[pct-l] Dried meats and Cheese on Trail

[Scott Williams]

Wow, the coconut bars sound wonderful Branko, and Jennifer, the idea of
drying deli meats is something I've got to try.  As for the yogurt on
trail, I used a 1qt heavy duty ziplock bag into which was spooned in a
quarter cup or more of my favorite Greek yogurt to start the process.  Then
I added half to one cup of Nido, full fat, dried milk powder and enough
water to make somewhat thick milk, zipped the bag closed and kneaded it
until it was thoroughly mixed.  The ziplock was then put in a small, dark
blue, (black would have been better) nylon drawstring bag, between a small
folded over piece of silver, mylar bubble insulation, the stuff we use for
pot cozies.

I began my yogurt before bed each night.  After pouring out most of the
yogurt from the day before onto my rehydrating breakfast cereal for the
next day, there was always quite a bit of it left clinging to the sides of
the ziplock.  That became the starter for the next days batch.  I added the
Nido and water and then began the incubation by bringing it into my bag
with me where it stayed at body temp all night.  If it looked a bit runny
in the morning or I was in bear country and didn't want food in my bag at
night, I just put it in my pocket the next morning or under my shirt or
jacket and incubated it while I hiked.  On sunny days I'd put the ziplock
on top of the mylar insulation, all of which was in the dark colored nylon
bag, and lay it in the mesh pocket of my pack so the dark nylon could
absorb the sun's warmth and incubate it that way.

It all sounds crazy, but it was easy and became a fun trail hobby.  It
worked wonderfully, producing delicious yogurt daily, and I never even came
close to an accident.  Waking up covered in yogurt was not my plan.  In the
heavy duty zip lock, the light nylon bag and sandwiched between the bit of
insulation, it never came close to a puncture.  I will not guarantee this
for all users however.  Get crazy at your own risk.

I began this experiment at home 2 months before leaving for the border as I
wasn't sure how long the yogurt culture would remain viable.  The same Fage
Yogurt culture lasted from February until we got to Breckenridge CO in
early July.  At that point I started a new culture as wild yeasts had begun
to crowd out the yogurt bacteria and it started smelling like wine.  Maybe
some will want to just keep that going and have a "hard cider" approach to
yogurt.  I   again used Fage Yogurt, which lasted to the end of the hike.
 The first ziplock bag also lasted until Breckenridge at which point I
began to have trouble getting the ziplock to close and went for a new one
which lasted till Canada.

As for the stoveless hiking, it freed up so much time in the evening, and I
never had to eat tortillas day after day for lunch, that I'll continue
hiking stoveless.  When Why Not and I got into camp we set up our bags and
lay in bed with a ready to go dinner.  It was all too decadent and so much
easier than setting up camp and cooking a meal as I had done on the PCT.
 Chuck is right about the ease of eating on trail when cooking is taken out
of the picture.  I've backpacked and cooked on trail for so many years that
I don't feel that I'm missing an important part of the experience most of
the time.  The only place where I really did miss a cook pot was in the
Wind River Range and just before Yellowstone where the porcini mushrooms
bloomed in force and we only had Diane's little pot between 5 of us to cook
them up in.  Thankfully they are one of the few wild mushrooms that are
delicious raw, and we ate them like apples on trail instead.  I'd consider
a campfire and a small titanium skillet and a lot of butter before I hike
there again in early August.  Sauteed porcini is simply too good to miss.

The sources Mango sites are good and many of the dried foods I didn't make
myself came from them by way of Special K who sold me her leftover foods
from her PCT hike in 2011.  Now that I think about it, the dried cheese was
a year old when I bought it from her at a tremendous savings, still sealed
in its original packaging, but the shelf life was probably much shorter
because of that.  Sorry I didn't remember that before, so maybe it would
have lasted longer had it been fresher.  The sealed bags of dehydrated
chicken and veggies I got from her seemed to last fine.

It's deep winter in the Sierra and I've been skiing near Truckee, looking
over at the peaks above Squaw Valley all day, where the PCT traverses the
highest ridges.  To the north, Castle Peak crowns the skyline near where
the trail passes and it's all buried in wonderful snow.  It is so beautiful
up here that it really doesn't matter what you eat, so long as you hike the
trail.  It's gonna' be a great year.

Shroomer





On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 2:00 PM, branko grujcic <xo4xx at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hey Cat!
> I got bulk organic, extra virgin coconut oil online. In March/April i
> warmed it up just enough to be able to mix in nuts, seeds, cacao nibs and
> honey. The oil part ended up being about 1/3 of the mix. I then filled
> quart size freezer bags and put them in the fridge to harden. My resupply
> person would then packed them up and mail them 10 days prior to my resupply
> pickup.
> Although coconut fat is great and healthy, you'll get sick of the taste
> fast. It also melts at much lower temp then suet would, at about room
> temperature. It gets messy. I end up mixing my "power bars" with the rest
> of my nuts (got >10lbs of macadamia nuts directly from a grower in Hawaii),
> berries, chocolate and whatnot in quart ziplock bags at resupply station,
> one bag/day (~1 lbs), and then use a spoon to eat it. It was fricking
> tasty, the more chocolate the better. Never got sick of it. In retrospect,
> i'd add more honey to the mix.
> I had a trace of mold on couple of power bar bags that weren't completely
> sealed.
> Hope that helps.
> Branko
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