Food storage for meets.

[Wayland]

I've posted something like this before, but a recent thread and chatting to people at meets made me think it was worth posting again.

Basically it's how I keep my food supplies for a few days without refrigeration. I'm thinking mainly about road trips or long meets or events. Most of this is far too heavy for backpacking.

First of all I must say, this is what I do, but I am not advocating or recommending that anyone should take unnecessary risks with food products.

I like meat so that will be a good part of my supplies and usually starts off frozen and packed together, apart from the first meal.

I don't mind beef, lamb, bacon or game mammals being defrosted up to two days before consumption providing I can keep it reasonably cool. Uncured pork or foul I only allow one day max. in cool conditions.

So working this way I can have fresh meat for up to an extended weekend event or trip.

For example, arrival day, unfrozen rabbit in the evening and take a pack of sausages away from the other frozen stuff to defrost by morning.

Next day, sausages for breakfast and separate some chicken for the evening meal.

By the start of the second day, everything will probably be defrosted, so some bacon for the morning and some beef steak for the evening.

If I'm staying for another day I should get away with bacon in the morning again and if it's not too warm, lamb or beef in the evening.

Fresh pasta or cheese may last long enough to be used the next day.

If I'm unable to restock, then these dates can sometimes be extended another day with a good cool box. ( I fill the bottom with frozen milk cartons for cool packs .)

I often use tortillas as a bread substitute and to wrap around my meat or sausages as It keeps well in the package and reasonably well when opened.

Most fresh veg. that I eat can be kept a few days without problems, I also use rice, cous cous, mashed potato powder, Quinoa, dried beans and pasta for carbs.

Hopefully I can get out to a shop to restock by now but if not it's time to start baking.

Flour keeps for ages so does dried egg. Really fresh eggs are OK for a while if kept cool and UHT or Sterilised milk lasts much longer than most trips.

As for warm conditions, I prefer a cool box but if that is not an option then covering with spare kit can help and always put it in a shady spot with a cool air flow.

Water can be poured regularly over a cloth cover to help, sometimes burying or using a stream is an option too. I've even used a cloth bucket filled with water and regularly refilled on occasions in the past.

If in any doubt read the red bit above.

Just a few suggestions to get you thinking, anyone else got tips for storing food away from home?

 

[w00dsmoke]

I think you've outlined what many of us do Gary. I personally avoid taking lots of meat on trips as I'm not a great meat eater really, however, if I do, I tend to do like you and more often I would use tinned meat, especially in the warmer months. I'm a great fan of using TVP as an alternative that will keep pretty much like flour and rice if kept dry and also dried meat that can be added to stews and the like.

Salami's are an all time favourite and so is hard cheese, both have easily kept up for a week outside a fridge for me by just being sensible. Usually a plastic clip n lock box kept out of the sunlight and occassionally in the stream if needed.

As for bread subs, I'm a pancake fan and this is a staple for many trips, they are easily made up in a plastic bottle (kept for the purpose) and they are pretty much instant. After a week its the squeezy cheddar in a tube on pancakes with various other toppings too!

 

[gregorach]

Smoked cheese and salami are very useful - after all, they were specifically developed for long-term storage without refrigeration.

 

[rik_uk3]

Long life Pita bread instead of bannock now, tinned meats can be good, home dried minced beef lasts for weeks, TVP is OK, vacuum packed bacon should last a week or more so long as its not opened (vac pack not gas filled packs), fresh eggs are fine for a week or more but can be fragile, you can get tinned cheese, and if you find a Greek or Turkish deli they often stock canned fetta cheese in brine, two blocks to a re-sealable can. As Wayland says frozen meat will last a couple of days, if you use a really good cool box and don't open it up to much it will last longer. The best coolbox I've seen is a Coleman, big brute of a thing, we arrived on Friday and were still having ice cubes for our evening Gin and Tonics on the Sunday night

I'm still looking for a paraffin powered fridge, you can get them but they cost an arm and a leg, but I will find one somewhere

 

[Broch]

I'm still looking for a paraffin powered fridge, you can get them but they cost an arm and a leg, but I will find one somewhere

If you have a fridge you presumably have a car - if you have a car and a 12v fridge you have a diesel powered fridge (or petrol). For our long treks we use and Engle which will keep things frozen even in the desert - OK we do have a dual battery system. I'm considering sticking a PV panel on the roof of the truck to help run the fridge from.

 

[Wayland]

Ah yes, I forgot to mention Salami of course.

I do often take one and I tend to use it for snacking on around the fire.

Has anyone else tried Karoocuisine Lamb Shanks in sealed packets yet.

I've recently been given one but I haven't tested it yet.

Seems like a great idea, boil in the bag for 25 minutes. Keeps for about 18 months.

 

[HillBill]

If i'm out for more than 1 night i will bury my fresh food. Wrap it all together in a plastic bag and bury it about a foot deep. If you are near water then even better. Bury it near the water, the ground will be cold and wet so as long as the food is sealed and nothing can touch the food itself then it'l last as long as it does in the fridge.

This works really well in the hotter months, though you may have to go a little deeper.

 

[rik_uk3]

If you have a fridge you presumably have a car - if you have a car and a 12v fridge you have a diesel powered fridge (or petrol). For our long treks we use and Engle which will keep things frozen even in the desert - OK we do have a dual battery system. I'm considering sticking a PV panel on the roof of the truck to help run the fridge from.

The one I'm thinking of is a fridge freezer, so van or campervan territory, uses 1.75 litres of paraffin a WEEK. I'll try and find the links.

This type of refridgeration was very popular with Australian sheep stations in the past as all you needed was a little paraffin and a spare wick once a year. This is a possible easy mod for a gas fridge? Replace the small gas source with a wick burner? I've no experience in this area but I will look into it.

 

[xylaria]

If we bring fresh meat, it is always frozen, and wrapped in a blue plastic bag. I keep meat at home in blue plastic bags, and only meat is kept in them so it acts as colour coding. We use a light flexible red chopping board for meat. This type of chopping board is normally sold in packs with blue and green chopping boards, and are part of basic food hygiene. There are easly adviable. Wooden chopping boards (ala ray mears) look nice, but I think are pretty unhiegnic for fresh meat.

I don't like cooler boxes, they are clumbersome, and encourage stuff like butter to be kept to close to meat for my liking. Also if it is the type camping where we do bring them we are noramlly in the family size tent that can act like an oven if in the sun so the cooler box doesn't really work. If the weather is warm enough to warrent their use I prefer to bring jerky and salami, and bury the butter very well wrapped in shady damp soil. It will keep and go not runny like that for few days, unless it is very hot. Butter and cheese was kept like that before fridges and larders, stored in earthenware jars and buried in the ground behind dewellings near the back door with a slab over them. I put one of the rucksacks over the hole when out, it hasn't being dug up by badgers yet. I have frozen butter in the past, and brought that.

If we use liquid cows milk, it is bought that day in the smallist quanitity and used a quickly as possible. Soya milk doesn't turn anywhere near as quickly in hot weather, and tastes pretty acceptable in drinks. we tend to use powdered milk. Fresh eggs are very rarely bought, if they are they kept in an earthenware jar with flour, and jar is kept some where cool. Eggs do ok at room temperture it is when they are in nylon tent that is full sun they get ropey.

In a hot tent wrapping cold things in a wet towel works pretty well as long as the towel is kept wet. The evaporation does produce a bit of a refridgeration effect, but I don't rely on it.

 

[Broch]

The one I'm thinking of is a fridge freezer, so van or campervan territory, uses 1.75 litres of paraffin a WEEK. I'll try and find the links.

This type of refridgeration was very popular with Australian sheep stations in the past as all you needed was a little paraffin and a spare wick once a year. This is a possible easy mod for a gas fridge? Replace the small gas source with a wick burner? I've no experience in this area but I will look into it.

I would be keen to see that if you find it; I had a quick search but failed to come up with anything concrete.

Theoretically you should be able to change the heat source to any flame and it would still work. Worth looking into as I could use diesel instead of paraffin.

 

[Steve M]

Does cooked, uncured meat last longer than fresh meat?

Eg. does a cooked chicken breast last longer than a raw one?

 

[Celt_Ginger]

The cooking process may slow down the de-composition a bit, but it dosen't stop it. I would say, trust your nose. If it smells off, then it probably is. If it smells fine, then cook it well and you will probably be ok. I am a fan of rare meat, but not when I'm camping. I cook everything very well done.

 

[rik_uk3]

I would be keen to see that if you find it; I had a quick search but failed to come up with anything concrete.

Theoretically you should be able to change the heat source to any flame and it would still work. Worth looking into as I could use diesel instead of paraffin.

http://www.dometic.com/enie/Interna...s/Refrigerators/products/?productdataid=67843

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

 

[Armleywhite]

If i'm out for more than 1 night i will bury my fresh food. Wrap it all together in a plastic bag and bury it about a foot deep. If you are near water then even better. Bury it near the water, the ground will be cold and wet so as long as the food is sealed and nothing can touch the food itself then it'l last as long as it does in the fridge.

This works really well in the hotter months, though you may have to go a little deeper.

You beat me to it, we used to do that in the scouts. Wrap any food item that needs to be kept cool, bury as close to water as possible, but ***, don't forget where!! (speaking from experience)

 

[Steve M]

I'm guessing vacuum packed is going to help too.

 

[Eric_Methven]

I tend to cook off most of my perishable meats before I go. This is partly to save cooking time, but also to prevent or delay spoilage. Sausages are pre-boiled (slowly so the skin doesn't split) then they just need a quick fry off, or they can be eaten as they are in an emergency. Bacon, I put in a shallow pan and poach in water then pat dry. Again it just needs a flash in the pan. Chicken I cook thoroughly before hand and wrap in cling film when cold. It can be eaten cold, or torn into bits and thrown straight into a quick curry sauce.
I weaned myself off milk so I take my tea black and don't have to worry about keeping it fresh.
I usually take bread rolls rather than bread and they seem to last a week or so (Tesco's Scottish morning rolls - 58p for six are best). Longer than that and it's bannock.

I have yet to find a way of stopping butter from liquifying in hot weather but it's not a major drama. I just make sure the butter is in a jar with a sealed screw top lid. I also sometimes boil some potatoes in their jackets, wrap in tinfoil and finish them off in the embers, or I can just eat them cold as well.

Preparedness, or laziness? Dunno, but it suits the way I camp. Also gives me more time to do other stuff. Cooking for me now is an unwanted chore so the quicker the better.

Eric

 

[Steve M]

Sounds similar to me with a couple of extras good ones in there too. Top tip, by the way, is to boil your sausages in cling film. Everything is kept in then and the water is kept out. I guess you could do the same with bacon, to avoid it getting wet and need drying. Especially good for dry cured bacon.

I was wondering, for instance, if a fresh egg lasts longer than a hard boiled egg. I'm gonna email some chef mates of mine too.

It's worth noting that fresh sourdough bread has a shelf life of a week, unlike other fresh breads which have a couple of days. Processed bread last longer. I guess they are rammed with preservatives of sorts.

 

[Steve M]

Something from a chef friend of mine:

use the confit technique for sausages- you could boil in water then cover in lard in takeaway container and brown on the fire later should keep at least a week.
fresh eggs are good kept in the shade up to 17c or so.

you can reheat food- most but not all bacteria is killed at 65. just keep the precooking super clean with clean utensils and containers that have been boiled or bleached and well sealed- try and fill them to the top.

do you remember our crab pots- its only the layer of butter sealing them and spotless glassware that keeps them good for 7-10 days as opposed to 3-4 days in packet

 

[Broch]

http://www.dometic.com/enie/Interna...s/Refrigerators/products/?productdataid=67843

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator

Thanks for that - a bit big for the Landrover Definitely the right technology for trekking though. I wonder if this technology is being used for third world medication fridges.

 

[tommy the cat]

Rik, I see no reason why not. I have a 3 way fridge and the gas burner has two settings high and low. Even on high the flame is very low and would use very little fuel.
Mind cant get my head around that you boil a liquid to produce a cold fridge!
Dave