Be careful what you do as far as food storage. If its not done properly you risk getting botulism along with many other nasty illnesses. Not much fun! Thats why people dehydrate food. It lasts a long time that way.
Food storage/preservation alternatives
- Thread starter joshoisasleep
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Bogo
FOOF
Dry nitrogen. Both oxygen, and CO2 support life. Nitrogen doesn't.
Bogo
FOOF
Something to think about. When you freeze dry or dehydrate food it looses allot of weight. You can pack allot more in your vehicle. There are some simple methods for dehydrating food that can be done nearly anywhere. Freeze drying takes equipment and energy to run the equipment. The equipment is likely much more than you want to deal with on an expedition. Freeze drying works for vegetables, but dehydration doesn't. You loose to many vitamins. Plain heat based dehydration can be done with some very simple equipment.
sandcruiser
....back in the saddle again....
its pretty easy to buy ice in most of the areas that I've traveled. If you have a decent cooler, that ice will last at least 2 or 3 days.
If you can find block ice, and keep it in one cooler, just pulling chunks out to keep your food-cooler cool... you can get that main cooler to last up to a week.
Search for "ice" posts by "Exiled"
and/or search for "cooler" and/or Cubillan. He's written up some articles on how they kept ice frozen for over a week on jungle trips in Venezuela.
In the end, you'll probably spend around $2 or $3/week on ice.
Put your food in jars, put it in the cooler, it'll last for a while. No complicated vacuum necessary (though it might make leftovers last for even longer).
Another thing to check into for fresh veggies: at many boating stores (and online) they have veggie storage plastic bags. Something about the way that they vent gasses helps them keep fruit/veggies from going off as quickly. We tried some on our trip and they worked.... but we had a fridge, and usually ate the food within a week, so the bags didn't offer much advantage.
Also: if you simply clean the fruit/veggies with good water, then wrap them in a paper towel (individually) then hang them in a mesh bag or a hanging basket (to minimize bruising) stuff will last for longer than you might think.
Another trick that we didn't try but have heard of several overlanders doing: you can grow your own fresh bean sprouts. Adds a nice touch of fresh green to your menu and requires no storage.
Check Overland Africa for ideas from people doing cape-cape trips, there are a variety of solutions.
If you can find block ice, and keep it in one cooler, just pulling chunks out to keep your food-cooler cool... you can get that main cooler to last up to a week.
Search for "ice" posts by "Exiled"
and/or search for "cooler" and/or Cubillan. He's written up some articles on how they kept ice frozen for over a week on jungle trips in Venezuela.
In the end, you'll probably spend around $2 or $3/week on ice.
Put your food in jars, put it in the cooler, it'll last for a while. No complicated vacuum necessary (though it might make leftovers last for even longer).
Another thing to check into for fresh veggies: at many boating stores (and online) they have veggie storage plastic bags. Something about the way that they vent gasses helps them keep fruit/veggies from going off as quickly. We tried some on our trip and they worked.... but we had a fridge, and usually ate the food within a week, so the bags didn't offer much advantage.
Also: if you simply clean the fruit/veggies with good water, then wrap them in a paper towel (individually) then hang them in a mesh bag or a hanging basket (to minimize bruising) stuff will last for longer than you might think.
Another trick that we didn't try but have heard of several overlanders doing: you can grow your own fresh bean sprouts. Adds a nice touch of fresh green to your menu and requires no storage.
Check Overland Africa for ideas from people doing cape-cape trips, there are a variety of solutions.
sandcruiser
....back in the saddle again....
also, not cheap, but cheaper than a fridge: Coleman makes an "extreme" cooler that is extra insulated. Keeps ice cold for 5 days (they say). I've tried it--- we put 2 bags of ice in and left it in the sunshine in California mtns (daytime temps around 95, nighttime around 50?) The ice was still ice on day 6, but didn't last until day 7. I pulled exactly one #6 out each day around noon until day 6, when the cans were gone.
Just to make the trial almost realistic.
Oh, the beer went in at fridge temp (low 30s).
You could make any cooler work a lot better by setting it on some foam insulation and wrapping the whole thing in a light-colored plastic bag to help prevent heat-gain.
The trick to keeping your cooler cool is to store everything in individual containers so that they don't loose their cold air when the lid is opened, and opening the lid as little as possible and as quickly as possible.
Individual containers also helps reduce sogginess.
Just to make the trial almost realistic.
Oh, the beer went in at fridge temp (low 30s).
You could make any cooler work a lot better by setting it on some foam insulation and wrapping the whole thing in a light-colored plastic bag to help prevent heat-gain.
The trick to keeping your cooler cool is to store everything in individual containers so that they don't loose their cold air when the lid is opened, and opening the lid as little as possible and as quickly as possible.
Individual containers also helps reduce sogginess.
One word................MRE's
- Thread starter
- #28
botulism is something you can get from improperly preserved food that still seems apparently edible right? Would I be right in assuming that it's more of a long-term thing from improper canning and such? Like it's not the sort of thing I would get from food stored for a week or two right?
x2 I would reconsider getting a small 12v/propane firdge preferably an Electrolux/Chescold type.
Or buy fresh food from the locals every 2nd day or so.