thanks for the feedback--heres the recipe for Garg..for one person a pack of Spring Veg Knorr Soup--thats a cup or so of soup, for two guys toss in a second pack..i add another cup or so of water for the other dry stuff that go's in--Knorr also has a kosher veg soup thats not as salty and has other veg's in it like zucchini but any pack of dry soup thats to your likeing would work i guess--i add wild rice that has been cooked and dried.if i don't have any of the wild stuff at hand i use a "instant"--10 minute cook--brown rice..white instant rice works but you have to add it later in the cooking or it gets sort of mushy and i don't use it anymore because i want a one pot,no fuss sort of meal that will cook while i get my tent up or do other camp chores--other than that dry meat of some sort.i have used freeze dry chicken,beef and in the past the freeze dry breakfast sausage patties that are hard to find now.i also did home dried buffalo burger but none of these had any "teeth" to them so i'll use the pork chip bits now..the other major item is tortellini.the dry cheese filled pasta comes with tomato and cheese or just a variety of cheese and really makes this glop tasty.thats about it--sometimes i'll toss in the sun dry tomato,dry mushrooms and onion bits that i add to my powdered egg breakfasts..on a cool,wet day after paddleing for hours this Garg has filled me up many times and is always a hit with the canoe buddys.i pre-pack the meal in a zip-lock bag so all i have to do is open the soup pack and dump the rest into a cooking pot that water has been added up to the "scum line"--
Blast-- i have no idea how long the salt pork would last--
in the old days a "wad" of pork and a bag of dry peas was stuck away as a back up meal for canoe trippers but maybe they made it different then so it lasted longer--more salt??..

Swamp--the Mora 2000 is now my main camp knife..that thin grind on the tip seems to be as strong as the blade on any knife i've used..that rubber handle is great in the wet and unlike some handles does not feel cold..

Spoolup--i got that at LDP camp foods..your right about the long soak the chops need.i think the ones i breaded and fried could have sat while we were out hiking and been a bit better.
but what i have left will just be the meat for the Garg--



the real thing out on the canoe path with a bottle of Mango Tang and rum to wash it down---