Food products that travel really, really well

[Fat Guy]

Here's the hypothetical scenario: you have to pack food in the cargo area of a van for a month-long road trip. The vehicle will be subject to extremes of temperature: anything in it could freeze overnight or reach 100+ degrees F during the day. This isn't a backpacking scenario, so weight isn't relevant. However, you have no cooking equipment: we're talking about food you can just open up and eat.

So, what are the best products in that category?

I'll start by suggesting various crunchy foods like pretzels and crackers. Also dry cereal.

How durable is UHT milk? I know it's sold unrefrigerated, but would it survive the back-of-the-van conditions I'm talking about?

What else?

[Jensen]

The first thing that came to my mind was granola/trail mix/GORP type stuff.

Edited to add: jerky/pemmican/dried meat.

Edited again to add: nuts

Edited October 15, 2007 by Jensen (log)

[annecros]

vienna sausages - deviled ham - tuna. All canned. And lots of saltines.

Don't forget to pack a manual can opener.

[Chris Hennes]

Regarding UHT milk: there seem to be quite a few papers on this topic, but a quick look at a few indicates that, as expected, storage at elevated temperatures causes the milk to degrade at a higher rate. It depends on how high and how long, but 100 F is pretty high. From [1]: "Enzymatic and oxidation reactions appeared to increase at higher storage temperature (25 deg. C) of UHT milk, resulting in the development of off-flavours during prolonged storage." They were looking at milk stored at up to 25C for up to a year: their tasting panelists detected a "very slight rancidity" after 5-6 months at those temperatures. More relevant to your case is [2]: they were considering higher temperatures and shorter times (two weeks at up to 50 degrees C) -- at these temperatures it is like you are continuing to heat-treat the milk, with the expected degradation effects (mostly Maillard-reaction, it seems). Of course, they weren't evaluating taste, just chemical structure...

Sources:

[1] Celestino et al., "Reconstituted UHT-treated Milk: Effects of Raw Milk, Powder Quality and Storage Conditions of UHT Milk on its Physico-Chemical Attributes and Flavour", International Dairy Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, February 1997 , pp. 129-140

[2] Romero et al., "Effect of storage temperature on galactose formation in UHT milk," Food Research International, Volume 34, Number 5, 2001 , pp. 389-392

[moreace01]

The 100 degree+ part worries me - could items containing animal products go bad? Even if they are vacuum-packed?

[jayt90]

The first thing that came to my mind was granola/trail mix/GORP type stuff.

Edited to add: jerky/pemmican/dried meat.

Edited again to add: nuts

←

Pemmican is a brilliant suggestion, and we should have a thread on it, if it hasn't been done. In it's traditional form it had more than meat, fat and salt.

Otherwise, lots of canned meat, fish, and vegs.; staples such as pasta, beans, flour, yeast, oil, salt fish, if there is a coleman stove; air cured salted meat, such as chipped beef, or air dried ham. Some products like Cheeze Whiz and Vache Qui Rit will keep without refrigeration, but would have to be consumed after opening. Cheese slices don't have to be refrigerated until close to the expiry date (check with the maker). Some Mediterranean cheeses and olives will keep at room temp for quite awhile; that's why salt is well used there.

[Mayhaw Man]

Pickles. Lots of pickles. All kinds. In particular, I would recommend pickled okra, but that is, of course up to you.

Nut mixes are always good on the road. Dry type cookies (I am partial to animal crackers, myself) are always good. Canned fruits are good if you have children around-mine used to like cling peaches, mandarin orange sections, and pears.

Also, don't forget that heat proof, bullet proof food of the Southland, Potted Meat. I've eaten the stuff sitting on the back of a tractor in the middle of a cotton field in 100F temp and I've eaten it sitting in a duck blind in cold as ice temps. It's good in all climes! In the duck blind we usually enjoy it with some big red, something like Chateau Neuf de Pap or a huge burgundy. It's a perfect compliment to this fine product-though if you are driving the vehicle that you mentioned, you might want to hold off on the French Koolaid, as cops these days have lost their senses of humor about all of that.

[Peter the eater]

On bicycle touring trips through the desert I've packed stuff like raisins, marshmallows, nuts and seeds. We had some very hot days with frosty nights in between. Dry pasta also travels well - I would go with small units like orzo or ditali and avoid big noodles like lasagna and cannelloni. A box of Kraft dinner also works. I'll bet that orange cheese dust would be stable from a couple degrees Kelvin up to whatever temperature fusion takes place.

[Fat Guy]

In response to a couple of the suggestions above, please see post number 1: "no cooking equipment."

[Fat Guy]

More relevant to your case is [2]: they were considering higher temperatures and shorter times (two weeks at up to 50 degrees C) -- at these temperatures it is like you are continuing to heat-treat the milk, with the expected degradation effects (mostly Maillard-reaction, it seems).

←

Interesting. I wonder what the actual temperature exposure would be on my hypothetical road trip. Let's say, for example, you drove from New York City to Los Angeles and back, with various stops along the way, and you did that drive in May and June. There are a bunch of times when major heat is not an issue: nighttime on most of the route should be in the 70s F or lower, any time the vehicle is in motion (because the air conditioning is on), colder days, cloudier days, days when you're parked in a covered or indoor lot. The big temperature shocks are going to be when you park during the day in direct sunlight. The car can easily exceed 50 C (122 F) in that situation. But it's not going to be all day every day for a month. It's more likely to be a few hours at a time, on some percentage of the days. There's also the fact that it takes the milk time to heat up. So if you started the day out at 65 F, and you parked in a lot where the car went up to 122 F and stayed at that temperature for 3 hours, at least some of that 3-hour interval would be taken up by the liquid rising from 65 F to 122 F. I haven't got a clue how the totals would work out.

[JeanneCake]

Will you be able to add bottled water periodically to your rations? You could use powdered milk if you are concerned about the UHT milk. A two to one ratio of powder to water always got a better reaction from people it was served to...

I've been known to eat baked beans from the can, but I'd never let anyone catch me doing it...

[Fat Guy]

Sure, bottled water would be in plentiful supply.

Also, this wouldn't have to be provisions for an entire month. The idea is more like this: you're on a road trip, you're going to eat out a couple of meals a day on most days, and you're going to have access to supermarkets and sources of prepared food. However, in the course of a month of travel, you're going to hit on times when you're in the middle of nowhere without an easy meal solution. Furthermore, let's say you're not 22 years old, so it's not as easy on your system to skip a meal or just eat candy bars and potato chips, and let's say you're traveling with a young child in the car. So, if the need arises, you want to be ready to pull together a meal from your stash in the back of the vehicle. UHT milk is great, if it's safe, because it provides a great breakfast solution: if you have dry cereal and UHT milk, you have breakfast. That's great for when you're at the Motel 6 on some highway and you want to get an early start on your drive without having to eat at McDonald's or the bad diner across the parking lot.

[Peter the eater]

In response to a couple of the suggestions above, please see post number 1: "no cooking equipment."

←

Oops, I got a little excited and missed an important detail.

I'll go with a food I give my kids called President's Choice Mini Chef Zippy Fruit. I have tasted them after extreme thermal abuse and must say the quality was undiminished.

[Anna N]

Dried apricots, figs, dates, prunes, etc. Canned evaporated milk can be reconstituted with bottled water.

[nibor]

Fat Guy, is this trip really hypothetical, or are you hitting the road?

[Fat Guy]

Hypothetical. I was thinking, "Now that we're older and have a kid, how would we provision ourselves for an extended road trip?" But we have no present plans for such a trip.

[prasantrin]

In addition to canned sardines, don't discount the jarred ones. There are some jarred sardines from the Philippines that are very tasty.

Ryvita crackers and peanut butter and bring some small packets of jam.

Anzac cookies.

Splurge for a refrigerator that you plug in to your car lighter.

[Mayhaw Man]

In response to a couple of the suggestions above, please see post number 1: "no cooking equipment."

←

But you said that you were driving!

I automatically assumed that you were all set.

[andiesenji]

Homemade parched corn. (similar to CornNuts)

I can state from personal experience that a quart jar of the stuff can keep two teenagers occupied for a couple of hours, along with sufficient water and/or other liquids.

Although a pair of earplugs is helpful.

If you want a recipe, let me know.

I have made pemmican, with homemade jerky and dried fruits.

I have an Igloo compact fridge for my van that plugs into one of the outlets and also runs off AC. I had an auxillary battery installed in my van along with an isolator switch so it will charge and power the outlets when the motor is not running, and there is no draw on the main battery.

Edited October 16, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[Fat Guy]

Splurge for a refrigerator that you plug in to your car lighter.

←

I don't have much confidence in those. They only get the temperature down a modest amount below ambient, their interiors are tiny, and they don't run unless the car is on. Were I to attempt long-term in-car refrigeration, I'd use an insulated cooler with ice, and buy a bag of ice every day when I stopped for gas. Those coolers work quite well. My preference, however, would be to do this without the inconvenience of refrigeration. Because if you use refrigeration, whether it's an electric unit or an insulated cooler, you're stuck carrying that stuff in and out of motel rooms, packing and unpacking it to replenish the ice, etc.

[andiesenji]

My Igloo will freeze stuff that is close to the outlet - I learned not to put glass milk bottles in that area because the milk froze and broke the bottles.

It's this one.

Edited October 16, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[snowangel]

Are these meals eaten while the driver is driving? Or, at a rest stop? If at a rest stop, options increase, as one can get tuna in small cans, mayo in little squeeze packets that seem to be impervious to weather, etc., and one can get bread and apples, bananas and oranges at the gas station. While the tuna and mayo are more than just open and eat, one can just open the vacuum tuna, squeeze it on bread, add squeeze mayo, top with another slice of bread, and voila!

If you are eating in the car, don't forget some bags for trash, wipes, paper towels, etc. (come to think of it, these items are really handy if you are at a rest stop, as well.)

[Chris Hennes]

More relevant to your case is [2]: they were considering higher temperatures and shorter times (two weeks at up to 50 degrees C) -- at these temperatures it is like you are continuing to heat-treat the milk, with the expected degradation effects (mostly Maillard-reaction, it seems).

←

Interesting. I wonder what the actual temperature exposure would be on my hypothetical road trip. Let's say, for example, you drove from New York City to Los Angeles and back, with various stops along the way, and you did that drive in May and June. There are a bunch of times when major heat is not an issue: nighttime on most of the route should be in the 70s F or lower, any time the vehicle is in motion (because the air conditioning is on), colder days, cloudier days, days when you're parked in a covered or indoor lot. The big temperature shocks are going to be when you park during the day in direct sunlight. The car can easily exceed 50 C (122 F) in that situation. But it's not going to be all day every day for a month. It's more likely to be a few hours at a time, on some percentage of the days. There's also the fact that it takes the milk time to heat up. So if you started the day out at 65 F, and you parked in a lot where the car went up to 122 F and stayed at that temperature for 3 hours, at least some of that 3-hour interval would be taken up by the liquid rising from 65 F to 122 F. I haven't got a clue how the totals would work out.

←

Like most interesting questions, the answer is not straightforward . My guess is that occasional heating and cooling will not substantially harm the milk over such short timespans (hours), but who knows? For some things it is the cycling that does the harm, not the remaining at a fixed temperature. Faced with the same situation, I'd be inclined to bring some along and rotate it out with a fresh supply after a couple of those hot afternoons (assuming you are traveling the somewhat-beaten path and there are stores that sell UHT milk nearby). Or a cooler filled with ice (or even just water, to minimize the temperature fluctuations).

Edited October 16, 2007 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Jensen]

As someone who has done a fair number of cross-country road trips (albeit with dogs, not children), I think the parameters for this hypothetical trip are somewhat unrealistic. If you have the car, why not a little gas burner? They're only as big as a briefcase.

Also, I can't see going an entire day driving without coming across a grocery store. If you think you're going to be late into your destination for the night, you pretty much know it by mid-afternoon. What's to stop you from stopping at a grocery store and picking up something for dinner later?

The portable refrigerators are a godsend if you need/want to transport food that needs to be kept cool. The one with which I'm familiar has an adapter that allows you to take it into the motel room and plug it into the wall. Those dogs mentioned up above (usually my friend and I have travelled with five or six of them) all eat raw diets which MUST be kept refrigerated. The Cooltron performed admirably in that regard.

[Fat Guy]

Because a gas burner doesn't work without pots and other equipment, and packing a whole portable kitchen setup isn't part of the hypothetical plan, nor is cleaning up after cooking.

Because sometimes days don't go as planned: you hit traffic, you hit weather, you get a flat, you change your mind, you make great time and you decide you're going to press on to the next state, the place you wanted to go for dinner is closed, you're too tired, someone gets sick, bad things happen. So you don't always know, you don't always have the opportunity to plan ahead, and you don't always want to be limited by your plan.

Because I don't want to carry a portable refrigerator in and out of motel rooms, and because sometimes we use campgrounds with no electricity, and because those portable refrigerators don't work if you leave your car parked in a lot at a national park for the day.

I've done a number of cross-country and cross-continent road trips as well, sometimes lasting a couple of months. Like I said, we eat most of our meals out, we do utilize grocery stores, etc., but sometimes we get caught short. That has been, time and again, the reality for us.