Hey guys,

I'm curious, am I the only one who packs canned food on backcountry trips? I just finished throwing together my food for a 6 day trip coming up, and when some hunting buddies heard I was packing 11 tins of canned stew/chilli/alphaghetti/soups, along with small tins of peaches and pears, they thought I was crazy.

I've always done this though, mostly for convenience sake. When I'm hungry, I just plop down in front of my stove, and heat my food up. I don't have to worry about being close to a water source like you do with dehydrated stuff. 2 minutes of stirring on top of the whisperlite and I'm eating. Plus it always tastes good!

Does anyone else here pack canned food or am I the odd man out?

I've never seen it done that way.

You must be one bad-azz hiker carry all those cans!!!!

I'll still carry tinned meat; deviled ham, chicken, tuna, and spread it on soft/flat bread for lunch. Works very well. Did that in September on the High Buck Hunt. Didn't get a buck, but had some great lunches on the trail!

When I was a kid we sometimes carried canned food, because there was very little avail in the way of dehydrated grub. In The Corps of course we had to carry canned C-Rations, or go hungry.

These days it's just too easy to boil some water over the Whisperlite and pour it into a foil packet... Very easy to enjoy a hot meal with only a few minutes of water boiling.

Regards, Guy

Plus hardly anything to burn the pouch. Steel cans won't melt.

Have you ever weighed all those cans of food? Holy cow! And I'd hate to have to pack all the empties out. Tasty and convenient eats though if you don't mind those two factors.

I do carry foil packed chicken and tuna. Nice and juicy and no hydration needed. Great addition to lots of freezer bag meals and the packaging can be burnt in the stove and if there is no stove, it's nominal weight to carry out.

Actually I haven't weighed my food yet. I'll do an "academic exercise" and try figure out approx what my food will weigh. Give me a little while here and I'll get the results posted. Should be interesting to finally see what I've been humping these past few years.

There's no way in Heil I'm carrying anything in a can unless it's made with hops and contains alcohol.

Alright, so here is my list. This is an estimate, as I just googled the products to figure out weight.

Type.....................Weight.........#Carried....Total(oz)
Campbells Soups...........18.3oz..........11........201.3
fruit tin.................416g............8.........117.39
granola bars..............26g.............18.........16.51
fruit snacks..............18g.............10..........6.35
tea........................2g.............26..........1.83
sugar.................................................6.0
coffee mate...........................................7oz
oatmeal...............................................6oz
powdered milk.........................................6oz
protein powder........................................6oz
snickers bars.............1.75oz..........4...........7.04
.....................................................________
Total.................................................381.42oz/23.84lbs

This works out to 23.84lbs in total for a 6 day hunt. Factor in 5L of water, that's another 11lbs. I was going to guess close to 20lbs of food stuff, so I guess I was close haha. Total calories, not including cups of tea and granola/protein powder for breakfast (it's hit or miss if I bother making this concoction in the mornings), BUT including the trail mix that I always carry in a pocket(not listed above though) is around 1500 calories per meal. Usually I eat a big lunch and big supper, and some snacks and tea in the morning, so I would guess I'm at about 3800-4200 calories consumed per day.

As a side note, the way I tend to backpack hunt though is hump in my tent and gear and what not on my external frame pack, as well as take along my small daypack. I set up camp and get myself squared away, and then put my daypack on and go hunt. So while the trip in and out may weigh a bit, the actually hunting itself is pretty lightweight.

What are your guys' typical food/water weights?

Foil packed meats worst case, never a can. Maybe a small bottle though thats never been used...

wow, two words...



mountain house

Hansol,

I doubt you'll find many folks packing canned foods these days when there are many lighter food alternatives.

Give one of the many freeze dried food meals a try and you will be a converted man. I suggest AlpineAire, Backpackers Pantry or Mountain House.

You'll be doing your body a big favor believe me.

MtnHtr

Ditto!

Thanks for all the info guys, this is certainly a neat thread.

I'm hearing a lot about mountain house food. I have a few buddies who used em, but I myself haven't yet. I've used the military IMPs (Canadian version of MREs), and they were slick. To be honest, if I was going any longer than 5ish days, I'd be looking into those things for sure. Just too much wasted space/weight in the pack I'm thinking. I'll have to try the mountain house stuff too.

Also, I've been hearing that packing 5 litres of water is a bit much, and this really strikes me as crazy! I've always liked to have more water than I need so that I can drink when I'm thirsty. It adds to my initial pack weight yes, but as I hike I find that 5L QUICKLY turns into 2. Do you guys carry a lot of water?

Anyway it's always neat to see what everyone takes in their rigs, and it's always great to learn from guys who have the experience. Cheers!

hansol, well I can't argue your logic when it comes to convenience. My big concern would be if you fell on your back it could be days before someone came along and rolled you back over.

Ray Jardine has a great article on carrying cannonballs while packing - http://www.rayjardine.com/papers/cannonballs/index.htm

Maybe this will shed some light on this topic.

Siskiyous6,

Alright, I can interpret the article you posted in one of two ways:

1) Canned food is like carrying a cannonball: heavy and stupid.

OR 2) Because canned food (or the rest of my gear for that matter haha) isn't the latest greatest whizzbang freezedried titanium everyone-is-doing-it type gear, doesn't mean it's not workable.

Maybe I missed the mark though with regards to it and this post. Regardless, I still quite liked that article for describing the "big picture".

it only has to work for you


but there might be better ways for you

but I'd sure appreciate you going hunting with me before you give up on the canned food gig.

some canned peaches after a freeze dried dinner would be danged good I'm thinking.

rock on

if I was stud enough to carry canned goods on my bp hunts I'd let these hombres know it for sure

but I ain't


and they know it....grin

How far are you packing the canned goods?

Think of it this way. That's the same as carrying 63 mountain house meals or carrying enough for a month long trip assuming your eating 2 a day. If that's for a week long trip that's pretty heavy. MRE's are just as bad for weight but they do pack a ton of calories and trash.

In the end your the one who has to carry it but look at how much weight you can save by just changing your main meal. Its only takes a couple minutes to heat 2 cups of water on a WL so your not losing any time. Plus you dont have to continue to pack out those steel cans.

If you want to look into eating really good and saving a ton of weight take a look at this website.

http://www.trailcooking.com/

The link kenaiking posted is a great one. I find those recipes better than any freeze dried stuff and WAY cheaper if that's a consideration. Easy to put together although you may need to get a few of the ingredients online. Most of the basics are available at your local grocery store. And you can dehydrate your own meat if the foil packaged stuff is too much weight.

I'm not a back packer extrodinare, but I always carry at least a can or two when I'm out for a few days. Usually canned meat and something simple if I'm just too tired, wet or lazy to mess with anything else.

I find heating a cup or two of water, pouring it in a bag and letting the whole thing sit for a while, pretty untaxing, particularly if I'm using a wood stove that is fired up anyway. Not a big deal to have a small isobutane stove either and quicker to boot.

LOL - go with interpretation number two. If it works for you - it works.

Hunting from a spike camp isnt the same as thru hiking a long trail. And, if the end of a herd day is met with an easy to prepare meal that recharges the batteries then the real mission is acomplished.

I like Kifaru products because they are unique and functional solutions to back country life.

The notion that your food needs to weigh less than nothing perplexes me. I can't make a mountain house taste better than my own heavier concoctions of dried browned hamburger, noodles, and salty sauce mixes. I don't carry canned food, but I don't worry about carrying some cheese or meat or other less-than-lightweight food, knowing that my $20 stash of backpack food can be turfed in easier conscience than the $100 worth of storebought clif bars and foofoo mountain house if I happen to tag out early.

20# of real food versus 10# of mountain house won't break your hunt, at least if you've trained to the point that you won't kill yourself packing 100# of meat out replacing the 20# of food you packed in.

Packing cans out is a bit strange, but not if the distance isn't too hairy or you have to make multiple trips anyway. I don't see what the big deal is. Tailor the food to the hunt.

I always used to take 1 can of corned beef with me. I could make it into soup stock with raimen packets that would last up to three days if I was socked in.

I have moved from mh to packit gourmet. While some of their stuff is a little bit more expensive it does taste much better than most dehydrated foods.

I think Vek's advise of taking a dehydrator to some chislick or buffaloburger is exceptional.

Sincerely,
Thomas

10 pounds of mountain house is 26 packages

I agree though I like to take apples, jerkey, peanut butter, and such. It just makes meals better. Usually while Im hunting I just eat those and sub a odwalla bar in there too. For dinner I like a freeze dried hot meal.

Like before, to each is own. It only has to work for the person carrying it.

I'm sorry, but I think your figures are way off. I don't see 1500 calories in each "meal" with that stuff. And I suspect you used the net weight, not the actual weight of the canned goods.
If you want to carry canned goods, that's your call. For some things, like meat, some might want to. But there is really ne reason to do so unless youy insist. E

Eremicus,

Like I said, it's an approximation. I just googled the stuff to get weights. For a can of campbells chunky soup I got 18.3oz. Some of my cans are even lighter (14 oz), but I went with the heaviest figure just in case.

Regarding calories, feel free to do the math and come up with true figures for: 1 full can of soup/chilli/alphaghetti, 1 tin of del monte fruit cups, 2 granola bars, a pudding cup, a fruit snack, 2 cups of tea with cream and sugar, and a shnitload of trail mix all through the day, I think that's pretty close to 1500/meal

Canned peaches and a can of SPAM every now and then. The pouches of chicken, tuna, or beef work well. Canned food has a high salt content (just a consideration).

Vek, you sound like you weigh the contents of your pack like I do. When I put it on it's either too heavy or it's not.

What kind of can opener are you packing? A p38? How can that be convenient? A MH pouch is tear open.

You warming up your soup in the can or packing/using a pot? You can eat right out of the pouch with a MH meal - no clean up except licking the spoon! And one only needs a 600 Ti cup and lexan spoon to get by.

Disposal: You have a tin can to dispose of with food odors/residue. One can burn the MH pouch or seal it back up and pack it out.

I used to pack in a few cans of water packed chicken breast meat but the foil packets ended those rations. I don't miss canned food at all except for when I'm sick at home then its Campbell's chicken noodle soup time!

MtnHtr

For a can opener I have one of those twin-handled turny-knob things that spin/slice the top of the can lid. Similar to what you'd have in your kitchen, only smaller/lighter. OR the cans have a little pop-top lid that you don't need a can opener for.

I use a pot to heat my food up (because we aren't savages who just eat right out of the can now are we?). I also have a knife, fork, AND spoon. Crappy stainless steel ones too.

Disposal: Yup, jump up and down on the cans a few times, squish em good, then throw them all in a ziplock bag. OR loan one to your friend because he forgot to bring his coffee mug.

The thing is I've never really bought into the ultralite stuff anyway. Packs are heavy regardless. Humping stuff anywhere generally is uncomfortable. So I just pack what I need, and off I go. If my pack is too heavy, I maybe dump a few cans for a ziplock bag full of pene pasta and some rice/granola. If my pack feels about right, off I go. Speed depends on how heavy the pack is that day.

And I fully admit I pack differently when I'm going up a mountain vs. if I'm in elk/foothills country.

At home, we use a can opener my wife ordered at a Pampered Chef party: Smooth-Edge Can Opener Its pretty slick I have to admit, you should try one sometime.

MtnHtr

Mtn Hunter,

That's pretty much exactly what I have! Only strip off all the plastic and cool looking stuff, and imagine it being made out of some crappy chinese pot metal instead and looking like you bought it at a garage sale for 50 cents.

It's nice and light though, and sure beats using a p38.

I never brought a can backpacking in my life. Boy Scout camping was different. You back up the truck to the campsite, drop the quartermaster box, and you can eat all the canned food you want. You're not carrying it. My backing days were before freeze dried Mountain House meals and I couldn't really afford them when they started becoming common. I started with my interest in tall ships and the fishing fleets. Foods commonly brought on board ship interested me. I ate a lot of rice and beans with curry powder. Salted pork, dried beef, dried fruit... I'd enjoy eating fresh caught fish wherever too.

Even if I wanted to eat canned food I think I would put the food in another lighter container and carry 1 small bowl to heat them up in. Just getting rid of the cans themselves would save a ton of weight.

if you like cans check out the microwave dishes in the grocery. just put in boiling water for 5 min and eat out of the dish then burn the dish. save some wt and no pack out either. also the flat dishes pack slightly better than round cans.

I'm going to have to disagree on this point. You don't have to buy into the total "ultralight" thing to keep your pack lighter and therefore more comfortable. If you like humping more weight, I guess that's another story, but it certainly isn't necessary,nor will you suffer when it comes to eating or other aspects of camping. By that logic, tote a 10 lbs. tent and a 6 lbs. sleeping bag because you're going to be uncomfortable anyway. It's absolutely your choice, but it doesn't HAVE to be that way and isn't an intrinsic part of backpacking.

CCH,

My apologies, as I guess I should have clarified that point. What I meant to say is while I don't like carrying heavy crap as much as the next guy, I certainly don't mind packing a few extra lbs for either safety or comfort sake. I carry a 6lbs 2 man mountaineering tent, just because I like being able to not have to ever worry about the weather. I also carry a bit of extra fire starter, as well as waterproof matches, plus probably 4 bic lighters stashed in different parts of my pack, because I am always guaranteed to lose a lighter.

Not going to disagree that a 30lbs pack is much comfier than a 50lbs pack (especially going up mountains), but I do like my comforts I suppose.

Also, I'm not disputing that Mountain House and such don't work, or work well for that matter. The army got rid of c-rats for a reason... I was just seeing if anyone else humped canned food around for convenience sake, or if I was the only one crazy/dumb enough to do that

I don't recall your stating anything about alot of trail mix, type unspecified.
Canned goods need to be weighed. The weights shown on the cans are for net weight, not the added fluids and weight of the empty can.
Calories are suppose to be stated on the can. Since I don't have that stuff handy, I can't do the math. Since your figures appear to be pretty general, apparently you didn't add them up either.
All I'm trying to suggest is that you'll do better in the calories vs. weight department if you look elsewhere. You are carrying alot of fluids and metal that you need not carry.
The other problem is that it's tough to get the complex carbohydrates that you really need from canned goods. Fats, yes. But almost all of us carry plenty of fats for a 6 day trip.
Proteins are easier to get, but even they can be gotten from lighter sources. E

I'm with those who sure would like to hunt with you if you bring in the meals.

I lean the opposite way, as light as possible while staying safe, but a few years ago my son surprised me by packing cans of superb beef stew nine miles on a scounting trip. He stashed them where he and I planned to camp and hunt on opening day. A week or two later, the night before opening morning of a high buck season, we slogged into our camp site at dusk in a cold rain. He surprised me when he pulled out the cans of stew. Hot, hearty beef stew prepared so quickly was a treat I'll never forget. Much of the value was knowing what it took to carry such cans nine miles and 6K feet higher.

No need for apologies, just felt the need to offer a differing opinion and I too would be happy for you to pack the vittles on any shared outing. I'll bring the air for the sleeping pads.

haha I hate packing air, so feel free. Too heavy and what not.

I'm just throwing together the finishing touches on my gear tonight. Tomorrow I'm off on a 6 day hunt for whitetail/elk, so I'll make sure and get a few pictures of me enjoying my canned peaches for everyone here!

Again, regarding food weight, if you have a different figure, feel free to post it. I reckon I'm pretty damn close, as I can't see a can of food weighing much more than the weights I listed. I don't have a scale at home here, so I'm as intrigued as the next guy to see what the "real" weights are.

Del Monte Cut Green Beans (Net Wt. 14.5 oz.): 17.0 ounces 70 calories

Tagg Chili Silverado Beef (Net Wt. 15 oz.): 17.1 ounces 500 calories

Chunky Sirloin Burger w/ Country Vegetables (Net Wt. 18.8 oz.): 21.4 ounces 260 calories

Calories are for entire can, not per serving. Net Wt. is the weight on the label. The other weight is on my scale. Sorry but I think we're out of peaches.

Hans,

Good luck on your hunt, ole Chef boyardee would've been proud of ya!



MtnHtr

OK, don't take this wrong, but how old are you, late 20's early 30's? At some point most everyone makes the jump from brawn to brain.

I used to pack heavy like that, not anymore. I stick to the 100 cals per oz. It just plain works better, for me. That doesn't really mean expensive yuppy food either (well sometimes). There are a bunch of options at the grocery store. If something works better for someone else, go for it.

Wow! And I thought I was going all out packing in a roll of bagels and some foil packs of tuna or chicken to give a break from the freeze dried stuff.

When I was a kid it was top ramen, jerkey, mixed nuts, dried fish, and bannanna bread.

All my years and I never thought to bring a can of anything.

Most if not all canned food is mostly salt anyway isnt it?

One thing that was never mentioned/discussed was: Does camp have water? If you are dry camping, or need to hump water to camp, the equation changes considerably.

To answer the original question, Have I humped canned food? No, not really. Have I seen it? Yes. Was he the king of camp for the week? Yes.

I wish I was king of the camp...

Well guys, the trip was a bust. The weather was perfect the first day out, but after that it turned hot and stupid windy (50mph winds), so not a lot of game action. Saw a coyote, woodpecker, and a few mulie does, but no whitetail or elk. And it's looking like that will be my only time out this year, so I'm thinking I'll be chowing down on tag soup this year...

Definitely the pack was heavy, no doubt about that. If I was packing any long distance (ie greater than 2km) I don't think I would have taken as many cans and instead gone for rayman noodles and rice and camped near a creek. It certainly was nice to be able to go wherever I wanted this time and not worry about needing a water source for dinner.

About the salt thing, from my army days we were taught that you sweat out a lot of salts when you're working hard. That's why you get sweat stains/salt stains on your shirts/boots. And if you don't replace that sodium, it can be trouble. Obviously that doesn't mean you gorge on salt, but you should replace it somehow. I don't know the scientific reasoning behind this however, so maybe someone else can fill those details in.

Lastly, I think the hardest thing I found on this trip wasn't the heavy pack, it was that you have so much "alone" time, huddled solo in your sleeping bag in a dark 2-man tent. I was up hunting at 6:30am, and done eating dinner and "in bed" at 6:45pm due to not having anything to do. So that was close to 12 hours of doing nothing/sleeping (no books, no buddy to bullshit with, no campfire, sleeping on a crappy foamie). That was something very new to me, as I was used to guide camps where you had either your dog or other hunters with you, as well as work that needed tending. This time out there was none of that, and I found it hard to hang out in a sleeping bag with nothing to do for 12 hours. Anyone else had this happen, and any advice to counter it? I'm thinking I should have humped in a small candle lantern and a trashy small paperback novel.

I tagged out Saturday and had 2 days with zero to do except build a fire and throw twigs in it. It was strange but kind of relaxing too.

I pack a small sangean radio and listen to stupid political talk shows for a couple hours, that gets old real quick so I listen to the playoffs. Thinking of a Zune with downloaded movies would be cool but the ole timers will frown - I'm suppose to listen to the woodsie sounds to be a real mountain man!

Another option would be an Ipod, some really like them.

MtnHtr

Radio is actually a really good idea. Less of a chance of burning down the tent too...

It's always the good stuff you find out AFTER your season is over haha.

Anyways just wanted to give a big "Thank You" to everyone who participated in this thread. Definitely learned a lot, as well as received a lot of good advice. I really appreciate it.

What are you doing for water? Carrying 5 liters is not enough for one person exerting for 6 days and weighs a little over 10 pounds. Surely you have water nearby that you could filter or treat? It's a lot easier to carry a filter and pump water as it is needed.