If you’re planning on taking a hunting or camping trip, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re hoping to get some of the food that you’ll be eating during your trip while you’re out in the wild. But if you don’t get your sights on that deer you were hoping to tag or the fish just aren’t biting that day, it’s good to know what you’ll have some safe and delicious food to come back to once you get to camp.
To help you with this, here are three tips for packing food for a hunting or camping trip.
Do As Much Prep At Home As You Can
Although there’s plenty of convenient foods to bring with you when you’re out in the wild, nothing can replace a good, home cooked meal after a long day of hiking or trekking through the brush. However, you also don’t necessarily want to prepare an entire meal when you’re tired at the end of the day.
To combat this issue, Jessica Lempe, a contributor to OutdoorGearrLab.com, recommends that you try to prepare as much food at home as you can. If you’re wanting to have a meal of meat and vegetables, make sure you’ve cut everything at home and even assembled it all together in some tin foil. This principle can work for a ton of different meals. So as long as you know what you’ll want to eat before you get out into the wilderness, you can prepare it at home beforehand and have it ready to cook and eat at your camp.
Bring Some Electrolytes
The physical toll that hunting, hiking, and camping can take on your body will require you to constantly be replenishing with water. But if you’re sweating a lot and working hard, which you likely will be doing, you’ll need more than just water to give your body what it needs.
Because of this, Ben Romans, a contributor to Field and Stream, recommends that you bring some electrolytes with you to stir into your water and give yourself some additional vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. These packets are light and easy to take with you, along with bringing in some flavors to brighten up your water.
Eat Your Perishable Foods First
Depending how long you’re planning to be out for your hunting or camping trip, you’ll want to be strategic about how you eat the food that you’ve brought along.
If you’ve brought anything that’s perishable, the USDA advises that you eat those foods first. Especially if those foods need to be kept at particular temperatures, be it hot or cold, you’ll want to ensure that you consume that food when it’s still safe to eat. Otherwise, you could wind up getting sick or wasting the food you packed in.
If you’re going to be taking a hunting or camping trip in the near future, consider using the tips mentioned about to help you pack in the right food for your adventure.