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VIDEO Food Barrel

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Mar 19, 2013
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Canada
We always take a 30 litre food barrel with us when we go canoeing. You can get bigger ones (60 litres), but the smaller size can hold enough food or two people on a 7 day trip. These containers are durable, and waterproof, and they float. We've put together a short video showing what we can stuff into one of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfBI-2INx9U&list=UUpsDOHysPzrBhn8S7zJ8f4w&index=11


Cheers

-Wayne- :eek:
 
You forgot one essential and easy to add piece of equipage.

A cotter pin. Raccoons can and do get sufficient leverage to get the barrel handle to flip open but the pin stymies them. There are even holes on the ring for you to use on the clamp.

Other worthwhile additions.. leave the cans out..(not allowed in some canoe areas anyway). There are chemical flavor additives you can add to water like Mio, that come in tiny (1 oz ) bottles

A Zip Loc vacuum bag sealer is worthwhile to compress all the air out of your organizing bags. Less air means more space. The plunger does take up room to reseal bags in the field but the space savings make it worthwhile. Also useful for compressing extra clothing to be used in an emergency.
 
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Very clear and well-explained. My only complaint is that I've just made a video on the exact same subject...and you scooped me before I could edit and upload it!
Good job on this video gents.

Cheers,
- Martin
 
Good stuff on the Vid. I'll second YellowCanoe's suggestion of a cotter pin for Raccoons.

Martin...load up and post your vid too. Always great to see food suggestion & tips.
 
Thanks, Not being able to watch videos at home with the slow conection we are limited too, i took a ride over to my father in laws place and had a look see.
Again, I am always amazed at the quailty of productions posted here.
Did you do alot of editing, your presentation is so fluid, quick and easy to understand.
Me, I have never used a barrel, but I can see why they are so popular and your food packaging was great. I did pick up some tips there and will try to use them in the future.
Thanks again for posting, I enjoyed it.

Looking forward to PineMartyn's video too.
 
In order to avoid simply uploading a video that repeats the fine content of TheOneCanoe's video on this subject, I'm going to reshoot ours, emphasizing some different aspects of the use of food barrels.
Cheers,
- Martin
 
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Well done.

I have not been successful in pre-packing each day’s food. Even on solo trips I’m not sure what I’m going to feel like eating at each meal. I need to pull out the breakfaststuff and see what works for the time I have, the effort I want to put in and what I feel like eating (or not) at the moment. On family trips it is an even more unpredictable consensus decision.

I use four different colored stuff bags, and as long as I can remember that breakfast is blue and dinner is red and the stove and cook wear is green I can just grab the appropriate bag.

On family trips with the 60L barrel the stuff bags prevent having to empty the barrel to find the jar of peanut butter that always seems to settle to the bottom. When I finish eating I put the next meal’s stuff bag on top, so it is the first thing I see when I open the barrel.

It is harder to Tetris-pack a barrel using segregated stuff bags, and at the beginning of a trip I’ll fill some nooks and crannies with loose foodstuffs and put them in the appropriate stuff bag as space in the barrel develops.

I am a heavy packer, but I use those (three-for-a) Dollar Store thin plastic flexible cutting boards. They take up no space, conform to a barrel curve, and at 3 for a buck I don’t mind cutting them to a specific size or shape or bringing two, one for cutting/prep work and one for final assemble of sandwich, wrap or snack plate.

They do need a flattish surface to rest on. I’m working on that.

I often cook atop my barrel, or at least run the JetBoil perched atop. Our various barrels (from 3 gallon to 60L) have minicel exercise flooring circles inset in the lid, with 3 notches in the minicel to accommodate the JetBoil base’s triangulated feet.

There is enough room on the barrel lids for the stove, but not much else. I’m working on that too.

http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/JoelBeckwith/media/10%20Day%20Green%20River%20Trip/IMG_2495_zps056036a5.jpg.html?sort=2&o=107
 
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