For cheese, hard ones like parmesan, or a semi-soft like cheddar or edam that has been waxed. You're best bet is a speciality cheese seller, but they generally only have the larger ones. They would also have cheese wax, so you can wrap your own for a few days at least.

For the sausage, brands vary by region, but adds are there should be an area of your grocery store that has stuff like shelf-stable pepperoni and salami, whole and sliced. They often also have little 3-4 ounce salamis and summer sausages around there.

Edam - one of the most pointless bland boring cheeses ever created. The waxy cheesy bit just under the wax skin is disgusting. Although if you put it between the toes is does get rid of athlete's foot I have been told.

I've had good luck with string cheeses that are individually wrapped. Cheddar, Jack, and Mozarella. Taken them on week+ trips without a problem. Also, spent a couple of days hiking with a ranger once and he had cheese he'd had with him for 3 weeks and it just some cheddar and some white cheese... don't remember what. Just said he made sure he carved off of a different side each time to keep the mold from starting. WHen I"m hiking the oily texture doesn't bother me at all.

As for meat, small summer sausages are a hit, somethign I can eat in one meal and a snack a couple of hours later. Also peperroni and beef jerky, those last longer.

YMMV

Last weekend I brought pepperoni but the amount of grease was overwhelming. In the past I've done summer sausage but Texas heat turns it to an oily, unpleasent mush pretty quickly. I'm thinking their must be some hard Spanish sausage or something that can sit untouched by hot sun...

-Blast

BLAST..i'm sure there is a Spanish hard sausage,i think
i have seen them in the cooler with the other brands..they
are dark ,twisty and dryed up looking..kind of like Spanish
cigars..there good but take some getting used too--the cigars,
i never had the nerve to try the sausage..

A good salami stick is also a pleasant hiking alternative. Not too greasy, and tends to last a lot longer than some of the others. Genoa or some such are actually fermented and cured sausage with an edible mold on the outside (like a Brie cheese). I doubt you will find another sausage type that holds up as well and has so much character and flavor. It also goes well with hard dry cheeses like Parmesan, which makes some sense.

There are some spanish and portugese dried chorizos that are okay, but can be a bit too hard and chewy at times.

Although it isn't really cheese, velveeta is a good compromise for the trail. It doesn't need to be refrigerated, as long as it is kept in a sealed container and clean. It may not be a fine cheddar, but two weeks into a hike it will still be as good as the first day if properly cared for, without refrigeration. Otherwise, stick with the hard dry cheeses and keep them dry on the trail.

Too bad we don't irradiate our food. Irradiated cheddar stored in an airproof container will last 6 months unrefrigerated. Some day we will get it right.

Thats a nice looking lunch Canoedogs. Even though it might be a little more expensive Whole Foods actually has a good selection of dry salami, pepperoni sausage etc. And you can pick up some nice Gruyere cheese to go with it which lasts for quite a while. Aged Mizithra is another good cheese that stores well and makes a great addition to pasta/rice dishes. Damn, I'm getting hungry. Must go buy some cheese and sausage.

Here in New Zealand we can buy sausages with cheese in them. Yep, a sausage with a line of cheese down the centre. These are 'English style' sausages, not cured sausage like salami etc.

That, and the mince and cheese pie makes interesting conversation for recent arrivals to NZ.

A

The kosher (or kosher style) solution to this is a nice hard salami. You know, one of those wrinkled salamis that hang behind the counter at the deli. Actually, the way those are made is that the delis buy soft (fresh) salamis and hang them up for weeks until they dry.

As far as cheeses go, I have carried all sorts of cheeses for days or a couple of weeks at a time and none of them have every gone bad in any way.

Only problem I have with either of those foodstuffs is that they are pretty heavy for backpacking use.

Heavy, but concentrated. You get a lot of bang for the gram out of dried sausage like this. Lots of calories, lots of flavor, lots of satisfying. A good two lb salami log ought to last one person hiking at least 10 meals as the main.

Mmm, a little diced salami mixed into my mac and cheese, oh baby.