Last night I had a brain wave.

I was thinking about winter survival (and winter hiking) and was thinking about the problem of water. Getting water is as simple as finding snow and melting it with a stove or fire...easy. Keeping it in a drinkable liquid form can be tricky. I decided that the next time I go out I would suck up the extra weight and bring a Thermos bottle. When I melt snow I also boil it unless I'm worried about running out of fuel. I can put the boiled water into the thermos and drink hot water until my next meal stop or until it's empty. Even if it's not warm, it shouldn't freeze for many hours.

This got me to thinking about taking this idea to the next level. If I'm going to stop for lunch and boil water to drink, why not use this time to prepare extra food? I could boil both servings out of my favorite freeze dried meal pouch (since almost all of these come in 2 serving quantities). I'd eat one for lunch and put the other into a 500mL Thermos canister. I could then carry the canister (inside my jacket if needs be) and when I get to my destination I can eat without having to bust out the stove. I thought this would be a fantastic idea up here where the days are so short that by dinner time it's nearly pitch black outside. This would allow me more time to gather wood, set up a fire and the put up my shelter. I could start a fire instead and melt snow using that instead...since I'd already eaten there would be no rush to get the fire to the cooking stage...any ol' fire would do fine. I could even get to bed early (assuming I didn't need any more water) without ever having to dig out the stove OR light a fire and get an early start the next morning.

Have any of you tried this? It seems so obvious I have no idea why I've never done it before.