In vehicle food storage (1 Viewer)

[leonard_nemoy]

So on my last camping trip I got in a hurry and left a food box at home, I didn't realize until I was in the middle of nowhere and I had to cut my trip shorter than planned because I got hungry. Now I want to permanently keep some food storage in my rig for emergencies or situations like this. Does anyone have any experience keeping food stored for 6 months to a year in their rigs? My concerns are holding up to the extreme temp changes inside a vehicle (especially in the desert) and I am interested in food items that are easy to prepare with limited resources. Ideas?

 

[cruiserpilot]

Seems like a bad idea. Make a checklist for everything, tools - food - clothing - camping gear -
Each category with a checklist.

 

[Dissent]

I always have Coast Guard rations in the Emergency box which are like a 3,000 cal bar you break into chunks.

Beyond that, I always have the ARB fridge going with all sorts of snacks (cheese, salami, bacon, egg bites, jerky, sausages, etc.) and a dozen bottles of water to help make the fridge cycle less. I use this supply as my lunches at work which is really just grazing as I visit clients. This ends up becoming camp food quite often which makes it easy to 'pack' for trips.

 

[REKCUT]

Seriously, think your going after the wrong correction. Would think that one time with this mistake and you'd never repeat. Sounds like a checklist issue. Food this time, what it going to be next time. Now if your looking for prep ready for emergency trips then thats different than forgetting something on a camping trip.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

I keep a selection of Mountain House breakfasts and dinners in 44 at all times. They are delicious, nutritional, take up little space and have longer a “use by date” than me.

But, a checklist is always a good thing.

 

[Dissent]

Totally agree with the checklist but mistakes happen. Mountain House dehydrated meals may be an option. Not sure about long term heat exposure but I always have my JetBoil in the truck and plenty of water. Heck, keep it simple with some Top Ramen or a can of soup, you could cycle them out every month or so and keep it cheap too.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I guess I should clarify better, I am asking because I am more worried about emergencies than forgetting my food, I just happened to forget one of my food boxes and it got me thinking about this subject. And I like mountain house but the ones I have in my pantry say store in a cool dry place so I figured those wouldn't work for keeping in my rig.

 

[Kofoed]

MRE, dehaydrated backpacker food. I have cliff bars and rotate stock

 

[rolliges]

As long as you had water or beer you can survive a very long time without food (quite comfortably too).

Next time stay out; suck it up.

 

[cartercd]

I pack MREs and energy bars for emergencies and rotate them to maintain max shelf life. Ramen, rice, oatmeal, and pasta are other options which have long shelf life and are easy to prepare if you have water and a heat source.

 

[Shoredreamer]

Ever since I built my drawers Ive keep all my camp gear in the truck at all times. I also don’t bother taking out a lot of dry goods too. Including can foods, dry soups, oatmeal, stoves. Needless to say, I have plenty of food, water for an emergency. Never noticed big temp changes either, but then again, temps only sway 20-30 degrees on a given day at home.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Thanks for the ideas, I have put together a list of food that I am going to keep in my rig.
My requirements
1. Tastes good, I want to enjoy my meals. My experience is a good meal can make a bad situation better. I know MREs and ration bars are great but I have had to eat way too many MREs than I care to admit and just thinking of eating another one makes me constipated and induces vomiting so I am excluding those from my list.
2. Items need to be cooked with boiling water only because I always have my backpacking cookware and water in my rig.
3. Items that can last at least a year in my rig with temps from below 0 to 130f.
4. It has to taste good

I am sure there are plenty of other things I could use but I am happy with this list. Also I was going to include mountain house meals but they are pricey and I eat a lot of them on my backpacking trips so I decided to leave them off the list also.

1. Mixed nuts or any kind of nuts that come in a sealed tin.
2. Instant vietmanese coffee (vincafe) I love this stuff for instant coffee. It seems to have a lot of caffeine and has creamer and sugar already mixed in.
3. Honey
4. Fruit leathers or dehydrated fruit
5. Lentil soup
6. Instant potatoes (preferably the garlic parmesan flavor)
7. Hard candies
8. A can of cheese wiz (hopefully it doesn't explode in the heat but I couldn't find any warnings about this)
9. Crackers of some sort. (Chicken in a biscuit or Ritz for me)
10. Instant oatmeal (I like the fruit and cream variety box)
I think this will make a good supply for any emergency and it will also make for good extra camping food.

 

[wapitimud]

I'm thinking keeping food in your vehicle at all times is either an invite for rodents or you run the risk of becoming overweight by snacking.

Experienced outdoorsmen tend to try trial stops quite close to home as a dry run first, exposing any materials gaps or lack of food.

 

[cowboyjack]

We used to carry Gaines Burgers. Yes, for dogs. You won’t eat ‘em unless it’s an emergency.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I keep my dry food box in the 80 at all times. Probably has some Mountain House meals, ramen, oatmeal, and cans of ranch style beans. It has a sealed lid to keep unknown visitors out if need be.

 

[lovetoski]

Spam. Lasts forever.

 

[JayDoc]

Make yourself a get home bag to keep in your truck. Mine has a change of clothes, first aid, fire starting and other assorted accoutrements, as well as enough calories and water for a couple days. The calories come in the form of datrex bars mentioned previously.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Make yourself a get home bag to keep in your truck. Mine has a change of clothes, first aid, fire starting and other assorted accoutrements, as well as enough calories and water for a couple days. The calories come in the form of datrex bars mentioned previously.

I keep a sleeping bag, first aid, emergency survival kit, rain jacket, down puffy, extra socks, gloves, pants, and a bunch of other emergency type goods along with my smaller kifaru spike camp backpack in my rig whenever I go more than 10 or 20 miles from civilization. I love my cruiser because it has yet to leave me stranded but I have had a vehicle leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere before and had to hike about 17 miles to a mountain top to get cell service and call for help. I go to some pretty remote areas to camp and hunt and if I got stuck or snowed in or broke down it would really suck if I had no food. Also a few years ago the I15 that goes through a big gorge between Utah and Nevada was shut down due to snow and people were stuck in their cars for a day and a half and some had serious problems from lack of food and water (diabetes). Being prepared also allows one to help others.

 

[wapitimud]

It may be more effective to have a planned empty storage system in your vehicle, rather than dedicated 24/7 food storage. There are a few manufacturers out there, and fellows home build their own shelves and boxes from plywood as well. In such a system, if your food area is empty, you don't leave town on trips. Your food storage should be one of the more accessible areas in the truck.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

It may be more effective to have a planned empty storage system in your vehicle, rather than dedicated 24/7 food storage. There are a few manufacturers out there, and fellows home build their own shelves and boxes from plywood as well. In such a system, if your food area is empty, you don't leave town on trips. Your food storage should be one of the more accessible areas in the truck.

The whole point is to be prepared for an emergency, emergencies can happen anywhere anytime. Even close to home. My home is surrounded by remote desert and mountains in every direction. Even going to a local trailhead to hike you never know what could happen. I could get back from a day of hiking and have no cell service and a dead truck. It would be nice to have dinner while I wait for someone to show up and help with a jump. Or I could find someone that was lost or hurt on the trail and needed food and water, it would be nice to help them out . Plus if I can forget a food box on a camping trip I could probably forget to fill up a food storage area.