What meats and cheeses are "shelf stable" in the backcountry?

[HoughLePuff]

I will be in Colorado during the 2nd rifle season for elk this year. I am trying to build off of the tortilla/bagel sandwiches.

I have surfed around on here and listened to the Jordan Budd podcast and the other popular threads that get linked when the "new to backcountry food" topic comes up. I understand peanut butter, bacon, salami, summer sausage, and cheese are good options. But how do you determine what meats and cheeses are shelf-stable and backpack stable? At the grocery store, everything seems to be refrigerated except the super processed pizza pepperoni and summer sausage. I love cheeses and all the salami type cured meats. But I am very wary of putting them in a backpack for 5 days.

Do you cook regular bacon before you put it in your "butthole sandwich"?
What kind of cheese are you bringing and how is it packaged? Do you buy individual servings and keep them sealed and make your sandwich in the field?
What kind of meats are you bringing and how are they looking on day 5 of the trip?

 

[Wrench]

any "dry" meats will keep much longer than is socially acceptable. Cheese will keep for weeks....it might get funky if allowed air, but a trim and all is well.

Landjeager is my favorite meat. I'll take any cheese.

 

[SIontheHunt]

late october in colorado is relatively cold depending on the elevation. Cured salami, coppa, capocollo etc do not need refrigeration. Make sure it is cured. No grocery store or butcher in italy refrigerates that stuff. That is the point of cured meats. Same goes for cheeses, you can take any aged cheese and keep it within "cellar temps" for a long time. Fresh cheeses like mozzarella would not work well for this.

 

[Poser]

I often take a round of Gouda cheese and have eaten on it for up to 10 days. It’s gets a little crusty but it’s stable. Any aged cheese will be fine.

Any meat that is cured should also be fine, but the drier, the longer it will last.

Butter is of course also fine (if you’re keeping your butter in the fridge at home, you ain’t Livin’ right) if you can avoid it melting on you.

All in all, don’t worry about it. If it smells good, it’s fit and safe to eat and people lived the vast majority of human history without refrigeration.

 

[Jackaroo99]

I cooked my bacon for butthole sammies and vacuum packed them just to be safe. Ate them 4 days later with no worries

 

[zacattack]

I will be in Colorado during the 2nd rifle season for elk this year. I am trying to build off of the tortilla/bagel sandwiches.

I have surfed around on here and listened to the Jordan Budd podcast and the other popular threads that get linked when the "new to backcountry food" topic comes up. I understand peanut butter, bacon, salami, summer sausage, and cheese are good options. But how do you determine what meats and cheeses are shelf-stable and backpack stable? At the grocery store, everything seems to be refrigerated except the super processed pizza pepperoni and summer sausage. I love cheeses and all the salami type cured meats. But I am very wary of putting them in a backpack for 5 days.

Do you cook regular bacon before you put it in your "butthole sandwich"?
What kind of cheese are you bringing and how is it packaged? Do you buy individual servings and keep them sealed and make your sandwich in the field?
What kind of meats are you bringing and how are they looking on day 5 of the trip?

Most hard cheeses will be okay for several days. We used to buy what we called hoop cheese and I don’t think that stuff was capable of going bad. For meats look for ones that have been cured or smoked. Those will keep longer.

 

[MeatBuck]

Slim Jim’s and cheese whiz. Haha

 

[Hootsma]

I feel like with 2nd rifle, late October, your going to have more issues with food/water freezing versus going rancid. But, like everyone else already said, cheeses and cured meats will be fine. That’s the purpose of curing the meat. Cheeses may get moldy, if that happens, just trim the mold off and eat up. I’ve done that many times at home and been totally fine.

I usually make a handful of tortilla roll up sandwiches with salami, pepperoni and cheese sticks for lunches for first rifle hunts and I’ve never had an issue with them. I think I actually got the idea for these roll up sammys from here on RS.

 

[HoughLePuff]

I feel like with 2nd rifle, late October, your going to have more issues with food/water freezing versus going rancid. But, like everyone else already said, cheeses and cured meats will be fine. That’s the purpose of curing the meat. Cheeses may get moldy, if that happens, just trim the mold off and eat up. I’ve done that many times at home and been totally fine.

I usually make a handful of tortilla roll up sandwiches with salami, pepperoni and cheese sticks for lunches for first rifle hunts and I’ve never had an issue with them. I think I actually got the idea for these roll up sammys from here on RS.

If you have any tips and tricks on preventing your water from freezing I'm all ears. My water bladder is slightly insulated but my Nalgene isn't.

 

[eaglemountainman]

I just finished turning 12# of whitetail and antelope into jerky for my Wyoming Muley hunt next week and whitetails in NY in Nov. Tastes great, weighs almost nothing and lasts forever. Only down side is all the toothpicks and floss frames I need to carry. I usually carry a nice chunk of aged dry Locatelli Pecorino

 

[ianpadron]

I pack around 4 slices of cheese and 6 slices of salami/pepperoni for each day of a hunt and have never had any of it go bad on me. Drier/harder varieties keep better, and aren't as affected by temp swings typical on a backpack hunt. Make sure you get cured meats (no refrigeration required), the un-cured are no bueno if you want to avoid spoilage.

 

[Carpenterant]

I slice up salami then put it in a ziplock, no problems there, and I pack the individual cheese sticks, either mozzarella or cheddar

 

[actionshooter]

Amy of the individual wrapped cheeses, like string cheese lasts a really long time...