Food Bags

[mountnman]

I'm curious to know what everybody else uses as a food bag. I currently use a clip-lock plastic lunch box. It's heavy, struggles to hold 4 days food, and does not compress at all.

What other ways are there to carry food. I had thought about a plastic bag, but after an experience with a possum in Blue Gum Forest I would prefer an air tight solution so scents don't get through.

[Strider]

Individual meals in snaplock bags, then drybagged in my pack. The possums still come for it, I just have to wake up.and scare them off!

[Giddy_up]

I do the same as strider and I also use freeze dried meals which probably carry very little smell. All food stuffs in a heavy roll top bag that's more like PVC than silnylon, think they use them for kayaking. Seek is the brand I think.

[neilmny]

Very similar to both with a S to S 4 litre dry bag. Not the silnylon type this one has a smooth "plasticy"
yellow outer surface. Then inside that I use a ziplock for coffee, tea, sugar satchels, ziplock of pasta and so on for loose stuff.
Other meals are vac sealed in there own bag.

[andrewa]

I take a small round microwave container with lid, and cuben fiber roll top bags now. The container has several uses: breakfast / dinner bowl, carrying lunch and stopping biscuits getting smashed, and the lid gets used as cutting board. It also fits my Evernew billy nicely inside it if needed, so packs well in pack if it doesn't have biscuits in it. Cuben bags are new. I don't have probs with possums etc, but, given that you can't cut Cuban with scissors, it should be reasonably resistant to animals!

A

[Snowzone]

I use an old plastic 2litre icecream container to carry my biscuits and bits and pieces for lunch. This is always towards the top of my pack during the day for ease of access when stopping for lunch.
Everything else is in ziplock bags and a dry bag. I put my individual meals in a small zip lock and then bag all my dinners, breakfasts etc. together in a larger zip lock before storing in the dry bag. At night it all goes into my pack, so far I have never had a problem but I am careful to try to reduce any smells around my pack and campsite.
Sometimes there is no reason for a rat to eat into your tent, my friend just had a brand new tent holed at Lake Cygnus with no food anywhere near it and definately no smell on the tent.

[Mark F]

+1 on the cuben outer bags - they won't stop possums carting the bag off but they do stop beasties eating their way in. Overnight, I always keep my food inside the tent or hung from rafters if using a hut.

I pack my food into two or three bags depending on trip length. 1 for lunches and 1 or 2 for camp food (breakfast and dinner together or separate). All camp food is portion controlled into individual zip lock bags and any home dehydrated meals are vacuum sealed.

[mountnman]

Definitely some good ideas. Will have a look for the cuben bags, they sound interesting!

[andrewa]

MYO Cuban bags.....contact Simonm for materials, and use the web, or look at my entries on MYO gear. No sewing needed...just tape. A very easy and cheap project.

I use a bag for each meal over a 10 day trip, labelled 1,2,3 accordingly.

A

[thejungleisneutral]

I use one of these -



It's a military medical supplies bag with three main compartments and one large pocket. It folds up and is relatively lightweight.

I usually use home-dehydrated meals in vac-seal bags and I can fit up to 6 day's food in one of these bags.

The proper packcloth bags can be difficult to find but they are usually pretty cheap when they do come up for sale.

[Strider]

Has anyone trailed cuben fiber for food storage? Apparently it is highly gnaw resistant. Keen to give it a go..

[Bubbalouie]

Has anyone trailed cuben fiber for food storage? Apparently it is highly gnaw resistant. Keen to give it a go..

ZPacks make a bear bag that's claimed to be critter resistant.

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml

I've not personally used one myself, whilst I have used regular cubes bags I've been lucky enough to not be visited by hungry toothed locals when hiking.

[Mark F]

Cuben would become a bit expensive for food drops but could be a good option if walking them in rather than just the standard roadside drop. Most of the food drops I have put in are used 10 or 20 litre thin walled steel containers - cut the lid almost out. Pack food into a plastic liner the reseal with a couple of wire ties and silicone. I then put them in a dull green garbage bag for a bit of camoflage.

[Strider]

Are you referring to expensive in relation to food drops being stolen Mark? Anyway. I've never needed to do a food drop, but am more so interested in simply animal proofing at the campsite. Never had any significant issues but if there is a cheap solution that also saves weight then I have no real reason not to

[Onestepmore]

Each meal in separate zip lock bags (the ones with the white bit on them so you can label them), usually all the original packaging removed if it's bulky. This not only reduces weight and volume, but also the amount of rubbish you carry out. Then that day's food in a bigger ziplock. Then bulk of food for the trip in a blue Zpacks roll-top cuben bag, that has a D ring on it that allows it to be hung up out of he way of crafty creatures. Hot food or dehydrated meals are eaten out of the bag with a longer spoon, and put in an insulated cozy to keep warm and finish cooking after the boiling water has been added. Snacks are kept in small pockets on our packs, or in my front pockets if using an Aarn pack.
The ziplock bags come in handy for rubbish etc afterwards.

[jjoz58]

I use an ultra sil bag and mylar bag all the food, less smell. We do up all the meals ourselves using a combination of freeze and dehydrated food. Rice and meat are the hardest to come by. My wife and I make up a one serve meal and if we like the result we then make 2 or 3 serve portions (if our daughter comes). We have found we can then make meals with the spices and content that we like. We each do a mylar snack bag for each day with snacks, tea, sugar, milo etc. and no smell. We had to buy a vacuum sealer from the USA that would do mylar bags and that's where we get the bags as well. Works out about $3/meal but the portions are bigger, just what you want at the end of the day. We also add some wraps that we mylar pack as well.

[icefest]

I have a Zpacks food bag (the thick blue one that's also used for bear bagging). Over the past summer I had food in individual ziploc bags.

It only holds about a weeks worth of food for one person, but works really well. I haven't had any animals attack it yet, but that's because I usually have it inside the tent, hanging from a tree if it doesn't look like rain, or hanging from the rafters.

Sometime this year I'm planning on getting another zpacks food bag and some individual lightweight cuben stuff sacks (like andrewa has).

With a numbering system (one per day) and the extra layer of water-resistance I shouldn't have to worry about leaking bags and can use more lightweight freezer bags (the thin non-ziplock bags) and save on the amount of rubbish I produce when hiking. It might even be a modicum lighter.

[Onestepmore]

I use an ultra sil bag and mylar bag all the food, less smell. We do up all the meals ourselves using a combination of freeze and dehydrated food. Rice and meat are the hardest to come by. My wife and I make up a one serve meal and if we like the result we then make 2 or 3 serve portions (if our daughter comes). We have found we can then make meals with the spices and content that we like. We each do a mylar snack bag for each day with snacks, tea, sugar, milo etc. and no smell. We had to buy a vacuum sealer from the USA that would do mylar bags and that's where we get the bags as well. Works out about $3/meal but the portions are bigger, just what you want at the end of the day. We also add some wraps that we mylar pack as well.

What are mylar bags please?

I looked this up
https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emer ... vs0NLQhE3g

And, as the ad says 'Where do you get it?' (in Aus)

[jjoz58]

OSM - I've had a look at that website but those bags are big. Half Gallon is the smallest and that's 2+ litres .

If you have ever had a dehydated/freezedried meal, that you just add water to and looks like thin metal, that is a mylar bag.

"In its basic form, mylar is a clear material made from polyester resin. IMPAK produces Mylar bags and Mylar films for a wide range of industries and applications requiring high moisture barrier and oxygen barrier properties. Mylar possesses many desirable properties including gas and moisture resistance, chemical stability, high tensile strength, and when laminated to aluminum foil, mylar provides a higher puncture resistance than any metallized polyester film. When laminated, mylar is reflective, while it is transparent when not laminated."

Using these bags if you add an oxygen absorber and a dessicant pkt, you can keep them for a few years. It is the oxygen, moisture and light that degrades or ruins dried foods. You can't use a normal vacuum sealer as mylar bags are smooth unlike normal plastic bags which are textured. You need to get a snorkel sealer and the only place I found one was in the states. https://www.sorbentsystems.com/sinbosealer.html I also get my bags from there as they have a huge range of sizes.

I stopped looking for bags in Australia as I could only find very large bags 1-5 gallon. Just like plastic bags though you can cut a larger one down and seal the edges. Since I like the stand up reclosable zip lock ones I buy them from the states.

Also posted some other info on your thread. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15174

[Onestepmore]

Cheers!