Questions tagged [food]
Specific concerns to transporting, preparing, and consuming foods during excursions into the great outdoors.
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questions
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Cookware: Why not Copper instead of Titanium, Aluminium or Stainless Steel?
Currently there are three major materials for hiking/lightweight cookware ruling the market:
Aluminium
Titanium
Stainless Steel
Each of those materials has several advantages and disadvantages:
...
4
votes
2answers
160 views
Are black bears attracted to trace amounts of food?
For the purpose of this question I am interested in black bears in an area with relatively low human pressure, plenty of natural habitat and presumably natural food sources.
The scenario I'm ...
0
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1answer
216 views
How do people who don't have a driver's license yet live remotely solve their food/survival needs? [closed]
I never leave the apartment anymore, because the outdoors have become a frightening dystopia. My childhood quarters have been utterly ruined with tasteless buildings and soulless (and dangerous) ...
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9answers
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Cooked meat/chicken when hiking
I have a 5 day hike in a national park in Chile. I was wondering if it's safe for me to cook/grill chicken breast or a steak before entering the park, put it in a Ziploc bag and consume it the day ...
2
votes
1answer
153 views
Is there any evidence that bears use (or used) cub labor to get food from backpackers?
Bears are back in the Question Queue, which reminds me of the claim going around Lawrence Berkeley Lab several decades ago.
The claim was that some mother bears in the Sierra would send their cubs up ...
3
votes
2answers
181 views
Is a bear canister needed for day hikes?
Is a bear canister or other anti-animal food protection method needed for (long) day hikes in bear country?
For example, is it unsafe to go on a 20-mile hike/trail run in Yosemite with a sandwich in ...
20
votes
3answers
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Giving honey to a bear?
Recently some brown bears appeared in my region.
Should we encounter one, is it a good idea if we opened a jar of honey for the bear so we would have time to leave?
5
votes
1answer
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How long can one starve before refeeding syndrome becomes an issue?
Refeeding syndrome is a potentially fatal condition caused by eating too much or too fast after a period of starvation.
My question is, how long of a period are we talking about?
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2answers
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Can a watermelon be left outside overnight?
If i were to leave a watermelon in my backyard for say, 9 hours overnight in western Canada during autumn, would it attract rats or lead to other negative effects? I'm just thinking because it has the ...
4
votes
2answers
516 views
Why is freeze-dried food not much more popular?
Freeze-drying seems to be the perfect method for food preservation to take on trips to the outdoors: is the most lightweight food can be, can be shipped around the world easily, the majority of ...
0
votes
2answers
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Eating huntsman spider
Am wondering about this episode, from Timothy Bax, Three Sips of Gin:
The three of us had just moved from the bar to an outside courtyard to
take advantage of a cool breeze when between us walked ...
0
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2answers
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Questions about trimming fat for jerky
I watched a couple survival shows and started reading a bit about how jerky is made. A big point they get across no matter how they make it is to trim the fat. Fat doesn't dehydrate well enough to ...
4
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1answer
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Food for desert hiking
A recent
question discussed how to maximize water retention on a desert hike.
One answer suggested that 100g of protein lead to 800ml loss through urination, so protein intake has to be minimized.
...
2
votes
4answers
595 views
If I kill a deer how long can the body last before preserving?
This isn't a question for a real life situation I am in, but more for a simulation that I want to be as accurate as possible.
My setting is pre-refrigeration and someone has just successfully hunted ...
19
votes
5answers
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How can I store milk for long periods of time?
I'm in the process of setting up my overland vehicle so that it has "essentials" in it at all times. I've got a kettle and ways to boil the kettle etc.
I am interested in having the basics in my ...
17
votes
6answers
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How can I pack my food so it doesn't smell?
TL;DR: How can I pack my food so that it isn't an odor nuisance in my backpack, in a lightweight manner if animals are no issue.
In a month I will be going on a 14-day trekking trip, completely self-...
9
votes
5answers
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Transition to "Starvation Mode" in Survival Situations
The textbook "Fundamentals of Search and Rescue" in Chapter 6 describes the priorities of needs in survival situations. The priorities listed are
Air
Shelter
Rest
Signals/Communication
Water
Food
...
2
votes
2answers
167 views
What are effective trekking-groceries in terms of energy/mass ratio while maintaining a healthy balance of carbs, fats, proteins and vitamins?
Sure it is nice to carry around huge packs of fresh vegetables and some beef in order to prepare a proper dish. However, it takes up space and moreover lots of mass in your backpack.
Also, a pound of ...
6
votes
1answer
536 views
What's is the Leave No Trace way to dispose of loose tea leaves?
It's possible to buy tea that is loose leaf instead on in the tea bags and use it while in the outdoors such as cold brewing in a Nalgene. Coffee grounds need to be packed out but what about tea ...
19
votes
3answers
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What is the Leave No Trace way to dispose of coffee grounds?
If one makes coffee in the backcountry, there will be used grounds. Coffee grounds are biodegradable, but should one instead pack them out completely?
What is the Leave No Trace way to deal with used ...
31
votes
2answers
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Is it possible to 'live off the sea'
I've recently become aware of the american 'survivalist' or 'prepper' phenomenon.
The general idea seems to be that 'something bad' (exactly what seems to vary) is going to happen, civilization will ...
19
votes
9answers
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Does an ice chest packed full of frozen food need ice?
If the cooler is packed full of frozen food, does it need ice to stay frozen for 3 weeks or does ice somehow stay colder longer than frozen steak, sausage, hamburger etc.? I'm going on a 18 day Grand ...
4
votes
1answer
595 views
How much land would one family need for sustainable food production?
Help me settle an argument.
How big a patch of temperate wilderness terrain would you need to produce enough food to feed a family of four (two adults, two teens) indefinitely in an off the grid or ...
3
votes
0answers
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How can I identify wild edible plants of southern and eastern China?
What wild edible plants can be found in southern and eastern China?
I have combed through various search queries but keep finding information on North American flora.
Are there any good resources ...
7
votes
2answers
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How to find natural salt licks?
There are a number of places where salt can easily be found at or near the surface. Notably Salt Lake Utah, but there are also other Salt lick places of note.
How would I recognize a natural salt ...
5
votes
1answer
251 views
Salt Vs Smoke as a preservative
A recent question about travelling with dried food where the recipe did not include salt caused the OP some concern. As far as I know salt just dries out food. So if you get the food completely dry ...
4
votes
0answers
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how shelf stable is pocket (portable) soup?
This video for Portable Soup (aka Pocket Soup) from James Townsend popped up in my feed. If you don't know (like I hadn't until I saw the video) Pocket Soup is basically a shelf-stable ultra-reduced ...
1
vote
1answer
211 views
What is the feed/day limit for various pack animals?
Wikipedia lists these common pack animals
Camel
Yak
Reindeer
Goats
Water buffaloes
Llama
Equines including horses, donkeys, and mules
Dogs (packing and sledding should have different values)
Each ...
14
votes
2answers
178 views
Is there a universal patch that signifies Food/Rations?
I have a medical bag together, which has a red cross velcro patch on the front of it. Anyone who looks at it will immediately know that the bag contains medical supplies. However, I'm making an ...
4
votes
5answers
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What methods can be used to keep a cooler cold longer?
Keeping the cooler out of the sun and the lid closed as much as possible are some obvious ways to keep a cooler cold longer. There seems to be some truth that adding salt to your cooler can help it ...
3
votes
5answers
391 views
Which emergency food for backpacking (meat-like Granola bar?)
I will be travelling for a couple of days to remote regions of Laos.
I would like to take some kind of "emergency" food if nothing is around (or nothing trustworthy).
People with a sweet tooth have ...
2
votes
0answers
227 views
How much food is needed for three months of food when rowing across an ocean?
Related to this question, if one were to go on a three-month rowing trip across an ocean, is there an estimate of how much the food would be needed?
It's certainly possible to give an estimate when ...
16
votes
3answers
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What are some good foods for recovering from calorie debt?
Calorie debt is when you are using more calories than you are eating and making up the difference from stored reserves of body fat.
Sometimes people will do this to save on the amount of weight ...
9
votes
3answers
616 views
In a survival situation is it actually efficient to eat edible plants?
In a survival situation is it actually efficient to eat edible plants? Assume late spring to early fall in a temperate climate.
We have plenty of questions about where to find edible plants and how ...
7
votes
1answer
137 views
Are these yellow orange hawthorns edible?
I have lots of these hawthorns in my neighborhood (Mount Lebanon) but I am afraid to eat from them. Are they safe ?
4
votes
1answer
378 views
If you are stranded at sea with a basic set of fishing equipment, how reliable of a food supply are fish?
We have a question about desalinating water while stranded at sea, and another that asks if you can get desalinated water from eating fish.
However, even if you could get desalinated water from fish ...
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votes
1answer
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Can I eat Rabbit Poop?
I know that rabbits eat their droppings (cecotropes) and I have heard of feeding rabbit droppings to pigs. Rabbits are vegetarians. There droppings do not have the same consistency or negative ...
5
votes
3answers
280 views
Is there a backpacker's guide to edible plants that is very light?
Several decades ago, we were three days from the trailhead with no food. Let's not get into why that happened, please. It is too embarrassing.
We had to slog through snow for two days, but on the ...
7
votes
1answer
694 views
What are the pros and cons of cotton vs mesh filters for making cold brew coffee in a Nalgene water bottle?
From my research so far into making cold brew coffee in a Nalgene while backpacking, I have found there to be two types of filters, cotton ones called "coffee socks" and mesh ones that screw onto the ...
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vote
1answer
142 views
Is there any evidence that black bears (or other large predators) are indifferent to, or acutally repulsed by, the scent of humans?
I am hoping for more than anecdotal evidence about the negative effects on black bears of the human scent -- ranging from meh to Yecch.
This question is prompted by two anecdotes I have to offer: (...
7
votes
1answer
206 views
Are there any biodegrable freeze dried packages?
More and more I see discarded freeze dried packages abandoned in the woods. The ones I have seen are made out of plastic and are foil lined and so don't decompose the way that oatmeal packets would ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
Food to bring on long hike [duplicate]
I am planning on doing a around 2 week hike and bring all food with me. I would walk around 25-30 km a day. To major constraints here are the weight and cost of the food. I have made the following ...
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8answers
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Is it actually useful to ration food?
Is it actually useful to ration food?
What is the difference between eating a little bit of food at an interval and eating enough to be full at once?
I'm getting the same amount of calories/...
8
votes
1answer
231 views
What types of wild foods are protected from foraging in the Swedish Lapland forests, and how is the status decided?
There's a question on the site seeking information about foraging food in Sweden. One of the answers says any wild food in the forests of Swedish Lapland can be foraged and removed except "protected" ...
asked Mar 1 '18 at 4:27
Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
15.4k7 gold badges43 silver badges121 bronze badges
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3answers
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What can I feed my dogs on a week-long hike?
I am planning to hike for a week with two dogs. Each dog eats 4 cups of kibble a day, that's about 14 liters of kibble per week. The issue is the volume not the weight.
What can I feed them so that I ...
asked Jan 23 '18 at 23:41
Censored to protect the guilty
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6answers
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Diet for Long-Term Camping
I will be camping and commuting to work for some undetermined number of months. During this time, I plan to do a lot of working out as well, and I'm wondering what healthy camp-friendly mostly non-...
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1answer
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How to make peanut butter less sticky?
Peanut butter can be good source of protein or useful for emergency rations, but it can be sticky and not finger friendly, how can you make it less sticky?
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5answers
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What types of food make for good emergency rations that I can store in a car?
I have a backpack with emergency survival gear for my car. The scenario being it might take a couple of days of walking to get someplace that money and/or a credit card will increase my chances of ...
12
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2answers
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US Military's standards for how long a soldier can go without food?
I've been trying to find the US Military's guidelines or standard for how long a soldier can go without food, for any branch of the military.
Is there any such recommendation, as to how long a man ...
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1answer
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What accounts for the predominance of Kendall Mint Cake over York Peppermint Pattie in mountaineering expeditions?
I have eagerly consumed many accounts of early mountaineering expeditions in which the mountaineers always eagerly consumed Kendal Mint Cake (KMC). I got the impression that they would have found it ...