Packing your food for your hunt

[M-Wig]

Like a lot of responses, I separate food for each day into its own bag. I've done ziploc and vacuum sealed. Prefer ziploc since it can double as a trash bag. I've used a large dry bag to keep it all in the past, but seemed to take up too much extra space.

 

[william schmaltz]

Put me in the camp of small bags within one large bag with each day's rations. Then I'll just throw it all in a 1-2 small game bags depending on how much I need to bring for the trip and how things pack. Each day you just grab the bag for the day and you're off. No overthinking things while in the field. I lack self control so if I didn't designate my rations for each day I would eat nothing but snickers for the first 3 days until they are gone.

You can do boiling water for rehydrating in the freezer zip locs but I always feel like there's no way in hell that can be good for a person. Since I can only eat one serving of freeze dry, I break each meal (breakfast and supper) in two before the trip and pack them in zip loc bags. Then I have the mylar bags they came in packed and I'll use one bag for two days of meals (4 total) then it goes in the trash bag.

 

[WeiserBucks]

You can do boiling water for rehydrating in the freezer zip locs but I always feel like there's no way in hell that can be good for a person.

Would you care to elaborate? I'm going the zip loc route for the first time and I'm looking for all the pros and cons.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

I don't have the discipline to do that. If I have my rations packed by day, I know that's all I get. Just a mental thing but helps me make sure I have enough to last. We also do ramen(might be too bulky) potato buds and/or minute rice to supplement. I usually just throw these in with the "mountain house" for the day and rehydrate all at once.

Yeah, discipline is a lost talent. It's a reflection of where this nation is going (lol). But, oh well .....

 

[Dos Perros]

Call me a slob, but I lay out all of my food for the trip and then pack it up in one or 2 dry bags. I then select the food that I want to carry for the day each morning based on my mood and caloric expectations. Gonna be a big day? -might go extra on fast carbs. Cold day? Might wants some extra fat.

When I get back to camp, I then rummage through my selection of dinners like a menu until one of them sounds particularly appealing for the occasion. While I get the aspect of not having to think about your food, sometimes certain foods sound better than others. I spend enough time In The backcountry that I can easily get burned out on certain foods.

I do the same thing. I honestly think it's faster to just dump it all than look for which day has the meal or snack I want at the moment.

 

[william schmaltz]

Would you care to elaborate? I'm going the zip loc route for the first time and I'm looking for all the pros and cons.

Ziploc claims to be BPA and dioxin free. Probably true, but what else is in there. Plastic breaks down with heat. Very well is not an issue, especially just for a week or so, but I find it easier to just pack a few of the mylar bags. There's plenty of crap I admittedly put into my body, but I guess we all have a line to draw.

Another con for the ziploc cooking is the propensity for the rigid food to poke holes in them while bouncing and rubbing around in a pack. I have a hunting partner that uses that method and 1-2 times a trip he pours the water in to find it leaking onto his sleeping bag or clothes a minute later.

 

[Poser]

Ziploc claims to be BPA and dioxin free. Probably true, but what else is in there. Plastic breaks down with heat. Very well is not an issue, especially just for a week or so, but I find it easier to just pack a few of the mylar bags. There's plenty of crap I admittedly put into my body, but I guess we all have a line to draw.

Another con for the ziploc cooking is the propensity for the rigid food to poke holes in them while bouncing and rubbing around in a pack. I have a hunting partner that uses that method and 1-2 times a trip he pours the water in to find it leaking onto his sleeping bag or clothes a minute later.

It can’t possibly be good for your testosterone to rehydrate in a ziplock bag. I mean, if you do one week a year, sure, go for it. If you’re eating 30,40,50+ meals a year that way, I’d reconsider.

 

[WeiserBucks]

It can’t possibly be good for your testosterone to rehydrate in a ziplock bag. I mean, if you do one week a year, sure, go for it. If you’re eating 30,40,50+ meals a year that way, I’d reconsider.

Forgive my ignorance, but how is rehydrating in a zip lock going to affect testosterone? I'm not trying to be a jerk, but genuinely interested in learning more about this subject.

 

[mlgc20]

I do a hybrid. I will generally just throw my dehydrated dinners in my pack individually to help take up small corners of unused space between larger items. Then I will have a Ziploc with the snacks and other items I will eat during the day. One of those for each day. Those go in individually as well.

Especially on long trips, I avoid throwing everything into a single dry bag. That bag gets huge and takes up a ton of space. If I leave the things in my pack in individual Ziplocs, they take up much less space. Although, can be tougher to find in the pack.

 

[AKDoc]

If I'm packing everything on my back, then my food is organized using a few strategies shared already...basically trying to sensibly maintain the primary goals to reduce wt/space volume in my backpack, convenience for daily caloric goals, reduce weight/volume of waste to pack-out, etc.. We all make personal choices regarding how far to go in that process...to each his own on that.

If I'm being dropped for a 14-day hunt or a long distance lite-raft float trip, then I simply have everything in a dry bag that opens widely at the top. I personally like to choose which MH or Peak meal I'm going to have that morning or evening...after four-weeks in the field each fall, some of them are much less preferred by me LOL! On a tent-bound day when it's been endless rain blowing sideways all day, I'm definitely picking a preferred meal for dinner that nite...and reminding myself as I enjoy eating it that the animals are also hunkered-down right now and they're going to be extra active when this crap clears!

 

[Poser]

Forgive my ignorance, but how is rehydrating in a zip lock going to affect testosterone? I'm not trying to be a jerk, but genuinely interested in learning more about this subject.

Often some of the initial advice for addressing declining testosterone levels is to avoid using plastic food storage period, but cooking meals in plastic or eating or drinking hot meals/drinks out of plastic is prioritized even more.

Obviously, you have to pick and choose what is practical for backcountry applications based on your frequency of use. One would wager that eating out of a ziplock bag not approved for hot temperatures would be worse than using an insulated pouch approved for exactly that purpose, but who really knows?

Other top T killers is the chemical Benzene found in almost all non zinc based, US produced sunscreens and heavy sugar consumption.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I'm clearly not wrapping my head around the relationship between plastic food storage and testosterone.

 

[Titan_Bow]

I really like having each days food separated in their own bag. I usually use the big ziplock bags, one for each day, but I’ve also vacuum sealed each days food. It does save space but it also is much more costly. I suppose if I kept and reused the vac bags that would make it a little easier on the wallet. 10 days worth of food is a lot of weight and bull no matter how you go about it. For me, my typical days alottment is going to be about 1 to 1.5 lbs. and depending on the hunt and activity level expected, 2500 to 3500 cal or so.
I have a dedicated dry bag that all my food stays in. Makes it easy to pull my food out, and to hang when in bear country. One thing I like about the ziploc bags is you just grab the days meal and can reseal it. Once you pop the seal on the days food in a vac bag, stuff can potentially fall out as you can’t reseal.


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[Poser]

I'm clearly not wrapping my head around the relationship between plastic food storage and testosterone.

Review some of the TRT threads on here, but, as I understand, Phthalates are chemicals added to plastics to make them softer and more flexible and they have a negative effect on your testosterone. There are many other factors, but the data indicates that testosterone levels are dropping in men across the board and exposure to plastics, sugar consumption, obesity, lifestyle, as well as trace amounts of estrogen producing hormones that are showing up in our water supply due to pharmaceuticals are some of the primary culprits.

 

[WeiserBucks]

In my simple brain it sounds like you're saying that the chemicals in plastic are leeching into the food and suppressing testosterone.

 

[Poser]

In my simple brain it sounds like you're saying that the chemicals in plastic are leeching into the food and suppressing testosterone.

Correct. (And it really is that simple)

 

[streetdoctor]

Putting boiling water in a ziplock is a horrible idea. Talk about eating plastic... 3500 calories a day is also a ridiculous amount of food. It's ok to go into a deficit in the short term. I aim for 2000 calories a day personally. This has treated me just fine up to 5-6 days including a solo elk pack out.

 

[jpuckett]

I ate 3000 calories on a goat hunt and lost 15 lbs in a week, I think I hunt better the less hungry I am lol.


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[Mykolaivka887]

Putting boiling water in a ziplock is a horrible idea .....

Exactly. What's wrong with just pouring boiling water into a freeze-dried meal pouch, as described on the package? Or pouring hot water into a mug, for your hot cocoa? Who pours boiling water into a Ziploc?

 

[GunsAreFun]

Breakfast and snacks go in a 1 quart bag for each day. Freeze dried meals just get stuffed wherever there is space.