No Refigeration Required!

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WAND3R3R

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Joined
Jul 30, 2009
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Location
Central Kentucky
This road-trip I am going it without refrigeration. I, like many of you, have a travel fridge, a National Luna in my case, and I have a nice cooler…. but during these wanderings I have decided to go with no food requiring refrigeration. Does anyone else go with no "refrigeration?" I posted a list of foods with photographs I am eating this trip, if anyone has other ideas please let me know. I don't have any canned goods in this list, trying to see what else, other than canned, people recommend!

http://www.apocketfullofwanderlust.com/2014/02/no-refrigeration-required.html

-Thanks, AK
 
I've done week-long trips across Nevada w/o ice or a fridge. Won't ever happen when my wife is along. I've been set straight on that count - and she does back-pack where my knees won't take it. I think that the thing that I've missed the most was cheese.
 
You have an excellent list.

Here's some others that could be "marginally" associated with healthy living.
Breads, cakes, cupcakes, and crackers, homemade or otherwise.
You didn't mention a "ban" on jars (plastic or glass), so, Peanut Butter, although a "can" connection could be made.
Aseptic packaged items in little packets like mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, fresh onions, small cream cups for coffee, it is amazing how many things are now being produced this way.
Small, 1/2 ounce, table jelly tubs that you can find at chain restaurants.
 
You mention adding dehydrated vegetables to stir fries. Do you need to rehydrate first, or do you just add a bit of water while cooking? Looking at the product it says to add 2 parts water and cook for 15 minutes.
 
Rob in MT, I usually re-hydrate the veggies in a bowl with water first then add to soup or stir-fry but you can add directly to the pan as you cook. You just need to watch as you go, if you need more water as you cook just add more. I find that I can "wing-it" pretty well on most dishes!

Craig333, I do love a cold beverage like everyone else, but gave up beer years ago!

Alley-Kat, thanks for the suggestions! I know my "canned-ban" is kinda schizophrenic, I'm not against cans but I know that lots of canned goods are full of salt etc….

NTSQD, PVSToy and Ski3pin, thanks for commenting!

-AK
 
Oh, I forgot cookies (chocolate chip, yum), and fresh veggies. You can cover the fresh veggies with a light kitchen towel and moisten the towel with a few drops of water every now and then, if not in direct sunlight, the evaporation will cause a natural cooling effect to keep them fresh. Zucchini and other squash types work well, not to mention carrots.
 
Good list. I ran across this a while back- seems like a good resource:
http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/livingwithoutrefrigeration.pdf

We have done many week or longer canoe trips in the BWCA carrying all our food- obviously without a fridge. We tend to forget that humanity lived for maybe a million years without refrigeration. Even forgoing hunting and foraging, it is easily possible to live without it. It helps to have a healthy food industry to make products such as you have posted. All that being said, we love our fridge!
 
I guess I just love the fridge too much to go without it. I put a 12v Waeco in new Hawk. The fridge is one of the reasons I have a camper, love my yogurt in the morning. But to each his own, it is what makes the world go round.
 
Takeiteasy, thanks for the link!
billharr, I have a fridge too, a National Luna, twin 50, part fridge, part freezer. I agree it is really nice to have a cold drink when in the middle of nowhere! I was just looking for other recommendations for non-refrigeration foods from other travelers, just to get ideas!
-Thanks, AK
 
We carry 30 days of no refrigeration food and have camped over 20 consecutive days with three children without a store, cooler, or refrigeration routinely. We carry:
dried milk
instant whole grain pancake mix
honey (sandwiches and on pancakes)
cool-aid or other instant drink mix
beer (stays cool under the couch, chill with tap water or local snow)
wheat germ (Hodgson Mill or Red Mill)
instant coffee
sugar
crystalline eggs (amazon)
canned tuna
pringles
jelly packets (amazon, for sandwiches and pancakes)
peanut butter
ketchup packets (amazon)
pudding in the ready to eat packs
bread
crackers
homemade brownies (shelf life exceeds 40 days)
homemade cookies (shelf life exceeds 40 days)
instant cocoa
canned turkey spam
velvetta cheese
peanuts
almonds
cashews
canned beef and gravy (Walmart near tuna)
Hormel Completes (open a little, steam stacked for 30 min instead of microwave, taste like TV dinner)
Progresso soup
canned chicken
no-refrigeration summer sausage (local brand Bakalars has less fat)
canned brown beans
pasta sauce in a jar
dried pasta
Kraft mac and cheese
Knorr pasta and rice "Sides" in a packet
pop tarts
canola oil

Carrying a cooler now since we do not have the kids luggage is a treat but we still drive past a lot of stores. Some of these items come in many varieties which we try and carry our favorites. We do a lot of mixing and so each line can be a meal or an additive. Canned beef and gravy mixed into lentil soup is good. Draining the water from canned chicken and mixing it into a rice side is good. Dried milk and/or eggs can go into instant pancakes. Summer sausage gets mixed into lots of dishes. None of us liked the taste of dried milk so each kid had their own recipe of dried milk, sugar, and baking cocoa with hot water which was great on cold tent camping mornings in the mountains. I mix dried milk, raw wheat germ, cold water and psyllium to taste for a shake instead of synthetic vitamin/mineral/fiber prepackaged drinks (very healthy but start with only a little to avoid an upset stomach).
 
Nestle Nido Milk Powder

If you are into no fridge, this stuff is expensive but great. Gone are the days of weak tasting carnation or milkman powdered dry milk. We mix up a bit for cream in the coffee in the morning. Also it is great for instant pudding in the evenings for dessert. Put the pudding mix and dry milk together in a zip lock, add water, and mix and serve right from the zip lock. Best yet is to bury in a snowbank to get good and cold. Is it okay to use a fridge when Ma Nature provides? :) The Lady also makes up her own recipe for killer hot chocolate using nido for the milk portion. Just add hot water. We always have a can of her mix in the camper.
 
I'm like billharr-one of the the main reasons I bought the pop-up was having a frig! I need it for my beer and ice cubes for my vodka-now that I am retired and more into being out in the middle of nowhere just sitting in my strong back chair, having a drink and looking out on a nice vista! My old knee sort of dictates that I take a more day/over night hikes/fishing trips than doing those long backpacking ones! But again, I spent most of my vacations and allot of work time, out backpacking/camping with the dry stuff and eating things you could catch in a creek. Those web sites and your plan looks great! There are just so many more new things out there to use compared to the choices I had back when-even freeze dry beer!. Maybe there is at least one long BP trip left in me, need to think about this for a while! I do still carry several backpacker meals in the truck/fishing gear-no MRE's/C rats for me-in case I get in trouble out there.

Anyway, I sort of envy you guys, enjoy your trip!

Smoke
 
Smokecreek1 said:
I'm like billharr-one of the the main reasons I bought the pop-up was having a frig! I need it for my beer and ice cubes for my vodka-now that I am retired and more into being out in the middle of nowhere just sitting in my strong back chair, having a drink and looking out on a nice vista!

Smoke
Click to expand...
Thread hi-jack. How do you like the Strong back chair? I would like to set in one before spending the $$ they cost.


Bill

Thanks Smoke, we now return this thread to dried beans and powdered milk.
 
billharr said:
Thread hi-jack. How do you like the Strong back chair? I would like to set in one before spending the $$ they cost.


Bill
Click to expand...
Bill
Steal- love it. A couple of years ago we had a thread on it and I accessed the Strong back company from it and bought one-every model is a little different, when I was up in the Steens with Mark BC and looked each of our FBchairs were a little different! They are on Amazon too, but not sure it they were made by them or someone else, but they are worth the $! You will enjoy it when you drink your freeze dry beer! :p

Smoke

Smoke
 
IowaHiker, Thanks for the great list! I have been meaning to get some powered milk to go in my coffee!

Thanks again to all travelers who made great recommendations! I really appreciate the input!

-AK
 
wand3r3r, I use dried milk in my coffee. If the coffee is too hot then the combination of heat and normal coffee acid will curdle the dried milk. Let the coffee sit long enough to warm a ceramic mug thoroughly before adding the dried milk and then curdling does not occur. I use more dried milk than an equivalent amount of skim milk at home. The non-dairy dried coffee creamers work better but they have lots of fat. Keeping fat low in my diet reduced my cholesterol enough to keep me off prescription pills so far.

I looked at your blog and our homemade brownie recipe may be interesting which is field tested to last over 40 days:
2 cups soy flour, we use Red Mill
1 cup chopped walnuts
1+1/2 cup sugar (adjust for desired sweetness, 1+1/2 cup is not sweet)
1 cup baking cocoa
1 cup canola oil or olive oil
1/4 cup molasses
5 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients. Add oil and mix. Add molasses and mix. Add eggs and mix, not to much or the brownies will "rise". Spread in a large "greased and floured" low glass baking pan. Adjust ingredients in a fixed ratio to fill your pan to the desired thickness. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325 deg F for 30 minutes. Let cool and cut to desired size. iowahiker
 
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