found this:
25465
Haven't tried it yet. It's a mylar-type envelope of shelf stable, pre-cooked beef. Ingredients are: Beef, Water, Contains 2% Or Less of: Salt, Beef Extract, Caramel Color. Doesn't sound like you can go too wrong with this!
Talk about SALMONELLA poisoning, Not a good idea Bro, if you got to carry Meat try Summer sausage,Slim Jim's, Pepperoni Slices or Dyhydrate the Hamburger meat at home then it's good to go.
toblazeornottoblaze
12-31-2013, 18:15
that's kinda cool
rangeley
12-31-2013, 20:13
Wouldn't stuff like salami and bologna last a couple days? Maybe it wouldn't last a couple days, but wouldn't it still be good?
toblazeornottoblaze
12-31-2013, 21:01
seems like it (mylar bags insulated) would stay cold for two or three days.
kayak karl
12-31-2013, 21:21
maybe it will, maybe not. depends on temp. i have cooked beef, poultry and eggs in town and packed in. seemed easier. i could eat it cold too.
If you think you are going to haul raw steaks, roasts, poultry, and pork to the trail regularly uhhh that does not bode well for you completing a long hike........in my humble vegetarian opinion. :D It's heavy, very perishable, and time consuming to prepare. If you want your meat fix look at cured, dried, dehydrated, meats/jerkies/sausages, etc.
fiddlehead
01-01-2014, 00:11
Take a frozen steak, wrap it in some clothes from your clothes bag and enjoy it the 2nd day out thrown right on the hot coals from a good fire.
Awesome way to cook it, and awesome treat your middle day out.
Bologna will keep a few days. As will hot dogs.
But, I agree with those who say if you need the meat fix, dehydrate a bunch of hamburger and throw it in with whatever you are cooking. THAT will keep up to 6 months if dried good.
Trailweaver
01-01-2014, 03:35
On my first night out I sometimes take a frozen catfish (it's a southern thing, ya'll) for one good meal out there. It's thawed by the time I get ready to cook at night. I really like to cook on the trail, and I admit, I like to watch fellow hikers salivate over my meals while I watch them eat cold or dehydrated meals out of Mylar bags.
This might be another (safer) option for you.
http://beprepared.com/food-storage/dairy-eggs-and-meats.html
I'm a vegetarian so can't comment on the quality of meats, but I have been satisfied with other items I've ordered from them.
Best not try take raw meat or fish with you in bear country.
4eyedbuzzard
01-01-2014, 10:32
I've taken frozen steaks and chops wrapped between a couple of those Styrofoam meat trays in a ziplock. Stayed frozen one full day, and thawed for the second night. That is in NH though. Not sure how well they would keep in 100 degree southern or mid-Atlantic heat.
Whack-a-mole
01-01-2014, 12:52
If I'm not going far the first night, I'll take a a prebaked potato with the center scooped out and filled with cheese and butter, the whole thing wrapped very well in foil, along with a nice filet. Get a nice little fire going, put the potato in the coals to warm it up, put the filet on a sharpened forked stick, cook over the coals and enjoy. It is incredible as a first night meal on the trail. Of course it is a lot of weight, so I only do it on the first night. It's also a pleasant surprise when you put your pack on the next morning and you can actually feel that it's lighter. Just because you are camping in the woods doesn't mean that you have to skimp.
Slo-go'en
01-01-2014, 13:47
I've had a cold burger and a warm beer for dinner after leaving town a few times. A subway sub is also a good meal first night leaving town. Carry the sause on the side.
toblazeornottoblaze
01-01-2014, 14:06
im doing an experiment, im freezing hot dogs, gonna put them in a insulated mylar bag with ice and let it set at room temp and see how long it takes to just defrost.
Not certain what you (OP) mean by either "meat" or "cold bag". Is the former something to-be-cooked, or are you on some caveman pre-discovery-of-fire thing where you want to eat hamburger sushi? Or are you talking sausage and the like? Or both? By "cold bag", is the point how you store/carry it, or are you talking about not cooking (no stove)?
In pretty cold weather a friend and I went cookless on the CDT; I hiked about the first half of it that way, and apart from the obvious foil-packet-of-tuna sort of thing, one approach we liked is that we would split a package of hot dogs and buns. Just eat 'em cold; surprisingly good, even camped on or around snow. Eat a couple the first day, the rest the second day. Worked fine; they weren't frozen, just typically cold from the store cooler to start with.
Food bag is a little heavy that way the first day or two from resupply, but a nice way to get some variety, and it was dead easy.
Blissful
01-01-2014, 21:46
I have done it for short trips in cold weather (we once backpacked smoked turkey legs). But for long distances, I resort to dehydrating.
I'm a vegetarian but I often get Tofurkey, Soysage, etc. at re-supply in winter. In summer, I'll do it for a first night out.
I did a hundred miles or so with a couple of thru hikers in '08 that bought a pack of hotdogs at every town along with a 12 pack.
They would carry both up to 20 miles and eat them (and drink) that night and pack out the empties (this was in VA and Shenandoah).
im doing an experiment, im freezing hot dogs, gonna put them in a insulated mylar bag with ice and let it set at room temp and see how long it takes to just defrost.
Lewis and Clark buried bacon or salt pork on their way west and dug it up and ate it when they came back east! When I started spending time on the trail there was no such thing as 'freeze dried backpacking food'. The answer is that yes you can freeze food, even meat, and use it as it thaws out, probably in the first day or two of a trip. The real problem for me is the degree of care neeed to pack and monitor the food and the extra clean up chore of getting grease complety cleaned off the kitchen gear. And then you need to take a good fry pan, a big knife, etc... Just getting rid of the smells and getting my hands clean keeps me from taking frozen meat when there are easier choices. Cooked food that is ready to heat and eat can be frozen and is far easier and safer.
But, a hot dog on a stick over a campfire is just so iconic. So here is how I pack frozen food for hikng or canoing. Freeze it in the deep freeze, mine is set at about zero, not just the fridge freezer compartment. Wrap each package in several layers of newspaper and bag each in a ziplock. Place the package you want to use last in the center of another ziplock surrounded by the ones you will want first. Put this back in the freezer overnight. The last thing to pack will be this frozen bag. Wrap the whole bag in another layer of newspaper, at this point you could put it in your mylar bag. I sometimes pack this in the center of my sleeping bag. If I have a cooler I place crumpled paper, and sometimes frozen water bottles, around the frozen food. I tape the lid shut and never open it except to remove the package I will cook. I have had food remain frozen for a week in the summer with constant care.
On my weekend hikes I now almost always carry a steak out for that first night. I freeze it, and by the time I make it to camp that night it's unfrozen. Nothing like a campfire cooked steak after a long day of hiking.
Never tried to carry uncooked meat. But just today, I found this:
25465
Haven't tried it yet. It's a mylar-type envelope of shelf stable, pre-cooked beef. Ingredients are: Beef, Water, Contains 2% Or Less of: Salt, Beef Extract, Caramel Color. Doesn't sound like you can go too wrong with this!
We've taken this on backpacking trips. With dehydrated salsa, refried beans, and tortillas, we were eating good!!
I met a guy on the trail, who wrapped aluminum foil around his Camelbak to create a water cooled pouch and kept cheese and meat in it. I haven't tried it. I kind of gave up using a Camelbak.
I did try those aluminum foil tuna, salmon and chicken pouches, that they sell not refrigerated at the supermarket in the canned meat section. I've cooked the meat with Knorr rice dish or wrapped it in tortillas, but I hate the smelly, greasy empty packages you end up carrying around. I just eat vegetarian when I'm on the trail. It's cleaner.
I resupplied with summer sausage, hard cheeses and pepperoni all the time, regularly ate it 4 days after buying it and never had a problem, it sat at room temperature with everything else in my pack.
okiefree
02-09-2014, 15:16
I resupplied with summer sausage, hard cheeses and pepperoni all the time, regularly ate it 4 days after buying it and never had a problem, it sat at room temperature with everything else in my pack.
Yes cured meats can go many many days just fine without refrigeration. Just wrap with wax paper and a couple rubber bands and your good.
fredmugs
02-09-2014, 17:15
I resupplied with summer sausage, hard cheeses and pepperoni all the time, regularly ate it 4 days after buying it and never had a problem, it sat at room temperature with everything else in my pack.
Same here. Sam's Club sells an Hillshire Fams Yard of Beer Summer Sausage. I just cut it up and stick in zip lock bags. I use it mainly to snack on during breaks.
Starchild
02-09-2014, 18:22
I have brought steak and chicken raw and frozen, and as long as it stays frosty there is no issue, and it can be insulated with a down puffy (jacket), so it can be kept cold for quite a while. I sometimes would sneak a piece of raw meet in the freezer case the evening before and buy it frozen in the morning on my way to the trail. It is great having real food on the trail.