I'm anxiously awaiting snowmobile season and I'm setting up my back pack. I'm pretty well set on survival kit stuff, but what I'm curious about is food. I'm wondering what type of packable snacks are best for a night out in not optimal conditions... I will probably be tired of digging a stuck sled out, or building a shelter, hopefully without sweating, but I'll want some warm food for rewarming my body and for helping my attitude out. But I wonder if I need carb's or quick fix of a snickers bar or protien or fat? I will want to have a quick fix and a more drawn out heat some water and make a meal to kill all the time and pass a night, so please help me with recommendations. I have a back packing meal ie. freeze dried chicken ala king already, but want other ideas, and some smaller items. I currently have a couple of hot chocolate packets, onion soup packet in my pack and I usually pack a lunch with some snickers, but I,m thinking I need some storable food that stays in my pack for the winter....Thanks for any suggestions.

Carbs ans sugar based candies will give you a short term lift. Something you might want in an emergency. But long term like an overnight stay in the cold weather situation you need fats and protein.

A couple of power bars would not be a bad start. But in thecold they get very hard to chew. Hard candy is always a compact package for a boost.

Traditionally pemican has been the food of natives and frountersmen especially in the cold months. Dried meat, dried fruits or berries and rendered fat as a binder and coating. Fry up a couple of slices and when you are cold you would be suprized how good it tastes. Your body knowes what it needs.I've seen a recipe that substitues peanut butter for the fat.

A modern partial substitute is peanut butter. Plenty of protein and fat to fuel the body. There is also the choice of natural peanut butter without all the additives. For that matter any nut can be ground into a paste or butter. A small jar would be good thing to toss in an emergency kit.

MRE's can come with a heating system for a hot meal if you can't build a fire.

Any kind of powdered drink mix, coffee or tea for a hot drink will work wonders on morale on a long cold lonely night.

You'll need everything. Sugar is a FIFO, starches for the midrange, and fat for the night. Trick is nothing with a high moisture content...

Granola bars. Peanut butter cookies (good luck keeping them in the pack) or sandwiches (they can keep in the pack for several days; weeks if frozen). Sunflower seeds. M&M's can chip teeth if they freeze, so if you do gorp, use plain chips. Fig newtons are great.

First thought that came to mind - MRE heater meal, or some civilian equivilent. Warm, meant to be able to be handled in the cold, packable, and a LOT (and I do mean a LOT) of calories. Hint folks - 2 MREs/day are supposed to be enough calories to have a young male survive in battlefield conditions

Heater meals get interesting below freezing. I'd want to try it first.

On my diet (life style), one MRE contains most of the calories I am allowed in one day. I have noticed that the quality of the MREs have improved over the years. the convenience of being able to heat a meal without a fire is a real plus, if you have room enough to carry a few MREs. Sometimes I break down the MREs so they take up less space in my backpack.

Admittedly, I have not tried the heater pack in below freezing weather. It takes very little water to activate them, so I'll just have to try it or recheck the specs on them.

The big risk I see is that if the meal itself freezes, I'm not sure the heater module is hot enough to thaw it. I know that an MRE heater won't defrost a hard frozen MRE; can't imagine these guys are any better off.

The trick is to open the MRE, add the required water, close it back up (w/the help of a paperclip), and then place it inside your shirt, with the T-shirt (or long-johns) between you and everything else that you are wearing.

This "preheats and rehydrates" your meal from the start of your morning to the time that you want to eat. Your meal will be at least 98.6 degrees and ready for the MRE Heater to warm it up properly.

Breaking down your MRE's will reduce the volume (air) that you are carrying around and allows room in your ruck to carry additional items. It also allows you easier access to specific food items that you want (ie: blueberry muffin during a break)

I like to carry a couple of C-Rats like a can of chili, beef stew, chicken & dumplings, etc. A C-Rat every couple of days in the field does a lot for one's morale.

I love breakfast! I'll bake some biscuits and hard boil some eggs at home and bring those along with some raw bacon, and also bring some instant grits or oatmeal. This allows me to have my bacon, eggs, grits (or oatmeal), and biscuits for the time that I'll be in the field.

I am in the habit of saving some salt, pepper, Tony Chacherie's seasonings, taco sauce, ketchup, grape (& strawberry) jelly/jam packets from fast food restaurants to add to my meals.

When I am going to my boat, I keep some of the condiment items as I travel and eat along the way. This keeps some fresh condiments coming into my BoB as I come and go.

These are some of the "tricks" that I use.

Lately, I've been big on gorp with dried fruit in it. It's not something I eat every day, but it sure tastes good on the trail. The dried fruit makes it a little sweeter which is good for a quick pick-me-up. I like Sunbird Spiffy Mix, which has: raisins, papaya, pineapple, apples, walnuts, cashews, and almonds. Sometimes I also just "roll my own" dried fruit and nut gorp from whatever looks good on the dried fruit section of Whole Foods.

I have read on the MRE-heater instructions that for frozen MRE's, you need 2 MRE-heaters: One to defrost, one to heat.

Hmm, since someone else already got to my pemmican suggestion, I will offer an alternative:

In really cold weather, I like sausage meats, like pepperoni, slim jims, salami, along with good cheese like gouda or cheddar or paremesan. Something peppery helps heat up the body along with regular applied heat. I often pack a small Hickory Farms summer sausage and a few babybel cheese rounds or some string cheese.

Peanut butter is always a good staple.

i would suggest you read--"paradise below zero" by
Calvin Rutstrum..the main crux of the book is wilderness
wintering--he did all this in the 30-40's and lived in
the far north year round so this is no slapdash pick-up
info tossed together to make a book--one of his best food
tricks was to make up a big pot of stew with lots of meat
and lard--pour it into a square cake pan and set it outside
to freeze--while it was still "setting up" he would mark
off squares with his knife and when it was solid break off
the hunks ---which were one meal worth--and wrap in wax
paper..meal time came and one would go in the pot..anyone
who has winter camped will tell you than butter is like
candy and gets put in and on everything--

All good thoughts.

Presuming you have some way of melting snow and boiling water, dehydrated food might be the way to go.

Personally, I always like crackers and PB or pate - I can get little tins and spread on a cracker it gives me carbs, fat and protein.

Key point - if you are looking for a little boost at the end of a long day, make sure you pack what YOU like - nothing worse than getting to the end of a hard day and having to eat something you don't like.

The only thing that comes to mind is a can of Mini-Ravioli's. Mmmm, so yummy even cold.

I'm considering making my own Pemmican starting with lean hamburger and beef fat and adding dried fruit to taste. Apparently it will last years if made correctly.

I like the jetboil stove for dead simple, very fast heating. A bit bigger than a Nalgene bottle, it has its own 'pot.' No idea about its low temperature performance.

tro

jetboil company home page

user review #1

user review #2

Thanks everyone, good ideas, I am in Hailey. Love this site all very helpful, and gets one to thinking...

If you're looking for a lightweight, compact, and durable stove, you could do worse than a soda-can stove. There are instructions online, but you'll probably be happier with some of the very inexpensive ones available online. I've made a few of my own and I prefer the ones on this page:

http://www.minibulldesign.com/fs2.htm

With the stove, pot made from an insulated Heineken can, and a small bottle of alcohol; you can cook three meals a day for several days and all of the gear packs down to a ridiculously small size (basically, a 24oz Heineken can). The stove maker likes methanol, but it's toxic to get on your skin, so I spend a little more on denatured ethanol from the local hardware store.

No affiliation with Tinny or MBD, just an impressed customer.

"...C-Rats like a can of chili, beef stew, chicken & dumplings, etc...


That my friend, is NOT a C-Rat. Nothing you can find in a store today comes close to being as lousy as a real C-Rat...

jay,

In stocking food, it might be a good idea to go with the carbs, etc that you're used to.

Experimenting with foods that your gut ain't seen yet out in the woods could be "uncomfortable".

I've bought new pack meals that 1) tasted nasty as all get out (one unbearabley so and was wasted), and 2) tore my tummy up (nuff said on that except that the wildlife was probably happy to see me leave).

Just a thought.

Have fun man!!!!

OBG,

Are those made from American Rats or are they imported?

Canned orange nut rolls.....if we had dropped these instead of bombs, it all would have been over quickly.

Soda can stoves are a generally no-go in winter, just like any alcohol stove is. Too cold, and you don't get vaporization, and that is key with any liquid fuel.

I'm working on ways around it, but they all involve carrying the stove and the fuel in your clothing with you. Working with Trangias, I've rigged up something that lets them burn while sitting on a block ice, but you have to pre-heat the riser, keep the fuel relatively warm, and it is only in the most experimental stages until winter gets here.

If people want to experiment, a small can of Hormel ham or turkey (might work with other brands, these are what I have around) fit the underside of a military Trangia perfectly. If you burn a little bit of solid fuel (tinder) in the bottom of it for a minute, then snuff it with the Trangia before fueling, it works so far. But as I said, I haven't given it a serious test, and when I've chilled the fuel (bottle sitting on ice) it fizzles badly.

Instead, if you want to keep it as small and light as possible, a small pot candle like the Nuwicks. But it is kinda hard to boil water over candles in my experince, and you need HOT water to properly restore most dehydrated food. You can use warm water, but I've found it leave the most uncomfortable "swallowed a bowling ball" feeling as your guts try to cramp around it.

If you want it to last longer, make sure you get the meat good and dry before mixing the batch up. The drier the inside is, the longer it will go. Also, render the beef fat twice if you can. It will hold up a little longer.

Oh I dunno, some of those spanish labeled potted meat products they sell at the dollar stores probably come close...

http://www.mreinfo.com/reviews/international/russian-ration-review.html

I'm not so sure

I will once again clarify my use of the word C-Ration: A basic meal in a can. Although the commercial versions of C-Rats are much better than the old military version, I think the term still applies.

Sue me if I am that far off of the mark and am guilty of "false advertising" or "bait and switch" terminology.

My usual fare includes: Vienna Sausages in barbeque sauce (yum!), kippers (preferably the lemon-pepper flavor), summer sausage and pepper cheese on a bagel, a cup-o-soup, and a Snickers bar. I heat everything up on a Sterno except for the cup-o-soup, for which I boil the water on an alcohol burner made from a cat food can.

It's not exactly a balanced menu, but it sure is tasty.

Old Bald Guy: You mean someone out there makes C-rat Ham and Mother----s ? Good Lord, man, it hurts my innerds just remembering them. The next thing you'll tell me is Ham & Eggs are availiable.....

Don't forget the munitions certified pound cake!!!!!