[pct-l] Resupply package - freshness

Sat Jan 9 11:52:45 CST 2010

On my through hike in 1980, my sister was my lifeline. Alone with my mom and her daughters, they would package up my food boxes and ship them to pick up points I had identified as part of my initial planning. We were usually 1 food drop ahead. In other words, when I was at drop point X, the shipment for drop point X+1 was already in the mail but the shipment for drop point X+2 was pending final review. This gave me the ability to adjust, via phone calls, depending on what was working and what wasn't working. One problem I had was my mom's habit to over-send. (Oh, if mijo needs 2 pounds of this, I think I will send him 4  pounds so he doesn't get hungry.) The biggest treat in the shipments was jerky. I had beef jerky, ham jerky and for the poetically inclined turkey jerky. One particular batch was thicker than most and correspondingly not as dehydrated. Fortunately, it was the beef jerky. Warmed up over a campfire, it was as close to steak as you can get on the trail. I made sure to watch this supply because the fatty edges were noticably grissly. But I think the salt and seasoning kept it from going rancid. And with this batch, to be on the safe side, I was more generous than normal sharing with trail mates. (And yes, as it turned out, this was one of those cases where my mom doubled the batch.)

I would recommend a good dehydrator and a "supply angel" from the home front to keep meat products part of the supply shipments.

Unless your are vegetarian of course.

Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201

> From: brooklynkayak at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 11:04:05 -0500
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Resupply package - freshness
> 
> I think I may have been generalizing too much when I said that fat
> tends to go bad quicker than other ingredients.
> 
> There are ways of giving fat a very long shelf life. Dried sausages
> and many other dried fatty meats do in fact keep well. This depends on
> the process.
> 
> Salt and many other preservatives can be added to extend the storage
> time of fat.
> 
> Traditional dried meats are often preserved via lactic fermentation
> and/or high sodium or acid content.
> 
> Acids, like tomato, citrus, ... can extend the shelf life of fat. So
> maybe that meat and tomato pasta sauce could keep OK?
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Ellen Shopes <igellen at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Along the line of fatty foods spoiling quicker, my tentative plan is to
> > dehydrate some of my meals that I will ship without the meat in them.  I can
> > have sent from the company, or include the can in my box, any commercially
> > dried meats.  I kept some of these products on my shelves at home for months
> > without problems.
> > Ellen
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Steve McAllister" <brooklynkayak at gmail.com>
> > To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 5:26 PM
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] Resupply package - freshness
> >
> >
> > What I've found:
> >
> > 1) Fat goes bad much quicker than carbs or protein. When dehydrating
> > dishes, exclude all fat from the recipes and add the fat when you
> > prepare the meal. The ever popular home dehydrated pasta sauce will
> > last much longer if you keep it as lean as possible until you prepare
> > it on the trail.
> >
> > 2) Seal all bags that you suspect will need a long shelf life with
> > some form of desiccant to keep the moisture out.
> >
> > 3) Nuts go bad faster than you think, especially in the heat. Ever had
> > your gorp go bad:-( Pick up nuts on your town stops instead of storing
> > them. Freezing or refigeration extends storage time of course.
> >
> > 4) The moisture content of dried fruit determines how long it will
> > store. Over-dried fruit will last longer but will not be so tasty
> > unless reconstituted.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 5:55 PM, Paul Mitchell <bluebrain at bluebrain.ca>
> > wrote:
> >> I'm also wondering about freshness of ingredients in boxes that may be
> >> sitting for six months before use. I've used JustTomatoes products before,
> >> for example, and after enough time, moisture, etc they lose their charm.
> >> I'm wondering if we make any trail mixes that include breakfast cereals,
> >> etc, if we should expect them to not be fresh & crispy after a few months
> >> in
> >> bags in the box.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Any tips on what does, doesn't work?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> P178
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
> > nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> >   -- Tom Waits
> >
> > http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
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> >
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
> nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
> -- Tom Waits
> 
> http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

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