High Sierra Topix

In these modern times, we are so used to having access to refrigeration. Because of this, information on how long things REALLY take to spoil at room temperature is scarce. If you go on any of the food safety sites on the web, you get the impression that almost no perishable food can kept for more than 30 minutes at room temp.

So let's hear from some experienced backpackers about what perishable food you bring on your trips and how long it is safe to eat.

2 days for meat if frozen beforehand, and then put in a pack. I did a Month in Utah deer hunting. We had the last year's deer in the cooler, with dry ice, and it lasted 3 weeks. Couldn't even look at that last piece to eat, cuz it was green by then. Well, you asked..

Had some Amazing deer sausage up at Upper Mattie one year. That was the second day.

The cowboys always carried salt pork. I wonder if the modern grocery store stuff is the same and how long it will keep.

Hi Sirlight

As a chef I have to follow strict food safety regulations, and have to take a food
certification test every 3 years.
Go to ( http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/default.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and you will get all
answers to any question you may have pertaining to food safety.

hmm. I think sirlight was asking about experiences "out there", not the guidelines. Don't think I'd like Gordon Ramsay meeting me in the back country and checking my can.

I can tell you that an abalone button on Ice lasts a day at best, in July heat. I've done meat in warm conditions backpacking when first frozen and buried in the middle of the pack wrapped really well. hard cheese lasts very well; veggies as well. cheddar doesn't.

I certainly agree with the food safety guidelines and follow them strictly when at home. Nobody has ever gotten sick at my place when the come over for dinner! I am actually rather paranoid about food safety.

Still, if the back county some concessions are made. It’s nowhere you would want to get sick, but a chunk of cheese or slice of salami tastes good after a long day on the trail. I have brought cheddar cheese sticks with me on a number of trips and they are still edible after a few days. I have friends that bring a dry salami on long hikes. They say it’s still good after a week, not that I should ever attempt that. Often times on a day hike I will bring a sandwich and just wrap it in my fleece with a frozen water bottle. I bet my grandparent had a much better idea of what was “safe”, since they grew up before electricity.

Sure, dry salami will keep a long time, we used to have a closet in which we kept
all the salami, ham, smoked bacon, and other dried meats that would be hanging, and
no one got sick in Europe, back in the day.
Some of it is common sense, like you would not try to keep a soft Brie cheese with a
high fat content in warm weather for more than a day, or less.
Bacteria starts to reproduce once the temps get between 41-140 degrees, and if you
add in moisture things become even worse, and it can make you sick.
Proteins are the foods you really have to be careful with like soft cheese, meats, eggs
(mayo).
Your cheddar cheese can last a few days, but if the temps are really hot your taking
chances, and just because you got lucky a few times doesn't mean it did not have
bacteria multiplying on the surface, maybe just not enough to get you sick, but some
one else with a weaker immune system may have gotten sick.
Sure if you freeze a steak, and wrap it well you can enjoy it that evening for dinner I
did that a long time ago.
There are a lot of variable, but if you push to often, your luck will eventually run out.

It depends on how you pack the food and conditions. Since it almost always gets cold at night in the Sierra, you can keep perishables fresher if you pack them in the early AM deep in your pack surrounded by insulation. When I get to camp, I put the bear can in the shade and be sure it stays in the shade. If it is hot inside the can, I open it, air it out, then put the lid back and store it in the shade. I never put my perishables in the bear cannister when I hike. The bear cannister becomes an oven! I have also stuck my cheese and margarine in a snowbank or you can set them in a stream. Of course, you have to stick around and watch them.

I have had cheese (Swiss, extra sharp cheddar, parmisan) keep for 10 days with little problem. I also have had margarine keep for 10 days. I only use real butter in winter. Summer sausage keeps 10 days. I also find that it depends on where I buy the cheese. I avoid "natural" and "organic". The standard cheese from the supermarket keeps better. Also check the expiration date. I also buy pepperoni in the individually wraped packets. For trail cheese I also buy the individually wrapped cheese sticks.

WD wrote "I avoid "natural" and "organic". Yes, the other non-natural or non-organic
products due last longer, but many times it's because of the added additives and/or
preservatives.
Pick your poison. http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/ ... tives.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There is only a very small percentage of things that we can control with regards
to what will contribute to our eventual death, so the little I can do I try, food
being one of them.

Ok, Mav.. You live under certain rules.. Nice we get to see them. But when I visit my Mom's house, well.. let's just say gdam/jzus.

Sometimes, you just have to relax, say determine if it's ok, and go with it.

I pack what I want.. I know if it's good or bad, and I go with it. Not like most of the stuff we pack is perishable. One who packs it knows already.

Mav, what do you pack as food?