My wife recently asked me if we could buy a good quality vacuum food sealer, which caused me to think about food packs. I searched the QJ archives and found a couple of mentions, but not much discussion.

The better sealers can use aluminum foil pouches instead of the normal polyethylene bags.  Strong smells and sometimes  humidity can easily permeate poly bags, but not foil.  The foil is also burnable with a hot fire.  ( yes, I know I will catch hell for this notion).  We have successfully burned foil and then packed out the charred bits which no longer smell like food, at least not to humans.  It also adds another layer of waterproofing, eliminates the need for a poly liner in the pack and keeps any gear in with the food from taking on that odor.

I have a solo trip planned this Fall and I am trying to minimize bulk and the need to hang a food pack.  My normal hanging apparatus is sized for an 80 lbs. pack for a group of four, and requires tent poles that I will not have with me.

Feel free to tell me this is a bad idea, or at least un-necessary.

I take criticism quite well, due mostly to having lots of practice.

Regards,

MossBack

if you are going to try to burn those aluminum foil bags, please try to do it this way:   don't just throw the bag in the fire pit - put it on the end of a stick and hold it over the fire; the food inside will boil and burn out without having to be in the fire that long - before the bag can fall apart, pull it out of the fire and set it onto a rock or bare ground - it will cool quickly if you have burned out all the food - then just crumple it up.  I really really hate finding foil in my campfire rings, which happens all too often - a campfire won't get hot enough to actually burn the foil, but it will disintegrate leaving the residue.  If you time it right when trying to burn out the food from the foil bag, no mess - no residue in the fire ring.

Agreed.  I never burn foil with goopy food inside, as one might if they were eating freeze dried meals from the bag it comes in.  Yes, we always elevate it to the tips of the flame or lay it out flat over hot coals, and we always pack out the remains, plus the remains of whatever gum wrappers, fishing line spools, old tennis shoes or whatever we find in the fire pit from previous inhabitants that does not look like ashes or unburned charcoal.

What I do not have a feel for is how thick or thin the bags are used with the sealers?  My guess would be much thinner than freeze dried meal bags.  I  also plan to trim all unnecessary foil away from the sealed edges to minimize bulk.

MossBack

The biggest downside to this IMHO is that unless you can have a HOT fire every night regardless of weather, you're still going to be dealing with food odors in bags.

I think I would KEEP the poly food bag liner, vacuum seal your meals and then store the used bags in a good waterproof sealed bag and keep THAT bag separate from you food pack at night.

IF, you end up cooking in a bag, then when you finish your meal, put in some lake water and rinse bag out back in the bush.

This link might give you some useful advice?
Lot's of good recipes for the DIY types.

  (You need to Login or Register

The only things I vacuum seal is steak and a few individual bacon servings. No worries that way.

On the bulk part, I always repackage FD meals at home. They are two servings for me so I split them in half and stick each meal in a baggie labeled and sealed with painter's tape. Six meals fit easily into a quart zip-loc w/ whatever descendants were included. That cuts down on the bulk considerably. I've even eaten repackaged FD meals I didn't get around to eating on the next year's trip and I find hanging to be convenient (all things considered) plus it lets me sleep oh so soundly. ;)

I don't even attempt to burn the foiled paper from cigarette packs any more. It's easier to pack it out than pick it out.

db, or Whomever

Help me understand the dividing of Freeze Dried food.  I  thought it  would immediately start to re-hydrate in the presence of normal humidity and would then be subject to spoilage? 

I am not fond of FD meals, but had planned to take some along in case fresh fish was not on the menu.  Most come as a 2 serving meal, so dividing would be helpful.

Thanks,

MossBack

Quote:

Most come as a 2 serving meal, so dividing would be helpful.

I think that you will find that unless you're a small eater, or you're in a base camp for a few days after a hard day paddling/portaging that 2 person meal is really one HUNGRY man meal.

Remember you'll be doing everything yourself, burning way more calories than in a group.
 
If you do split them, just divide by weight and since you have a vacuum sealer, just immediately re-seal them.

I usually just take out the fillers when I have a 2 person FD meal.  I leave in the good stuff.  :)

I've literally done it for decades and have no qualms about them going bad in a week or two because I have eaten many two months and a few a year later when I hated the first half of something new and ate the 'leftover' I brought a for emergency use instead.

Pour the contents into a bowl and use a tablespoon to divide similar scoops into the two baggies. I'll get anal and use a scale at the end but I don't know that that's really necessary. They are always fairly close. One hint is to touch the inside of the baggie with your hand to kill the static so the dust doesn't stick all over the inside of the bag.

There is one I like a lot that comes with a little packet of olive oil. Never found a great solution to divide that. I just deal with it.

I wouldn't recommend it if I was at all concerned and it didn't work so well for me. Try one and see how it goes for you. It certainly takes care of the bulk issue. Vacuum sealing increases bulk so I only use it for meat.

Thanks db,  I always appreciate someone furthering my education.

MossBack