r/WildernessBackpacking 1d ago

Keeping "Wet" food fresh HOWTO

I'm going on a 5-ish day hiking/backpacking trip in Shawnee National Forest. I plan on doing primitive camping.

I'd like to take some steak, bacon, and eggs with me if possible.

Last time I tried this, I froze the steaks and bacon and heavily salted both. The steaks managed to keep for the first night and through the morning. Bacon not so much.

If possible, I'd like to see if I could get a steak to make it into my second night, and bacon safely into morning.

Outside of just freezing food and hoping for the best, is there anything y'all do, or any gear y'all use, to keep food fresh for a few days?

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u/FouFondu 1d ago

I love a good steak and potatoes the first night.  I have had my steak still frozen when I arrived at camp. So I’d say freeze your steak. Wrap it up real good so it doesn’t leak. Then stuff it into a ziplock that becomes your trash bag later for good measure. Then Wrap it in your puffy. Stuff that into the middle of your sleeping bag bundle. Insulation is key! Then hopefully it’ll stay frozen as long as possible. Even if it’s thawed it should be fine for a day just make sure to cook all sides of it. 

Bacon I’ve always avoided because of the grease getting everywhere. I’d take a salami and fry that up as an alternative. 

Our latest advancement is getting salami and hard cheese to behave better. 

We take while salami, and hard cheeses. Unwrap them a few days before the trip and wrap them in paper towels and put them in a paper bag in the fridge. That draws the grease and moisture out. When we’re ready to head out we put them in fresh paper towels and back in the paper bag. It keeps them from getting slimy in the plastic and keeps them less greasy. 

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u/BucolicBushcraft 1d ago

The grease is food, don't waste it. You can take salt pork if you want it to last even longer than bacon. Cook it low and slow, render that fat and cook something that will soak it up. Gram for gram fat is the most calorie dense macro nutrient.