Food is one of the essentials of any backpacking or camping adventure. Even if you decide to have a short excursion, you still need yourself to get replenished. In this way, you will have the energy to complete your journey.
But food packing and storage aren’t the simplest things in the context of the outdoors. Preparations are necessary to ensure that your food won’t get messy or get infested by foodborne bacteria. You should be able to deter other wildlife from scavenging your food.
In this guide, we will teach you the basics of food storage for backpacking and camping.
Why Is Food Storage Important For Outdoors
You see, the idea here is to ensure that our nourishment (food and water) will remain in edible condition. It should be us that should consume them, not the wildlife present in your destination.
One interesting fact is that all sorts of animals are interested in the good stuff that you bring. From rodents to bears, they are attracted to human food. If there’s an opportunity, they will join the feast with you. And this could be dangerous, especially if the wildlife is dangerous.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of backpackers and campers to stop these animals from eating human food. Human food isn’t a part of their regular diet. If they keep eating the food we bring, that will disrupt their system. Eventually, they would be dependent on humans and no longer would want to hunt for food. Animals that are dependent on humans can become nuisance and threat. There’s a possibility that they will get killed, and that’s not something that we would want to see.
At the same time, food storage and handling will help you avoid foodborne illnesses. Your wellness and health during an outdoor trip would rely on how you prepare and store your food.
No one can downplay the importance of food storage in any outdoor adventure. Hence, it is important that you learn all the basics before you head on another trip.
Fundamental Food Storage Tips While Camping And Backpacking
The first thing that you need to do is to ensure that food and other items that generate aroma are far from the reach of animals. There are simple methods on how you can do this, such as the following:
- Don’t leave food, aromatic products, and trash inside your tent or within your campground. They should be away from you.
- Next, you should never leave your food without anyone watching it. Animals, such as squirrels, will use this opportunity to steal your food even in the daytime. Other animals can snatch your food while you are sleeping.
Food Storage Tips While In The Campground
If you are in an established campground, you should do the following things:
- Secure your food in a cooler or inside your vehicle. Even if you are just exploring the environment nearby, it is still essential that you still lock your food in a secured container. In this way, you will not have to worry about foraging animals destroying your shelter. Furthermore, tight containers can also seal the scent of your food, making them elusive to the sniffing noses of nearby animals.
- During the night, you need to place your cooler and other food items in a metal bear box. This would make your food items difficult to access, as a metal bear box can withstand brute attacks. You may also store your food inside your vehicle on certain campgrounds. But you still need to ask local rangers and campground managers about the habit of certain wildlife in the area. You see, some animals got used to breaking into cars.
- Some animals, such as bears and raccoons, are experts in breaking coolers that are left in the open. Many coolers today are said to be resistant to these attacks, as they come with sturdy locks. You may opt to purchase those coolers if a metal bear box is unavailable.
- Alternatively, you can hang the food on an elevated spot, such as a tree branch. But make sure that the food is stored in a specialized bear canister or similar durable storage. In this way, your food won’t be accessed easily.
Food Storage Tips While In The Backcountry
If you are trailing in bear country within a national forest or protected trail, you need to follow the respective guidelines of the area when it comes to food storage. Those guidelines will help you complete your journey without having to worry about the safety of your food.
If you are heading into an area where there are no defined guidelines and rules, the following methods should help you out:
Metal Food Boxes
Many backcountry destinations offer backpackers metal food boxes, which are said to be bear-proof. There, you can store your food, toiletries, and trash. But of course, the size of these boxes varies, so there’s no guarantee that all your essentials would fit in. Hence, you might consider bringing one yourself.
At the same time, make sure that you lock its latch properly. In this way, you can ensure that bears and animals won’t be able to scavenge your stuff.
Bear Canisters
Bear canisters are designed to withstand heavy punishment. These items are made from hard-shell plastic. They include lids that you can remove via removing their screws. Most of these canisters can fit in various backpacks. However, some sizes are too big to fit inside your pack; you might need to get a small one if you are streamlining the bulk of your luggage.
Make sure that you bring a bear canister in areas where you are required to bring one. For instance, if a local ranger searches your belongings and you don’t have this canister, you will have to deal with a big fine. In fact, other national parks allow you to rent or borrow bear canisters. These special containers can also prevent raccoons from taking away your food.
The downside of these canisters is their weight. They weigh an average of 2 pounds, so bringing one can be cumbersome.
Bear Bags
If your destination doesn’t require you to bring a bear canister (but there’s still a bear threat), then you should get a bear bag instead. These bags aren’t your ordinary pack. They are made from rugged polyethylene so that they can withstand the sharp claws and teeth of bears. Moreover, you can also opt to include an aluminum liner on them to provide an additional defense against punctures.
To optimize the container, you can also purchase odor-proof bags. You should store your food and aromatic contents in these bags before you insert them into the bear bag. If there’s no scent, then bears and other animals won’t be attracted to you. Ideally, the bags that you should get should have been certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.
You can leave the bear bag on the ground. But it would still be ideal if you hang it on a tree so that other creatures won’t access it easily. To make them more effective, make sure that you follow the instructions on how to tie their cinch.
Hang The Food
The next thing that you can do is to hang your food from an elevated platform, such as a sturdy tree branch. In some backcountry destinations, bear poles are already available. These poles have hooks installed on them where you can hang your food containers and backpacks. There’s a lifting pole that you can use to hoist your items toward the hook.
Hang your containers at least 10 feet from the ground so that bears can’t reach them. They should extend at least four feet from the pole or trunk.
How To Handle Your Food While Camping And Backpacking?
You should enjoy your backpacking and camping trip. You should never spend your time outside in the toilet or looking for one. Unfortunately, there are numerous ways you can get sick through the food you eat. They are the following:
- Fecal-oral transmission – This is when the pathogens get into your hands and mouth after you use the bathroom. This is especially true when you don’t wash your hands properly, and you use them to eat food.
- Foodborne illness – This is when you eat spoiled from the container
- Incorrect handling of meat and raw food ingredients
Avoid fecal-oral transmission
- Every time you use the bathroom, make sure that you wash your hands properly. Use soap and clean water for this. If possible, the water you use for washing hands should be from a freshwater source.
- Dry hands using a clean towel
- If there’s no clean water source, use sanitizers instead
- Always wash your hands before you handle food
Prevent food from spoiling
- One way of keeping your food from spoiling is storing it in a cooler properly. Perishables, such as fish and meat, should be stored in temperatures lower than 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Ideally, you should pre-chill the cooler using ice blocks before you put any food on it.
- Meat should be inserted in double bags so that it won’t get in contact with other food; you should also freeze them a day before you are going to eat them.
- The food that you should eat must be placed on the top. Meanwhile, frozen raw meat should be placed on the bottom of the cooler.
Proper raw meat at the campsite
- It is recommended that you cut the raw meat into small sizes in your home before you place them in a zip bag. In this way, you don’t have to deal with extensive washing while you are at the campsite.
- At the campsite, you should be careful in cutting the meat so that no foreign matters would get in contact with them. After cutting them, make sure that they are put on the cookware immediately. The tools that you use, such as the knife, should be washed immediately, as well.
- Don’t prepare vegetables and other food ingredients on surfaces where there are residues of meat.
Conclusion
It is important that you practice and master the basic food storage and handling techniques while backpacking and camping. Doing these things would enable you to have a delicious meal without the fear that they will be scavenged by nearby animals. They also prevent foodborne diseases, which are something that you don’t want to encounter in the middle of your trip.