OBG,
Thanks for mentioning a stove. Maybe a camp stove or single burner pack stove to heat your water outside the kitchen area. For the freezerbag cooking you need a source to boil water to make these meals. I agree the Lipton meals are very good and will provide adequate nutrition.
kmat

+1 on the Idahoans, particularly the cheese and loaded varieties. About -1 zillon on the Betty Crocker potato pouches, taste like saw dust.

The Lipton rice sides are very good- add about 3/4 the amount of boiling water specified to a container and cover for ten minutes. The pasta sides come out pastey (texture and flavor) if you try that, but work fine if you are actively cooking.

Bee, my concern is your water supply. 8 quarts isn't very much, are you on fresh water? If so, bring your filter.

Wow, I enjoyed reading all your replies. It's true that there are many options. I like the tuna in foil pouches idea, along with some crackers perhaps.

So, for breakfast : plain room-temperature bagels + peanut butter, oatmeal (boiling water).

...and for lunches : CLIF bars, tuna+crackers, Lipton soups and assorted freeze dried meals (boiling water). Going to sample a few of those!

I will have access to the camp's propane stove, however I might take my MSR Windpro just for kicks, again doing my cooking whenever I want to.

Drinking water won't be available. Two options then : either I take 4 x 4 liters of water and some Gatorade powder. Or I could succumb to the Katadyn Vario water filter i've been eyeing for a while. It would be my first filter and I must say that on paper, the specs look very good. Slightly pricey, but I presume it's a quality unit. I will be on fresh water indeed, fishing on large lakes. I know that those filters come with tubing so that the tip sinks in the water, to a depth adjustable by the user. Would that be enough to avoid getting engine fuel/oil in the filter? Does it appears to be worth getting this filter in order to avoid bringing 12+ extra liters of water? Hmmmm...

I only need to play 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches, so it's not such a big deal at the end of the day.


Thanks!


Bee

A carbon equipped filter helps with petrochems, so does a long tube. Or more water, but 16L isn't much for five days between drinking and cooking, not if you're also going to get sunburned.

Never saw someone on their first fishing or camping trip of the year who didn't.

BEE try www.minimus.biz for pack sized condiments and other such things I shop there two weeks before a campout and product arrives in plenty of time before hand

Mike

Eureka! What a great store. Thanks Mike!

+1 on freezer bag cooking!

-Blast

Some of those packets of Kraft instant Mac & Cheese ain't bad. A little boiled water and some tuna and viola!

If you can keep em at least cool, a couple tins of pilsbury biscuits or breadsticks or crescent rolls come in awful handy. They can be draped around a clean stick and roasted/baked over a fire and eaten as monkey bread. You'd be surprised at how easy they are to keep and prepare, and how good they taste at camp.

For that matter, you could just take some bisquik or other "just add water" quickbread mix and make your own monkey bread. It can get a bit messy I suppose, but camp is like that anyways.

Since it doesn't sound like you have to pack anything, canned goods are pretty darned suitable. Also, them pudding packs make nice quick snacks.

Minute rice stretches everything, including breakfast.

On a side note, in my quest to find individual butter packets that do not require refrigeration I came across real canned butter made by a company from New Zealand. I don't like margarin, butter substitute, and don't care for ghee, so this looks like a winner. Finally the real thing in a can.

http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-90/red-feather-canned-butter/Detail

There used to be a butterlike product, in little packets like McD's ketchup, made in the good ole USofA; Visalia, CA if I recall correctly. I think it was called Backpackers Butter, but I can't find it using Mr. Google. You might check backpacking stores to see if it is still available...